Re: [DCP-o-matic] DCPomatic Digest, Vol 88, Issue 3

On Mar 30, 2020, at 5:29 PM, dcpomatic-request(a)carlh.net wrote: Send DCPomatic mailing list submissions to dcpomatic(a)carlh.net To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit http://main.carlh.net/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/dcpomatic or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to dcpomatic-request(a)carlh.net You can reach the person managing the list at dcpomatic-owner(a)carlh.net When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific than "Re: Contents of DCPomatic digest..." Today's Topics: 1. Re: DCP-o-matic Disk Writer alpha test (Carl Hetherington) 2. Re: DCP-o-matic Disk Writer alpha test (cjflynn(a)digitaltesttools.com) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Message: 1 Date: Tue, 31 Mar 2020 01:14:09 +0100 (BST) From: Carl Hetherington &lt;cth(a)carlh.net&gt; To: &quot;audiovisual(a)t-online.de&quot; &lt;audiovisual(a)t-online.de&gt; Cc: &quot;dcpomatic(a)carlh.net&quot; &lt;dcpomatic(a)carlh.net&gt; Subject: Re: [DCP-o-matic] DCP-o-matic Disk Writer alpha test Message-ID: &lt;alpine.DEB.2.21.2003310105070.1218(a)main.carlh.net&gt; Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8" Hi all, There is some platform-specific code to find available drives and open them as devices that DCP-o-matic can write raw data to. Then there is a library called lwext4 (https://github.com/gkostka/lwext4) (that I have tweaked a little) which can make an ext2 filesystem given a place to write the raw data. So the DCP-o-matic Disk Writer just asks for a DCP and a drive, then formats the drive as ext2 with the required inode size, copies the data and verifies it. It seems to work on Windows and Linux and I am just working on the Mac version. The two main concerns I have are: 1. does it destroy users' data? 2. does it *always* either a) make a valid DCP drive or b) give an error. If we are confident that (1) happens rarely and (2) happens mostly then we will probably have a useful tool. TBH one of the main motivations here is to remove a source of error that can be blamed on DCP-o-matic, and to simplify the explanation of the DCP-making process to truly be "put your file in, click the button, get a drive out". All the best, Carl ------------------------------ Message: 2 Date: Mon, 30 Mar 2020 17:28:56 -0700 From: &quot;cjflynn(a)digitaltesttools.com&quot; &lt;cjflynn(a)digitaltesttools.com&gt; To: Carl Hetherington &lt;cth(a)carlh.net&gt; Cc: &quot;audiovisual(a)t-online.de&quot; &lt;audiovisual(a)t-online.de&gt;de>, &quot;dcpomatic(a)carlh.net&quot; &lt;dcpomatic(a)carlh.net&gt; Subject: Re: [DCP-o-matic] DCP-o-matic Disk Writer alpha test Message-ID: &lt;75956F52-8767-4467-946C-252982593D1E(a)digitaltesttools.com&gt; Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8" My spare Mac situation might be great for this since it is booting off an external USB. So, if the program will confuse and wipe out anything, it will be a good target. I?ll make certain to make an image of it for when you are ready for testing! Best in return, C J > On Mar 30, 2020, at 5:14 PM, Carl Hetherington via DCPomatic &lt;dcpomatic(a)carlh.net&gt; wrote: > > Hi all, > >> > There is some platform-specific code to find available drives and open > them as devices that DCP-o-matic can write raw data to. Then there is a > library called lwext4 (https://github.com/gkostka/lwext4 <https://github.com/gkostka/lwext4>) (that I have > tweaked a little) which can make an ext2 filesystem given a place to write > the raw data. > > So the DCP-o-matic Disk Writer just asks for a DCP and a drive, then > formats the drive as ext2 with the required inode size, copies the data > and verifies it. > > It seems to work on Windows and Linux and I am just working on the Mac > version. > > The two main concerns I have are: > > 1. does it destroy users' data? > 2. does it *always* either a) make a valid DCP drive or b) give an error. > > If we are confident that (1) happens rarely and (2) happens mostly then we > will probably have a useful tool. TBH one of the main motivations here is > to remove a source of error that can be blamed on DCP-o-matic, and to > simplify the explanation of the DCP-making process to truly be "put your > file in, click the button, get a drive out". > > All the best, > Carl > > > >> >> - Carsten >> >> >> -----Original-Nachricht----- >> Betreff: [DCP-o-matic] DCP-o-matic Disk Writer alpha test >> Datum: 2020-03-30T00:35:45+0200 >> Von: "Carl Hetherington via DCPomatic" &lt;dcpomatic(a)carlh.net&gt; >> An: &quot;dcpomatic(a)carlh.net&quot; &lt;dcpomatic(a)carlh.net&gt; >> >> Hi all, >> >> I'm hopefully not-too-far (TM) away from having a very alpha-quality >> version of a "disk writer" tool for DCP-o-matic. This is a thing which >> can format a drive as EXT2 and copy a DCP onto it from >> Linux/macOS/Windows. >> >> Since the potential for disaster is fairly high with this tool (i.e. >> unrecoverably destroyed hard disk partitions) I am hoping to find some >> brave and interested parties to test it out in a sort of "closed beta" >> arrangement, rather than making it available to everybody in the normal >> test version. >> >> If you are interested in helping out with testing, drop me a line! All >> that's really required is an understanding that the software might destroy >> any data that happens to be on any drive connected to the computer that >> you run it on. So if you have an old machine that you could tolerate >> re-installing, that would be ideal! It doesn't need any great CPU power. >> >> If you have access to a cinema to test your copied drives, even better! >> >> I hope everybody is keeping as well as can be expected given the current >> state of the world. >> >> Kind regards, >> Carl >> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> DCPomatic mailing list >> DCPomatic(a)carlh.net >> http://main.carlh.net/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/dcpomatic >> ? >> >> _______________________________________________ >> DCPomatic mailing list >> DCPomatic(a)carlh.net >> http://main.carlh.net/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/dcpomatic > _______________________________________________ > DCPomatic mailing list > DCPomatic(a)carlh.net <mailto:DCPomatic@carlh.net> > http://main.carlh.net/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/dcpomatic <http://main.carlh.net/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/dcpomatic>