Wouldnt it be cool to have a hardware cd emulator?

**ghowriter** · 05-02-2007, 02:24 PM

I have been tossing this idea around for almost a year now. Hardware based cd emulation is a great idea! After doing research, I have found that it will not be so easy to set up, but not impossible either. Contact me and we can exchange thoughts.

visit www.paqcs.com

**walstib** · 05-03-2007, 03:20 PM

You can always write the CD image to a 1 GB CF and have a blazing fast virtual CD rom. With an IDE => CF adapter for under $10 and a 1 GB CF for under $20, you should be good to go.

**Nerd2** · 05-03-2007, 03:21 PM

Originally Posted by walstib

You can always write the CD image to a 1 GB CF and have a blazing fast virtual CD rom. With an IDE => CF adapter for under $10 and a 1 GB CF for under $20, you should be good to go.

How, exactly?

**walstib** · 05-03-2007, 03:24 PM

dd if=/dev/cdrom of=/dev/hdx
where /dev/cdrom is your cdrom device and hdx is the CF card

**Nerd2** · 05-03-2007, 03:29 PM

woaw linux, so you already have an OS on the pc then?

And that would make your CF card behave like a CD and autoboot?

Confused what you're saying here

EDIT: Oh, you mean that bit is just the writing it to the CF card. Yeah?

**walstib** · 05-03-2007, 03:49 PM

Right, just to get the CD image to the CF card.
So on a PC where you can mount the CF card, copy the CD (bit for bit) to the CF media. Then you can plug the CF into the PC you wanted to boot (your carPC for example) and it would boot just as if it were a CD, but much, much faster. With the extra space on the CF, you could copy all the drivers for wireless, touch screen, sound card, etc that you would eventually need to download and install.

**Nerd2** · 05-03-2007, 03:57 PM

Originally Posted by walstib

Right, just to get the CD image to the CF card.
So on a PC where you can mount the CF card, copy the CD (bit for bit) to the CF media. Then you can plug the CF into the PC you wanted to boot (your carPC for example) and it would boot just as if it were a CD, but much, much faster. With the extra space on the CF, you could copy all the drivers for wireless, touch screen, sound card, etc that you would eventually need to download and install.

Wow, sweet.

What's the difference between doing that to a CF card and a HD? I mean, why can't I do that to a spare HD?

**walstib** · 05-03-2007, 04:04 PM

I would think you probably could. CF has no moving parts so it will be much faster. Also smaller, lighter, more portable, won't die if you drop it, etc...

**Machinist** · 05-06-2007, 01:14 AM

Sorry, but you can't clone the contents of a CD to a hard drive or CF and expect it to boot.

**Curiosity** · 05-06-2007, 01:33 AM

Linky... http://www.mp3car.com/vbulletin/faq-...lash-card.html
You can do it with IDE to PCMCIA which I've done with a firewall, or IDE to CF, or even USB dongles if your BIOS supports it. I wouldn't just image it with a CDFS iso though. Format it and copy the files to it.