1cdw 0.7.1(1) General Commands Manual cdw 0.7.1(1)
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6 cdw - front-end for cdrecord, mkisofs, growisofs and other tools
7
10 cdw [--help] [--version] [--enable-dvd-rp-dl] [--escdelay=X]
11
14 cdw is a front-end for command-line tools used for burning data CD and
15 DVD discs and for related tasks. The tools are: cdrecord/wodim,
16 mkisofs/genisoimage, growisofs, dvd+rw-mediainfo, dvd+rw-format, xor‐
17 riso. You can also use cdw to rip tracks from your audio CD to raw
18 audio files. Limited support for copying content of CD and DVD discs
19 to image files is also provided. cdw can utilize md5sum program to ver‐
20 ify correctness of writing ISO image to CD and DVD disc.
21 cdw uses ncurses library to build user-friendly interface and it can be
24 used in UNIX terminal window and in terminal emulator (like konsole,
25 rxvt or gnome-console) in X environment.
26 cdw supports only ISO9660 filesystem for optical media. Other filesys‐
29 tem for optical media are not supported nor recognized.
30
33 Scope of supported features depends on which tools are installed on end
34 user's system. Full list of supported media and actions is listed
35 below.
36 CD-AUDIO
39 ripping audio tracks to raw audio files
40 CD-R writing files and ISO images (single- and multi-session) with
43 cdrecord/wodim and xorriso; copying content of first session to
44 image file on your hard disc
45 CD-RW writing files and ISO images (single- and multi-session), eras‐
48 ing (erasing only TOC or blanking whole disc) with
49 cdrecord/wodim and xorriso; copying content of first session to
50 image file on your hard disc
51 DVD-R, DVD+R
54 writing files and ISO images (multi-session, but without closing
55 disc, or single-session) with cdrecord/wodim, dvd+rw-tools and
56 xorriso
57 DVD-RW writing files and ISO images (multi-session or single-session);
60 erasing, formatting - quick or slow (full) method; dvd+rw-tools
61 only. WARNING: multiple blanking may quickly render your DVD-RW
62 unusable.
63 DVD+RW writing files and ISO images (both writing to disc from scratch
66 and appending data), without closing disc; blanking disc, but
67 takes lots of time, and you don't need to do it anyway - you can
68 always start writing to the same disc like you would write to
69 blank disc. DVD+RW can be handled by both cdrecord/wodim and
70 dvd+rw-tools.
71 DVD+R DL
74 there is now partial support for DVD+R DL discs: cdw can burn
75 ISO image and files in single session. User has to explicitly
76 enable it by passing "--enable-dvd-rp-dl" command line argument
77 to cdw; cdw can handle DVD+R DL discs only using dvd+rw-tools;
78 this feature is very incomplete and possibly buggy.
79 Dual-layer media other than DVD+R DL are not yet supported.
81 DVD-RAM, Blu-ray, HD-DVD discs are not supported.
82
85 You can write data discs either by using previously created ISO image
86 file, or by selecting files from hard drive and writing them directly
87 to disc. cdw provides UI elements for both actions.
88 First action before creating new ISO image or writing files to disc is
91 selecting files from your hard drive. You can do this by selecting "Add
92 files" in left-hand menu. You will be presented with simple file selec‐
93 tor. Use Up/Down arrows or Page Up/Page Down keys to move, Enter key
94 to change current directory, Space key to select files or directories.
95 Selected items will be added to list displayed in cdw window. Use
96 Escape key to close file selector window. The selector window shows you
97 all files and directories (including hidden files) in current direc‐
98 tory, in alphabetical order. You will see file size information for
99 every file on the list. You can also delete previously selected files
100 from list: select "Delete files" from the menu and use Up/Down arrow
101 keys to move and Delete key to delete highlighted item. Use Escape key
102 when you finish deleting files from list of selected files.
103 Now you can select "Create image" from left-hand menu. cdw will display
106 a wizard window where you can change most common options, and where you
107 can select path to target ISO9660 image file on your hard disc.
108 You can also select "Write files to disc" to write selected files to
111 optical disc. If you select the option, cdw will display a wizard dia‐
112 log window, in which you can adjust most common options related to
113 burning files to disc.
114 If you want to write ISO image file to optical disc, use "Write image
117 to disc" option in left hand menu. You will be presented with file
118 picker dialog that allows you to select existing ISO image file from
119 your hard disc. After that cdw will display a wizard window, where you
120 can modify most common options available for burning a disc.
121 cdw allows you to verify correctness of this operation by checking a
124 digest (e.g. md5 sum) of ISO file and of track written to disc. You
125 can request this by checking "Verify write" checkbox that will appear
126 in write wizard. Please note that this checkbox is visible only when
127 you are writing ISO file to empty CD or DVD disc. This function is
128 still experimental. Make sure that a program for calculating digests is
129 installed on your machine. cdw supports following programs: md5sum
130 sha1sum sha224sum sha256sum sha384sum sha512sum
131 Another operation you can perform is erasing optical disc - CD-RW,
134 DVD-RW (both Sequential Recording and Restricted Overwrite) or DVD+RW.
135 You can do this by selecting "Erase disc" option in cdw left-hand menu.
136 Please note that extensive erasing of DVD-RW may render your disc unus‐
137 able if used extensively. In case of CD-RW and DVD-RW you will be asked
138 what type of blanking you want to perform. You can choose fast mode or
139 full mode. First one doesn't take too much time (in case of CD-RW it
140 only erases table of content of your disc), second one can be very
141 time-consuming, depending on disc size and selected speed.
142 When you will attempt to blank DVD-RW disc, blanking wizard will dis‐
145 play dropdown that allows you to choose mode (format) of DVD-RW disc:
146 Restricted Overwrite or Sequential Recording.
147 cdw can be useful when you want to copy your data CD or DVD to ISO
150 image on your hard drive. You do this by selecting "Read disc" option
151 from left-hand menu. This function allows you to copy first track from
152 your data CD or DVD. Reading second and following tracks from data
153 discs, and reading discs written in mixed mode (one or more data tracks
154 + audio tracks) discs are not supported.
155 You can also use cdw to copy your audio CD to separate files (each
158 track will be written to separate file). You do this by selecting "Read
159 disc" option from menu. cdw can't convert audio tracks to any popular
160 audio format. The tracks are written to files in the same format as
161 they appear on CD (2 channels, 44100 samples per second, 16 bit signed
162 PCM, little endian (intel)). The file names have following name format:
163 track_xx.raw (where xx is track number). You can convert raw track file
164 to wav file using e.g. sox command:
165 sox -c 2 -r 44100 -L -2 -s track_name.raw -t wav track_name.wav
168 The last operation that cdw offers is verification of data. You can use
171 it for two purposes:
172 · calculating a digest of selected file from hard disc;
175 · comparing selected file with content of first track on opti‐
177 cal disc; The second option also utilizes digest tool (e.g.
178 md5sum), but may not work correctly, so it is marked in cdw
179 as "Experimental".
180 cdw has Configuration window, accessed by selecting "Configuration"
183 item in left-hand menu. The window allows you to set up some options
184 for tools used by cdw, and for cdw itself. Configuration window has
185 following tabs (you can access them using keys F2-F5):
186 · Log and misc - contains options related to log file in which
189 cdw logs its operations, and to some aspects of behavior of
190 cdw.
191 · Tools - options in this tab allow you to select tools from
194 your operating system that will be used to create ISO9660
195 images, burn data to disc etc. You can safely leave "Config‐
196 ure tools manually" checkbox unmarked.
197 · Audio - contains options related to ripping audio CDs.
200 · Hardware - probably will be visited only once, when you use
203 cdw for the first time or when you change your hardware con‐
204 figuration. Here you can set paths to your devices used by
205 cdw.
206 All options available in Configuration window are described below, in
209 CONFIGURATION section.
210 You have to use F9 or F10 key to save any changes made in Configuration
213 window and close the window. To close Configuration window without sav‐
214 ing changes use Escape key. Values from "Tools" tab are saved only tem‐
215 porarily, they aren't stored in permanent configuration file.
216 You can control cdw using application's menu (visible on left side of
219 screen), or using hotkeys.
220 Main menu items
223 · Add files: Select files and directories that you want to
224 write to optical disc or to ISO image on your hard disc.
225 Press Space to select a file or directory, use Up and Down
226 arrows to move on the list, press Enter key to change direc‐
227 tory, press Escape key to close file selection dialog.
228 · Delete files: List of selected files is displayed on the
231 right side of the screen. If you want to delete files from
232 the list, select this button and use Delete key to delete a
233 file, Up and Down arrows to move on the list or press Escape
234 to end deleting.
235 · Write files to disc: write selected files to optical disc
238 that is currently in drive. You will be warned if there is no
239 disc in drive, the drive is not ready or the disc is mounted.
240 · Create image: write selected files to ISO image file. The ISO
243 image file can be selected in file picker window.
244 · Write image to disc: write ISO image file to optical disc.
247 The ISO image file can be selected in file picker window. You
248 will be warned if there is no disc in drive, the drive is not
249 ready or the disc is mounted.
250 · Read disc: Copy content of your single session data CD/DVD or
253 audio CD to files on hard drive. In case of data CD/DVD discs
254 cdw will create correct image file on your hard disc, but
255 only for first track on disc, rest of tracks won't be read
256 (cdw can't read them correctly). In case of audio CDs cdw
257 will copy each audio track to separate raw audio file. You
258 will have to recode the raw audio track files in order to
259 play them in your media player.
260 · Erase disc: Erase data (partially or fully) from rewritable
263 disc (CD-RW, DVD-RW, DVD+RW) that is currently in drive. You
264 can select mode of erasing CD-RW or DVD-RW: fast or full. You
265 can't select mode of erasing of DVD+RW.
266 · Verify data: Calculate digest of file selected from hard
269 drive, or compare any file with first track of optical disc.
270 · Configuration: Selecting this menu option will display cdw
273 Configuration window, where you can set various options.
274 · Quit: close cdw and return to your command line.
277 Keys (hotkeys, available in main cdw window)
280 · F1, H, ? - Show this help: Display help window with list of
281 hotkeys.
282 · F9/F10 - Show license of this program: display cdw license.
284 · C - Show Configuration window
286 · D - Show information about disc: cdw will run external tool
288 to get some meta-information about optical disc in your drive
289 and display this information in text window.
290 · E - Eject drive tray: open your optical drive tray (will
292 close tray if it is already open).
293 · F - Write selected files to disc: Write currently selected
295 files to optical disc.
296 · G - Read content of CD: Copy content of your audio or data CD
298 to your hard drive.
299 · I - Write ISO image to disc: Write ISO image to optical disc.
301 · L - Show log of last operation: view file with record of lat‐
303 est operations.
304 · R - Refresh information about disc: cdw will run external
306 tool to get some meta-information about optical disc in your
307 drive and will display short summary in lower-left part of
308 main cdw window.
309 · V - Verify data: calculate digest of selected file (and of
311 first track on optical disc).
312 · Q - Quit: close cdw and return to your command line
314
317 This section describes Configuration module available via "Configura‐
318 tion" button in left-hand menu in main cdw window. You have to press
319 F9/F10 in Configuration window to save changes made in the window and
320 exit or press Escape key to close configuration window without saving
321 changes. Please note that changes made in "Tools" tab are saved only
322 for current session with cdw.
323 · Log and misc (first tab):
326 · Log file path - path to file, in which cdw writes its mes‐
328 sages and messages from external tools (mkisofs, cdrecord,
329 growisofs, dvd+rw-mediainfo, xorriso). Specifying this
330 path is obligatory.
331 · Show log after actions - show the content of log file
333 after some of actions performed by cdw.
334 · ISO volume size - size of ISO filesystem that you want to
336 create. Most often it is equal to capacity of optical disc
337 that you want burn data to. This is a dropdown, from which
338 you can select one of preselected values, or select "Cus‐
339 tom value". This custom value can be entered below the
340 dropdown.
341 · Custom ISO volume size - size of ISO filesystem that you
343 want to create. This is the place where you can enter
344 nonstandard value of target ISO filesystem size.
345 · Tools (second tab): First thing that you will see in this tab
348 "Configure tools manually" checkbox, it is unchecked by
349 default, and this is safe default value. In this state cdw
350 select tools itself. If you check this checkbox you will be
351 presented with six dropdowns: first three allow you to select
352 tools or families of tools intended for specific tasks.
353 Remaining dropdowns allow you to select paths to some tools
354 used by cdw for some tasks. All these dropdowns are explained
355 below.
356 · "Tool for creating stand alone ISO9660 file" - here you
359 select a tool used to create ISO9660 file saved on hard
360 disc (stand-alone file). Depending on configuration of
361 your software, here you can find mkisofs (genisoimage) and
362 xorriso.
363 · "Tools for handling CDs" dropdown - here you select a tool
366 that will be used to burn data to CD/CD-RW discs and to
367 erase CD-RW discs. Depending on configuration of your
368 software, here you can find cdrecord (wodim) and xorriso.
369 · "Tools for handling DVDs" dropdown - here you select a
372 tool that will be used to burn data to DVD discs and to
373 erase DVD+/-RW discs. Depending on configuration of your
374 software, here you can find dvd+rw-tools, cdrecord (wodim)
375 and xorriso. Note that xorriso can be used only for
376 DVD+/-R discs.
377 · "Path to mkisofs" dropdown - here you can select one of
380 implementations of mkisofs installed in your system (e.g.
381 if you have mkisofs and genisoimage).
382 · "Path to cdrecord" dropdown - here you can select one of
385 implementations of cdrecord installed in your system (e.g.
386 if you have cdrecord and wodim).
387 · "Digest tool" - here you can select a tool used for calcu‐
390 lating digest (checksum) - the tool is used e.g. during
391 verification of burning of ISO9660 file to optical disc.
392 md5sum tool is the default one, if found.
393 Remember that these settings are saved only for your cur‐
395 rent session with cdw, and that the settings will be dis‐
396 carded when you close cdw.
397 · Audio (third tab):
400 · Audio output dir - path to directory, into which cdw will
402 write raw audio tracks, ripped from audio CD.
403 · Hardware (fourth tab):
406 · "cdw should use this drive" dropdown - option allowing you
408 to select one of detected drives, or to use path to drive
409 entered manually ("custom path");
410 · "Custom path to drive" - field in which you can specify
412 your own path to a device, to be used when cdw can't
413 autodetect all drives in your computer.
414 · SCSI device - parameters describing your SCSI hardware, in
416 following format: scsibus,target,lun (for a SCSI-emulated
417 IDE CDRW: 0,0,0). It is used only by cdrecord and you
418 should enter appropriate value only if cdrecord has prob‐
419 lems with device path in form of '/dev/xxx'. Otherwise
420 this field should be left empty. This option hasn't been
421 tested, so use it at your own risk.
422
425 Command line options are following:
426 -h, -- help
429 displays information about invoking cdw and its options
430 -v, --version
433 displays cdw version and copyright information
434 --enable-dvd+rp-dl
437 enables very basic support for DVD+R DL discs
438 --escdelay=X
441 modifies delay time between pressing Escape key in cdw window
442 and reaction to the key
443
446 · cdw.conf: Configuration file, usually stored in $HOME/.cdw/
447 directory.
448 · cdw.log: Log file, by default stored in $HOME/.cdw/ direc‐
450 tory. Path to this file can be modified in Configuration win‐
451 dow ("Log and misc" tab > 'Log file path' field).
452 · cdw.colors: File with definition of color schemes used to
454 customize interface of cdw. File is stored in $HOME/.cdw/
455 directory.
456 · temporary files: cdw uses some small temporary files to store
458 various information. They are usually created in /tmp direc‐
459 tory. If everything goes well they are very short lived and
460 are removed as soon as they are no longer needed.
461
464 · HOME - cdw assumes that this variable exists and is set to
465 valid user directory. If not, then user is asked to select
466 some other 'base' directory.
467 · PATH - cdw reads this environment variable to find directo‐
469 ries with executable files. cdw will search in these directo‐
470 ries for some tools.
471
474 cdw uses log file ($HOME/.cdw/cdw.log by default) to store information
475 about actions performed. You can access this file using your file man‐
476 ager, or pressing 'L' key in cdw window. Read this file for any hints
477 if you experience any problems.
478
481 There are still some bugs related to memory management.
482 cdw is developed and tested almost exclusively on x64 GNU/Linux, run‐
485 ning cdw on other configurations may produce some platform-specific
486 bugs. Currently I can't verify them in any way.
487 cdw still fails to detect some problems reported by wodim/cdrecord
490 mkisofs/genisoimage or growisofs, although things have improved in lat‐
491 est few versions). Support for xorriso is brand new, so there is a lot
492 error messages printed by xorriso, that cdw is unaware of, and will
493 happily ignore them. It is recommended to read log file after every
494 operation.
495 Copying data CDs to ISO image may finish with message "Problems
498 occurred when copying tracks". This does not have to mean that output
499 ISO file is corrupted: this be a sign of some low-level problems when
500 reading from optical disc. Similar message displayed after ripping
501 audio CD may mean that one or more track files created on your hard
502 disc is corrupted and it is caused by invalid audio CD.
503 If you notice any other bugs please let me know. You can do this either
506 using bug tracker on cdw project site (http://source‐
507 forge.net/projects/cdw/) or by sending me an e-mail: acerion@wp.pl.
508
511 cdw is currently developed by Kamil Ignacak (acerion@wp.pl). First
512 developer of cdw was Varkonyi Balazs (http://source‐
513 forge.net/users/vbali/).
514
517 Copyright (C) 2002 Varkonyi Balazs, Copyright (C) 2007 - 2012 Kamil
518 Ignacak. This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
519 modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as pub‐
520 lished by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the
521 License, or (at your option) any later version. See
522 http://www.gnu.org/licenses/old-licenses/gpl-2.0.html for details.
523
526 cdrecord(1), mkisofs(8), growisofs(1), dvd+rw-mediainfo(1), dvd+rw-for‐
527 mat(1), cdrdao, mybashburn, k3b(1), gnomebaker(1), xorriso(1),
528 libisoburn1, libburn4, libcdio.
529 1 April 2012 cdw 0.7.1(1)