CD_Type  -  CD-ROM filetype mapper

Public Domain

CD_Type is a public domain utility which fixes a bug in Acorn's CD-ROM filing system, CDFS. When you open a Filer window on an MS-DOS disc under RISC OS, RISC OS automatically maps the MS-DOS filename extensions to the equivalent RISC OS filetypes. For example, any DOS file with the extension .TXT is given the RISC OS filetype &FFF and appears in the Filer window with a TEXT icon, .JPG extensions are mapped to the RISC OS JPEG filetype, etc. This automatic mapping means that you can load files directly off MS-DOS discs by double-clicking on their icons.

The problem with Acorn's CDFS is that the extension-to-filetype mapping routine for DOS CD-ROMs doesn't work. The result of this is that you can't double-click on DOS CD-ROM files to load them into RISC OS applications. This is not a serious problem if the file is only 100K or so, as you can simply copy it to your hard drive and then set its filetype. However, if the file is a 50Mb AVI movie, copying it to your hard drive is not particularly practical.

CD-Type solves this problem by ripping the CDFS module out of the RMA, adding new code to perform the extension-to-filetype mapping, and rewriting the fixed CDFS module to the RMA. This process has to be performed every time you reboot the computer, so the best way to install it is to add it to your Risc PC's !Boot.Choices.Boot.Tasks directory or your !Boot file.

CD_Type's functions are duplicated in the more advanced CDFix utility which is also supplied on this disc, and which should be used in preference to CD_Type. CDFix is not, however, guaranteed to work in all cases, so if you have any problems with it, use CD_Type instead.

This program is public domain
