Discussion of Automated CD Loaders

[sonyman]

Rimage DTP Driver

Dear Brendan,
have you new Information about the Driver?

Witch Inforamtion need you?

Best Bastian:yawn:

[bhoar]

Re: Rimage DTP Driver

Dear Brendan,
have you new Information about the Driver?

Witch Inforamtion need you?

Best Bastian:yawn:

Bastian -

No, sorry. In the midst of several crises at home, no time to work on new or improved robot drivers until the end of the month...at the earliest.

I offered the help for the baxter since I already had baxter code from a couple years ago ready to mail to alex.

-brendan

[brannett]

Re: Discussion of Automated CD Loaders

hi guys - ive just installed a wireless network adapter to my MF-Digital Scribe EC so as to hide it away in the garage.
im now using remote desktop to access it over my wifi home network - eliminating need for the extra Key/Vid/Mouse.

however i'm having a problem with the destination of the ripped files - i'd like to be able to place them not on the harddrive built into the machine but on my home PC as in \\tsclient\X

any suggestions gratefully recieved -- or is this a suggestion for future release!

cheers

brannett

[bhoar]

Re: Discussion of Automated CD Loaders

Suggestions:

1. Mount the remote path as a drive letter using explorer (Tools/Map Network Drive...).

2. Configure a Profile in the cd ripper that uses that drive letter.

3. Make sure you're using the Encode Local DSP in your profile, which works around some severe performance issues ripping to a remote path.

4. When running the batch ripper, choose that profile.

Expect performance to suffer however...writing the data over wireless will slow things down.

-brendan

[brannett]

Re: Discussion of Automated CD Loaders

cheers for that brendan...

hadnt realised that the "ordinary"/single disc cd ripper program settings had such an impact on the batch ripping program!.....(now i see where to change options aswell like how the tagging works etc! so thanks for that too..) will let you know how i get on

cheers man

[bhoar]

Re: Discussion of Automated CD Loaders

cheers for that brendan...

hadnt realised that the "ordinary"/single disc cd ripper program settings had such an impact on the batch ripping program!.....(now i see where to change options aswell like how the tagging works etc! so thanks for that too..) will let you know how i get on

cheers man

Yup. The batch ripper profiles are the same as the cd ripper profiles, but you can only configure them in the cd ripper.

-brendan

[DJ ROB]

Re: Discussion of Automated CD Loaders

So I'm one of the guys that purchased a NEW Kodak Kiosk Batch Ripper from eBay last week. Great deal and It looks tough. I got the all software purchased, downloaded and install yesterday (dBpoweramp Reference R13.1 Registered, CD Writer Release 3, Batch Ripper and Kodak Drivers, and perfectmeta AMG) The problem is I'm getting a Error saying: ULCLI Notification Unable to initialize robot shutting down. I setup on 2 different computers to make sure. I even did the testing commands in the configuration, the Post-Batch CLI was the only function working (It was ejecting the tray). Now do I need to update something on the Kodak Kiosk Hardware for the Robot to respond to the commands?

[bhoar]

Re: Discussion of Automated CD Loaders

So I'm one of the guys that purchased a NEW Kodak Kiosk Batch Ripper from eBay last week. Great deal and It looks tough. I got the all software purchased, downloaded and install yesterday (dBpoweramp Reference R13.1 Registered, CD Writer Release 3, Batch Ripper and Kodak Drivers, and perfectmeta AMG) The problem is I'm getting a Error saying: ULCLI Notification Unable to initialize robot shutting down. I setup on 2 different computers to make sure. I even did the testing commands in the configuration, the Post-Batch CLI was the only function working (It was ejecting the tray). Now do I need to update something on the Kodak Kiosk Hardware for the Robot to respond to the commands?

1. What serial port does the robot show up on? Check the Device Manager (windows-pause/Hardware/Device Manager). Does it show up as COM3? COM8? Etc. Make sure you always plug the unit into the exact same USB port, or windows will be "helpful" and assign a different serial port number for each USB port you use, which means having to reconfigure things almost every time you plug it in.

2. Do you have all five command lines set to use the same com port and is it the correct one? If you've messed the commands lines up, change the driver to the manual eject drive, save, then come back and switch to Kodak to get the original, default command lines, and then edit from there.

3. Due to the drive reservation code in the ULCLI, execution order of the commands matters a lot. For example, if you are using the Test function in the Configuration module, you have to perform a pre-batch before you perform a load. If you've done things out of order, do a post-batch, reboot and proceed normally.

-brendan

[bhoar]

Re: Discussion of Automated CD Loaders

Additionally, for the Kodak unit, if it is not obvious which port the USB serial port is connected to, you can compare the device manager's "Ports" subtree with the kodak disconnected vs. connected. When connected an additional com port should show up. That way you know which com port to use.

If there's a concern the robot isn't responding correctly (e.g, the robot controller board is bad), you can open hyperterminal, set the speed to 9600, settings to 8N1 open the connection and type "V" then "C". "V" should give info on the robot, "C" should give an "X". Before running the batch ripper, make sure you exit hyperterminal.

-brendan

[DJ ROB]

Re: Discussion of Automated CD Loaders

My IT guys are saying that the Robot is not coming up in the COM Port at all. They were wondering if the robots firmware is gone or does not come up due to it being originally an attachment to a Kodak Kiosk system. So I guess that means that Mirco Orbit CD Firmware needs installed and I probably would have to contact Microboards.

Thanks
ROB

[bhoar]

Re: Discussion of Automated CD Loaders

My IT guys are saying that the Robot is not coming up in the COM Port at all. They were wondering if the robots firmware is gone or does not come up due to it being originally an attachment to a Kodak Kiosk system. So I guess that means that Mirco Orbit CD Firmware needs installed and I probably would have to contact Microboards.

Thanks
ROB

Rob.

If you look inside the case, you'll find something amazing:

The USB port on the back is just a bracket, that feeds into a 7-port USB hub. That USB hub then connects to two different devices: a USB to RS232 serial cable adapter and a USB to IDE drive adapter.

The serial cable adapter then plugs into the robot controller board and the IDE adapter plugs into the drive.

I'd something inside has become disconnected after the USB hub, or perhaps the internal USB to RS232 cable is bad.

I received a couple of these where there were build problems, easily fixable. One like the above situation and another where one of the lifter paddles was mounted 90 degress off of where it should be (easily fixable with a torx and philips screwdriver set).

I'm guessing that some point years ago microboards got a very large contract to create these and...may have not done as good a job as they do putting them together (or perhaps it was farmed out).

-brendan

[bhoar]

Re: Discussion of Automated CD Loaders

Rob, one more thing:

There's also the chance that it might be a driver issue. When you connect the device, does any new device show up in the USB subtree or as an unknown device?

-brendan

[DJ ROB]

Re: Discussion of Automated CD Loaders

Still Says Unknown on the device(USB Serial Controller), with the good old yellow Questionmark.

Very weird But I connected the Com1 port from the back of the desktop Dell, then directly to the DB9 Cable on the inside and also left the USB connected. Did a test on the Kodak Kiosk set-up config, It DID NOT work. Then thought I should try the Micro Orbit set-up test. IT WORKED!!!
I just Set up to start ripping and it's Hauling ARSE. Looks like a possible inside Serial to USB cable issue like you said. I don't know 100%, It's working and I'm leaving it alone. Your AWESOME!!! Thanks for the info.

ROB

[bhoar]

Re: Discussion of Automated CD Loaders

Still Says Unknown on the device(USB Serial Controller), with the good old yellow Questionmark.

Very weird But I connected the Com1 port from the back of the desktop Dell, then directly to the DB9 Cable on the inside and also left the USB connected. Did a test on the Kodak Kiosk set-up config, It DID NOT work. Then thought I should try the Micro Orbit set-up test. IT WORKED!!!
I just Set up to start ripping and it's Hauling ARSE. Looks like a possible inside Serial to USB cable issue like you said. I don't know 100%, It's working and I'm leaving it alone. Your AWESOME!!! Thanks for the info.

ROB

Hmm, if the USB device is seen but is "not working" in the device manager, then you might just need the correct Prolific or FTDI driver for the USB to serial bridge. That might have been the problem all along!

You can use the Microboards driver, but with one caveat.

With the Microboards driver, you'll never be able to rip the last 5 discs without manual intervention.

Why?

Because, for kiosk use, they modified the sensor to start returning an error code after loading the fifth disc instead after the last (or on the first "empty" shot). Presumably, this would be so that the retail location would get a "discs running low" indicator so that they could restock it before the customer had to be delayed.

The Microboards driver sees that as a failed load and stops (though you can tell it to resume, I think). The Kodak driver starts keeping count and gives different beep sounds depending on if the disc is the fifth, fourth, third, second or last before it tells you it is empty.

In general, though: congratulations on your new ripper bot!

-brendan

[kretch]

Re: Discussion of Automated CD Loaders

Hi Brendan, all
I've purchased a microorbit for giggles and to see I can substitute some of my XL1B's for ripping.
So here's a total noob question for you:
*) Where can I find a manual for this thing? i.e. how do I assemble it, where do the discs go etc. ? I don't want to mess up my new toy by hooking it up upside down somehow.

Any information would be most welcome

Thanks!
Kretch