Burning a NUON.CD File to CD-R
By JustClaws

- Using your CD writing software, copy the NUON.CD file to the root directory of a new project. You CANNOT use the XP CD-writer support to create the CD, at least in theory. (There are several reasons.)

- Add several other large files to the CD project, some names which are earlier in the alphabet than NUON.CD is. These are padding files and Samsung specify on their firmware site for several DVD players that for CD's to boot, padding files to allow spin-up are required. (I downloaded all homebrew titles and use them to pad my NUON.CD, this means every CD-R carries a NUON collection as an added bonus.)

- I recommend using any type of CD-R, CD-RW discs never work for me on an N505, it seems that only the N501/RCA can actually read them. VM-Labs also state in their SDK that using a CD-RW is unreliable.

- The CD must be single session, VM-Labs specified this in their SDK. (Writing just one session with multi-session on is not the same.)

- The CD must be ISO9660, optionally with JOLIET format, if required.

- I recommend using ISO9660 level 1, FORMAT 1. (Avoid format 2/XA.)

- The CD should be FINALIZED, no additional data can be added to it.

- Do not write the CD above 8X, although 2X is slow, it is reliable. Having said that, I have success writing the a CD-R for N505 at 8X.

- For me, Ahead Nero works fine, but Ahead Nero Express does not work.

- Burn another project, after checking your configuration, if it fails. Some home-brew code has been found unreliable for some people, and a warning screen may appear, but after pressing start, it may black-out. (An example is Bomb, which works for me intermittently only, to-date.)

- Sadly a DVD-R will not work either, for a NUON.CD file to be booted,

+ Once you boot your CD-R, be patient. All NUON systems read CD-R data very slowly. The more files you put as padding, the slower booting is. A game like DOOM takes nearly a minute to appear after you first boot!

+ The Samsung N2000 (Extiva) and Toshiba N2300 cannot read a CD-R, and further their firmware does not look for the BOOT.CD file on any CD. Only Samsung N501, N504/N505, and RCA players will boot homebrew code.

+ There is no way to avoid seeing the VMLabs warning screen at present.

+ If you have problems, ask friendly fans at http://www.nuon-dome.com/

BURNING A NUON.CD FILE TO CD-R WITH A BOOT LOADER

- This is not possible. The NUON.CD file is the complete bootable file which you must burn onto a CD-R as the one and only application. To put a program onto a boot menu, you need to have the CD_APP.COF file which is compiled by the developer (or by you from source using the SDK) and so if there is no CD_APP.COF file, you are stuck, for now.

- Where I have the source code for an application, I will provide K3V at NUON-Dome with a ZIP file containing just a necessary CD_APP.COF.

+ Instructions on how to use the boot loader come with that download, thanks to DragonShadow Industries who've written the boot menu tool.

***** JustClaws (UK/NL) *****

28/9/2004 - I now have 100% success burning these NUON.CD files to CD using a Ricoh CD-R/RW 7083A (8x). An A-Open CD-R/RW drive capable of 52X will not write any disk that my N505 boots, but for a PC both discs are equivalent. I am using Ahead Nero with the 8X, but Ahead Nero Express with the 52X. :-(

Cheers,

JustClaws.

FIN