Haven't heard of anyone trying it. I'd be interested to see if its possible 😀
I remember even with a Pentium machine we'd end up with more than a few coasters... but that was before drives came with burn-proof, maybe a newer drive would make it a lot less painful.

Even 1x DVD speed is almost 10 times 1x CD speed though... will you be using a SCSI burner again?

Yes, I'll be using a SATA-to-SCSI CD/DVD burner to minimise CPU consuption.

The problem I'm actually having is with finding Win98/NT4.0/W2K era burning software. I used to use Adaptec Easy CD Creator 3.0 back in the day, but I haven't been able to find 3.0, 3.5, or 4.0 online now.

Roxio Easy CD Creator v6.0 doesn't seem to support NT4/W2K. It officially supports W2K, but after installation it looks like its requesting some Pentium instructions.

Ahead Nero 6 installed and opens fine, but when trying to burn, I get invalid instructions when tested on NT 4.0. In fact, I recall getting such odd errors even on my PIII a few years back and switched to Nero Express 7. Unfortunately, Nero Express 7 had issues with the 486/W2K box in that it requires directx9.0c, which didn't install.

I was going to try Golden Hawk's burning suite, which is known for legacy support, but their website disappeared a week ago. So the main issue is that I need some older software and they have all disappeared. And if it is too old, they it doesn't support DVD burning. Perhaps Ahead Nero 5 or Roxio Easy CD 5 would do the trick, but where to find them?

Anyone have any ideas about which burning apps will work? There must be some light-weight stuff around still.

Burn an image with imgburn maybe? That works on 98.

A DVD burner is going to push the limits of system bandwidth on a 486 though I think! But the buffer underrun protection should make it safe.

This one supports W2K: http://cdburnerxp.se/en/home

iulianv wrote:

This one supports W2K: http://cdburnerxp.se/en/home

But is it also 486 compatible? That's the bigger question. It might very well be 2k compatible, but if it uses Pentium instructions it still won't work.

I guess this would work on a 486: http://www.freeweb.hu/doscdroast/index.html

hi

over 10 years ago i bought a mirai cdrw which AFAIK
was one of the 1st generation burn-proof SCSI drives
made by sanyo.

it came with a registered version of nero 5. the nero 5
spec is here:
http://www.nero.com/eng/support-nero5-system- … quirements.html

i have an isa scsi card (advansys) and have been meaning
to test that drive in my old 486 (only 66mhz) but haven't so can't
say if it works or not with burn-proof on a slow machine
but nero 5 may indeed work if you can get it on ebay or
elsewhere. btw, the updates used to be free but they
charge now which is wrong in my opinion (you can't download
the update and have to get in the post).

bye

iulianv wrote: This one supports W2K: http://cdburnerxp.se/en/home

Won't install on NT4.

sklawz wrote: it came with a registered version of nero 5.

The unmarked Nero's on eBay were version 6 unfortunately, which I've tested not to work. I can't find version 5 except for one that is $30+. Does version 5 support DVD burning?

jwt27 wrote: I guess this would work on a 486: http://www.freeweb.hu/doscdroast/index.html

I've added it to the list, but 16-bit DOS? I wonder if this will work from the NT command console?

So I've downloaded 20 different independent CD/DVD burning apps from tucows and cnet. Those guys have really made it tricky to download software these days. I'm in the mist of testing them; you really need to watch out for spyware with this kind of software. I'll report back if/when I find some which work. My order of testing interest is NT4 1st, Y2K, then 98SE. A lot of the software which requires Y2K and above is also looking for a Pentium. Win98SE software sometimes works on Y2K.

I'm glad to see I didn't read any replies to the liking of "no way, impossible, you're crazy, a 486-that's nuts"

I guess any Linux compiled for i386 would do the work, or maybe try the windows version of cdrecord.

feipoa wrote:

...I'm glad to see I didn't read any replies to the liking of "no way, impossible, you're crazy, a 486-that's nuts"

I didn't say it. but I am sure thinking it loudly. Mostly I'm trying to figure out WHY? What on earth is so large that it doesn't fit on a cd, and why are you using a 486 for it?

On a completely different note, I am watching this with earnest. More out of curiosity than anything else.

hi

feipoa wrote:

I can't find version 5 except for one that is $30+. Does version 5 support DVD burning?

apparently DVD support was added in 5.5.4.0.

I think you can find at least one nero 5 update on ftp sites
if you look. the most obvious being Nero5582.exe which
is also said to work in a standalone demo mode if not
updating a previously registered install.

bye

sklawz wrote:

hi […]
Show full quote

hi

feipoa wrote:

I can't find version 5 except for one that is $30+. Does version 5 support DVD burning?

apparently DVD support was added in 5.5.4.0.

I think you can find at least one nero 5 update on ftp sites
if you look. the most obvious being Nero5582.exe which
is also said to work in a standalone demo mode if not
updating a previously registered install.

bye

He might want to avoid version 5.5.4.0.

http://www.cdrinfo.com/forum/tm.asp?m=231

According to the above thread, it's buggy as hell.

Nero 5 also has some very specific requirements concerning 486 systems.

http://www.nero.com/eng/support-nero5-system- … quirements.html

A F-A-S-T hard drive is going to be a necessity if you want your burned DVD to be readable afterwards.

You can also still get all the updates to Nero 5, but only if you order a CD.

http://www.nero.com/eng/downloads-nero5-update.php

Thanks to everyone for their replies.

Yes, I have a very fast harddrive. It is was overkill for speed on a 486; its a Ultra320 SCSI harddisk on an Ultra2LVD controller (80 MB/S, but I can only get up to 35 MB/s with benchmarks).

I was able to find nero5582.exe (love those Russian FTP sites), but it immediately wants a serial number saying my demo has expired. I tried setting the system clock back to 1999 but that didn't help. However, it does let me look for which burner I have installed, and it doesn't find it, so I don't think a working serial number will help any.
EDIT: Nero 6 serial works for Nero 5. Unfortunately, my DVD burner is not supported in Nero 5.

cdrecord looks tempting. I've installed the Win32 binaries but wasn't in the mood to read-up on commands.

The doscdroast also looks tempting. It had some issues with WinNT so I'll have to play with this in Win98SE/DOS later. The GUI works in NT and many of the features do as well, but it frooze at some point.

With the 20 modern burning apps sampled, I did find 1 (only 1) which works in Windows NT 4.0. It is Cute DVD Burner. I was successful in burning a 3.6 GB DVD. It was a movie image file and I tested it out later by watching it. I used a DVD+RW disc, which seems to insist on burning at 4X only; so about 4-5 MB/s. The CPU usage was way up at 95%. I'm not quite sure how this operation would fare with an IDE DVD burner, certaily worse.

Cute DVD Burner did not seem to be able to burn an audio CD though, spitting out some missing file error. I used wave files instead of mp3's to cut down on the CPU load. I could burn CD and DVD data fine though. I also tested Cute DVD Burner in W2K, I was also able to successfully burn a DVD. The CPU in W2K was fixed at 100% and the buffer got low at times, but never went to 0.

In general, I wouldn't recommend Cute DVD burner unless you are using Windows NT4.0 since it is a bit of a CPU hog. I found Express Burn to be much more CPU sensible when I tested it in W2K. (Note that the W2K version of Express Burn wouldn't install in W2K, but the Win98SE version would.) I could burn the same DVD with only 50% CPU utilisation in W2K and about 75% utilisation in Win98SE. Burning CD audio still didn't work though. This has always been an issue with SCSI burners for me. I think some specific ASPI's work for this, but I forgot how I did it in the past. Unfortunately, Express Burn doesn't install on NT 4.0, but it sure makes for a lightweight FREE burner in Win98SE/W2K.

luckybob wrote:

What on earth is so large that it doesn't fit on a cd

Actually, the DOS version of Norton Ghost allows one to create backup images of their hardisks directly onto optical medium, such as a DVD burner. This is great for system backups if you don't have a second harddrive in the system. That's one practical answer. There may be more?

UPDATE:

I removed the SATA DVD burner from the SATA-to-SCSI bridge converter and connected it on a SATA-to-IDE bridge converter. I then connected the the SATA-to-IDE bridge converter to the motherboard's IDE port (in PIO4 mode) and re-ran the DVD burn test.

Using Express Burn in W2K, the system burned a 1 GB DVD with 90% CPU utilisation, however verify burn shows errors. When trying to view the DVD contents in W2K's Windows Explorer, I can view the correct directory structure on the DVD and access the files, however the files are corrupt. I think this is a factor of the SATA-to-IDE bridge as I've had problems burning to discs using these converters even on modern PCs.

I suspect that if I had a real IDE DVD burner to test, the disc would be more readable.

Has anyone had any success with SATA DVD - to - IDE converters inasmuch as DVD burning is concerned?

feipoa wrote:

UPDATE: […]
Show full quote

UPDATE:

I removed the SATA DVD burner from the SATA-to-SCSI bridge converter and connected it on a SATA-to-IDE bridge converter. I then connected the the SATA-to-IDE bridge converter to the motherboard's IDE port (in PIO4 mode) and re-ran the DVD burn test.

Using Express Burn in W2K, the system burned a 1 GB DVD with 90% CPU utilisation, however verify burn shows errors. When trying to view the DVD contents in W2K's Windows Explorer, I can view the correct directory structure on the DVD and access the files, however the files are corrupt. I think this is a factor of the SATA-to-IDE bridge as I've had problems burning to discs using these converters even on modern PCs.

I suspect that if I had a real IDE DVD burner to test, the disc would be more readable.

Has anyone had any success with SATA DVD - to - IDE converters inasmuch as DVD burning is concerned?

I have an external SCSI DVD-RAM drive. I wonder if that would work.

Only one way to find out -- fire it up!

feipoa wrote:

Only one way to find out -- fire it up!

No SCSI card. I bought it to use with a Mac.