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QuatermassX · Aug 12, 2001, 11:37 AM

I have some questions and concerns surrounding CD burning for OSX. I've developed a multimedia CD using QT5 and LiveStage2 rather than a tool such as Macromedia Director. The .mov file (an interface with buttons and a nested QuickTime movie presentation) works beautifully on Windows, OS9 & OSX using the QT5 QuickTime Player.

I would like, however, for the CD to autostart in X. I have no idea how to enable autostart functionality in X. The Toast beta doesn't do it. Does X use a hidden .inf file like Windows now? None of the above?

When using the Finder in X to browse the Mac partition of the CD-ROM, I see a "Desktop" folder and the icon arrangement/window size is off from it's appearance in OS9. Is there anything I can do to fix these visual inconsistancies so that the customer experience is EXACTLY the same under 9 AND X?

Thanks for your thoughts ....

Ghoser777 · Aug 12, 2001, 12:18 PM

I've never seen a CD start up a movie or installation process like Windows machines do... I actually thought that would have been a cool feature to implement in OS X, but I don't think they have.

About icon arangement, that's a finder bug that will hopefully be fixed in 10.1.

F-bacher

QuatermassX · Aug 12, 2001, 02:07 PM

>>I've never seen a CD start up a movie or installation process like >>Windows machines do... I actually thought that would have been a cool >>feature to implement in OS X, but I don't think they have.

Well, that's easy to do in the Classic MacOS with Toast. There's an option when you've created a Mac volume that you're burning a CD - "autostart -- select file". The file can be anything you like be it a .mov or an application or a properly-filetyped HTML page.

It's all how you author the CD. What I haven't seen is how Apple is implementing this feature in X. Perhaps that too will be fixed in OS 10.1?

Angus_D · Aug 13, 2001, 01:04 PM

I think this is an even lower priority than theme sounds. Very *VERY* few developers used this (I have seen about ONE CD that implemented this), and it's just tacky and evil and windowsish. Sorry, but I personally don't find double-clicking on an icon terribly taxing (although the Finder in 10.0 makes my blood boil).

QuatermassX · Aug 15, 2001, 05:38 AM

Well, perhaps it seems a little less than useful, but I work for the largest education publisher in the world and all the software I create must autostart on the Mac and Windows platform.

It's a non-negotiable feature for my company ..... and although I'd like to think that Mac-using college students are much more clever than their Windows counterparts ... well ... sometimes ... :-)

Angus_D · Aug 15, 2001, 01:34 PM

Well if it isn't supported by the OS, they should understand, and you'll have to just make do with it working only on OS 9 and Windows, won't you?

QuatermassX · Aug 17, 2001, 07:02 AM

Alas ... perhaps so ... I thought, though, that there might be some obscure trick or documentation on the subject. I guess Roxio wasn't kidding about having to write their own CD-burner code in lieu of Apple having finished the spec

(ps large corporations never understand)

Angus_D · Aug 17, 2001, 12:44 PM

Originally posted by QuatermassX:
<STRONG>Alas ... perhaps so ... I thought, though, that there might be some obscure trick or documentation on the subject. I guess Roxio wasn't kidding about having to write their own CD-burner code in lieu of Apple having finished the spec

(ps large corporations never understand)</STRONG>

What does the Roxio issue have to do with this thread? Just wondering...

QuatermassX · Aug 17, 2001, 09:20 PM

Not much .... just a passing comment about the unfinished CD-burning specs from Apple ...

Which is why (I'm guessing) I can't get my CD's to autostart under X ...

honeydew · Aug 17, 2001, 10:51 PM

The AutoStart feature first documented in the release notes for Quicktime 2.1 has been available since the release of Quicktime 2.0. This means that any CD title you release today with an AutoStart application or document will work with most users current installation of Mac OS 8 or 9.

The Autostart feature documented in this Q&A is not available on Mac OS X.

http://developer.apple.com/qa/qtpc/qtpc12.html

Angus_D · Aug 18, 2001, 06:18 AM

Yes, exactly. Autostart has nothing to do with CD burning, really. It's a feature of QuickTime that is present in classic but not in OS X. I don't think that it would be terribly difficult for Apple (or any advanced programmer) to implement autostart functionality on OS X, though.