218 lines
8.5 KiB
Plaintext
218 lines
8.5 KiB
Plaintext
######################################################################
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Title: UIF2ISO
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Author: Luigi Auriemma
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e-mail: aluigi@autistici.org
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web: aluigi.org
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UIF2ISO homepage:
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http://aluigi.org/mytoolz.htm#uif2iso
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######################################################################
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1) Introduction
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2) Shame on MagicISO and GPL violation
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3) Usage on Windows
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4) Usage on *nix/MacOSX
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5) Features and known bugs
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6) Technical info about the format
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7) Comments about the UIF format
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######################################################################
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===============
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1) Introduction
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===============
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UIF2ISO is an open source command-line/GUI tool for converting single
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and multipart UIF images to the original ISO format.
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It's released under the GNU GPL license and its source code is
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available in the src folder.
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The UIF image (Universal Image Format, although there is nothing of
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"universal" in it) in fact is just a compressed CD/DVD image created
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through a commercial program called MagicISO.
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######################################################################
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======================================
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2) Shame on MagicISO and GPL violation
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======================================
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The chinese program called MagicISO has created the UIF format in the
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2006 and, exactly like PowerISO already did at the beginning of that
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year, this format has been slowly started to be used to re-diffuse
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copyrighted material through BitTorrent... with the right effect that
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anyone hates this format (which is totally useless and, being closed,
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it should be NOT used on file sharing networks).
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This is a shameful marketing strategy made by the same author of
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MagicISO (a certain Gang JiaPing) for forcing the users who download
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these torrents to buy and use his program.
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These facts have been confirmed just recently due to the introduction
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of various senseless encryption mechanisms in the UIF files released
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on BitTorrent, all encryptions which have nothing to do with the UIF
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format but have been inserted only for trying to avoid the usage of my
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uif2iso alternative... without success 8-)
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For example the recent 5.5.272 version of MagicISO has introduced well
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"8" customized encryption algorithms plus other modifications JUST
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with the target of making the UIF format unreadable (again without
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success, look at uif2iso 0.1.6) and has also introduced support for
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the DAA image format.
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Unfortunately most of the code used by MagicISO for handling the DAA
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format has been "taken" from my other open source daa2iso tool
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violating my GPL license and showing how much ehmmmm "unprofessional"
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is the author of that program:
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http://aluigi.org/misc/magiciso_gpl_violation.txt
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Luckily that code which was copied was old and not compatible with the
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newer versions of the DAA format so it fails to handle these files
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correctly.
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My best suggestion is to spread the voice about the shameful actions
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of MagicISO and its author and avoiding to download or keep the
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seeding of torrents of UIF or DAA images.
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And remember that uif2iso has been created only for supporting the UIF
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format and *NOT* for playing "cat and mouse" with an idiot who
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modifies this stupid zipped format each time for becoming the only
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program able to read it...
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######################################################################
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===================
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3) Usage on Windows
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===================
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Using UIF2ISO on Windows is really a joke, just double click on
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UIF2ISO.exe and the tool will open a DOS-like window which contains
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all the needed informations about the status of conversion, then you
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will need to choose the input UIF file you want to convert and
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subsequently the name of the output file you want to create.
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Note that the correct extension (ISO, NRG or BIN/CUE and so on) is
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automatically selected by the tool depending by the input UIF file.
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If you want to use the tool from the command-line, so specifying the
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input and output files manually as in the older versions of the tool,
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you can do it too since UIF2ISO automatically recognizes if it has
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been launched from the console (cmd.exe) or through double-click.
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Just specify the input UIF file and the output ISO file you want to
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create like in the examples of the subsequent section.
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Remember that you can also associate the UIF extension to UIF2ISO, so
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when you will double-click on these files UIF2ISO will popup and will
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allow you to choose the output file immediately or you can also
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drag'n'drop the UIF file directly on UIF2ISO.EXE.
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Note that UIF2ISO is a stand-alone program, so all you need to have is
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only UIF2ISO.EXE and you can place it everywhere you want.
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######################################################################
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=======================
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4) Usage on *nix/MacOSX
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=======================
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Compile the source code using 'make', this will generate the UIF2ISO
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executable.
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If you want to install it type 'make install' or just copy the
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executable where you want since it's the only file you need.
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The only requirement for compiling and using UIF2ISO is zlib
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(apt-get install zlib1g zlib1g-dev).
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Using it then it's simple, just specify the input file and the ISO
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file you want to create like the following example:
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uif2iso "my file.uif" output.iso
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######################################################################
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==========================
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5) Features and known bugs
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==========================
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The tool supports password/encryption, little/big endian architectures
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and should work on many platforms (Windows, Linux, MacOS, *BSD, Amiga
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and others).
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The NRG file (compressed UIF) created by MagicISO is invalid so,
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although my tool tries to fix some fields and generates an additional
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CUE file, is possible that the resulted image isn't fully recognized
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by the burning/mounting program you want to use.
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During my tests I have found (only one time) also an invalid output
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ISO file (the uif was decompressed with both uif2iso and MagicISO)
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which was possible to read correctly only through MagicISO... it's
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useless to say that is a shame since creating non-standard images is
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an INTENTIONAL action made by the MagicISO's programmer!!!
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A known micro-bug is that on Windows 95/98/ME works only the so
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called GUI version because the trick I use to know if the program has
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been launched from the console or through double-click is not
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compatible with this OS, anyway this is not a problem because the 99%
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of the Windows users don't like the command-line 8-)
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I'm available for any comment or feedback, so if you find a
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compatibility problem with a specific UIF image (and you are sure that
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the image is perfect) send me a mail!!!
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######################################################################
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==================================
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6) Technical info about the format
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==================================
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UIF2ISO is open source so there is nothing better than its source code
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for explaining in detail this file format and for updates.
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In short UIF is a compressed disk image which can be derived by 5 or
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more types of input images:
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- ISO: only the classical data
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- BIN/CUE: data, audio or mixed content
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the UIF file contains a BLMS section with raw CUE informations
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(UIF2ISO uses them to generate the relative CUE file) and a BLSS
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field containing the original CUE file used by who created the UIF
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- MDS/MDF: Alcohol 120%'s proprietary disk image format
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- CCD: CloneCD image
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- NRG: disk image in Nero v2 format
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unfortunately for some reasons which I don't know the "UIFed" NRG
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image generated by MagicISO is invalid (these images don't work with
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other programs included Nero which is the creator of the NRG
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format!) and although my UIF2ISO fixes some of these fields is still
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possible that with some type of images the fixed NRG could not work
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since not 100% compatible.
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Another work-around I have adopted is the generation of an
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additional CUE file derived from the NRG one which in my test worked
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perfectly with data, audio and mixed CDs and partially with CD
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extra.
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######################################################################
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================================
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7) Comments about the UIF format
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================================
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I don't like and don't approve the UIF format because it's proprietary
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and doesn't give benefits.
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What you can do with UIF can be done better with ZIP or 7zip without
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the need to be forced to buy a software like MagicISO only for burning
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or converting a CD/DVD image.
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Ok exists my tool which can do the job but this is not a valid reason
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to continue to use this useless format.
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So if you want to create a CD/DVD image, DO NOT USE UIF!
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######################################################################
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