dialectical deprecation Re: cdrecord hangs my computer

From: Bob
Date: Mon Dec 08 2003 - 14:05:51 EST


Martin J. Bligh wrote:

In contrast, the old cdrecord interfaces are an UNBELIEVABLE PILE OF CRAP!
It's an interface that is based on some random hardware layout mechanism
that isn't even TRUE any more, and hasn't been true for a long time. It's
not helpful to the user, and it doesn't match how devices are accessed by
everything else on the system.

It's bad from a technical standpoint (anybody who names a generic device
with a flat namespace is just basically clueless), and it's bad from a
usability standpoint. It has _zero_ redeeming qualities.



I think the appropriate phrase is "user malevolent" software. Making
the user interface fit some arcane technica rather than the user is
rather tragic. Reality is quite complicated enough as it is, without
deliberately setting out to make it more so.

M.


Today I realize that it's not double deprecation, it's dialectical
deprecation, for a user who gets caught between the deprecation
of ide-scsi and cdrecord targbuslun "flat" naming and then the
cdrecord error message when trying to use a full devpath. The
user's head is volleyed back and forth as cdrecord maintains
its "denial".

cdrecord whines about the full devpath in the first instance,
will not work if I use 1,0,0 in both places, but seems to
catch a clue about the devpath stub from the first instance
in order to use its 1,0,0 nomenclature below that.

#/etc/default/cdrecord
CDR_DEVICE=ATAPI:/dev/scsi/host1/bus0/target0/lun0/generic
#ATAPI:1,0,0 won't work in CDR_DEVICE, but...
yamaha= ATAPI:1,0,0 -1 -1 ""

I'm scared(under-informed) to drop ide-scsi since
I'm using 3ware and don't know if just scsi-generic
would be enough for that hd controller(needs ide-scsi?
3ware's site doc is not easy to find).

-Bob

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