QNX Technical Articles
Making CDs from Momentics ISO files
What is an ISO file?
An ISO file contains a cdrom disk image, in this case our QNX Momentics distribution. This CD-ROM disk image is an exact copy of our distribution on a CD-ROM. When burned as a disk image, the .iso file is turned into a duplicate cd of the original cd. In our current Momentics development seat distribution, we have a number of ISO files -- one for each supported development host OS. Our Neutrino x86 Standard Runtime distribution comes as single ISO intended to be installed on standard x86 PC hardware.
How do I get the ISO image onto a physical CD so I can install the software?
If you have a CD burner and software that can burn .iso or CD-ROM disk images you can burn the .iso to a CD. This CD can then be used to install the software on your system. There are many good free and for-purchase cd-burning programs available. A simple search on the Internet will provide you with a lot of choice - we don't recommend any one program.
Some of the many examples of such programs include:
on Windows:
- Ahead Nero
- Roxio Easy CD Creator
- cdrecord
on Linux, Solaris, and QNX Neutrino:
- cdrecord
To reduce the chance of producing bad or marginal CDs that some machines might have difficulty reading, we recommend that you burn your product CDs at a low recording speed.
Testing your CD
On a UNIX-like operating system (Neutrino, Linux, Solaris), you can use the cksum utility to do a checksum on the CD using the block special file representing the CD drive (the exact mount point will vary from OS to OS). Compare the resulting value to the checksum posted in myQNX's Read More section for the ISO file.
Note: Some CD-writing software may write the ISO in such a way as to cause an I/O error when the end of the CD is reached when reading the block-special file. We have found that the cdrecord program, for instance, may cause this unless the "-dao" option is specified.
On Windows you won't have this direct checksum ability; however, if the ISO is for Momentics development seat software on a Windows host, you can just try installing the product. The InstallShield archives for Windows-hosted QNX Momentics products have integrity checking built-in. If the actual product archive is corrupt on the CD, in most cases you won't be able to install the product.