Currently, it implements the ATAPI READ SUB-CHANNEL command and fully supports the current position data format code. Other format codes like ISRC and UPC currently return dummy data, but wiring that up would be pretty straightforward. Supporting image formats like CloneCD's .ccd/.img/.sub that store arbitrary subchannel data also seems doable, but would definitely be more work.

have you tried this on a pci-e ide adapter yet?

i want one of these for my old 486

but also just went “gee it would be nice to just scroll a menu and select different usb LiveCDs for a lab box” and not constantly switching or losing usb dongles for them

ive done boot loader menus and sooner or later one OS clobbers or screws up the others. so im into the idea of segregating them and using your device to select imgs.

yeah its something i could solve with a PXE environment but then i have external dependencies that change over the years as im moving around and getting different internet providers, home equipment , or using different solutions for dhcp and routing etc. this would work well on an airgapped system even if its been collecting dust on a shelf for a few years

The annoying part of .ccd files is the lack of support in the specifications for DPM data. It was officially used just for some old Karaoke machines and VDJing mixers, but more importantly for retrogaming aficionados, it was used by SecuROM and Starforce copy protections.

Can't think of an open format with support for that, IIRC not even CHD files store them.

MDF/MDS isn't open, but could possibly be reverse-engineered enough to read the DPMS data.

CDEMU/libmirage support both CCD et al and MDF/MDS images. Mixed modes, etc - the whole shebang. How good the copyright protection emulation is I cannot say tho.

I could be utterly wrong on this, but AFAIK the "emulation" in tools like Daemon Tools or Alcohol was only required when the disc image was created with partial or missing DPMS/subchannel data; If the virtual drive provides transparently the required stream the copy protection should be none the wiser on the actual drive emulation.

I'm by no means an expert on Starforce and friends, I'm just bringing attention to a nifty tool many I suspect aren't aware of. Also to highlight that CDEMU should support all these subchannel and stuff in CCD and others - maybe you right and this itself should make the protection algo happy, provided the image file is correct and comprehensive. It's just that I vaguely remember Cdemu had some specific protection options, but I might be wrong here.