[G4] Adding a Sony DVD drive

[sr ferenczy]

http://sony.storagesupport.com/freeupgrade/

that link holds the firmware update that *might* give +r/rw access to 
the sony dvd burner.... the article was interesting, but ii havent been 
able to find any first hand information as to actually SEEING the sony 
drives in the new imacs (the few posts listed with the article mention 
their new imacs specifically NOT having the sony drives)

anywho, the drive is an OEM version (unsupported by sony) of the sony 
DRU-500A, so the firmware update for the DRU-500A *should* work on the 
DW-U10A that is supposedly included on the new imacs....

still, all the reports i have heard on the new 1.4 gHz powermacs, they 
all included a pioneer burner rather than a sony.

peace
sandor

On Saturday, March 15, 2003, at 11:23  AM, Robert Meadors wrote:

> Here is a link to an article.
>
> http://www.macobserver.com/article/2003/03/06.4.shtml
>
> HTH
>
> Chris
> On Saturday, March 15, 2003, at 08:06  AM, sr ferenczy wrote:
>
>> any idea of what the sony product number is for the exact drives 
>> apple uses? it is quite possible that the drives could easily be 
>> flashed with new firmware from sony to bring it up to the full 
>> capabilities of the drives. i know with the pioneer drives this was 
>> quite possible, and while it no longer appeared as a "superdrive" it 
>> was still compatible with all apple software.
>>
>> sandor
>>
>> On Saturday, March 15, 2003, at 11:00  AM, Robert Meadors wrote:
>>
>>> *Some* of the new machines DO have the new Sony drive that does it 
>>> all. It seems as though the drives have their + features stripped 
>>> from them. I don't know if it is by software or firmware though. I 
>>> don't remember where I read it though.
>>>
>>> Chris
>>>
>>> On Saturday, March 15, 2003, at 04:42  AM, sr ferenczy wrote:
>>>
>>>> as far as i know, apple is still using the pioneer drives as the 
>>>> "superdrive" in the powermacs. i believe it is now the A05/105 
>>>> drive (4x dvd-r burning) now, apple doesnt list the superdrive as 
>>>> supporting dvd-rw, but this is NOT dvd+rw. apple does not disable 
>>>> the dvd-rw, they just refuse to advertise it for some reason (i 
>>>> forget the true details, but i think you might need a 3rd party 
>>>> burning utility->toast, etc<- to burn dvd-rw..)
>>>>
>>>> peace
>>>> sandor
>>>>
>>>> On Saturday, March 15, 2003, at 03:34  AM, David Crandon wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> Hello,
>>>>>
>>>>> I know that the new Macs use a Sony "universal" DVD R drive. I have
>>>>> heard that Apple disables the DVD+R/W part of the drive though.
>>>>>
>>>>> Has anyone found a way to enable that part of the drive? Is is 
>>>>> possible
>>>>> to buy the same Sony universal drive elsewhere (for a second 
>>>>> drive) and
>>>>> be able to use all formats?
>>>>>
>>>>> Thanks,
>>>>>
>>>>> David Crandon
>>>