on 30/11/2004 21:30, G-Books at [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > > I'm considering getting the Sony CRX830E CDR-DVD for my Pismo expansion > bay. I have found it at a few Mac parts sites, and it's pretty > pricey--around $180. However, when I google the part number, I find > lots of places that sell it for much less--like $70. Would there be a > difference in the drive between Mac and PC vendors? Is there anything I > should be wary of here? > > Thanks for any advice, > Kate
Absolutely no difference if it's the bare drive only. Check to see if the Mac dealers happen to sell it already installed in the expansion bay unit (doubtful). I've used this same drive in a Pismo and it works great. I hacked the Authoring Support plugin for OS 9, which you can download from the xlr8yourmac web site. With it, the drive is recognized in 9 by Disk Burn and iTunes. In X you can use Patchburn 3 (free dowload) to do the same thing. The drive is not set to Master, so unless your expansion bay unit can be, or has been, modified (see xlr8yourmac re. soldering a pair of tiny pins on the expansion bay unit's controller board), the drive will have the following "problems": you won't be able to boot from a CD by holding down the C key (though you can boot from a CD by holding down the Option key); the drive will not be recognized after you wake the powerbook from sleep; it will not be recognized if hot-swapped (in both cases, you have to restart the Pismo to have the drive recognized by the system). The drive works great with Toast, Disk Burn, iTunes, Dragon Burn, etc. Plays DVDs just fine. The faceplate is black and rectangular, but looks okay in the expansion bay. NOTE: the person who bought my Sony unit told me that he successfully swapped the faceplate to it from his original Pismo DVD drive (the LG model). Highly recommended at $70, especially if you have a modified expansion bay unit; though it'll work okay even without that. Good luck. Chris -- G-Books is sponsored by <http://lowendmac.com/> and... Small Dog Electronics http://www.smalldog.com | Refurbished Drives | -- Check our web site for refurbished PowerBooks | & CDRWs on Sale! | Support Low End Mac <http://lowendmac.com/lists/support.html> G-Books list info: <http://lowendmac.com/lists/g-books.html> --> AOL users, remove "mailto:"; Send list messages to: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To unsubscribe, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> For digest mode, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subscription questions: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Archive: <http://www.mail-archive.com/g-books%40mail.maclaunch.com/> --------------------------------------------------------------- >The Think Different Store http://www.ThinkDifferentStore.com ---------------------------------------------------------------
