Its always a good thing to read Sladhdot, and it had been a while since i looked at the site actually. Look what I found. Even better news is the message board thread has tons of satisfied customers.
For those who do not yet know what I am blabbering about: This guy has hacked the firmware of the DVD-R(W) drive (SuperDrive) of the PowerBook. The PB SuperDrive burns a CD-R at 8x which is pretty slow to me. I have a Sony Spressa that burns at 12x and I am pretty used to that. My PC can burn at 48x and I can get reliable burns at anything under 40x. So 8x is really slow for me. The SuperDrive burns a DVD-R at 1x. The SuperDrive cannot burn a DVD-RW. This hack firmware allows 16x CD-R burns, 2x DVD-R burns and enables DVD-RW burns. Wow. There is even a "downgrade" available.
I don't know if I am going to try this. The 16x CD-R burn speed is what I am really interested as I do not burn to DVD quite as much as I burn to CD-R. Why would Apple cripple these drives? The general consensus is the added heat and power consumption. Well don't burn while the laptop is on a blanket. I am really tempted, I might flash my burner for that 16x CD-R speed.
With so many people reporting success I can only guess why Apple would cripple the hardware. It is not the first time Apple has crippled hardware, that is for sure. The 17" PowerBook has the same model drive but it reports a 16x CD-R speed and has a different firmware version as the 12" and 15" PowerBook. Hmmmm....
Read on for an insane amount of specs on a flashed SuperDrive.
Someone on the message board posted this info:
Device type : Removable CD-ROM
Version : 0
Response Format: 2
Capabilities :
Vendor_info : 'MATSHITA'
Identifikation : 'DVD-R UJ-815A '
Revision : 'D101'
Device seems to be: Generic mmc2 DVD-R/DVD-RW.
Drive capabilities, per MMC-3 page 2A:
Does read CD-R media
Does write CD-R media
Does read CD-RW media
Does write CD-RW media
Does read DVD-ROM media
Does read DVD-R media
Does write DVD-R media
Does not read DVD-RAM media
Does not write DVD-RAM media
Does support test writing
Does read Mode 2 Form 1 blocks
Does read Mode 2 Form 2 blocks
Does read digital audio blocks
Does restart non-streamed digital audio reads accurately
Does support Buffer-Underrun-Free recording
Does read multi-session CDs
Does read fixed-packet CD media using Method 2
Does read CD bar code
Does not read R-W subcode information
Does read raw P-W subcode data from lead in
Does return CD media catalog number
Does return CD ISRC information
Does support C2 error pointers
Does deliver composite A/V data
Does play audio CDs
Number of volume control levels: 256
Does support individual volume control setting for each channel
Does support independent mute setting for each channel
Does not support digital output on port 1
Does not support digital output on port 2
Loading mechanism type: tray
Does support ejection of CD via START/STOP command
Does not lock media on power up via prevent jumper
Does allow media to be locked in the drive via PREVENT/ALLOW command
Is not currently in a media-locked state
Does not support changing side of disk
Does not have load-empty-slot-in-changer feature
Does not support Individual Disk Present feature
Maximum read speed: 4234 kB/s (CD 24x, DVD 3x)
Current read speed: 4234 kB/s (CD 24x, DVD 3x)
Maximum write speed: 2822 kB/s (CD 16x, DVD 2x)
Current write speed: 2822 kB/s (CD 16x, DVD 2x)
Rotational control selected: CLV/PCAV
Buffer size in KB: 2048
Copy management revision supported: 1
Number of supported write speeds: 4
Write speed # 0: 2822 kB/s CLV/PCAV (CD 16x, DVD 2x)
Write speed # 1: 2117 kB/s CLV/PCAV (CD 12x, DVD 1x)
Write speed # 2: 1411 kB/s CLV/PCAV (CD 8x, DVD 1x)
Write speed # 3: 706 kB/s CLV/PCAV (CD 4x, DVD 0x)
