MBA SuperDrive... Anyone figure it out?

[OldSkoolNJ]

Just wondering if anyone has written anything to make it work with other Macs yet? Anyone figure out what restricts it from working with other machines? I would love to replace the beast of an external drive I have with this beautiful piece of work. I don't use the external a lot but enough I want one around. At the same time anyone figure out how to make the GUI interface of remote disk work with other machines? I know there is way to remote disk anything and have done it before but the GUI they added to this service is beatiful for the MBA. I would love to be able to use either of these things with out the MBA. Thanks guys

Kevin :apple:

[ahaxton]

The MBA has a special high powered USB port that can power the superdrive.

[OldSkoolNJ]

Ok so someone just needs to make some sort of Hi Powered Hub or a cable Adapter that can power it for other Macs. I hope someone sees a market for this. There is such a good sized market for this to work with other Macs. I can tell you that from personal experience from my shop. Someone get on this quick!

Question - Does the Mac see it at all when it is plugged in to it? (other than the MBA that is)

Kevin :apple:

[ModestPenguin]

its not hard, i mean i took a core2duo and made it into a blisterpack that I power using both the usb and the firewire ports on my friends 12" PB G4.

give me a soldering iron and 2 weeks,
:rolleyes:

[riyadc2]

If its only a power issue and not a driver issue something like this (http://www.amazon.com/USB-Power-Adapter-Y-Cable/dp/B000JIOHDE) should make it work on other computers.

[Adokimus]

If its only a power issue and not a driver issue something like this (http://www.amazon.com/USB-Power-Adapter-Y-Cable/dp/B000JIOHDE) should make it work on other computers.

I believe that it is a driver issue. Some people have already tried powered USB hubs to no avail. I'm not sure if this is the same under bootcamp, but I would imagine it is.

[notsofatjames]

Somewhere I read that it wasn't a power issue but a driver issue. System profiler shows same power consumption as any other device.

[iHerzeleid]

Somewhere I read that it wasn't a power issue but a driver issue. System profiler shows same power consumption as any other device.


For some reason, Apple doesn't support the new SuperDrive on anything other than the Air. There's no obvious physical reason for this; our previous observation that Apple was using a higher powered bus to drive the SuperDrive turned out to be wrong. It uses the standard 500mA USB power, and when plugged into other Macs, it shows up as a recognized USB device (below, plugged into a MacBook Pro).

AppleInsider (http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/08/02/09/early_adopter_issues_macbook_air_superdrive_remote_disc_and_install.html)

[OldSkoolNJ]

Okkkk .. so its back to software. So does anyone know anyone trying to work on this? ANy mentions on the net?

I would like to follow progress.

Kevin