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Portables (Apple) Businesses Apple Hardware

PowerBook G4 SuperDrive Speed Bump Hack 81

Posted by pudge from the do-not-try-this-at-home dept.
George Wright writes "A guy called cynikal has managed to hack the firmware on the PowerBook G4's "Superdrive" (the Panasonic UJ-815A slimline slot loading DVD-R/RW burner) to enable DVD-R burning at 2x (instead of 1x), DVD-RW burning at 1x (instead of it being disabled), CD-R burning at 16x (instead of 8x) and CD-RW burning at 8x (instead of 4x). Thanks a lot cynikal! The drive now reports as a UJ-815A instead of a UJ-815, and has a firmware revision of D101 instead of the DOC4, DOCB or DWDB the PowerBooks came with. A firmware downgrader can be obtained from the same place to downgrade back to DOCB if you want to, and there is a discussion thread."
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PowerBook G4 SuperDrive Speed Bump Hack More

PowerBook G4 SuperDrive Speed Bump Hack

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  • I would use it, but... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by MikeXpop ( 614167 ) <mike&redcrowbar,com> on Sunday August 17, 2003 @07:17PM (#6719477) Journal
    Non-official firmware things like this scare me. If it wasn't included by Apple, there's most likely a reason.

    Caveat emptor. Even though it's free.

    • Re:I would use it, but... (Score:5, Insightful)

      by shaitand ( 626655 ) on Sunday August 17, 2003 @07:20PM (#6719486) Journal
      Not neccesarily, apple didn't make the drive ;) Those who wrote the firmware didn't build the drive.

      There is a chance this could simply be a case of the original designers not thinking out of the box. Look at the C64 display and the amazing display enchancing hacks for it.

      • Re:I would use it, but... (Score:5, Insightful)

        by zcat_NZ ( 267672 ) <zcat@wired.net.nz> on Sunday August 17, 2003 @08:06PM (#6719673) Homepage
        OR there's a chance they intentionally downgraded it (or were told to by UL) because the drive runs rather hot at full speed (several people have commented on this) and this might be an issue in a notebook computer.

        • Re:I would use it, but... (Score:5, Interesting)

          by whorfin ( 686885 ) on Sunday August 17, 2003 @08:21PM (#6719715)
          Perhaps the manufacturer sells a variety of drive 'packages', and they all actually use the same hardware, and are differentiated only by the firmware running them. Saves the manufacturer a lot of money on engineering/producing several different product lines...

          Kinda like when you go to a restaurant and the kids meal, at 1/3 the price, is the same food as the 'adult meal'.

        • Re:I would use it, but... (Score:5, Informative)

          by shaitand ( 626655 ) on Sunday August 17, 2003 @08:42PM (#6719809) Journal
          aye so I read in the forum, of course that is just a random guess based on some problems that were known to exist with the drive, not hard fact as to why they did it.

          My Other responder is just as likely to be right, apple downgraded the drive firmware in their cheaper product lines to give more motive to purchase the 17" instead.

          Personally I suspect it's a case of both, the system runs a little hotter with the drive rev'd up, and they know the average idiot doesn't properly operate a laptop so that heat is controlled. They also know this would be a little less a factor in their 17". So as a combination of both, they figure they'll tweak down the lower models (which have a slight problem that would result in support calls but not affect the average user) and gain a secondary incentive to purchase the more beefy model.

          I've worked for fortune 500 computer manufacturers though, and I assure you, whether it's the case here or not. They most definately DO clock down hardware on cheaper models and sometimes the only difference between the more expensive and less expensive model is the firmware (one example being the sony clie, which is a notorious line for this).

          • Re:I would use it, but... (Score:5, Insightful)

            by martingunnarsson ( 590268 ) <martin&snarl-up,com> on Monday August 18, 2003 @02:51AM (#6720989) Homepage
            The reason they disabled DVD-RW writing can't have anything to do with heat, or can it?
            • There is no way an apple user admit apple cripple their computers, heat issue invented.

              But really it's a non issue.. The users didn't pay for DVD-RW and now they have it anyway. Would make me happy.
              • But really it's a non issue.. The users didn't pay for DVD-RW and now they have it anyway. Would make me happy.

                I call bullshit! I own a 12" PowerBook with Superdrive, when I purchased it, the Apple web site mentioning the specs of the machine were unclear, so I asked Nextbyte (a shitty Australian chain run by wankers, who employ tossers) they said, "yup". When it arrived, I was pissed off, but not enough to send the machine back. Now with this unsupported firmware my machine does everything that I purch
            • Dunno specifically about the DVD-RW writing, I imagine it's more intensive for the drive with the overhead involved in a RW but I'm no expert on the internal physical workings of the drive. Even the man who write the firmware upgrade doesn't know if the operations would actually cause any kind of heat issue.

        • OR there's a chance they intentionally downgraded it (or were told to by UL) because the drive runs rather hot at full speed (several people have commented on this) and this might be an issue in a notebook computer.

          Also bare in mind the Powerbook is a portable machine - DVD burning has got to be a ludicrously precise process, and doubling the speed at which the disk spins has got to increase the margin in error, especially in a setting where it could be shoved or moved around...

          I guess results which c

  • I did it (Score:5, Informative)

    by FueledByRamen ( 581784 ) * <sabretooth@gmail.com> on Sunday August 17, 2003 @07:18PM (#6719478)
    Well, I installed the firmware hack on my 17" Powerbook. Looks to me like it's working fine; still reads CDs at least. I'm too poor to buy DVD-R discs (spent all my money on the Powerbook), so I can't say if there are any improvements in that department. At least nothing's burst into flames yet.

  • Heh, great! (Score:2, Informative)

    by EdMack ( 626543 )
    This is brilliant, but unfortunately it's now found speed increases the temperature, and not only burns the disk, but me under ^_^. Never-the-less, brilliant!
    • unfortunately it's now found speed increases the temperature, and [sic] only burns the disk

      but I thought you were supposed to burn discs....

  • I also took the dive. (Score:5, Informative)

    by obi-1-kenobi ( 547975 ) on Sunday August 17, 2003 @08:38PM (#6719788) Homepage
    I installed this on my 12" PowerBook.
    This is great! Now I can finaly burn to DVD-RW and the speed increases are also pretty cool. I haven't noticed any side effects as of yet (i don't think it would be a good idea to burn a DVD-R faster if your laptop is on the blanket ;) ). Pitty that it doesn't enable a region free player or enable the DVD-Ram.

    It is possible to also downgrade the drive back to its original DOCB. You are however not able to do this on a 17" PowerBook. There is no real increase for the 17" PB except now I think you can burn 2x DVD-R. Therefore I would not really recomend people with 17" PBs to do this.

    • Re:I also took the dive. (Score:1, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward
      I doubt it could enable DVD-RAM, since it's fundamentally different from DVD-R. That's like saying that it's too bad the new firmware doesn't enable DVD+R(W). This is more of an issue of the underlying hardware supporting it.
    • "Pitty that it doesn't enable a region free player or enable the DVD-Ram."

      http://www.wormintheapple.gr/macdvd/download2.ht ml

      Has many region free DVD hacks for you.

      I suggest you decide between a faster or region-free drive though, 'cause I don't think you'll get both - yet!

      Also, you might want to revert to the original firmware, before trying to install another hacked firmware (I'm not sure about it, but I'd imagine it'd be cleaner that way)
    • Can anyone confirm the fact that you cannot downgrade on a 17"? It doesn't make sense to me that you wouldn't be able to downgrade a 17" but you would be able to downgrade the other models. Also, what about the Apple Warranty/AppleCare Protection Plan? Do these firmware upgrades void those warranties? (The only reason I ask is that my boss has a 17", and if I recommend that he upgrade and it voids his warranty, well, I'm in trouble ;)
  • Apple cripple it's hardware all the time... They do this on the iBooks. They've crippled the graphics cards so you can't desktop span with a second screen -- this is to try to lure the sales over to those who need it on to the Powebooks. Sad but true, yes.

    • Re:Apple has done this in the past (Score:5, Informative)

      by JjCale ( 555759 ) on Monday August 18, 2003 @02:44AM (#6720975)
      In the case of the iBook it is because when you desktop span, you diasble quartz extreme as the video ram must be shared between both displys. Without quartz extreme, the GUI is much much slower and less responsive. Thus Apple choosing to disable the screen spanning option and keeping the performance of the laptop as advertised.
      • Right and this effect indeed noticable on my iBook. But the newer models with Radeon 7500 mobility have 32 MB video RAM which would be enough for Quartz Extreme on both displays.

        But it looks like they want people to buy Powerbooks instead. ;)
      • No. This was disabled when they were selling them with 9 installed 2.5 years ago, which is part of the reason why I sold mine and bought a TiBook

        Apple is doing what Apple does: they try and put a nice face on it, but they're all about maximizing shareholder return, just like any other publically traded corporation.

        Steve Jobs is not your friend: just try walking up and saying hi to him next time he makes a public appearance.

      • Except that the current iBooks have the exact same 32MB VRAM as the current 867MHz PowerBooks. 16MB per screen is plenty for Extreme, and besides, you can dual-display even without that. I use it on my dear old Pismo with an 8MB Rage 128 all the time.

        The lack of dual display is entirely 100% for market-line differentiation.

  • I used it, and... (Score:4, Funny)

    by dwightk ( 415372 ) on Sunday August 17, 2003 @10:59PM (#6720295) Homepage Journal
    It works great on my 12" PB... The only question I have is does this reduce the life of the drive? I bet it doesnt though.

    Now if someone would write a firmware update that turned on the keyboard backlighting :-P

  • 12" Powerbook success (Score:5, Informative)

    by gsfprez ( 27403 ) on Monday August 18, 2003 @12:25AM (#6720625)
    i just installed it on a 12" PowerBook G4 with superdrive.

    just burned 4.2 gigs of DiVX DVD rips onto Apple 2x media in thin jewel cases with Toast 5.1.2 at 2x. Burned in 30 minutes flat. No errors. Formerly could only burn at 1x.

    just burned mandrake ix86 9.2b iso onto Memorex black CD-R 700 meg media with Toast 5.1.2 at 16x Burned in 4 minutes and 15 seconds. formerly could only burn at 8x.

    it works for me. Of course, I installed a PowerMax ata-33 ide card, Intrega USB for Windows only PCI card, a SonnetTech G4/450 CPU card, and Firewire PCI card in a PowerMac 7500 running Mac OS X 10.2 and used it as my primary email server until 6 months ago..... so i'm not exactly the conservative computer user...

    ymmv and if your powerbook blows up, don't blame me.

  • Aren't We Missing Another Important Point? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by beporter ( 684381 ) on Monday August 18, 2003 @03:36AM (#6721077) Homepage

    Is it just me, or another seriously important point being overlooked? I quite agree that heat is of a large concern, having access to (and a lot of experience with) both a 12 and 17 inch PowerBook, but seeing as these machines are laptops, they are frequently not plugged in to AC power.

    Admittedly, trying to burn a DVD while moving the laptop around is not such a wise idea, but power consumption (and by direct extension: battery life) might also have been a valid [marketing?] reason for locking the speed of this drive down. Of course, is it any more energy efficient to burn twice as long at half the speed?

  • Why? (Score:1, Interesting)

    by CrackedButter ( 646746 )
    If this DVD Writer has been crippled due to heat or battery issues, why did Apple disallow burning of RW DVD's? Why must they all burn DVD-R and if it is for compatibility then shouldn't that be up to the customer, afterall if they allow RW then it gives them greater choice anyway.
    • Because of the phase-change technology involved in -RW writing, the disc must heat up more than with -R to transition from amorphous to crystalline (and probably also from crystalline to amorphous). With -R, the laser is just burning off a dye, sort of like what happens to colored fabrics when they're exposed to the sun for prolonged periods.
  • I have a 17" powerbook. The firmware upgrade seemed to work just fine. I installed it, and am burning a test audio CD right now (at 16x, but that is just like before. Most important is that it still works.) The patch does make the drive seem like new hardware, which, of corse, apple immediately recognizes...

    Has anyone tried to burn a DVD, esp. with one of the new formats? Please, we are all dying to know..

  • I dunno (Score:2, Insightful)

    by DebianDog ( 472284 )
    Well this is all well and good but as soon as you start burning things at a higher rate than they were intended you start losing compatibility. In this, I mean, it will play in fewer player than it would if you did a nice slow burn at 1X. I have a 2x drive and still alter the OS (via iTunes) to burn at 1X.
    I would test it throughly with a few standalone DVD players and have a backout plan. --
    Daniel C. Slagle
    Keeper of the "Unofficial" iMovie FAQ [danslagle.com] [apple.com]
    Tell Apple how you feel about iMovie
  • Now, if only this would make my iBook's combo drive turn into a 1x SuperDrive. Then, I'd be happy ;)
  • And it works as billed.

    2X DVD burning
    16x CD burning

    ala Toast Titamium 5 and iTunes on 10.2.6
  • I'm sure the drive uses much more power when running twice as fast, draining your powerbook's battery quicker. Has anyone who's used this firmware 'upgrade' noticed shorted battery lives than before installing it?

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