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Any point in using a CD-ROM drive on an SE?
Posted by: MacFox on 2018-01-11 19:14:24
So I bought an AppleCD 600e drive recently for use with my Powerbook 5300c.  Unfortunately, that laptop is having power issues and I don't have the soldering skills to fix it, so for now it is out of commission.  This leaves me with a CD-ROM drive that I can't use...or can I?  My SE has 4 MB of RAM and runs system 7.0 just fine.  If I upgrade to 7.1 I should be able to use the CD drive, right?  Are there any programs that came on CD, or that I could put on CD, that will run on an SE with 4 MB of RAM and System 7.1?

Posted by: IlikeTech on 2018-01-12 06:43:34
You can use it without upgrading with an extension like CD-Sunrise, or FWB CD toolkit.  I recommend the latter.  You should be able to get it on the Garden.

Posted by: Scott Baret on 2018-01-12 19:04:51
There are a few....

-BMUG shareware CDs are a good starting point.

-System 7.0 and HyperCard 2.0 shipped on a CD-ROM at one point, as did 7.5.

-Kaboom sound software had a CD-ROM version, including a good basic sound editor that does work on the SE.

-Cosmic Osmo runs from a CD on an SE! (In fact, there's an SE hidden in the game).

Of course, you can also play music CDs with it, although you'll need external speakers or headphones.

Posted by: chu-oh on 2018-01-12 23:39:25
-System 7.0 and HyperCard 2.0 shipped on a CD-ROM at one point, as did 7.5.


My understanding was that you can't boot from cd's on 68k macs, so that's only useful if upgrading. 

Posted by: Scott Baret on 2018-01-13 08:39:54
My understanding was that you can't boot from cd's on 68k macs, so that's only useful if upgrading. 
That is true. However, the amount of extras that come on that CD are worth it. Did you know it contained disk images for every System 6 version from 6.0.2 through 6.0.7 with the exception of 6.0.6?

The only B&W compact that can boot from CD-ROM is the Classic II/Performa 200.

Posted by: IlikeTech on 2018-01-13 12:05:58
Can the CC boot a cd drive?

Posted by: Scott Baret on 2018-01-13 12:26:17
Can the CC boot a cd drive?
Yes!

The ones that CAN'T boot from a CD are the Plus, SE, Classic, SE/30, II, IIx, IIcx, and I'm pretty sure the Portable and PowerBook 100.

I know the LC can, as can most anything made after it.

Posted by: Realitystorm on 2018-01-13 18:36:09
Yes!

The ones that CAN'T boot from a CD are the Plus, SE, Classic, SE/30, II, IIx, IIcx, and I'm pretty sure the Portable and PowerBook 100.

I know the LC can, as can most anything made after it.
Hi Scott, can you point me to where you learned which macs could or could not boot from CD?   I've been experimenting, I have an SE and an LCIII.   The System 7.5.5 boot CD I've made boots fine on the LCIII, and starts to boot then fails on the SE.

Posted by: Scott Baret on 2018-01-15 21:53:14
I know there's a list in one of the books I have. It's likely either Mac Secrets or Upgrading and Repairing Macs. I'll have to look.

However, I do know some of this from personal experience, as I just booted a Classic II last year from a CD and know it works on all the LCs. 

Posted by: MacFox on 2018-01-16 08:02:09
Thanks everyone for your replies.  I set up the drive last night using Apple's CD-Rom extension (I ended up upgrading to System 7.1 just to see how it would run and it runs about the same as 7.0 did).  The Mac can see HFS Cd's, but not audio CDs for some reason.  Not a big deal I guess, but it's just weird.

Posted by: Dog Cow on 2018-01-16 08:09:20
  The Mac can see HFS Cd's, but not audio CDs for some reason.  Not a big deal I guess, but it's just weird.
Do you have the Audio CD extension in your Extensions folder?

Posted by: MacFox on 2018-01-16 08:15:45
Do you have the Audio CD extension in your Extensions folder?
Didn't realize there was a separate extension for that.  I didn't see it when I looked through Apple's old support website on archive.org.  The Powerbook 5300c I metnioned in the OP has System 7.5.5 on it.  It likes to randomly shut off, but if I am lucky and it stays on long enough (assuming it has the extension, I know the cd drivers were installed when I put 7.5.3 on there) could I copy the audio cd extension from 7.5.5?

Posted by: Dog Cow on 2018-01-16 08:17:25
 could I copy the audio cd extension from 7.5.5?
Maybe. Try it.

Posted by: MacFox on 2018-01-16 17:02:10
Maybe. Try it.
Just tried it and nope, doesn't work.  I guess System 7.5 extensions aren't backwards compatible.  I will have to try something else.

Posted by: MacFox on 2018-01-16 18:56:41
I finally found the right extensions.  I found the disc image for the CD that originally came with the drive (I didn't get this CD when I bought the drive) along with a disc mounting utility over at the garden.  I copied over the two files to my Powerbook G3 and mounted the image.  Then I copied over the extensions I needed to a floppy disk.  I deleted the 7.5 extensions from my SE and replaced them with the ones on the floppy.  I restarted the SE and viola!  All the extensions installed successfully (except for the photo CD one, but that one doesn't matter to me).  I tested the audio CD playing capabilities out with a Stone Temple Pilots CD (it was the most era appropriate CD I had on hand) and it played perfectly.  After that I put in a ISO format CD that I had burned on my PC and I was able to see all the files I had on there.  I'm very happy I finally resolved this.

Posted by: netfreak on 2018-01-17 03:14:28
I know there's a list in one of the books I have. It's likely either Mac Secrets or Upgrading and Repairing Macs. I'll have to look.

However, I do know some of this from personal experience, as I just booted a Classic II last year from a CD and know it works on all the LCs. 


Yeah I think I cd booted a 475 and Color Classic recently but my SE/30 sad Mac bombed right away. Thought I was doing something wrong and didn't consider it simply wasn't supported.

Posted by: IlikeTech on 2018-01-17 03:17:42
Yep, my CC boots the Legacy Recovery CD with no problem!

Posted by: Realitystorm on 2018-01-17 06:28:21
I know there's a list in one of the books I have. It's likely either Mac Secrets or Upgrading and Repairing Macs. I'll have to look.

However, I do know some of this from personal experience, as I just booted a Classic II last year from a CD and know it works on all the LCs. 
Thanks Scott, I'll take a look around to see if I can find the books you mention.   There are several scans I've found on internet archive I'm going though.  https://archive.org/search.php?query=macintosh+repair&page=1

Posted by: Dog Cow on 2018-01-17 17:02:57
Just buy it on Amazon.com; it's only $6 and worth it!

https://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/0880229608/ref=sr_1_1_olp?ie=UTF8&qid=1516237348&sr=8-1&keywords=upgrading+and+repairing+macs

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