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Apple PowerCD "portable" CD ROM drive
Posted by: MOS8_030 on 2018-02-23 21:04:54 I found this while I was digging around in the garage. Apple PowerCD circa 1994. I thought I post a few pix since ya'll like the old stuff. Very cool design, ultimately not that useful.
Posted by: TechEdison on 2018-02-23 22:15:06 ultimately not that useful. It's totally useful. It's a SCSI cd reader! Could probably use that with an old mac to install one of the operating systems that were more popular on CD than floppy.
Posted by: TechEdison on 2018-02-23 22:21:24 If you want to get rid of it I'm sure you'd get plenty of offers in the trading section.
Posted by: MOS8_030 on 2018-02-23 23:40:56 It's totally useful. It's a SCSI cd reader! Could probably use that with an old mac to install one of the operating systems that were more popular on CD than floppy. Well, I meant not that useful in the context of its time. Considering how quickly CDROM drives spread to laptops and desktops, imho, this device never delivered on the potential of its promise.
Posted by: Byrd on 2018-02-24 03:21:25 If it’s promise was an overpriced slow optical drive, it succeeded on all counts 🙂 PowerCDs are great looking drives and look the part against a PowerBook of the same era.
Posted by: Trash80toHP_Mini on 2018-02-24 08:42:54 Well, I meant not that useful in the context of its time. Considering how quickly CDROM drives spread to laptops and desktops, imho, this device never delivered on the potential of its promise. PowerCD is a computer, there's a teardown thread somewhere showing the amazing logic board in the base. I did the teardown and posted the thread to set the last nail in the coffin burying any mistaken notions that the DB-25 Player/Base interconnect was a SCSI connection. It's not, NEVER try to hook the player section up to a SCSI port. Don't think you're looking at PowerCD's full feature set and its place within the development timeline of Optical Media. Mine was built in 1993, 10 years after adoption of the CD for Music distribution. (SINGLE speed to this day!) PowerCD is a full fledged, standalone CD Player with remote control ready to hook up to an Amp/Receiver or even DeWalt's job site stereo radio/battery charger. [😀] It's a full featured, standalone Photo CD player, with remote control, capable of use interactively for presentations on TV or acting as a sequential or random photo display when coupled with a TV in a boardroom or living room. This was but one year after Kodak's introduction of the standard. PowerCD s a full featured, standalone VCD (VideoCD) player. DVD didn't happen until 1995! Again there's that amazing (for its time) remote control. Check that lil' puppy out, looks a bit ahead of its time, right? Oh yeah, there's that computer CD-ROM thing and Laptop adoption. That hit the PowerBook 5300 in mini form a couple of years later (Independence Day) and the 1400 in full form factor in 1996, three years after my PowerCD was first hooked up to my PowerBook 100. Dunno, when did the first 2x CD mechanism appear on the landscape? Getting back to that lovely PowerBook Gray appearance: that's a AA battery pack/computer logic board combo holding up the player section. No TV necessary for accessing all the features above from my PowerBook 100 or its Duo 230/SCSI MiniDock replacement. No AC Adapter required to set up a grayscale presentation on either. Used the 2300c/PowerCD to do standalone slideshows at industry get-togethers running off battery power wherever I wanted to set it down. Interactively remote controlled or just sitting there randomly displaying my Portfolio and pics form the last "Letterhead Meet." Of course I could have been using the 1400c I didn't get until about 2002, but anyone with any day one color capable PowerBook could have done the same. 'nuf said. [😉] addendum: found a bit of it: PowerCD base unit REQUIRED! Looks like the link for the full teardown there is to yet another of my many Disappeared Threads. :-/
Posted by: techknight on 2018-02-24 09:15:23 The radial optical pickup mechanism used in these drives are very high end, used in a lot of high-end CD players of the time. Similar to the Apple CD SC that I have, uses the KSS-151A which is another high end pickup that is sought after for repairing CD players.
Posted by: omidimo on 2018-02-24 09:40:39 Just because... 😛
Posted by: Trash80toHP_Mini on 2018-02-24 09:48:10 HEH! [😀] Go, o, go! Yer killin' me. Why do I even bother mucking about in attempts to convey my visual thoughts in the realm of language? :blink: edit: wish I could remember which CPU Philips put on that board. PowerCD is a rebadged Philips product.
Posted by: MOS8_030 on 2018-02-24 09:52:13 Ya'll make an impassioned defense for sure! 🙂 I think I have the A/V cable for the unit somewhere. Interesting about the KSS-151A optical pickup. I didn't know anything about that. I also think I may have another PowerCD unit somewhere in the pile as well. 😉 Boy, if you folks like old documents, specs, and advertising material I found a whole box full of goodies. I'll scan a few items for you in the near future. Oh hey, neat-o picture of the guts! "Rebadged" Phillips unit mostly. From what I can tell the Phillips unit lacked the SCSI interface ability.
Posted by: Trash80toHP_Mini on 2018-02-24 10:18:20 :lol: I was ready to hit save on the edit placing the pic directly in the thread. PLEASE scan your goodies! I'm going to go through . . . . . . just went through "my attachments" and didn't find the rest of the pics. :-/
Posted by: MOS8_030 on 2018-02-24 11:09:03 Well, it still plays CD's. It sounds pretty harsh though ear phones. I don't have a SCSI-capable Mac at the moment, unless I stick a card in something. Sitting next to the Sony D-5 I picked up recently at GW for $3! It works too, mostly.
Posted by: omidimo on 2018-02-24 11:56:26 Sony D-5 for $3!? That is awesome. I have a boxed PowerCD & boxed black AppleDesign speakers, that are meant to just go on a shelf and look cool when I get the space again.
Posted by: techknight on 2018-02-26 15:03:38 I have the D-5 and I think a D7. Both needed new SMD caps to work properly but they work great now ;-)
Posted by: MOS8_030 on 2018-02-26 19:25:43 I have the D-5 and I think a D7. Both needed new SMD caps to work properly but they work great now ;-) Mine works but is a little flaky. It refuses to spin up sometimes. Probably needs some work. Do you know which caps need replaced? If so please PM me the info. Although I really don't have access to proper soldering gear to properly do SMD stuff any more.
Posted by: bibilit on 2018-02-27 23:06:20 wish I could remember which CPU Philips put on that board. PowerCD is a rebadged Philips product. Philips is CDF 100 but also Kodak PCD 880 was marketed.
Posted by: omidimo on 2018-02-27 23:25:58
Posted by: CC_333 on 2018-02-28 23:35:56 Hmm, interesting! I wonder if one is more plentiful/available than the other? c
Posted by: MOS8_030 on 2018-03-01 07:02:07 Afaik the Apple version was the only one with SCSI ability.
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