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Make Apple's USB SuperDrive work on Linux

I was ready to throw it away, I opened it up and didn't find anything wrong with it. After a quick Google Search, turns out Apple fucked up their users (again) and locked this drive to only one laptop : the MacBook Air.

Bellow is the tweak (found online) to make it usable on Linux

# Debian/linux only - Linux SCSI generic driver
sudo apt install sg3-utils -y

# RHEL/Fedora only - Linux SCSI generic driver
sudo dnf install sg3_utils -y

# tell the external DVD player/burner to turn on
sudo sg_raw /dev/sr0 EA 00 00 00 00 00 01
@JxnBld
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JxnBld commented Apr 24, 2019

It says Permission denied

@AnnoyingTechnology
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Author

It says Permission denied

apt install and /dev/ alterations always require root privileges.
Either use the root account of your device, or prefix all commands with sudo

@DragonSerW
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DragonSerW commented Jan 23, 2021

Fedora Workstation 33:

sudo -i
sudo dnf install sg3_utils -y
sg_raw /dev/sr0 EA 00 00 00 00 00 01 # Wakes-Up your SuperDrive; no root needed!

@yookoala
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yookoala commented Sep 30, 2021

It's much easier to setup a custom udev rule than to manually run the command all the time.

cat <<- EOF | sudo tee  /etc/udev/rules.d/90-mac-superdrive.rules > /dev/null
# Initialise Apple SuperDrive
ACTION=="add", ATTRS{idProduct}=="1500", ATTRS{idVendor}=="05ac", DRIVERS=="usb", RUN+="/usr/bin/sg_raw %r/sr%n EA 00 00 00 00 00 01"
EOF

Reference:
https://cmos.blog/use-apples-usb-superdrive-with-linux/comment-page-1/

@qzmeng
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qzmeng commented Jan 12, 2023

Amazing. thank you

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