Make Apple's USB SuperDrive work on Linux

Apple's SuperDrive tweak for use with Linux.md

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

It says Permission denied

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

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!

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/

Amazing. thank you

The --cmdset=1 flag was missing for me to make it work, I was getting the message NVMe Result=0x0.

On Arch Linux:

yay sg3_utils
sg_raw --cmdset=1 /dev/sr0 EA 00 00 00 00 00 01
# Expected message: SCSI Status: Good

Additional note, if you're like me and updated your kernel when installing the new package, you may get this error when trying to open the disk unknown filesystem type 'udf'. Just restart your machine after the kernel update and it should work.

The --cmdset=1 flag was missing for me to make it work, I was getting the message NVMe Result=0x0.

On Arch Linux:

yay sg3_utils
sg_raw --cmdset=1 /dev/sr0 EA 00 00 00 00 00 01
# Expected message: SCSI Status: Good

Additional note, if you're like me and updated your kernel when installing the new package, you may get this error when trying to open the disk unknown filesystem type 'udf'. Just restart your machine after the kernel update and it should work.

I've developed this for an older system (before NVM is a thing on laptop / desktop) so there is no need to distinct. But for newer system, this is a good addition. Thanks. Will update the instructions here.

'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'

I followed your code Yookoala and it worked! Thanks! :)