Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!ukma!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!gem.mps.ohio-state.edu!apple!blob
From: blob@Apple.COM (Brian Bechtel)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.hardware
Subject: Re: CD-Rom question
Keywords: CD-Rom, ISO, High Sierra
Message-ID: <35814@apple.Apple.COM>
Date: 21 Oct 89 16:04:25 GMT
References: <1447@ultb.UUCP> <1989Oct19.002717.1118@eng.umd.edu> <1989Oct19.223102.21289@comp.vuw.ac.nz>
Organization: Apple Computer Inc, Cupertino, CA
Lines: 38

Two different posters ask about High Sierra, ISO 9660, Macs, and MS-DOS
machines.  Apple's software to support ISO 9660 (and the older High
Sierra format) is an INIT and several supporting documents.  The INIT
is called Foreign File Access, and it uses the external file system
hook in the ROM to provide access to ISO 9660 volumes whether on CD-ROM
or some other media (i.e. it's media and drive independent).  Foreign
File Access is available for licensing by any other CD-ROM
manufacturer.

I know that some companies are currently selling CD-ROM drives in the
U.S.A. which come with their own driver software and Apple's Foreign
File Access software.  Toshiba, Denon and NEC all advertise such drives.
There are probably others as well.

You could use any of these drives on an MS-DOS machine, if you have a
SCSI interface board to plug into the appropriate machine and the
appropriate driver.  The requirements on the Macintosh side are:

 a) that the drive be a SCSI drive
 b) that you have a driver which works with it
 c) that you have the Foreign File Access software.

From looking in recent copies of CD-ROM End User magazine, I see that
some of the same companies listed above sell a drive which also works on
MS-DOS machines.  I assume that they are the same drive, with a board
and MS-DOS specific software, but I can't tell from the advertisements.

Optical Media International sells a driver which works with several
varieties of CD-ROM drive.  Their phone number is (408) 395-4332.
Unfortunately, they are based in Los Gatos, California, which was one
of the areas damaged most severely by the recent quake.  You may
experience difficulty in contacting them over the next few days;  I
haven't heard how they fared in our big shake.

I'll be glad to answer other questions about CD-ROM and ISO 9660.  I
wrote the original High Sierra/ISO 9660 supporting software.

--Brian Bechtel		blob@apple.com		"My opinions, not Apple's"