Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!usc!snorkelwacker!apple!blob
From: blob@Apple.COM (Brian Bechtel)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.hardware
Subject: Re: Experiences with non-Mac CDs
Message-ID: <42994@apple.Apple.COM>
Date: 14 Jul 90 23:48:52 GMT
References: <226700008@wolman>
Organization: Apple Computer Inc., Cupertino, CA
Lines: 31

barry@wolman.prime.com writes:
>What am I doing wrong? Has anyone successfully used ISO/High Sierra CDs
>on their Mac? If so, please suggest a title or two that I could try. 

Yes, valid High Sierra/ISO 9660 format CD-ROMs work fine on a Macintosh.
See below for the explanation.

>Apple CD manual says the message I'm getting indicates the CD is not Mac
>or ISO/High Sierra format.  What type IS "The Microsoft Bookshelf"?

Bastardized High Sierra format.  When Microsoft pressed the Microsoft
Bookshelf CD-ROM, they neglected (actually, the formatting software
they used to pre-master the CD-ROM image neglected) to put on some
directory information for the Motorola-oriented directories.  This
means that the CD-ROM isn't in High Sierra format.  The CD-ROM contains
enough directory information for a MSDOS machine to work with it, but
not enough information for a Macintosh or other most-significant-byte
first machine.

There were several early High Sierra format CD-ROMs that had similar
bugs.  The company involved in supplying the premastering software has
since corrected the problems they had, and modern CD-ROMs pressed using
their software work fine on the Macintosh as well as MS-DOS computers.

We have a hokey little Macintosh program called CD Validator available
via anonymous ftp from apple.com in
  ~ftp/pub/dts/mac/tools/cd-valid-1-11.hqx
and I apologize in advance for the stupid user interface.  Maybe someday
I'll make it a Macintosh application :-).

--Brian Bechtel		blob@apple.com