Thanks to Yee-Wei I now have instructions and photos on how to get a non-Apple CD/DVD rom drive to pass audio music to the stock 6400 audio cable. I know there may be other ways and I welcome other reviews :)

6/7/2002 Another CD Audio cable hack: Tom sent me some nice instructions and pictures showing his hack to make a CDROM that does not fit the 6400's special audio adaptor, work. Thanks Tom and sorry it took so long for me to post this :(

By Yee-Wei. I emailed you sometime ago regarding the possibilty of putting Pioneer DVD (303S) drive into the 6500 and the answer I got was that it can only be attached externally and thus has no audio CD capabiltity. Well, after some hacking, I've finally managed to build it into my trusty old 6500/275.

I've included instructions and pics on how I did it but I warn that it is definitely not for the faint hearted. However, the beauty of it all is that with this new drive, you get better speed, full compatibility (via intech CD drivers) and a cool cool new look (slot based drive)! :)

There are 2 important elements to making the drive work. Basically, the power and SCSI interface matches perfectly with the old drive. So basically, you can just remove the adapter from the old drive and pop it into the back of the DVD drive

The major problem is getting the audio to be transferred properly, but with the incompatible interfaces, the only solution is to hack a generic CD audio cable.

I've included the pictures that showed how I hacked one end of the cable

The other end that fits into the drive should be left unhacked and connected to the drive

First remove the old CD Drive, then tear open the left side of the tower and pull the connector behind the old CD drive out for easy access {Click Here for instructions on how to open the case - Tom}. This may take a while to figure out. You'll have to examine how the connector is held in place and shift the connector out carefully.

Then, poke the 3 frayed ends of the wire correctly into the right holes in the connector and tape them there in place. Note, this is very crucial that you place the wires into the hole heep enough for sufficient contact and the right wire must be placed in the right hole for the L/R channel of the CD audio to be played correctly. A good guide will be to see how the wires at the end of the DVD drive is positioned and poke into the coresponding hole in the connector. Notice how I taped the of CD audio cable at the right side of the connector from picture {I know, it's hard to see - Tom}

Finally, replace the connector, attach the drive mount to the DVD drive and slide the DVD drive into the bay by carefully placing the audio cable on top of the drive. I found this was a good way. Voila!!! ... You've got it made!!!

I've used the hacked Appel CD/DVD drivers before and they do not work that well. The Pioneer's drivers do not load certain disks properly too and I've purchased the intech CD rom drivers and they work perfectly. All CD extras, Enhanced CDs, CDRs, DVDs and audio CDs ... everything .. work perfectly ...

Please do make changes to my instuctions if your think they are too vague and spread the word on this news!! ... by the way the drive costs only $135 at www.e-pcmall.com. For a 6X SCSI DVD Drive, it's a steal!!! For intech drivers, goto www.intechusa.com.

Yee-Wei

{I ask Yee if he tried Apple's DVD player software with this setup and here is his reply - Tom}

Hi
I am trying to get the hacked software DVD player to work with my ATI VR128. It doesn't play many DVDs though so for those who would wanna try playing DVD movies, I highly recommend getting the Wired4DVD card. But i've yet to try it myself.

Actually .. it is not as well as imagined. Only DVD which are not encrypted (asia's DVD mainly) can be played. In fact I only have 2 that can be played. Chungking express and Ghost in the Shell. The rest just freezes the system
Yee-Wei