Smoky Mountain Model Works, Inc.
Asheville, North Carolina • USA
Asheville, North Carolina • USA
Creating 20th Century Models Using 21st Century Technology
Smoky Mountain Model Works, Inc. • 35 Springwood Drive • Asheville, NC 28805
Ph.: (828) 777-5619 (9-5:30 EST) • Email: jimking3@charter.net
Ph.: (828) 777-5619 (9-5:30 EST) • Email: jimking3@charter.net
Some Apple "Mini" and other computers with a built-in DVD drive only have a slot into which you can insert a DVD (much like the DVD drive in your car's radio/player setup) rather than placing it on a tray that retracts into the DVD drive. The kit's mini-disc may be too small to insert into the slot and be handled by the drive's mechanism. Here is what one customer did after consulting his local Apple store Genius Bar technical staff (he uses an "Apple Mini" computer; other Apples may operate similarly) ...
1. Attach the Apple Mini to a Mac-compatible external "portable" DVD read/write drive via a USB port, then place the mini disc on the spindle in the drive and close the tray into the drive. With a little coaxing to get the computer to recognize the additional drive the Apple Mini will read and copy the information on the mini-disc. The external drive is made by LaCie, and was purchased through a local Apple reseller (it is not an Apple product). This may have more capacity than needed (for what it is worth, it was a burner as well as a reader) and was a bit pricey, but there are other such drives for sale.
He tested it using the mini-disc from the Tennessee Central Boxcar kit. The set-up worked like a charm. It read from the disc using the "Preview" program that comes with the Mac rather than using Adobe Reader needed for reading it on a PC (so there is no need to download Adobe Reader to read this mini-disc on this Mac). It put an icon "My Disc" on the desktop. He clicked on the icon and it opened to a window with another icon for the kit instructions,etc. He then clicked on this new icon and all of the material on the disc was displayed as one document. He copied the material to the computer hard drive. He tested hard drive copy by sending the printer output to an Epson Workforce 610 and all printed without any problems.
2. The Apple technical staff told him NOT to consider using an "adapter" (having the size of a standard DVD), onto which the mini-disc would be placed, which then could be inserted into the DVD drive's slot. Reason: The thickness of the adapter with the mini-disc on it may cause the combination to be too thick for the DVD drive to handle and get caught in the drive's mechanisms.
NOTE: He also tried to use it with a Philips MP3 portable DVD player -- no luck in doing so.
1. Attach the Apple Mini to a Mac-compatible external "portable" DVD read/write drive via a USB port, then place the mini disc on the spindle in the drive and close the tray into the drive. With a little coaxing to get the computer to recognize the additional drive the Apple Mini will read and copy the information on the mini-disc. The external drive is made by LaCie, and was purchased through a local Apple reseller (it is not an Apple product). This may have more capacity than needed (for what it is worth, it was a burner as well as a reader) and was a bit pricey, but there are other such drives for sale.
He tested it using the mini-disc from the Tennessee Central Boxcar kit. The set-up worked like a charm. It read from the disc using the "Preview" program that comes with the Mac rather than using Adobe Reader needed for reading it on a PC (so there is no need to download Adobe Reader to read this mini-disc on this Mac). It put an icon "My Disc" on the desktop. He clicked on the icon and it opened to a window with another icon for the kit instructions,etc. He then clicked on this new icon and all of the material on the disc was displayed as one document. He copied the material to the computer hard drive. He tested hard drive copy by sending the printer output to an Epson Workforce 610 and all printed without any problems.
2. The Apple technical staff told him NOT to consider using an "adapter" (having the size of a standard DVD), onto which the mini-disc would be placed, which then could be inserted into the DVD drive's slot. Reason: The thickness of the adapter with the mini-disc on it may cause the combination to be too thick for the DVD drive to handle and get caught in the drive's mechanisms.
NOTE: He also tried to use it with a Philips MP3 portable DVD player -- no luck in doing so.