Open Superdrive with a keyboard attached

Question

Level 2

185 points

Open Superdrive with a keyboard attached

I'm currently using my old G4 MDD as a temp storage device on my network. I access the computer via the network or sometimes if i need to administer it, i use "screen sharing".

How can I open the Superdrive from my other computer? I've looked for a keyboard shortcut but it seems that you have to have the keyboard attached to the computer.

Any ideas?

Thanks
Glenn

MacBook, Mac OS X (10.5.8), G4 MDD FW800 1.5GB RAM

Posted on Feb 4, 2010 3:38 AM

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Answer 1

japamac

Level 7

24,400 points

Feb 4, 2010 3:45 AM in response to Waldo Pepper

Hi-

Without an eject key, press and hold F12 for two seconds and a drive will open and close.
I'm afraid that might only work for the machine connected to the keyboard (I'll try later).

You can also put an eject icon in the menu bar of the subject machine, and use that to open/close the drive while screen sharing.

To get the menu bar eject button, open System/Library/Core Services/Menu Extras, and double click the Eject.menu file.
All done.

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Answer 2

Allan Jones

Level 9

68,600 points

Feb 4, 2010 8:12 AM in response to Waldo Pepper

I agree with japamac--I don't think you can rig the KB from one computer to open the drive on another. It would either require a KVM switch to allow sharing the KB with two computers or something like this gadget:

http://www.griffintechnology.com/products/powermate

You attach it to the older computer and use its 62 inches of cable to put the controller next to your main computer. The device is primarily intended as a volume control but the dial can be pressed to produce a switch function. It has software to let you assign actions to movements just like most third-party mice. You would simply program the button function to send an F12 action.

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