[Dtb-talk] The Physical Cartridges themselves?

[Nathan Tobin]

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> Original Message:
> ---------------------------------
> 
> From: Greg Kearney <gkearney at gmail.com> 
> Sent: July 29, 2011 3:11:22 PM
> To: Discussion of Digital Talking Books <dtb-talk at nfbnet.org>
> Subject: Re: [Dtb-talk] The Physical Cartridges themselves?
> 
> I can assure you that the NLS drives are indeed write protected. We got a shipment of them that were write protected from the factory and the NLS would not even tell us how to unlock them. We had to send 5000 drives back to China to get them unlocked. We were eventually able to find a way to unlock them by having some students at Curtin University of Technology hack them but by that time the drives had been shipped back, what a pain!
> 
> Anyway people are right all you need is an USB extension cable to use an NLS drive on a computer. You do need to be sure you find a cable that has the female end that is exposed and does not have plastic around it or the drive might not fit right into the end. 
> 
> We made a USB sleeve for the NLS drives here that connects to a computer or other USB device such as a Plextor PTN1. It is rather like having the front of the NLS player attached to your computer as the drive will only go in one way and you can feel when it is in the right way. More information can be found at http://www.guidedogswa.org/products/bookdrivesleeve/
> 
> 
> Gregory Kearney | Manager Accessible Media
> Association for the Blind of WA - Guide Dogs WA
> PO Box 101, Victoria Park WA 6979 | 61 Kitchener Ave, Victoria Park WA 6100
> Tel: 08 9311 8246 | Fax: 08 9361 8696 | www.guidedogswa.com.au
> Tel: 307-224-4022 (North America)
> Email: greg.kearney at guidedogswa.com.au
> Email: gkearney at gmail.com
> 
> On 30/07/2011, at 1:29 AM, Flint Million wrote:
> 
> > Another interesting point is that, you can indeed connect a library
> > cart to your PC using the same USB extender cable that would work with
> > a blank cart. You'll even be able to view the files that comprise the
> > book, and you can even copy them off the cart for transfer to your own
> > cart or to, say, a Victor Reader Stream or similar unit. The only
> > inhibition present on library owned carts is the write protection.
> > Besides this they operate just like any other flash drive and the
> > files can indeed be accessed by a PC.
> > 
> > F
> > 
> > 
> > On Fri, Jul 29, 2011 at 12:27 PM, Flint Million <fmillion at gmail.com> wrote:
> >> The NLS shipping carts are "write protected" in software. This means
> >> the device rejects any write requests to the flash media. Blank
> >> cartridges which are purchased do not have this enabled and can be
> >> read and written to freely, just like a standard USB flash drive.
> >> 
> >> It would stand to reason that the NLS library carts either accept
> >> proprietary USB mass storage commands that enable and disable the
> >> write protection, or they may have a physical switch inside the sealed
> >> unit. Either way, even if you were to somehow manage to rewrite the
> >> data on a library cart, as I understand it they are always erased and
> >> reloaded upon return from a patron anyway.
> >> 
> >> Also note that the library carts generally are 1GB units while the
> >> blank carts I've been seeing are 2GB!
> >> 
> >> 
> >> F
> >> 
> >> 
> >> On Fri, Jul 29, 2011 at 12:19 PM, James McCarthy <jmccart at lbph.lib.md.us> wrote:
> >>> Paul,
> >>> Others may be better situated than am I to address this point, but it is my
> >>> understanding that there is software on NLS cartridges that does not permit
> >>> patrons to add or delete files from them. This is absent on the blank
> >>> cartridges allowing one to add or delete books as desired.
> >>> Jim McCarthy
> >>> 
> >>> -----Original Message-----
> >>> From: dtb-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:dtb-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
> >>> Behalf Of Paul Migliorelli (+1 303-552-6970)
> >>> Sent: Friday, July 29, 2011 1:11 PM
> >>> To: Discussion of Digital Talking Books
> >>> Subject: [Dtb-talk] The Physical Cartridges themselves?
> >>> 
> >>> Hi.  Just curious.  On blank cartridges, there is obviously the hole to
> >>> plug in the cable for the computer.  When you get cartridges in the mail,
> >>> are they physically write protected somehow?  What makes them so?  I
> >>> didn't think library ones have a cable hole.  Just curious how it works.
> >>> 
> >>> 
> >>> --
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