How to open optical drive with no physical eject button on drive Mac Pro when running Linux Mint

The Problem

Your running Linux Mint or other Linux on a Classic Mac Pro {1,1; 2,1; 3,1; 4,1 or 5,1} you may have noticed that opening the DVD / optical drive is a bit of a challenge under Linux on these macs or other similar systems. The old macOS tricks of pressing and holding F12 key no longer works. And there appears to be no applets or shortcuts available yet on the panel to send a command to open the drive. And since its Apple, there can’t be a physical button on the front of the computer to press. So how can you open the optical disk tray when there is no physical button when running Linux Mint?

Solution one using the Disks program

Here is the workaround that I found using already included software in Linux Mint.

1. Open Linux Mint Menu and search for “disk”

2. Open the Disks program.

3. Select the CD / Optical drive listed on the left that you want to open.

4. Click the “Eject this disk” icon

5. Drive should pop open on the computer.

6. Load the Optical disk

7. Push in the CD tray to close

Solution two using the Nemo File Manager

Another Work Around using the Nemo file organizer or what many may call My Computer option on legacy Microsoft Windows.

1. Using the Linux Mint Menu Search for “files”

2. Open “Files” program.

3. Click the drop-down menu “Go” and select Computer

4. Find the icon/s that look like an optical disk / CD / DVD for the drive you want to open.

5. Right-click the icon and then select the Eject option.

6. Place the disc and push the tray closed to start the loading process