not to be confused with those asking whether an ibook display could be used as a second monitor, i wish to know whether an ibook g3's logic board could be rigged to have its primary output (that which is fed to the lcd display) wired to either a dvi output, or ideally in my situation to be able to take a second vga monitor...
i am under the understanding that it is a digital feed sent to the monitor, im just wondering if my allready headless ibook can run without its crummy lcd..
then i can recoup some $$$ from its now un-needed slot loading cdr/dvd, the case, and the 14' screen, and get myself a mac-mini in the process?
i am in the process of putting the ibook in its own case to 'harden' it for road use (im a musician and i actually find the ibook g3 900 with 640mb ram - i want over a gig too - adequate) im googling for adapters to get my hp lightscribe in it for dvdr support and with the added plus of burning cd graphics, and i shall be using the origingal hdd untill i can get something larger..
my intentions are to get it in a flight case/home made tough-case, ideally without the lcd so as to reduce the size of the end mod to something more cube-like/mini-like.
If I read your post correctly you have a 14" G3 ibook 900mhz, according to http://www.lowendmac.com/pb2/ibook14-900.html they should have a vga output, though if its like my G4 ibook you will need a mirco-vga to normal sized vga adapter (about £15 last time I checked) assuming it boots without the main display attached you shouldn't have any problems connecting it up to another monitor (though it may only do 1024x768)
what i meant was i wish to use the output to the lcd from the logic board, i allready use the required adapter to obtain a vga signal, i wish to - if at all possible- get another vga/dvi port to allow me another monitor, and crucially allow me to not require a connected ibook tft display...
While it might be tecnically possible, I have never heard off anybody actually taking the time and effort it would require to create/reverse engineer the interface your after. Only thing I could suggest would be to extend the built in screen cable to the length you required, perhaps add your own connector to the side of the flight case, and the corrosponding connector to the end of your ibook screen cable and manufacture some sort of external case for the current built in scren. You could then run screens in spanning mode using the excellent utility Screen spanning doctor to enable the feature. http://www.rutemoeller.com/mp/ibook/ibook_e.html
This would give you dual monitor support though you would be limited to a 14" screen on once side still.
Video: ATI Mobility Radeon 7500 with 2x AGP VRAM: 32 MB displays: 14.1" 24-bit SVGA (1024 x 768) color active matrix, resolution scaling for 640 x 480 and 800 x 600 modes video out: VGA and composite video
now i know that the vram on the mac is shared accross the two monitors, regardless of their size + type, this isnt a problem.
whats interesting tho is that the logic board feeds svga..
The table above provides the pinouts and signal names for the connectors. A 15-pin SVGA cable has the same pinout as a 15-pin VGA cable; however, VGA may also be found with a 9-pin D connector.
reading up also on the ati website on their 7500 mobility card which i also must point out is a very popular laptop graphics solution..
now im going to try and find a broken lcd display suitable for my job (i wish to remove the connectors to try and create a custom vga/svga port - thus allowing me to flog me 14' lcd) any one offering me their old defunt lcd for the good of the headless ibook cause?
seems it supports dual display in various formats, notably with the ibook its one 24-bit SVGA to the tft, judging by further googling there should be no problems connecting a vga monitor to a svga port, as this is the norm and is often done..
just need the pinouts now from the area where the lcd connects i imagine. if at all possible could anyone in the uk send old lcd monitor connection cables that will connect to my logic board in the manner my lcd does - butcher them off the faulty lcd - theres a pint in it if u do!!
- this means i can build a custom lead + share any findings back with the community
have you checked to make sure that your ibook support dual monitors? Some of them only support mirroring which wouldn't be useful for what you are trying to do.
Signal going to the LCD is most likly going to be LVDS, or some version of that 'standard', but you would then need to convert that to vga. Not an easy task I imagine.