Mac laptop logic board + any internal LCD?

Do all displays have the same power requirements?
Do all displays have the same connectors?
If they have different connectors, is it hard to rewire them?

No, no, yes.

I guess I'm wondering what the overall risk is, if I attempt this. If I found a display with the same connector, and plugged it in, could I wind up frying the board if they weren't compatible?

If the connectors actually fit (unlikely but possible), I'd say yer unlikely to fry anything. Give it a go, let us know the results.

dan k

If the connectors actually fit (unlikely but possible), I'd say yer unlikely to fry anything. Give it a go, let us know the results.

You're unlikely to fry something if you react quickly. Like I did.

I was playing around with similar delusions a couple of weeks ago, and was greeted with the high-pitched squeal of a PowerBook in agony. In addition, there was considerable thermal acceleration that could have cost the PowerBook heart & soul, its very life.

Although, I was playing with PowerBook 1x0 series boards and monochrome displays. But I digress...

Although, I was playing with PowerBook 1x0 series boards and monochrome displays.

Ahh, older PBs . . . I was responding to the OP's question, modern LCDs are LVDS, totally unlike the displays found in older 'Books. If an LVDS cable fits, the chances of toasting anything are slim indeed. If it doesn't work it just won't work, nothing damaged in the trying.

Earlier 'Books used decidedly non-standard connections, so with those anything is possible.

dan k

Anyone know about connecting an older display, say from duo 2300c, to a newer model board, say a G4 iBook...? Which converter board would likely be the best bet?

Anyone know about connecting an older display, say from duo 2300c, to a newer model board, say a G4 iBook...? Which converter board would likely be the best bet?

;D CM, you a troll or what?

I reckon you've been around here long enough to know the answer. Older LCDs aren't usable with 'standard' video sources without custom (read expensive and/or difficult) driver circuits. See keywords LCD + Holy Grail

dan k

LVDS is just a method of signalling, not a standard of cableing and wiring or power. So, as was already pointed out, the power issue is likely to change between LCD panels, the shape of the plug(s), the pin count, the pin layout, the actual pin assignments, etc. And that is before you get into the capabilities of the graphics chip to talk to any particular panel. One of the things that most people don't think about is that until LVDS, every panel had a custom controller to talk to it. Now with LVDS you can probably run more than just one particular panel, but you don't necessarily get the ability to talk to just *any* panel. If the panel has capabilities greater than the chip, they go unused (as in the Ti-book? screen swaps that leave dead space on the sides), or if the panel is lesser than the chip is designed to drive, may not function at all.

So, you'd likely have to match the general specs of the orig panel, then match the connectors and power, then hope is all works. ANd that is alot of work, time, money, and hope that you won't fry the panel, the controller or both. Thus the "holygrail" moniker we tend to lump on this kinda stuff.

Would you go swapping in CRTs in with the old yoke and board from an original without trying to match the neck pins and specs? Nope. And CRTs at least operate on mostly the same principals and functions. But the same caveats of size, power, wiring and capabilites apply, but not nearly as manyh people seems to want to swap CRTs willy nilly.

Look through your laptops and see if you have one with a TFT XGA display (ie: 1024 x 768), and if you do, give it a go. Of course, you'll need iBook cables to connect to the screen and backlight inverter. If the iBook's cable plug fits the screen, it'll probably work.

dan k

No I am not a troll... well, not this time, I wasn't.

Look... this has to be done... and it appears as if someone has done something along the lines...

Bennie's Holy Grail

lder LCDs aren't usable with 'standard' video sources without custom (read expensive and/or difficult) driver circuits.

I don't get the complaint... I thought the problem was with connecting a non-lcd board to an lcd (which ben has apparently achieved quite elegantly), but that if you had the expensive converter board or whatever it is, you could do it, and if you had a laptop board to begin with, well, the converter board was already there... so, it seemed logical to me, that it would even be easier to connect one laptop mobo to another laptop's lcd, using the one's, or the other's, or both converter boards.... so what's the problem?

Look... this has to be done... and it appears as if someone has done something along the lines...

Unfortunately for us - but elegant for his purposes - Benjamin's LCD is using straight composite video. It's a portable TV model. The Atari outputs composite, the LCD is a model that accepts composite.

(I've been reading Mr. Hackendorn's site for a long time. Great stuff.)

To quote Ben:

1) Screen. Needs to be decent-sized, and you can't use laptop screens, the format is completely different (Ataris of course use old RF switchbox or composite video signals)

and

With the Compact Flash drive working I was ready to continue. Finally! The first order of business was finding a screen to use. The first noobish idea would be using an old laptop screen but that's quite hard, if not impossible. See, the Atari puts out composite video (like the yellow jack coming off your PS2) while a computer monitor takes RGB. On top of that most laptop displays are proprietary digital and therefore only work with the laptop they come in. Some people try hooking laptop screens up to their PC's and have a really hard time - connecting it to an Atari would be even more difficult and very expensive.

That mushroom knob of his is great!