POOR VIDEO ON IBOOK G4 CAN IT USE A MINI-ITX

[JEM522]

My Ibook has poor video performance for watching live TV and streaming youtube.

I wondered if I could replace the mac motherboard with and ITX-MINI pc board and still utilise the screen -which is quite nice?

If so how do I hook up the video to the ibook screen?

 

[Osgeld]

figure out the pinout of the screen and its raw data format for the controller

laptop lcd's dont take a video signal per say, its raw data which is decoded by the screen, so If you dont have the driver hardware for that screen (almost always on the original motherboard) your pretty much SOL

 

[Gorgonops]

There are Mini-ITX motherboards that include LVDS driver circuitry. However, beware that it's not a trivial job to actually use that circuitry. Cabling for LCD panels is *not* standardized, as different size, resolution, and color depth (some LCDs are only 18 bit color, while others are 24 bit) panels use different numbers of data lines and manufacturers sometimes arrange them in different ways. You *may* be able to find an appropriate cable "off the shelf" by determining the manufacturer/model # of the LCD panel and cross-matching it against the model number of the Mini-ITX board you purchase, but if not, well... a quick search of the "Carputer" forums on mp3car.com suggests that custom cabling will probably run you around $70-$80. That's a good percentage of the price of a good-size desktop LCD monitor.

Also note the obvious, of course, that a Mini-ITX motherboard will not even come close to fitting into an iBook g4 case, so what you're talking about is turning your laptop into a horribly hacked and demented desktop. (The keyboard and trackpad won't be easily usable either as in the iBook G4 they're emulated as ADB devices, not USB like in the very last model PowerBook G4s.) It seems like working iBooks still sell in the $200+ ballpark so if the only thing wrong with it is it's "too slow" it seems to me you'd be much better off selling the unit and putting the money towards an inexpensive PC laptop. (Brand new ones that will still run rings around it for viewing video can be had for less than $400, while a used Core Duo unit in usable shape might be a straight-across trade.)

 

[JEM522]

Many thanks for your sensible advice.

I agree with you after looking at sizes of ITX boards.

Having newly acquired the ibook I was surprised how awful the video playback was. I love the design and the size and weight are superb. It goes like a rocket online and in every other aspect it would be fine but for the very slow jerky video and streaming. Still I suppose I was hoping for too much from an older apple machine.I was told that this model was the Nadir for macs-of course only after I bought it.

I am only used to PCs and for £100 ($140) I bought a nice old dell D600 laptop for my daughter. It plays video it can be linked to her TV and works really well-she can even use it for presentations!!!!

So I think I will do as you advise -Sell this slow piece of crap and buy a PC!!

 

[Bunsen]

Even used Macbooks aren't too spendy at the moment - especially comparing the time, trouble and expense of your proposed MiniITX hack.