mustagcoupe
Member
A while back I got a PowerBook 520c that worked but the screen plastics were in terrible shape and the screen didn't always work properly which made it no fun to use. I decided to remove the screen and convert it into a halftop using an external monitor.
I could not find any information on if the 520c would still work with no screen attached or if the internal keyboard and mouse would still function in external display mode so I did some testing. The answer is yes it works without a screen and yes the internal keyboard and mouse work in external display mode.
To use the external display mode the 520c has to be booted with the lid closed or be tricked into thinking the lid is closed. The screen latch pushes down a little switch that does this. You could just jam something in the latch slot to hold the switch down but since I had to take off the top panel to remove the display cable I used a piece of wire to hold the switch in the down position. I could have glued it or soldered in a jumper but this way I can just clip the wire off if I decide to get a new the screen assembly at some point.
The 520c works perfectly as a half top plugged into an external screen. The internal keyboard, trackpad and power button all function exactly as they did before. The only difference is since the speakers and microphone were in the screen I have to plug in external ones if I need them.
If you do this I would be careful with the external display port. The adapter is very bulky and inflexible and it seems like it puts a lot of stress on the port.
I could not find any information on if the 520c would still work with no screen attached or if the internal keyboard and mouse would still function in external display mode so I did some testing. The answer is yes it works without a screen and yes the internal keyboard and mouse work in external display mode.
To use the external display mode the 520c has to be booted with the lid closed or be tricked into thinking the lid is closed. The screen latch pushes down a little switch that does this. You could just jam something in the latch slot to hold the switch down but since I had to take off the top panel to remove the display cable I used a piece of wire to hold the switch in the down position. I could have glued it or soldered in a jumper but this way I can just clip the wire off if I decide to get a new the screen assembly at some point.
The 520c works perfectly as a half top plugged into an external screen. The internal keyboard, trackpad and power button all function exactly as they did before. The only difference is since the speakers and microphone were in the screen I have to plug in external ones if I need them.
If you do this I would be careful with the external display port. The adapter is very bulky and inflexible and it seems like it puts a lot of stress on the port.
