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Mac Classic ITX project

J

joshc

68LC040
I would like to convert my Mac Classic into a mini-ITX machine using one of Gigabyte's new motherboards that uses the Intel Atom processor, which means I could install Leopard onto it.

The biggest obstacle is the display. I cannot seem to find a 9" color CRT or LCD that's a reasonable price in the UK. I looked into using a display from an in-car portable DVD player, but those all seem to be widescreen and the lowest size I found was 10.4", which means I would have to cut away some of the bezel to make a nice fit.

Any ideas? I did search the forum for past topics and found a few things but nothing very conclusive. *Ideally* I want a 1024x768 9" color display. OS X is kind of scary on 640x480 really. ;)

 
Some drivers for dual head graphic cards allow to use a screen without consuming all real estate of the display, shrinking height or width and leaving some unused black area. You can see this in several laptops adjusted to an external video projector in screen mirroring mode. Even back in the times of Sys. 7.1 you could set your Mac to use a 13 inch CRT at 640x400 for testing PowerBook software. Might it be possible to configure the driver for a 10.4 inch LCD to use only 9 inch, centered? This way you could use any LCD that fits into the case and adjust it by software to fit the picture into the bezel. Any viable solution should be documented in the 68kMLA wiki, please. (Non working tested configurations might be documented, as well, as they are interesting for anyone trying to do a similar hack.)

 
Another idea that may be the same price, or maybe less expensive:

Buy a netbook with the desired processor specs and screen size, hack it up, and install it all in the classic Mac case.

Many netbooks go for about $400, which would be about the price of a separate display, an Atom system board, and other required goodies. Plus, there are so damn many of them, you have virtually unlimited choices in makes and configurations.

 
I liked the idea of buying one of those so-called netbooks, but sadly they all seem to be widescreen and so have 1024x600 resolution instead of 1024x768. And they are a bit pricey in the UK, compared with buying cheap parts separately.

 
This guy ships worldwide. This monitor is SVGA 1024x768. Is it in your price range? Or is this still too much? Shipping from Miami might be the killer. Not sure what is reasonable to you. If I were seriously looking to start a project like this, I would probably pick this up. In my experience at trying to pick up single used monitors on eBay auctions, they would start out in the $10 range and by the end of the auction end up in this price range anyway. Otherwise you'll end up putting off the project until you happen upon one at a second hand shop.

You're right about the LCDs, I have yet to find a reasonably priced SVGA 8.4" 4:3 (i.e under $200) anywhere. And I still have yet to devise a method to put a flat screen LCD in the case that looks like it belongs. It's certainly a bit easier on the Color Classics as a piece of Plexiglas, curved over the LCD makes it look authentic. The older models are a bit more trouble since it has to curve around all four sides, but in each case that rules out touch screens – not that I could afford that kind of luxury in this kind of project presently. And as anyone knows about me, I'm not a big fan of altering the case. Besides, altering the case for a flat screen throws the aesthetic off: they were never designed for it, though one could make an argument for the SE, based on prototypes and the Portable designs.

 
This guy ships worldwide. This monitor is SVGA 1024x768. Is it in your price range? Or is this still too much? Shipping from Miami might be the killer. Not sure what is reasonable to you. If I were seriously looking to start a project like this, I would probably pick this up. In my experience at trying to pick up single used monitors on eBay auctions, they would start out in the $10 range and by the end of the auction end up in this price range anyway. Otherwise you'll end up putting off the project until you happen upon one at a second hand shop.
Click to expand...
I was looking for a color display, that one is monochrome.

EDIT: I found a color one here: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=180291122409&_trksid=p2759.l1259 I am asking the seller about resolution and shipping costs.

 
If you are buying a MiniITX board, get one with LVDS TFT LCD video out onboard. Then you don't have to buy a monitor - you can buy a bare LCD panel to suit and run it straight off the motherboard. This will be a lot cheaper than an LCD monitor of equivalent specs, and you'll have a much wider choice of sizes, form factors, and resolutions.

Get a full list of supported panels from the MiniITX vendor before purchase if possible, and then do a bit of ebay searching. You can probably find a cheap suitable panel as a laptop spare part - you might even have a suitable panel lying around the workshop.

Avoid the in-car DVD type monitors They have much lower specs than computer monitors in general.

on the Color Classics as a piece of Plexiglas, curved over the LCD makes it look authentic.
Click to expand...
Have you done this? Do you have pics, especially pics from various angles?

but in each case that rules out touch screens
Click to expand...
Unless you use a separate touchscreen overlay kit and fix it to the Plexi
 
I was looking for a color display, that one is monochrome.
Click to expand...
Ah, well there's the rub ... a color CRT won't fit inside a Classic case. It is physically too long. You'll have to go LCD.

Personally, I don't mind the grayscale: http://dclausen.net/projects/tfam/

Avoid the in-car DVD type monitors They have much lower specs than computer monitors in general.

on the Color Classics as a piece of Plexiglas, curved over the LCD makes it look authentic.
Click to expand...
Have you done this? Do you have pics, especially pics from various angles?

but in each case that rules out touch screens
Click to expand...
Unless you use a separate touchscreen overlay kit and fix it to the Plexi
Click to expand...
Thanks for that info about car kits, I had been looking at them. I presume I should be looking at the 9" CRT commercial equipment replacement panels, which run in the $400 range. The good news is they also take TTL, CGA & EGA inputs. ;-)

I will look for the pic of the Japanese Classic I had seen modded with a plexi cover. It looks pretty good. You're probably thinking about glare, but there is anti-glare plexi as well.

Thanks for the reminder about the touch-screen overlay kits. I was more interested in modding an original Plus era compact and was thinking I would have the front of a CRT sawed off and stripped of phosphor to cover the LCD. Now I can do that and have my touch-screen too.

 
No, it wasn't glare I was thinking of, more image distortion from the fact that you're not looking at a curved image, but a refracted image of a flat surface.

I've got eight or so NIB 8" greyscale 800x600 CRT VGA monitors and two second-hand 9" colour 1024x768 CRT VGA monitors. I've never paid more than $20 for the greyscales, and the colour ones were $40 pickup and $25 + shipping. Considering I'm in Australia, I would call all the examples you guys have linked outrageously overpriced.

/EDIT/

I found a color one here: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=180291122409&_trksid=p2759.l1259
Click to expand...
Well, hush mah mouth. $15.99 and he has 30 available??? 8-o

 
Last edited by a moderator:
I would like to convert my Mac Classic into a mini-ITX machine using one of Gigabyte's new motherboards that uses the Intel Atom processor, which means I could install Leopard onto it.
Click to expand...
It wouldn't be breaching the EULA, as it would still be an Apple Computer, just with a motherboard upgrade. :)

 
Thanks for that info about car kits, I had been looking at them. I presume I should be looking at the 9" CRT commercial equipment replacement panels, which run in the $400 range. The good news is they also take TTL, CGA & EGA inputs. ;-)
Click to expand...
Aw hell no. $400? Madness.

To be clear, what I meant was the typical widescreen DVD-only monitors that go in car AV systems, and have the bare minimum vertical pixel count for NTSC, and AV inputs only - those should be avoided.

There are decent 8"-10" 4:3 aspect LCDs available, with VGA in, and at least 640x480 pixels, around the $200+/-$50 mark.

But I still say the most cost effective will be a MiniITX with LVDS and a bare panel.

/edit/ The Intel Jetway J9F2 Extreme - socketed CPUs, takes Core2Duos, has LVDS video. Admittedly not as cheap as the Atom boards, but holy spaghetti monster, that's a lot of expandability in a small board.

 
Some drivers for dual head graphic cards allow to use a screen without consuming all real estate of the display, shrinking height or width and leaving some unused black area./ Might it be possible to configure the driver for a 10.4 inch LCD to use only 9 inch, centered? This way you could use any LCD that fits into the case and adjust it by software to fit the picture into the bezel.
Click to expand...
Hmm, if you could combine that with screen rotation and an off-center display area, you could use say a 12-15" LCD in portrait orientation...

Another way to stretch your LCD budget is to look for one with a dead backlight and come up with your own backlighting solution. }:)

 
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