Question about the Macintosh Portable

[Froggy814]

Hello everyone I am hopefully getting my first mac as of this Thursday; (If the Thrift store still has it) and was doing a bunch of research on it before I got it.

I watch This Does Not Compute and I learned a lot about Older macs. I especially liked his Mac From New Parts. At the thrift store I work at a Macintosh Portable showed up last week from 1989. So I decided to try to figure out what was needed before buying. While looking I found out that the screens breaking is very common so I though about it; and came up with a idea. (It might be really dum)

I found this post about a rasberry pi mac portable and he used a ipad 2 lcd. And then I found this adapter made by Androda and wondered... Buying a vga adapter for the ipad 2 lcd to the adapter and then plugging it into the adapter that androda made would that work? Would you even be able to make it thinner and put it in the screen bezel? hooking it all up with wires?

Again its just an idea that is probably horrible but it is a thought considering that all of the matrix screens are really old now.

Thanks
-Froggy

 

[Froggy814]

Also can I use any amp hour battery or does it have to be 5ah? Could I put in more amp hours?

Thanks
-Froggy

 

[joevt]

Anything is possible if you throw enough code and electronics at it.

Using the Macintosh Portable video output was discussed at:
https://68kmla.org/bb/threads/macintosh-portable-video-adapter.32038/

Here's an Apple Macintosh Portable Video Adapter M0251 description:
https://fsck.technology/documentati...ays/macintosh-portable-video-adapter-8909.pdf
Did Apple ever produce this?

I didn't find much about replacing the display itself.

The Macintosh Portable video output seems really simple:
https://allpinouts.org/pinouts/connectors/computer_video/apple-macintosh-portable-video/

iPad 2 LCD is 1024x768. Would you upscale 640x400/480 or would you just use the middle of the display? Maybe there are more appropriate LCDs with better matching resolutions or sizes. I would prefer not converting to analog VGA if possible. Find a DVI/HDMI solution?

Here's a discussion of the display hinge cracking on the Mac Portable:
https://tinkerdifferent.com/threads/cracked-hinge-on-mac-portable.4835/

Here's a discussion about compatible battery chargers:
https://tinkerdifferent.com/threads/powerbook-power-adapter-compatibility.736/

There's threads about replacing the battery. Search for "Battery Eliminator".

This post mentions using a LiFePO4 battery instead of the Sealed Lead Acid battery.
https://mastodon.social/@paulrickards/111762914299639568

 

[pl212]

I don't think the screen is a major area of concern, at least not compared with problems around the power adaptor, lead-acid battery, motherboard capacitors, and hybrid module. I'd focus on whether the right power adaptor is included, to start with.