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| Click here to select a new forum. | | iBook G3 to iBook G4 hackery | Posted by: techknight on 2010-10-21 18:33:39
I figured some might like to read this, but some may not, but I figure ill go ahead and post what I did today as a good read for the day.
I have an ibook G3 900mhz unit as my main mac laptop. aside from the lombard i just aquired, and the TiBook G4 thats missing a boatload of stuff, like CDROM, battery, etc......
A friend of mine gave me an ibook G4 1.33ghz with a cracked screen.
Well, since im cheap, and if i get the G4 working i wont need the G3 anymore, i figured what the heck. lets transplant the screen.
I took the bezel apart and removed the broken screen and set it aside. it was a CHI-MEI screen. I removed the screen from the ibook G3 and stuck it in the G4 bezel and hooked it all up.
Well, no video. Also the G3 screen was from a different brand/manufacturer other than CHI-MEI. and the LVDS Data cable going to the LCD was also visibly wired slightly different between the ibooks as well.
soooo.... I completely tore down the ibook G4 anyway, because the CD slot load aluminum bracket was bent and causing CDs to get chewed up and stuck. So i fixed that too...
I tore apart the G3 and noticed the cable was slightly longer, and the plug angle was a 90degree instead of a 45 degree from plug to wire, but the plug actually fit in the G4 motherboard, so i figured i would try it.
so i removed the old cable from the G4 bezel, and put the one from the G3 in it. I had to remove the modem from the G4 to make room for the cable, as the G3s cable was a little too long, AND it was the wrong angle as i said, so it blocked the modem connection port. Who uses a modem anymore anyway? so what the heck...
after getting the cable bundled up and plugged into place, allowing it to fit, I was able to put the metal shrouds back on without bowing or clearance issues.
I tested out the G4 after the cable/screen transplant and it worked!!! so that means you must keep cables with screen brands or they wont interchange.
So i put the machine all back together, what a pain that was... and the machine now sings perfectly. I got a new to me G4.
But now with the bad... I have a G3 900 now that is basically scrap because i scavenged its LCD/Cable to fix the G4. So now what to do with the remaining parts? still good of course...
| Posted by: geeko on 2010-10-21 19:02:06
hook it up to an external screen and use it as a mini desktop
| Posted by: harrymatic on 2010-10-22 01:01:53
See if you can cram the leftover G3 into an old Macintosh LC case. I'd give it a go myself, but I don't have an LC and I can't quite bring myself to gut one of my iBooks 🙂
| Posted by: Scott Baret on 2010-10-23 08:49:47
Nice idea! We've seen plenty of Power Color Classics, but an LC G4 would be a first!!!
(I do recall someone putting LC guts inside a Cube once, but never the other way around).
| Posted by: harrymatic on 2010-10-23 10:38:15
I've even seen the guts of a jellybean G3 squeezed into an LC case, so surely it must be possible! 😎
http://www.command-tab.com/2005/06/19/imac-lc-iii/
| Posted by: Bunsen on 2010-10-23 15:59:15
And a Mini in a Centris 610.
Actually, the drive adapter he uses there would allow you to use (cheaper, larger, faster) desktop drives with your iBook/LC, as would a Firewire to ATA or SATA adapter.
| Posted by: techknight on 2010-10-23 17:52:04
The only thing about using the Ibook G3/900 in an LC or other style case, is the keyboard/power button. I think they make ADB to USB adapters, i could use up a USB port for that, and the power button is wired to its own dedicated pin? I cant remember. i could connect the power button from keyboard on its dedicated pin, up to the power button connector on logic board i guess....
Only thing is, I dont have the adapter that allows you to hook a monitor up to the ibook VGA socket.
| Posted by: harrymatic on 2010-10-24 02:10:36
IIRC, all of the G3 iBooks and some of the early G4 iBooks used an internal ADB port for the trackpad / clicker. Investigating it now, there are 4 pins - the same as regular ADB. If you could tap into that, you'd be all set. Just about the hardest part of the project would be keeping the LC looking stock.
| Posted by: techknight on 2010-10-25 18:59:54
ooohhh ok. just like alot of the earlier PC laptops the trackpad was PS/2 based. and probably still is.
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