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iMac G4 LCD Swap

Posted by: iMac600 on 2014-01-12 21:23:12 I've recently turned my iMac G4 (15-inch USB 2.0) into a sweet little stereo system, streaming internet radio stations down and playing it back through Apple's Pro Speakers. The entire thing is controlled from my iPhone as a remote. It's pretty sweet. I can't help but notice though that its 15-inch screen is looking a little tired. I have a 15-inch Apple Studio Display here, you know... one of these: Which has a fantastic LCD in it, but a dead Logic Board. Does anyone know what the odds are of these displays being electrically and physically compatible? It's a long shot, but I have to ask.

Posted by: techknight on 2014-01-13 09:46:10 See if the panels have datasheets. If so chexk pinouts they may interchange. You also may need to swap edid too.

Posted by: Under Dog on 2014-01-13 20:11:29 I just put together a pianobar build on an old g3 iMac slotloader. It's headed out to the garage to replace the old stereo. What software are you running for streaming music?

Posted by: iMac600 on 2014-01-14 16:11:25 Cheers Techknight - I'll see what I find. The iMac is easy, I'll just run a couple of commands and grab the panel data, but the somewhat dead Studio Display will be a little more fun. Under Dog, I'm actually running iTunes 9 on OS X Leopard. I know it doesn't sound that fantastic, but since it handles the streams rather well and I can control it from my iPhone using the Apple Remote app, it's a surprisingly decent fit for the job. Other than that, all I've done is remove Spotlight, remove Dashboard and hide the Dock. Since yours is an iMac G3 it may run into some hurdles (mostly in that it's capped at OS X Tiger), but iTunes 9.2.1 should still run on it, and that's the absolute lowest version to support the Remote app should you wish to go that route. Otherwise a keyboard and mouse will suffice. There may be better solutions for streaming media playback, but I haven't felt the need to look for them just yet since this seems to be handling the job rather nicely.

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