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Danrose1977

macrumors regular
Original poster
Are any of you people currently running an iBook with an external display? Whats the deal...

- Which of the display are you using?
- maximum resolutions you can display?
- is there any way to extend your desktop on to it, or does it duplicate?

I only ask as if prices drop on the current line to accomodate new style displays, I may consider picking one up.

Cheers,

Dan

----------------
12' iBook 800Mhz
384Mb RAM
 

blue&whiteman

macrumors 65816
Nov 30, 2003
1,210
0
yes. resolutions are determined by how much vram you have. anything 16mb and over can do 2048x1536 and everything up to that. you just need a display capable of the res you want. the graphic cpu itself has very little to do with 2D even where quartz extreme is used. for 2D its the amount of ram you have that makes or breaks it. others may see it different but I am speaking of my own experience. if my radeon 7000 card wasn't using quartz extreme it wouldn't be any faster than the original rage 128 16mb.

16mb or more and you're good for 2d usually
 

robbieduncan

Moderator emeritus
Jul 24, 2002
25,611
893
Harrogate
Spanning Vs Mirroring

If you want spanning mode and not just mirroring you need to apply an Open Firmware hack. This only works on certain model snow iBooks. Do a Google search for details.
 

Doraemon

macrumors 6502
Aug 31, 2001
487
2
Europe (EU)
Slowly guys.

Theoretically, what you say is correct blue&whiteman. However, the iBook is limited to 1024x768 on video output. Apple is doing that to give the PB G4 a real advantage over the iBook.

I am using my iBook with an AppleVision 750 CRT display (17-inch). Due to the limited resolution a larger display doesn't make sense.

Dual monitor support is not available by default. However, you can enable it with a hack. Note that you loose your iBook's warranty when applying this hack:

http://www.rutemoeller.com/mp/ibook/ibook_e.html

Personally, I think it's too risky.
 

reh

macrumors 6502a
Oct 24, 2003
639
1
Arkansas
Doraemon said:
Note that you loose your iBook's warranty when applying this hack:
I don't know if it voids the warranty or not. But it's really easy to remove the hack if you have to send in your ibook for repair. Just zap the PRAM.
In case you want to return to your original configuration all you have to do is reset your nvram. This is usually done by pressing the Command-Option-P-R keys while you turn on your computer until the start sound chimes again.
 

blue&whiteman

macrumors 65816
Nov 30, 2003
1,210
0
sw hacks to mod hardware have been said to cause damage now and then. people have said this about the quartz extreme pci hack but I have never had 1 issue and have used it since I bought my radeon 7000 in june 03.
 

robbieduncan

Moderator emeritus
Jul 24, 2002
25,611
893
Harrogate
Doraemon said:
Slowly guys.

Theoretically, what you say is correct blue&whiteman. However, the iBook is limited to 1024x768 on video output. Apple is doing that to give the PB G4 a real advantage over the iBook.

I am using my iBook with an AppleVision 750 CRT display (17-inch). Due to the limited resolution a larger display doesn't make sense.

Dual monitor support is not available by default. However, you can enable it with a hack. Note that you loose your iBook's warranty when applying this hack:

http://www.rutemoeller.com/mp/ibook/ibook_e.html

Personally, I think it's too risky.

With this hack enabled on my iBook 800 (G3) I was able to get much more than 1024x768 on an external display (1600x1200 was available at least).
 

davecuse

macrumors 6502
Feb 20, 2004
419
0
NYC
I had a 12" iBook, and tried to connect a second monitor.... Let me put it this way, my mother now has a 12" PowerBook and I have a shiny new 17' PowerBook G4 and a 17" Studio monitor.

Main drawbacks of the iBook...
- at 1024 x 768 the resolution on any larger external LCD looks pretty bad. Even on a 15" LCD that I use for my Linux box it looked very washed out.
- only supports video mirroring, does not allow you to extend your desktop

So whats the point of having a 2nd monitor with this? Honestly I don't see any reason, why would I want to hook up a bulky external monitor that looks like crap.

If you want to hook up 2 monitors spend a little extra on a PB, you'll thank yourself later.
 

Doraemon

macrumors 6502
Aug 31, 2001
487
2
Europe (EU)
davecuse said:
So whats the point of having a 2nd monitor with this? Honestly I don't see any reason, why would I want to hook up a bulky external monitor that looks like crap.

...because 17 inch is better than 12?! ;)
 

michaelrjohnson

macrumors 68020
Aug 9, 2000
2,180
5
53132
firstly, i have an ibook. I have installed the hack, and dual monitors and "clamshell" modes work perfectly. PLUS, people HAVE BEEN able to use resolutions higher than 1024x768 on an external monitor with an iBook G4 in both Dual Monitor and Clamshell modes. It IS possible. It HAS been done. Check out the forums for the hack and this related thread in the forums.
 

haiggy

macrumors 65816
Aug 20, 2003
1,328
76
Ontario, Canada
I have used the hack on my iBook G4 and it is a script which you can turn on or off. I downloaded Screen Spanning Doctor found at: http://macparts.de/ibook/ I am using it on an old MultiSync A500 which I got with my first mac tower (can't recall the model name - but I do still have it ;)) and the monitor only supports 1024x768 but I am almost positive you can use any resolution as long as the monitor supports it. In the displays preferences it shows you two windows and you can rearrange them for the sides you want to be able to acces the monitor on (left or right). You can also have different backgrounds. Anyways, just some warning whether it has anything to do with it or not but, about 4 days after I installed it, it worked fine and I was playing my favourite game (WCIII of course ;)) and later that afternoon (after unplugging the monitor) WCIII wouldn't work at all. It said that it couldnt initialize OpenGL. The author of the program does give some warning that he is no responsible for any problems... and I am still not sure if it happened because of this. Anyways, I had to reinstall Panther and it worked fine. I suggest you have a backup copy of your files before you install it.

Just my $0.02
 

lasuther

macrumors 6502a
Feb 13, 2004
670
0
Grand Haven, Michigan
I have also downloaded the hack for my 12" iBook. So far, I've had no problems and it works great. I do spanning with a 17" flat panel that runs at 1280 x 1024. I play a lot of WC3 on the iBook, but I've never tried it on the 17" monitor. Hope that helps.

lasuther
 

Danrose1977

macrumors regular
Original poster
Thanks for all the tips guys, I'm going to pop the hack on, and head down to a local store that has some mac gear for sale... (PCworld, damn apple, no proper Apple stores in the UK...) I think I can talk them into letting me plug my iBook into one of their HD Cinema displays. I want to see if I can set it to show one of those exotic widescreen rez's!
 
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