[lebannen]

Aloha macnn; a quick question for those of you that know the iMac's guts inside out. Is it possible to use the iMac as an external monitor for a powermac tower?

Obviously, not without some form of modification. The real question is - does the imac use a standard vga connection internally, or has it integrated the monitor outputs onto the graphics board? I've only ever taken the iMac apart to the level of the motherboard, and the monitor connections are on the back of this so I've never noticed.

Ideally, I can envisage this scheme where the VGA-out on the back of the iMac is used as a VGA-in instead, so the iMac can either operate as per normal, or as a headless G3 server underneath a nice little 15" monitor...

[Mediaman_12]

Originally posted by lebannen:
Aloha macnn; a quick question for those of you that know the iMac's guts inside out. Is it possible to use the iMac as an external monitor for a powermac tower?

Obviously, not without some form of modification. The real question is - does the imac use a standard vga connection internally, or has it integrated the monitor outputs onto the graphics board? I've only ever taken the iMac apart to the level of the motherboard, and the monitor connections are on the back of this so I've never noticed.

Ideally, I can envisage this scheme where the VGA-out on the back of the iMac is used as a VGA-in instead, so the iMac can either operate as per normal, or as a headless G3 server underneath a nice little 15" monitor...

The monitor isn't at all integrated in to the circuitry of the iMac, in fact if you crack open the case you will see that it connects to the 'computer' part with a regular VGA plug.

[l008com]

Originally posted by Mediaman_12:


The monitor isn't at all integrated in to the circuitry of the iMac, in fact if you crack open the case you will see that it connects to the 'computer' part with a regular VGA plug.

That sig is Gran Turismo 3 right?

[COmie JOe]

Originally posted by Mediaman_12:


The monitor isn't at all integrated in to the circuitry of the iMac, in fact if you crack open the case you will see that it connects to the 'computer' part with a regular VGA plug.

umm what are you on? the imac DV dose not have VGA connecter inside the case, the older tray load imacs do have a DB-15 or mac video plug inside the case. the Slot load Imac (DV model would be a slot load) has a VGA signal inside but it is like a strange thing the LB plugs into. the major problem I see with getting a I mac DV to work as a monitor, is to get the Power AV board to come on, because I believe the down converter board is linked to the power on process which is linked to the LB, you could just get a dead LB that will get the unit to power on and then route the VGA signal to a diffrent place other than dead LB and convert it's pin out to one you could plug in a standard VGA cable. what would also be way cool is if you could get a cable to make the ports work from the Imac. so you could have a wee sized USB hub.

Good luck and good h4x00r1ng

[drcarl]

I was hoping that I could disconnect the vga cable in my iMac (333 rev.D slot-loading) and connect its monitor to a new G4 with some sort of vga extention cable.

If that works, I'll connect the G4, iMac and my DSL modem to an ethernet switch so I can access my old 6 Gig HD and maybe find some creative way to make use of my iMac's 192 Megs of RAM (as a RAM disk possibly?).

Any one have experience using an old iMac as a monitor? Or should I just buy a CRT? I like the flat LCD screens, but it's too expensive for my budget at this time.

[COmie JOe]

Originally posted by drcarl:
I was hoping that I could disconnect the vga cable in my iMac (333 rev.D slot-loading) and connect its monitor to a new G4 with some sort of vga extention cable.

If that works, I'll connect the G4, iMac and my DSL modem to an ethernet switch so I can access my old 6 Gig HD and maybe find some creative way to make use of my iMac's 192 Megs of RAM (as a RAM disk possibly?).

Any one have experience using an old iMac as a monitor? Or should I just buy a CRT? I like the flat LCD screens, but it's too expensive for my budget at this time.

best idea would be to go buy a CRT imac CRT=Crap you could set the old imac as a file server to store stuff, or you could take the drive out and put it into the g4 tower.

[drcarl]

But it would be possible to do with a rev. D iMac... right? Any one try it?

[smic]

i tried it a month ago with a 6100 hooked up to my imacs moniter and my imac running off a 17 inch moniter, but the 6100 wouldnt get the imac moniter to come on, but im going to try it out with with a pc soonish, like in the next day or 2, so ill post if it worked or not

[greenG4]

the cable in the tray-loading imac is the apple 15-pin vga cable, not a standard cable like is used now. I have a servicesource pdf file of this if anyone would like to look at it.

[COmie JOe]

Originally posted by greenG4:
the cable in the tray-loading imac is the apple 15-pin vga cable, not a standard cable like is used now. I have a servicesource pdf file of this if anyone would like to look at it.

uhh, you meen that the cable is a DB 15 (the older style apple monitor plug) and not a VGA (indrustry standard for most CRT monitors) cable (DB has 15 total in two lines, VGA is 15 pins in 3 lines) Same signal just diffrent pin out, shape and name.

[sadie]

So... if it's the same signal, is it possible to get a converter between them?

[smic]

ya it totally is
costs like 10 or 15 bucks

[CreepDogg]

I've tried this - I couldn't get it to work. I bought a cheap DB15-VGA adapter, and plugged my friend's G4 VGA port into the iMac (a Rev. A). Nothing.

I think the problem is as stated - the A/V board needs to be on, and it must do something to integrate the video signal from the iMac to the monitor. I tried it both with the iMac on, and the iMac off, and with switching out the port after the iMac was turned on, all with no luck.

If anyone knows how to get this to work, I'm all ears!

[smic]

i tried for a week
even had the moniter hooked up and restarted the imac and it wouldnt turn on for me
kinda sucked, but i lucked out and got a 17studio display free

sweetass