[shifuimam]

This project has moved to: The iBook Modification Project.

What you need for the LCD upgrade project:
This is a list of components known to work. You may try other parts if you'd like

1. LG display data cable, Apple part #922-5368. You can order one of these through your local certified Apple resale/repair shop - go to Apple.com to find one near you.
2. 12" Samsung LCD from an Apple laptop, model number LTN121X1-L02. The Philips LG LP121X04 is also known to work. These are confirmed to be found in 12" G3 and G4 white iBooks. Nobody's pulled one from a 12" PowerBook, but we're pretty sure it's the same model.
3. 466Mhz clamshell logic board - these are the only boards with the upgraded 8MB ATI video chip that is known to output 1024x768 (XGA) resolution. Older boards (300 and 366MHz) may or may not work. The 466Mhz boards were only in the DVD-capable graphite and key lime clamshells.
4. Latest firmware update - this is necessary for the resolution hack to work! You should be able to download from Apple's website. Don't ask me how to update it - I don't know, since my iBook had the latest firmware when I bought it on eBay.

How to actually do the firmware edit:

Hold down Cmd+Opt+O+F and boot up your computer. This will open up the Open Firmware (OF) console.

Type in the following commands (new line means hit enter). Make certain you're typing it in correctly - a missed keystroke could render your computer unusable (maybe). Just be careful.

[codex]nvedit
dev /
3 encode-int " display-family" property[/codex]

Hit Ctrl+C to quit the NVRAM editor.

[codex]nvstore
setenv use-nvramrc? true
reset-all[/codex]

You should have working XGA resolution now. If you don't, PLEASE at least take a quick look at pages 6 and 7 of this thread for possible troubleshooting tips. Still having trouble? Post as many details as you can so we can help you!

If you think you've messed up the NVRAM edits at all, hold down Cmd+Option+P+R to reset the PRAM entirely. This will remove all NVRAM edits and the code that directs Open Firmware to use the custom NVRAM file when booting.

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TO PLAY DVDS

At this time, DVD playback doesn't work when display-family is set to 3. It will work on a TV if you mirror your display on a television, but it outputs audio with a black screen when trying to play DVDs on the iBook LCD itself.

Until we can find a better solution, you can use the following NVRAM edit to work around this problem. This edit will set the display to 1152x768, which will cut off ~60 pixels on the right in full screen mode, but at least allow playback.

[codex]nvedit
dev /
2 encode-int " display-family" property[/codex]

Hit Ctrl+C to quit the NVRAM editor.

[codex]nvstore
setenv use-nvramrc? true
reset-all[/codex]

You can then set display-family to 3 when you want to go back to 1024x768.

If anyone knows how to apply firmware edits from inside OS X, please give us some input! It would be great to be able to make these changes without having to reboot.

Hi all..

I bought a Tangerine iBook off eBay a few months back. I've since upgraded the hard drive (20GB Hitachi), added RAM (256MB of whatever was cheapest at Fry's), and upgraded the CD drive to a CD-RW/DVD combo drive that I got on eBay. It was actually pulled from a Compaq laptop, but it worked just fine - I can read DVDs and burn CDs (Finder, NTI Dragon Burn, iTunes, and various freeware applications). The graphics adapter isn't powerful enough to play DVDs without a LOT of skipping/jerking video, so I don't mess with that anymore.

I have two questions. First off, the CD-RW/DVD drive. Like I said, it works great. Unfortunately, for some reason, I can't boot off it with Panther OR Ubuntu Linux (LiveCD or install CD). I can, however, boot off a Jaguar CD. I'm pretty sure I have the newest firmware update available from Apple. Is there something I need to do to make this work? Do I need to pull the drive and figure out how to flash its firmware in order to allow booting?

When I Option+Boot to get the boot menu, it sees the CD as Mac or Linux, but when I boot off it, it doesn't work. With Linux, it hangs and then boots into OS X (I have 10.3.9 installed). With Panther, it brings up a screen and flashes an OS 9-looking blue smiley face folder over and over, until I hard reboot it. With Jaguar, it boots off the CD just fine.

This would be a non-issue except that I was really wanting to dual-boot Ubuntu and Panther. Sooo any help would be appreciated.

Also, I've found someone on eBay selling 466MHz SE Graphite iBooks, untested, with no battery or power adapter. I love the color of my iBook, but I'd like to upgrade the logic board. If I did so (I'd drill out a hole for the firewire port), would I be able to play DVDs? In other words, does the 466MHz SE board have hardware DVD decoding support?

My other question is this: has anyone here successfully upgraded the LCD in a clamshell iBook? I've found a number of LCD cables from Compaq and Micron that appear to be very similar in construction. I'm starting to think that possibly the end of the cable that plus into the LCD might be the same across different brands, and I could therefore put in an XGA (1024x768) LCD, using the cable that is currently in use in the iBook.

Does anyone have any experience with this? What about using a 12" LCD from another Mac?

I would absolutely love to be able to upgrade the LCD, and it would be a neat accomplishment for me - not just for the higher resolution, but just to show that I could really do it. Again, any info is greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

[gooser]

it can't be done, but don't let that stop you. if anyone can do it you can.

[shifuimam]

well, interesting response. I'll give you that.

I heard from someone else that the Apple optical drives have special firmware to allow booting off the drive? As mentioned below, I'm throwing a 466MHz SE board in this thing, which has firewire - I should be able to boot into firewire target disk mode, and install an OS via firewire through another Apple computer, correct?

And I'm assuming you (or anyone else here) has no definitive answer on whether or not the 466MHz SE boards have hardware DVD decoding support? I know the last revision of the clamshells could play DVDs, so that would be my assumption...but I don't know for sure.

[ibook_steve]

It's going to be kind of hard to put a graphite board in a tangerine case without cutting out a hole for the Firewire, but yes, the graphite does have a graphics chip that would decode DVD. I think you are expecting *way* too much out of this poor little old tangerine iBook. You cannot put a higher resolution display in either tangerine or graphite. The graphics chip won't understand what it is and either won't work or still display at 800x600. The Panther disk may not work because I think it required a 1024x768 display plus Firewire. I don't recall.

For what you'd spend on an LCD, put it towards getting a white iBook G3 or G4 or a 12" Powerbook if you must get a used machine. I wouldn't waste the time or money to do what you want to do.

Steve

[shifuimam]

I guess I'm just interested in it as a project, and it would be an accomplishment for me. I really like the old clamshell look - the 12" ibooks are boring to me, and not worth it.

If I recall correctly, the video out on the 466MHz boards supports 1024x768, so I would assume the graphics chip can handle that. I don't know of any documented case where someone successfully upgraded the LCD in any laptop; it would just be an interesting project for me. I was curious to see if anyone here had attempted it. I've looked at various LCD interface cables for different laptop and LCD manufacturers, and it looks as though some models of laptops use very similar, if not identical, cables to those used in the clamshell ibooks.

Regarding Panther - that is what I have installed now. I've successfully installed both Jaguar and Panther; neither require 1024x768 or Firewire. I believe Tiger was the first OS X release to actually *require* Firewire, and even then people have figured out how to circumvent that.

I only wanted to reinstall so I could dual-boot Ubuntu Linux and Panther. I was able to boot off an Ubuntu LiveCD, as well as Jaguar and Panther installation CDs, with the original iBook CD-ROM. Now, I'm wondering if it won't boot because it's not an Apple optical drive; the module was pulled from a Compaq laptop that happened to use the same interface (interestingly enough, IBM ThinkPads also have the same connector on their media bay modules...).

I know at the very least that I can do an upgrade to a 466MHz board, which I know will improve performance, if only marginally. I've already successfully upgraded to a CD-RW/DVD (and can successfully burn CDs), as I mentioned before - so to me that's just the start of what I might be able to do.

Thanks for the input, though!!

[MacPino]

the video out on my 466 clamshell doesn't go any higher than 800 * 600, so you probably wouldn't be able to get a higher resolution from another screen. A shame, 'cause it's basically the only thing keeping this neat little computer from still being usable as a typing/webbrowsing laptop...

By the way: dvd on this machine is not a problem at all, I still use it for that sometimes (given the limitations, don't try to do any multitasking )

[shifuimam]

I thought that chip could do 1024x768? I read on a different Mac forum that the 8MB VRAM bump in the 466MHz clamshells was enough to push 1024x768.

Hooking up to a TV is a different story...CRTs are super low-res. Depending on the age of the TV, 800x600 would be the max resolution of the tube.

I'll do some more research and see what I can find.

FWIW, I did throw a 466MHz board in with no issues. I used a Dremel to cut out a hole for the firewire and sand the edges smooth. I didn't have to reinstall OS X, but now it doesn't think I have video out or hardware DVD capability (I can't install DVD Player), so I'm going to have to reinstall over firewire using the boyfriend's 12" PB.

Thanks to all for the info - any other advice on this project is always welcomed!!

[tooki]

Mac OS X never uses any Mac's dedicated DVD decoding hardware, even on the few Macs that have it.

On an old iBook, under Mac OS X, it's not the GPU that is the DVD bottleneck, it's the CPU, which simply cannot decode the MPEG2 video quickly enough.

tooki

[bund]

You can use Pacifist to install the apple DVD Player from your Installer CD/DVD.
The Apple DVD player won't work with the 300MHZ or 366MHZ clamshells without firewire because they have only 4MB grahics, it needs 8MB minimum. The performance ist much better than VLC and other freeware players.
With my 366MHZ indigo Clamshell Second edition I can watch DVD without probs.

[microangelito]

Hi there,

You mentiond you upgraded your iBook Clamshell's optical drive with one from a compaq laptop. I did'nt know it was possible so could you please tell me which model it was from.

Thanks in advance.

[microangelito]

Hi,

Also where can I find the firmware update as I can't seem to find it. Please post a link to where you got it from.

Thanks in advance.

[bund]

Here is a drive Compatibility database....

[microangelito]

Hi,

Could someone please tell me what compatible drive THEY used as it's wasting to much time looking through the provided link. Also could someone post a list of compatible optical drives please.

Thanks in advance.

[shifuimam]

Hi all - sorry for not responding sooner; I've been really busy lately!

I purchased a CD-RW/DVD drive with a listed model number of UJDA70. It is NOT bootable from CD. Instead, I have used Firewire Target Disk mode and a firewire cable to install OS X through my boyfriend's Powerbook. I am completely unable to install Ubuntu linux.

There are other models that have been confirmed to work with bootable CDs - the Toshiba SD-R2512 is a popular model known to work. I, however, couldn't find one on eBay in my price range at the time I did my upgrade.

Information on how to do it can be found here.

That same guy has an interesting tutorial on how to use an airport card from an original airport base station as an airport card in a clamshell iBook. You have to do some modification to your iBook, but original airport base stations are a heck of a lot cheaper than the airport cards...

The xlr8yourmac compatibility list could also be helpful...just search for the word "boot" to find models known to be bootable.

Whatever drive you use, you will very likely need Patchburn) to enable OS X to recognize that the drive really is a CD burner. Then you can burn in iTunes, Finder, Disk Utility (to burn disk images), and with other burning applications (YuBurner is a great open-source application that I have found works very well).

--------------------

Regarding playing DVDs on old Macs - I reinstalled OS X, and it found I had a DVD drive and installed DVD Player with the rest of the OS and software. I can play DVDs absolutely fine. I don't multitask when I'm watching a movie, but it doesn't stutter the audio, drop frames, or cause video artifacts. The GPU in the 466MHz G3 logic boards was designed to play DVDs, and it does so without issue. You might notice some horizontal banding with some movies, but that can happen on regular televisions, too.

--------------------

I may or may not do another drive upgrade some day, so that I can boot from CD - at this point, it's not necessary. As long as I have access to another Mac, I can install via firewire, so I'm not desperate for the functionality.

So far I've done the drive upgrade and added a 466MHz logic board to a 300MHz tangerine case. I used a Dremel tool to cut out a hole for the firewire port and smooth the edges around the hole.

My next goal is to upgrade the display. I'm still going to assume it's doable. I bought a badly damaged (cosmetically) 466Mhz iBook on eBay for the board, so I have an extra display cable to hack apart if necessary. It looks like a lot of older Compaq models use 20-pin connectors with very similar (if not identical) wiring to the clamshell iBooks, so I'm going to give it a shot. I'll let y'all know if it works - the best thing ever would be to have a retro clamshell iBook with an XGA display!!

--------------------

Also, FWIW, I found out that Creative Zen Vision:M and Archos MP3 players use the same A/V cable as the original clamshell iBooks, so you can get a cable for around $8 to connect your 366/466Mhz iBook to your TV - cheaper than spending $20 on one at the Apple store!

I hope this info helps someone out there wanting to upgrade their iBook. I can post pictures of the firewire mod if anyone asks.

[mattfaulds]

I just thought I'd post here to let you know what I'm up to.

My 466SE is having a screen disaster. Luckily, I've just finished hacking apart a G3 and G4 ibook so I'm going to take the clamshell apart, try and fix the failing bit and have a look as to whether there is any chance of squeezing in a newer LCD. I'm hoping that the screen failure is just a hinge pinch on the cable as it rapidly developed horizontal lines and flicker. It'd be great to have 1024x768 on the calmshell! While I'm there I'm probably going to drop in a new HD.

Shame the board can't be upgraded because my wife loves the laptop and won't have a new one. So, I've got to fix it!

[microangelito]

Hi there,

Could you post a picture of the firewire hole that you drilled please. Also does anybody know if it is in anyway possible to upgrade the graphics chip or graphics memory? Also is there anyway of upgrading the clamshell to higher than 466mhz? And could some one also post the best specs that they got a tangarine clamshell to. As I have a tangarine ibook clamshell that I would also like to upgrade to the max! As I have already made a start by upgrading the hard drive to 40gb and adding 128mb ram (total 160mb) and soon to buy a toshiba SD-R2512 CD-RW/DVD Combo drive so I can see how the current 300mhz handles DVD and also back up my files! So far the specs are iBook tangarine clamshell 300mhz original, 160mb ram, 40gb hdd, cd-rom drive original (soon to be toshiba SD-R2512 combo) and asus usb 54mbps 802.11g dongle (faster than airport!) running Mac OS 10.3.9 fine!

Thanks in advance.

[shifuimam]

To Microangelito..

Picture of firewire (click to enlarge):



Regarding the processor speed:

You can overclock, but I've not done it. You have to be careful with overclocking any processor - a fanless case like a clamshell iBook is engineered to dissipate only a certain amount of heat at any given time. Overclock a processor too much, and not only does it get much hotter, but the case it's in becomes unable to get rid of all the heat, and before you know it, you've got yourself a dead iBook.

You can read about it here, but I make no guarantees about what might come of doing that mod.

You can't upgrade the video memory of any video card or laptop graphics chip on the planet. Memory is integrated into everything else with a graphics chip.

I can guarantee you that your 300Mhz iBook G3 will not play DVDs. Unless there is some magical software out there that can decode DVD video fast enough on a 300MHz processor (not to mention the card's limited memory - 4MB - which keeps it from rendering video fast enough), you won't have much luck. VLC Media Player didn't work at all; Apple's own DVD Player simply will not run (video chip isn't compatible), and I had mixed results with XinePlayer and MPLayer - both of which most notably had serious stuttering audio problems. If you want to play DVDs, you're going to have to find yourself a 466MHz logic board. Even if you overclocked the processor on your 300MHz board, the graphics chip still can't handle it. The 466MHz boards had an upgraded 8MB ATI chip that handles DVDs quite nicely.

Performance-wise, if you can afford more RAM, do it. Apple lies through their teeth about maximum RAM capability. It's a proven fact that clamshells can take up to a 512MB stick in their single RAM slot. I'd venture a guess that a 1GB stick won't work, but 576MB should be plenty for OS X. I added a 256MB stick (512 was just too expensive), and it was much better than the 128MB I'd installed before.

The safest thing to do for performance is to just upgrade the logic board.

---------

To mattfaulds...

(And anyone else interested in experimenting with upgrading their clamshell's LCD)

Here's some closeup pictures of the clamshell's LCD connectors. Keep in mind that if the inverter lamp's power cable fits that of the clamshell, you won't need to worry about connecting the inverter cable to the logic board - you can use the existing clamshell part.

Click the pics to see a higher-resolution image.

This is the 20-pin connector on the LCD itself:




This is the cable that goes into that connector:




...And the two together:




This is the interesting part. The G3/G4 12" iBook uses a very similar 20-pin connection to the LCD, but the cable uses four more wires than the clamshell. The above image shows the wires that are used, as well as the labels on the logic board for each wire. Don't know if this helps, but there it is for you.


The LCD data/display cable connection on the logic board:




And the cable that connects there:




Also, here's the power connector for the inverter board:




I believe that even if the plug is the wrong size on another LCD, that should just be a power connector, in which case you could splice together the wires from another LCD with that connector and its wires, and you'd be fine with that. I'm guessing the thicker pink cable is the positive, and the thinner white cable is the negative/ground.

Mattfaulds, you can post a link to your 12" white iBook pictures if you'd like...

[shifuimam]

Link to Mattfaulds' images of a G3 iBook cable and a G4 iBook display (12"):

LCD Parts

If anyone can tell from the LCD or a wiring diagram (I can't find one) what those other four wires are for, that might help...

[mattfaulds]

Hmm. We'll have to see.... I'm about to go onto night shifts and invariably I can't sleep in the day so this is my chance. However, I wonder if all those blasted screws will get the better of my bleary eyes?! This is very intriguing and would be a first as far as I can find out.