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You are here: MacNN Forums > Hardware - Troubleshooting and Discussion > Mac Desktops > Holy Crap! G5 iMac monitor spanning hack.

Holy Crap! G5 iMac monitor spanning hack.
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AlfaMunky
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Sep 21, 2004, 04:42 PM
 
This is big news to me. Apparently it's possible to hack the new G5 iMac's firmware, like I did with my old iBook, to allow monitor spanning not just mirroring. Seeing as I already have a 21" CRT; the idea of simply placing the 17" iMac next to it like a second monitor is pretty appealling and much cheaper than a G5 tower with a seperate 17" LCD.

Link here => G5 iMac hack

That pic of the iMac next to another monitor has me pretty excited.

Thoughts.

...
     
iREZ
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Sep 21, 2004, 05:02 PM
 
It worked for the G4, so why wouldn't it work for the new G5; too bad you need to prop up the spanning monitor so it's the same height as the iMac monitor.
NOW YOU SEE ME! 2.4 MBP and 2.0 MBP (running ubuntu)
     
H * � �
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Sep 21, 2004, 05:26 PM
 
This missing feature is why I decided to not buy the G5 iMac.
Apple should seriously consider adding this as an official option.
     
storer
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Sep 21, 2004, 05:37 PM
 
Originally posted by H * � �:
This missing feature is why I decided to not buy the G5 iMac.
Apple should seriously consider adding this as an official option.
It would almost sell it for me!
     
AlfaMunky  (op)
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Sep 21, 2004, 05:37 PM
 
Apple well never add this an adverstised feature. Hell they went out of their way to disable the feature. Nothing with an "i" in front of it's name will support this. This is some how a "power" feature. I consider myself a prosumer or more a accurately a user that could use the features of a G5 tower but has no real justified need for dual processors. This simple hack pretty much gets me a machine w/ the power of the old 1.6-1.8 single processor tower with a 17" lcd tossed in to connect to my 21" Not bad value for about $1500 in this case.

...
     
H * � �
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Sep 21, 2004, 05:54 PM
 
Originally posted by AlfaMunky:
Apple well never add this an adverstised feature. Hell they went out of their way to disable the feature. Nothing with an "i" in front of it's name will support this. This is some how a "power" feature.
...
Apple is loosing business then.
There are more types of customers than just educational, consumer and professional.
I need some features that they consider professional, like spanning, but I can't justify the G5 PM's cost.
So I don't buy, and Apple losses potential revenue.
That's a really lame business plan.
     
icruise
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Sep 21, 2004, 06:12 PM
 
Originally posted by H * � �:
Apple is loosing business then.
There are more types of customers than just educational, consumer and professional.
I need some features that they consider professional, like spanning, but I can't justify the G5 PM's cost.
So I don't buy, and Apple losses potential revenue.
That's a really lame business plan.
First of all, it's "losing."

And no, I don't think they are losing much business, because if they did have an iMac with spanning it would cut into their Powermac line, at least to some extent. I would personally love to have spanning on all Apple computers, but Apple has apparently done the math and decided that they would lose more money by enabling it.
     
toti
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Sep 21, 2004, 06:14 PM
 
Well, since it's unofficially supported ( or officially unsupported, but very well doable ), spanning can't really be the showstopper your'e implying it is ?

no more than Apple doesn't advertise that you can copy your DVDs on the iMac, but you can, if you add the correct software... or record from the radio - if you add the correct cable etc etc etc ad infinitum...
     
icruise
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Sep 21, 2004, 06:53 PM
 
The problem is that it's entirely possible for a future OS upgrade/firmware update to make the monitor-spanning hack useless. Which for me, is a deal-breaker. I wouldn't want to be stuck not being able to upgrade to the latest version of the OS. Although I wasn't seriously considering the iMac anyway -- it's PowerBooks all the way for me, baby!
     
cmoney
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Sep 21, 2004, 07:01 PM
 
Originally posted by H * � �:
Apple is loosing business then.
There are more types of customers than just educational, consumer and professional.
I need some features that they consider professional, like spanning, but I can't justify the G5 PM's cost.
So I don't buy, and Apple losses potential revenue.
That's a really lame business plan.
They may lose your revenue, but they probably have estimates telling them that they're pushing more people to a higher machine than losing sales. Example: if professional designers all of a sudden had access to G5 iMacs with fully supported monitor spanning, maybe they've got estimates saying they'd potentially see 50,000 PowerMac G5 sales change into 50,000 iMac G5 sales. That alone may be enough to justify the maybe 5,000 lost iMac G5 sales to people like yourself who end up not buying either iMac or PowerMac. (all numbers hypothetical of course.)
     
Lancer409
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Sep 22, 2004, 06:01 AM
 
Originally posted by AlfaMunky:
This is big news to me. Apparently it's possible to hack the new G5 iMac's firmware, like I did with my old iBook, to allow monitor spanning not just mirroring. Seeing as I already have a 21" CRT; the idea of simply placing the 17" iMac next to it like a second monitor is pretty appealling and much cheaper than a G5 tower with a seperate 17" LCD.

Link here => G5 iMac hack

That pic of the iMac next to another monitor has me pretty excited.

Thoughts.

SWEEEEET ... i gotta wait for the money and a revision =P

No trees were killed in the sending of this message. However, a large number of electrons were terribly inconvenienced.
     
macgfx
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Sep 22, 2004, 10:34 AM
 
Originally posted by Icruise:
First of all, it's "losing."

And no, I don't think they are losing much business, because if they did have an iMac with spanning it would cut into their Powermac line, at least to some extent. I would personally love to have spanning on all Apple computers, but Apple has apparently done the math and decided that they would lose more money by enabling it.
Here we go again.....

What is it with Apple and there dumb bean counters? The G5 iMac is a PRO-Mac or maybe a Mid-Pro. You would think that PCI-X FW800 AGP-Pro Slot Standard Drive bays no Built-in display 2 memory slots would be crippling the iMac vs Pro-tower, but Nooooooo.

Yes, Apple losses sales on the iLine do to this bogus THINKING. Build the iMac we want and stop bullsh!ting us. I want a G5 Tower too. I'd buy an iMac if it had DVI out/better video more memory slots. I'd still buy a G5 Tower. As it is, no sale, I'll just go for a 1.5ghz G4 upgrade and R9800 Pro in my G4 Tower and Apple will lose an iMac sale. Grandma won't care if the iMac is better, but those of us who do care don't buy iLine nor do we recommend them. Apple has put educated Tech savvy home users in the position to ONLY buy PRO-line Towers.

Here @ home I've got 4 Pro-Towers and a PowerBook. All of them run 24/7/365, at any given time 3 of them are in use, some times All of them. I could use 2 more. Some of them are aging and need to be replaced. I only need 1 PRO-Tower,AIO would be fine for the rest, but I'm not going to buy iMac's. What I'll end up with is USED Pro G5's. Apple won't make much as I won't be buying from them. I've done this two times sense '98 when the iMac came out. Back then the lack of PCI was the Deal breaker but I was never considering more than 1 iMac. Now with so much FW USB2 etc. Built-in I don't need PCI on more than one Mac. Faced with replacing TV's and old CRT's the iMac sure looks good, but I'm not paying to get F**ked. If I want to hook my New HD FP display to one of my Mac's I'd be out of luck with no DVI. That $5 TDM or TMD that is missing in the iMac is going to lose more sales for the iMac than it's going to gain for the PM.

Good luck Apple, try me again in 3years, I'm sure I'll need 10 Mac's by then. Maybe I'll buy NEW if you get the bean counters to OK it.
Joy!peffpwpc
     
AlfaMunky  (op)
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Sep 22, 2004, 03:15 PM
 
I can feel your anger. When I first saw this hack worked on the latest iMac they had me thinking pretty heavy about a future iMac purchase. But after seeing benchmarks and more importanly feeling that there are certain drawbacks to this current iMac I feel that I maybe leaning toward a G5 tower. Heck I even thought of getting a G5 iMac and an older Sawtooth G4 Tower and tossing in a upgrade card. So many options out there but, it's a shame that most are not addressed by Apple directly (ala monitor spanning). Apple was wise to simplify the product line back in '97-'98. Yet they have certainly bounced back since then and need a product inbetween the iMac All-in-One, and the Dual processor PowerMac. I'd be happy with a mini tower about 1200-1600 bucks with a single processor 1.8 G5, 3+ Ram slots, AGP, and one pci slot. But no, it doesn't exist.

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