Using iMac display with another computer

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rhiannon

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Is there any way to get video in on the new iMac G5? I'd like to use the screen with my pc.
 
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Search the forum, this has been asked a few times already...

The iMac is an All-in-one computer, which means that all parts work together (like a laptop), but not separately ... so if you want to use one of its parts separately, DON'T BUY AN ALL-IN-ONE COMPUTER!!!
I mean, nobody tries to hook up a PC to a laptop's screen, then why do people want to try that on an iMac G3, G4 or G5?!?

Even on a PC with Video in, you cannot use the monitor hooked up to it with a second PC by connecting it to the Video in...
 
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rhiannon

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Ah, excuse me, I tried a search and didn't have any results that dealt with this issue.

I suppose the reason I want to try is because I need to use two computers, and here I have a nice 20" LCD screen(1300 dollar display) so why should I buy another one?

Just like how apple hampered dual-display video out on the low end macs, I thought there might be a way around it through third party solutions.
 
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Sorry if my first reply was a little harsh... :yinyang:
It's not that I don't understand the reason why you want to do it, it's just...why did you buy an All-in-one then, if you wanted to use 1 display with 2 computers right from the beginning?

Anyway, as far as I know, there's no third party solution, and as the iMac doesn't have any sort of expansion slot (PCI for example), I don't think there will be one. It would require some serious changes in the hardware, which is the reason why nobody tried to build something like that.
The iMac is on the market since quite a while, and no company ever tried to build a VGA-in modification for any model of iMac.
 
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missyvortex

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Well the mac has networking, so you could probably sort out some remote login option, so you could see your desktop of the pc or other mac on your nice big mac display - obviously you'd be running mac os x and that would be displaying it in a window most likely (but i don't know much about it). though this has the problem of being very slow. a friend used this to display his ibook on his pc screen using vnc under linux, though he does warn that it was quite slow. not sure if its limited by bandwidth of the network transfer or the graphics card in the computer displying it.

anyway its an option, but not suitalbe for everything, depends what you want to do with it.
 
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If your PC has Windows XP professional and you are on a network you can use Remote Desktop Client from microsoft (free) that allows you to run remotely XP in full screen mode.
 
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Isnt remote desktop really slow? Ive treid it B4 on two Pc's and its very laggy. So u might wanna scratch that idea. But im jsut thinking about the connection. You know how you connect a normal monitor with a VGA cable? Well maybe the iMac monitor is the same thing inside excpet for the connector at the end. The cords probably just connect to the motherboard. So if u cut a VGA cable up (or DVI ? ) you could maybe match the wires up from teh monitor the the cord. Just a thought. I dont think u'd want to try it though.
 

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