Dual Screens

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ryansoldout

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Hey guys

Just bought an iMac G5 and was just wondering if it was possible to hook up another LCD screen? Its getting kinda cramped at the moment
 
Avalon

Avalon


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As long as the 2nd LCD has a VGA input, it's possible. All you need is the miniVGA-to-VGA adapter. But keep in mind that the iMac, just like the iBook, will only mirror the internal screen.
To be able to span your desktop, you need a little hack.
 
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R

ryansoldout

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Avalon said:
As long as the 2nd LCD has a VGA input, it's possible. All you need is the miniVGA-to-VGA adapter. But keep in mind that the iMac, just like the iBook, will only mirror the internal screen.
To be able to span your desktop, you need a little hack.
Click to expand...



Thanks for your fast reply Avalon. Is it a convoluted hack? Am I allowed to ask that here? I dont want to do anything that'll screw around with my mac too much.
 
mig.gentry

mig.gentry


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Screen Spanning Doctor

It plays around with the firmware of the imac but as far as i can tell the hardware can handle it, it's just a feature which has been disabled by Apple.

I use it on my iBook and it works fine (so far)

You should bear in mind that it invalidates the waranty
 
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R

ryansoldout

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Hrmm cos Im still an Apple noob, I'd be a bit hesitant about doing anything that invalidates the warranty. ****, if it was a PC I'd attack it with a sledge hammer but dont want to do anything to my pretty pretty Mac

Still, is there any site I can look into this hack? edit :just saw the link in the previous post - whoops
 
DCraver

DCraver


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It's easy. It wont void no warranty. I had it on my iBook.
 
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S

sursuciofla

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Yeah, I am sure people who download porn along with the viruses on their PCs would void their warranty :black:

Yeah SPD won't void your warranty, because if that was the case any freeware and shareware would void the warranty which isn't the case.
 
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trpnmonkey41


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Screen spanning doctor does void your warranty because it is modifying the Open Firmware settings that are defaulted on your system. There are many systems that installing the SSD will render the computer unusable.
 
Avalon

Avalon


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trpnmonkey41 said:
Screen spanning doctor does void your warranty because it is modifying the Open Firmware settings that are defaulted on your system. There are many systems that installing the SSD will render the computer unusable.
Click to expand...

I'm not so sure about that...
Screen spanning doctor does not re-flash the Open Firmware, thus doesn't make any permanent changes. It makes changes in the NVRAM, but so do you when you change your Mac's clock time.
I'm pretty sure that starting in Open Firmware and then using following commands will put back the Apple defaults:

reset-nvram
set-defaults
reset-all

After that, the computer should reboot, and screen spanning shouldn't be possible until you re-run the SSD-patch.

I do not have an iMac or iBook to test it, but I really doubt that it's possible to make a permanent change to the Open Firmware without reflashing it. That, in fact, would void your warranty.
 
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S

sursuciofla

Guest
Avalon said:
I'm not so sure about that...
Screen spanning doctor does not re-flash the Open Firmware, thus doesn't make any permanent changes. It makes changes in the NVRAM, but so do you when you change your Mac's clock time.
I'm pretty sure that starting in Open Firmware and then using following commands will put back the Apple defaults:

reset-nvram
set-defaults
reset-all

After that, the computer should reboot, and screen spanning shouldn't be possible until you re-run the SSD-patch.

I do not have an iMac or iBook to test it, but I really doubt that it's possible to make a permanent change to the Open Firmware without reflashing it. That, in fact, would void your warranty.
Click to expand...

Yup, you are totally correct. I have done exactly that before and had to reinstall the patch to regain spanning.
 
Avalon

Avalon


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sursuciofla said:
Yup, you are totally correct. I have done exactly that before and had to reinstall the patch to regain spanning.
Click to expand...

Well, that simply means no warranty issues with Screen Spanning Doctor. :cool:
 
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J

jbsengineer

Guest
going back to the dual screens...

on the new 17" iMacs. can the VGA output support 1280x1024. I know the built in 17" monitor doesn't. but does the output?
 

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