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Multiple Monitors for iBooks

Posted by pudge on from the i-wonder-if-the-warranty-covers-open-firmware-hacks-gone-bad dept.

nevershower writes "I found this while reading MacOSXHints. It's a firmware script for Radeon iBooks that allows them to use monitor spanning! DO NOT run this script if you have a Rage iBook. It might permanently bork your laptop." Borking is bad, especially if it is permanent.

8 of 86 comments (clear)

  1. Hmmm by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    I have a 14" 700Mhz iBook. Unfortunately it reports "ATY,RageM6" on the Apple System Profiler. Should I risk running the script?

  2. Is it possible to do the "reverse" on an iMac by automandc · · Score: 4, Interesting

    In the same vein, does anyone know if it's possible to use the built in LCD panel on an iMac as a monitor for a different computer (i.e. a "video-in" for the iMac monitor)?

    I realize that it is probably a hardware hack, but if anyone has ever done this I'd be interested to hear. One of my major reasons for not getting a Mac is that I can't justify (afford) a G4 standalone, but I don't want two monitors on my desk unless I can use both of them simultaneously.

    --
    I'm a lawyer with excellent karma. Something's gotta be wrong.
    1. Re:Is it possible to do the "reverse" on an iMac by Triv · · Score: 3, Interesting

      In the same vein, does anyone know if it's possible to use the built in LCD panel on an iMac as a monitor for a different computer (i.e. a "video-in" for the iMac monitor)?

      Know what I'd like to be able to do (when I get sick of my new iMac?) take off the screen and articulated arm, and connect a cinema display (or whatever I can afford) The dome would look soooo cool as a separate computer (Like a cube, but round. Wow. That's deep. and I'm exhausted)

      Mmmmm. Pipe dreams. :)

      Triv

  3. eMacs? by mkelley · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I saw that this might work on the 17" iMacs, and wondered if they can get the GeForce2 in the eMac to do the same thing with it's external mirror port.

    --

    m.kelley
    life is like a freeway, if you don't look you could miss it.
  4. Re:Get your terminology right by Steve+Cowan · · Score: 5, Interesting
    The problem is that "multiple monitor support" is an ambiguous term. The iBook has multiple monitor support - you can plug in a VGA monitor and have it display the same thing that's on your built-in display. In Apple parlance it's mirroring, but technically it is still multiple monitor support.

    On their web site, Apple has referred to monitor spanning as both "extended desktop" and "dual display".

    Now I just wish somebody could come up with a hack for my RAGE iBook 500.

  5. Closed-lid? by cpw · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Does this allow for closed-lid* functionality as well? (That's what I'd kill for in on my iBook)

    *Closed-lid mode is when a monitor is plugged into the 'Book, as well as a keyboard, the screen is closed, and machine uses them instead. PowerBooks do this, but iBooks do not.

    --

    When your life is no longer your own...
  6. Quartz Extreme probably won't work by drsmithy · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Be aware that using spanning will disable QE. Assuming the iBook is like my (Rev A 667) TiBook, when display spanning is used the 16MB of VRAM on the chip is split into 8MB per display, which isn't enough for QE.

  7. My iBook actually did this once... by thunderbird46 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I'm not sure how I got it to do it, but one time when I plugged my PC's 17" monitor into my 700 MHz iBook w/ the Radeon, I got dual-head mode instead of mirroring mode, without a hack. It was really strange. I'd move an app's window off to the side to test it and sure enough it'd appear on the CRT. Must have been some sort of bug.