If you don't know, it's possible to install a 1024x768 resolution display in an iBook Clamshell with a special LCD cable and an open firmware command to get everything set.
Just to append on what I posted previously, the LCD cable isn’t special. It’s simply the cable supplied with those clamshell iBooks to ship with the
LG display.
Here’ what happened:
Because demand for the clamshell iBook, particularly the Rev. A and Rev. B models (tangerine, blueberry, and the translucent graphite), exceeded display supply, Apple commissioned three different vendors to make up for the shortfall.
In all, the most common were displays by
Samsung, followed by displays by
IBM, and then
LG. (Owing to how virtually all portable Macs, post-2000, came supplied with LG displays, it’s a rough guess it was LG which could not keep up with clamshell demand.)
What’s important here, for future modders: each of these three vendors used slightly different display wiring schemes, and each was assigned a unique Apple part number. I don’t have these numbers handy at the moment, but I can dig them up if need be.
For my own modified XGA clamshell, a 466MHz key lime model with 8MB VRAM, I ended up taking a somewhat DIY approach: I read the LVDS cable wiring diagrams for the Samsung display cable (from the iBook) and an LG cable (sourced from a later PowerBook 12-inch model) and,
carefully, soldering the order of the wires to comply with the LG XGA display (which also came from that PowerBook). I doubted my soldering skills, but was pleasantly surprised when I found this actually worked.
Now… more on topic to what you asked,
@3lectr1c :
Shifuimam, the woman who figured out how XGA resolution displays by LG would work in the iBook clamshell, following some tweaks to the OpenFirmware configuration,
completed this modification on her tangerine iBook, which would have, unquestionably, shipped with 4MB VRAM. So yes, I’m certain it’s doable, but don’t expect fast refresh rates for running, say, Doom, Wolfenstein 3D, or a DVD (like the 466MHz SE models could).
So long as one is willing and able, and lacks an iBook to have shipped from factory with the LG display (something which can be determined by either disassembly or by making an EDID report in SwitchResX), one can rely on vendor wiring diagrams from the company schematics for the LG display and for whichever display with which yours was shipped. These
should still be available on panelook, and possibly elsewhere. If no luck, I think I still have these buried somewhere and can look into making them available. Also, I can supply my own OpenFirmware script used on my own iBook (which is nothing more than some additional tweaks to shifuimam’s original OpenFirmware mod.
Though it’s an 8MB VRAM model, here’s a pic I’ve posted on another forum of my own XGA modded iBook (you know, for inspiration):
