PowerBook 5300 with iPad screen replacement

wdj2005

New Tinkerer
May 11, 2025
3
3
3
Making good progress on this one.
iPad LCD replacement for powerbook - also boosts the resolution to 800x600!

IMG_0821.jpeg

EDIT: More details of what's going on here....

I've 3d printed a bezel for the LCD to fit the original bezel:
IMG_0867.jpeg Excuse the fingerprints, and the colour choice of filament. I need to find something suitable to protect the LCD from the elements (normally it would have the touch glass front of an iPad.

I've squeezed the driver board into the disused floppy caddy:
IMG_0861.jpegI

I desoldered the proprietary Apple monitor port and carefully hardwired a cut-off VGA cable to it:
IMG_0863.jpegIMG_0864.jpeg


Electrially - I reverse engineered the combination of the Apple external monitor dongle (Dongles for connections is nothing new for Apple!):
IMG_0866.jpeg

Video card​
VGA Label​
VGA DB15​
apple db15​
VGA cable colours​
1​
RED​
1​
red​
2​
8​
3​
nc​
4​
V-sync​
14​
blk​
5​
nc​
6​
nc​
7​
11​
6​
8​
GREEN​
2​
green​
9​
short to 10​
7​
10​
10​
11​
nc​
10​
12​
H-Sync​
13​
wht​
13​
BLUE​
3​
9​
blue​
14​
2,6,7,10,14​
GND?​
Shield​
GND​
4,5,6,7,8​


Still to do:
1. close up the laptop lid, dealing with the usual brittle standoffs (I used the 3D printed replacement parts shared here and here)
2. route the only just long enough (I hope) LCD cable
3.Probably shorten the VGA cable a bit more,so the caddy will go all the way in
4. find 12V within the laptop to power the driver board
5. find a way to bring back internal sound - this relies on the now broken LCD ribbon cable, and some circuitry on the original LCD driver board.
6. maybe also bring back the microphone!
 

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Last edited:

Trash80toG4

Active Tinkerer
Apr 1, 2022
1,105
319
83
Bermuda Triangle, NC USA
Wow! So nice.
How well does it fit the bezel? Larger than and trimmed edges to fit?

Kudos for doing something useful in the floppy bay, few think of that. Haven't seen that wedge since a French TeleCom made a PB100 series machine wireless.

Also, VST Technologies did an AC adapter for the FDD Bay in that very machine.
 
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Trash80toG4

Active Tinkerer
Apr 1, 2022
1,105
319
83
Bermuda Triangle, NC USA
FDD bay VST Technologies AC adapter/PSU outta the 190/5300 hacks drawer. Needs work, but in looking at it, I realized that FDD bays in general might be a great spot to put the USB-C power supply hack?

In earlier 'Books w/SCSI only and fixed drives, you'd need to hardwire the power connection, but you could also make for access to swap out the memory card from a BlueSCSI/wireless setup from the FDD Slot as well.

Putting USB-C PSU and BlueSCSI/Wireless on the same board on a printed chassis ought to work in any old PowerBook. Nice product that?
 

wdj2005

New Tinkerer
May 11, 2025
3
3
3
I found the speaker connection is the 5th pin from the right on both sides of the LCD ribbon connector. I had previously desoldered this from the torn ribbon cable.
I may still try to find the signals on the logic board somewhere for a more sturdy connection. Of course the speaker sounds even worse when it’s just loose on the table!

IMG_0868.jpeg
 
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