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Resolved I have decided to hack eMac's CRT (To work with any standard motherboard)
- Thread starter patriciooholegu
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It's been a month now, have you given up? If so why. ?
....goldie
Don´t worry. Im still.
This as become some kind of full time obsession, not only a hobbie.
May be because i have Asperger Syndrome (A kind of psicologic problem were, among other things, i get obsessed with a specific hobbie, activitie, object...).
i'm still struggling with i2c.
The logic analyzer circuit was done but i think it didnt work well (Taking signals wen it didnt even was plugged).
Actually i have made a few progresses, mostly in i2c IC´s on the IVAD board, but going slow.
Using ubuntu 12.04 powerpc and i2ctools.
Too dificult to explain in English.
Maybe one of this days with more time.
It should be terrific if someone shows up with deep knowlegde about ubuntu and hardware detection, or powerpc open firmware.
Chears.
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I didnt sacrificed the last gen eMac. Actually right now is assembled and running ubuntu 12.04 (It works very well). I have made tests with i2c-tools on ubuntu but things are going slow.
I did bought a 1 ghz eMac, gone for a better life, for disassembly and backtrace, until a point were i dont think i ever going to be able to re-assemble again.
These machines are more rare? I didn't know that. I have a 1.42ghz model. Got it for $40
Well they were the last generation models, so they are kind of like a 1.5GHZ Mac Mini G4, meaning they are harder to find than the 1.25GHZ or 1GHZ machines.
I almost forget to mention this:
Apparently, there is a standard monitor, Viewsonic E70F+, wich happens to have almost the same CRT tube model as the eMac G4:
Mine, at the eMac, as label M41AJR35X76 N(QLL)
Meanwhile the crt on the viewsonic is M41AJR35X76 K(SVU)
https://forums.macrumors.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=510505&stc=1&d=1414795907
What do you think?
Do any of the readers happens to have one, or the two of it?
By the way, both of the eMac's i have (1ghz -second gen- and 1.42ghz -Third gen) have the same exact crt tube.
There are always a bunch for sale, for little money, everywere.
I´m thinking about buying one to test on the non working eMac i have (The Tube should be fine). The problem is that i´m not in the best financial month for buying this things...
Apparently, there is a standard monitor, Viewsonic E70F+, wich happens to have almost the same CRT tube model as the eMac G4:
Mine, at the eMac, as label M41AJR35X76 N(QLL)
Meanwhile the crt on the viewsonic is M41AJR35X76 K(SVU)
https://forums.macrumors.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=510505&stc=1&d=1414795907
What do you think?
Do any of the readers happens to have one, or the two of it?
By the way, both of the eMac's i have (1ghz -second gen- and 1.42ghz -Third gen) have the same exact crt tube.
There are always a bunch for sale, for little money, everywere.
I´m thinking about buying one to test on the non working eMac i have (The Tube should be fine). The problem is that i´m not in the best financial month for buying this things...
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Guide
Hey, i'm actually trying to power my emac with a normal psu and i was looking through this thinking i could use this http://www.lbodnar.dsl.pipex.com/eServer/
with your idea of connecting it without the logic board since i think it's fried. A while back you said something about a guide on how to connect a vga to the screen. Is it up yet?
It's more for a coolness factor and maybe to use as a server... or just getting the damn thing to start (found it on the street)
Thank you
Hey, i'm actually trying to power my emac with a normal psu and i was looking through this thinking i could use this http://www.lbodnar.dsl.pipex.com/eServer/
with your idea of connecting it without the logic board since i think it's fried. A while back you said something about a guide on how to connect a vga to the screen. Is it up yet?
It's more for a coolness factor and maybe to use as a server... or just getting the damn thing to start (found it on the street)
Thank you
Hello. im back again.
Mi life, the last months, has being a little bit hard since i lost my job.
On the other hand i decided to make my dream true and i started my own local computer service shop:
http://www.cristalcomputacion.com.ar
I know i promise to make a guide about this, but there is an important thing before to state this project as "Full complete": You still need the emac logic board for i2c procotol to work ok.
So i live it on the side for a few months.
I uploaded a few files that need to be decoded by an expert on IC programing and i dont have the time and the gear for that.
Also, not too much help recieved.
I'm not going to drop this project, but bear with me that i'm completly alone here.
And with the business, the time for this things are limited.
You will, any of this days, hear about that guide. Be sure about it.
Sorry about my english.
Mi life, the last months, has being a little bit hard since i lost my job.
On the other hand i decided to make my dream true and i started my own local computer service shop:
http://www.cristalcomputacion.com.ar
I know i promise to make a guide about this, but there is an important thing before to state this project as "Full complete": You still need the emac logic board for i2c procotol to work ok.
So i live it on the side for a few months.
I uploaded a few files that need to be decoded by an expert on IC programing and i dont have the time and the gear for that.
Also, not too much help recieved.
I'm not going to drop this project, but bear with me that i'm completly alone here.
And with the business, the time for this things are limited.
You will, any of this days, hear about that guide. Be sure about it.
Sorry about my english.
I know this is an old thread but I wanted to share what I've done. With your inspiration I hacked an old eMac that I found in the trash using it as a monitor for my raspberry pi. I was able to copy the series of commands sent from the logic bard to the ivad board and implemented it using an arduino uno. I ave it completely working without the
logic board. I will be posting instructions in the next couple of weeks but I did upload a coupe of videos.
Thanks!
logic board. I will be posting instructions in the next couple of weeks but I did upload a coupe of videos.
Thanks!
Thats really awesome! im looking forward to seeing your follow up on this. i also wonder if it can be applied to Slot loading iMac G3s... (btw i take it your using some sort of HDMI to VGA adapter with the Pi as AFAIK the eMac CRTs is analog?)
Thanks LightBulbFun.
My ultimate goal is to make a nice little retro gaming box so naturally(for me anyhow) the iMac G3's would be even cooler because the look fits the bill, I just happened to get my hands on an eMac first.
I can't imagine that the ivad initialisation procedure would be too different if at all, so I'm confident it can be done to the G3 iMacs as well.
The CRTs are analog and luckily, standard VGA signals are used, so yes, I used an of the shelf(cheap) HDMI 2 VGA converter.
I captured the commands sent over the i2c connection, reproduced them with code and played them back using an arduino.
I just put the code up on github for those interested in doing this.
https://github.com/qbancoffee/emac_ivad_board_init
I bet the same could be done by hacking the i2c bus on a standard VGA connection without having to use an external micro controller like I did.
My ultimate goal is to make a nice little retro gaming box so naturally(for me anyhow) the iMac G3's would be even cooler because the look fits the bill, I just happened to get my hands on an eMac first.
I can't imagine that the ivad initialisation procedure would be too different if at all, so I'm confident it can be done to the G3 iMacs as well.
The CRTs are analog and luckily, standard VGA signals are used, so yes, I used an of the shelf(cheap) HDMI 2 VGA converter.
I captured the commands sent over the i2c connection, reproduced them with code and played them back using an arduino.
I just put the code up on github for those interested in doing this.
https://github.com/qbancoffee/emac_ivad_board_init
I bet the same could be done by hacking the i2c bus on a standard VGA connection without having to use an external micro controller like I did.
Awesome, I see serious potential for an eMac Intel NUC conversion. Some people were able to Intel NUC-ify the iMac G4 down to the point that it seemed almost completely like a real Mac, with the Bong, sleep LED and original screen being retained. If someone could reprogram the ivad initialisation on a PICAXE microcontroller, little work would be needed to adapt that mod to the eMac. Only thing left to do would be to try and insert all the components into the eMac. I plan to get a nice eMac to transfer my 1.42GHz board to, since my current eMac has a tiny bit yellowing on the front, but I might just do such a mod on the left over parts. But I'm doing that on an iMac G4 first, which will suck up all my fun money for a while.
I had never heard of the PICAXE before so I looked it up and it seems like it should be able to do the job.
Just want to add that before I stuck the raspberry pi in the eMac , I got this to work using x86 based machine running
ubuntu 14.04. Once the ivad board is ready,you can connect anything that has VGA and can put out the image at
eMac resolutions and refresh rates. Looks like you have some ahead of you. Good luck!
Here is my latest video of it assembled and on my kitchen counter.
I'll be writing up instructions in the weeks to come.
Just want to add that before I stuck the raspberry pi in the eMac , I got this to work using x86 based machine running
ubuntu 14.04. Once the ivad board is ready,you can connect anything that has VGA and can put out the image at
eMac resolutions and refresh rates. Looks like you have some ahead of you. Good luck!
Here is my latest video of it assembled and on my kitchen counter.
I'll be writing up instructions in the weeks to come.
I have a completely dead iMac G3 (Impossible to bring life to this old thing) and disassembled the ivad board: I can confirm that the imac G3 DOSENT HAVE edid protocol in it (Meaning: It is a small ic with i2c capabilitiess at addresss 50, but not the standard edid protocol as spected):
The problem is that I'm not able to find a good shape one and in working order...And also common sense price.
The eMac G4 dosen´t have edid on it also: The small IC with i2c is present, but it is in address 52 and another Hex code on it (I readed that powerPc machines worked on big endian binary code, and other sistems -like Intel- on litlle endian code, so being Hex a way to write binary, maybe it is an explanation there)...
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I never thought along the lines of endianness to help understand the protocol. This might very well help crack it.
BTW , I was able to finally open the capture files on a 64 bit windows 7 machine and it all looked the same.
Were you able to open the files?
I've been putting together a wiki describing how to use the eMac as a CRT. I'm still learning how to
put a wiki together so bear with me. I'm still not sure what to write so any help is appreciated!
had to move the wiki article to here
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EMac_as_an_External_Monitor
put a wiki together so bear with me. I'm still not sure what to write so any help is appreciated!
had to move the wiki article to here
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EMac_as_an_External_Monitor
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Had to move the wiki a new location because wiki articles are not for how-to guides
https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/How_to_modify_an_eMac_to_use_as_an_external_monitor
Please add to this if you know stuff!
https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/How_to_modify_an_eMac_to_use_as_an_external_monitor
Please add to this if you know stuff!
Hiya all, first time posting here. I'm just wondering what type of header the video cable from the CRT and IVAC board plugs into? I was thinking of performing this mod but don't want to do surgery on my cable, rather get the same lego connector as on the logic board and wire up a custom extension cable 🤔
I measured the pitch at about 2mm - 2.1mm, I don't have a super fine pair of calipers unfortunately.
I measured the pitch at about 2mm - 2.1mm, I don't have a super fine pair of calipers unfortunately.
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Okay, I got an ID on the male connector (pretty sure it's 87832-1820, but I'll confirm) and have a bunch of parts coming in now. Anybody worked out how many amps pins 4 & 10 on the connector need? I'm thinking of supplying both the pins and Arduino Uno with a 5V-2A USB power supply, and want to make sure it's enough amperage for both.
Also I was thinking of literally splitting the wire from 5 & 6 so it goes to the Arduino and VGA connector, would this be fine when the Arduino is sending a signal back?
Also I was thinking of literally splitting the wire from 5 & 6 so it goes to the Arduino and VGA connector, would this be fine when the Arduino is sending a signal back?
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sweet, just confirming that the milli-grid 87832-1820 connector is the right one to plug directly into the video cable 🤔
So far it’s coming along, a I have yet to actually hook it up, and I’m still sketchy on a couple of things. I’m feeding the display using the 5V pin on the Arduino (split on a breadboard, the other wire goes to pin 3 as in Rockyhill’s awesome guide), so I’m hoping the Arduino amp output will be enough for both.
I’ve also split the cable carrying the DDE Clock and data signals to go to the both VGA connector and arduino, so hopefully that doesn’t mess anything up or do anything funky with the current 🤔
So far it’s coming along, a I have yet to actually hook it up, and I’m still sketchy on a couple of things. I’m feeding the display using the 5V pin on the Arduino (split on a breadboard, the other wire goes to pin 3 as in Rockyhill’s awesome guide), so I’m hoping the Arduino amp output will be enough for both.
I’ve also split the cable carrying the DDE Clock and data signals to go to the both VGA connector and arduino, so hopefully that doesn’t mess anything up or do anything funky with the current 🤔
