Need instructions for iBook monitor spanning mod
I firmware-modded my iBook to do spanning, but after sending it into Apple for some repairs and reformatting, it no longer works with spanning. I found the site that normally hosted the spanning hack (it was in German and English, macparts.de or something) but the links to the hack instructions were down. So does anyone have DETAILED, ACCURATE and COMPLETE instructions for the hack? I'm not worried about it because I already did it once with no problems, I just want to make sure I do it right because I'm guessing most of the failures among Radeon/Radeon 7500 iBooks are due to the user improperly entering information.
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Use an extended dektop with your iBook (now with OS X support!)
Ever wondered why your new iBook can't display an extended desktop on an external screen even though it has a Radeon chip that does support this feature?
Well, for some reason Apple decided to lock this function. The good news is that I've been working on a solution for some time now. At first I discovered how to enable an extended desktop (also called screen spanning or dual head mode) with a trick in Mac OS 9.
This, however, didn't satisfy me and many others for too long because I like to use Mac OS X. So I went at it and found a soltution.
I assumed that the ATI driver reads the value of a variable defined in the Open Firmware and decides, depending on the value of that variable, wheater to limit the external screen to mirroring.
The key was to find that variable and to change it to a value that would cause the driver to allow the dual head feature. I was lucky and found the variable and came up with a firmware script that changes this variable every time you turn on your iBook.
You need to boot to the Open Firmware interface. Do this by pressing the option-alt-o-f keys while you restart your computer.
At the command line enter exactly the following lines including spaces and quotation marks. *enter* means you have to press the enter key, *ctl-c* means you have to press the control and the c key.
nvedit*enter*
" /" select-dev*enter*
00000000 " graphic-options" get-my-property 2drop !*enter*
*ctl-c*
nvstore*enter*
setenv use-nvramrc? true*enter*
reset-all*enter*
The last command will restart your computer.
Please note that you won't get any feedback after you enter the 2nd and 3rd line. The line will just appear cleared. That is normal behavior (it's like a text editor that only displays one line so after a carriage return you will be at the next line which will be empty until you type something).
Since this hack is done in Open Firmware it works with both Mac OS 9 and Mac OS X.
I used my iBook with dual displays for a while in OS X and OS 9 and didn't experience any problems whatsoever.
However, the TV adapter mentioned at this site before (see link below for older version) only works in OS 9 since the PAL/NTSC resolutions are not available in OS X (I hope to fix this soon).
This script should also work with the 17" iMacs but I haven't tried it yet.
I'm not sure if this would work on older iBooks but I will try to figure it out soon.
If you have any suggestions or additions I would appreciate an email from you: [email protected]
If you tried this with a different version of the iBook or iMac it would be nice if you would let me know if it worked or not so we can share this information with the Mac community.
Click here to view an earlier version of this site with instructions for enabling screen spanning in Mac OS 9 without a firmware tweak.
Please note that I cannot be responsible for any damage that you might do to your computer. This site is for educational purposes only and you are responsible for everything you do with the given information.
--- Side Note ---
If you want to do a temporary version, and not save the change permanently, do the folllowing lines after booting into open-firmware:
" /" select-dev*enter*
00000000 " graphic-options" get-my-property 2drop !*enter*
mac-boot*enter*
----------------------------
Last updated: 10/22/02 ©2002 macparts.de
How do I enable Monitor Spanning on the iBook?
The iBook comes standard with video "mirroring". Using a simple, pretty much harmless Firmware hack, monitor "spanning" can be turned on. First I'll tell you the difference between the two:
Mirroring- When an external monitor is hooked up, the same image is displayed on both the iBook and the external monitor.
Spanning- When an external monitor is hooked up, the iBook will have one desktop and the external monitor will have another one, separate from that of the iBooks. This will allow you to drag windows between the two monitors. For example, while doing a research paper, you can have a web browser open in one monitor and AppleWorks in the other.
The Warning: This is for educational purposes only!! If you wish to try this on your iBook, ATM, DSLR, me, and the author of the hack are not responsible for any data loss or damage to your computer. Please only try this if your computer meets the requirements (listed below). THIS WILL VOID YOUR WARRANTY
Requirements-
iBook 700-800MHz
w/ RADEON Mobility chipset with at least 16 MB of VRAM. DO NOT TRY THIS ON A RAGE-based iBook.
What to do: (thank you to macparts.de for posting this. Original hack at: Rutemoeller)
This hack works for OS X as well as OS 9.
1st - Disconnect all external Monitors (may not be needed)
2. restart your iBook. Hold down the Command(apple)-Option-O-F keys immediately after the start-up chime to enter Open Firmware.
3. Enter the following text, please note 00000000 are eight zeros not o's. Also note all spaces, they will be shown as *, Do not type them as *'s but as spaces. any space not shown as * should not be typed, and (r) means press the return key. { Press Control-C } means to press the "ctrl" and C buttons.
nvedit(r)
"*/"*select-dev(r)
00000000*"*graphic-options"*get-my-property*2drop*!(r)
{ Press Control-C }
nvstore(r)
setenv*use-nvramrc?*true(r)
reset-all(r)
The last command will restart your iBook
4. When the iBook has started up, plug in a external monitor (I usually put the iBook to sleep before doing this, you can probably just plug one in on the fly)
5. The screens should mirror. Go to Displays in System Prefs. Then to the "Arrange" tab. Then deselect "mirror displays". (If using OS 9, open the monitors control panel and do the same thing as in OS X)
6. Congrats, you now have a monitor spanning iBook!
If it doesn't work the first time, try again. Some people had to do it a few times to get it to work.
If you have any questions, you are welcome to IM me on DSLR or on AIM.
DSLR- ThinkDiff
AIM- ThinkDiff84
Worked for me!