iMac Mod G4 20" All-In-One ECX

Sorry about the shakiness of the video. This is a mod of an iMac G4 20" externally unaltered. This makes use of the native case, neck, lcd, and inverter. The iMac G4s LCD is hooked up to a DVI Cable and controller board from a 20" aluminum apple cinema display which provides power for the inverter and display (including a 24V line). The base includes an Intel Core 2 Duo 3.5" ECX board - because of this I was able to spare the drive and have upgraded it to a bluray drive. The power bricks are external.

At this time the onboard Intel HD4500 graphics are not fully compatible with snow leopard. Because of this I have installed Windows 7 for purpose of demonstration. Since this video I have actually altered this mod for use with an external mac mini because I myself prefer MacOS. However, this is a hardware demonstration that an all-in-one modernized iMac G4 20" is possible using the native LCD and inverter. So PLEASE refrain from comments about your feelings regarding the Windows operating system here. Thank you and thanks for watching.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• iMac G4
• mod
• hack
• apple
• intel
• core 2 duo
• ECX
• holy grail
• bluray
• monitor
• mac
• upgrade iMac
• imac

[jberg44]

@360ThickQuinking360 it's 1680 x 1050

[ArmenianSOADfreak]

Hey Jonathan, awesome work here.

Im planning to buy a broken/used G4 iMac and put new hardware in and run Windows whilst keeping the original display. What kind of cable/connector does the display use and how did you connect it to your ECX board? Im assuming its not a standard DVI or VGA. Are there any other problems one should expect to come accross when embarking on such a unique build? I'm no stranger to custom builds although I have never worked on an Apple product. Cool blog btw!

[jberg44]

@ArmenianSOADfreak - You should see my newest video, it has an easier method of connection. Either way, the connection is TMDS (which DVI and HDMI use). Please see my blog for pinouts ans guides. Hope this helps

[Megapead]

use Iboot and a original Mac OSX Snow Leopard disk to turn it into a Hackintosh

[jberg44]

@Megapead - this particular board is not very hackintosh compatible

[ddaavvaa774]

When i saw Windows logo i stopped watching

[jberg44]

@ddaavvaa774 - Although you couldn't watch, you still managed to post. I dedicated much of the description explaining why windows is on this and discuss it in the video. I can only apologize so much for the pain I've caused having to see the windows logo as part of this proof of concept. If you don't want to watch just turn it off!

[360ThickQuinking360]

what resolution is the screen?

[MrGlokproductions]

How much did it cost for all of this to be done touch screen and all. And can you show how you did it all?

[jberg44]

@nannynicky4life -Nannynicky, thank you very much for the compliment. I have seen a mod of the g4 cube using a mini itx board, a smaller ECX board would make it even easier. For the iMac G3 there is plenty of room, but most of it is taken up by the CRT monitor. If you replace this with an LCD (Ive seen it done) - modern components would easily fit. If you want to keep the CRT, Im not sure. Ive never worked with CRT's they are thousands of volts and can be dangerous if you are not careful.