External Monitors...(PLEASE HELP)

Question

Well my iBook G4's laptop is almost completely snapped off due to a terrible fall from my desk (it slid off and it was an accident). Anyways, I need to figure out a way to view the content of my HD and use my laptop. I have read about external monitors, but am not sure where to buy one that will definitely work.
Cheap is good...It just has to work! It doesn't have to be anything special either. I just need a way to plug it in to my iBook G4 laptop so I can use the mouse on my laptop and keyboard, but just instead of viewing it on the regular screen I will view it on the external monitor.
Any help is appreciated! Please reply ASAP as I need to use it for school and such!
Thanks!

Answer 1

Hi there!
If you have the original video adapter included with the iBook, that would be a first step.
"Video mirroring supports VGA video out to an external display or projector (requires incl-
uded Apple VGA Video Adapter) and S-video and composite video out to a TV or VCR
(requires optional Apple Video Adapter, sold separately)." - Apple Spec, iBook G4.
So, in theory or in fact with proper adapter(s) you could view the desktop on one or another
external display including a television. Not sure if simply restarting the computer, once the
second screen was attached, would allow you to see a desktop in "mirror" mode, or if there
is a keyboard combo or other means to switch over to be using that second display when
or if the primary one is disabled to the point of having no visual reference to run the second.
I know there was a reference to PowerBook models in the Support pages, where a certain
action or keyboard selection would switch between the built-in and external displays; but in
an iBook, that is not the case. Unless someone knows of a workaround for blind situations,
my input at this point is limited. Some of the software available to enhance the use of an
external display would be installed in a healthy computer to allow control over several other
models of displays and use marginally supported resolution ones with the iBook.
If you can get into the computer, SwitchResX may be of help. A basic VGA display, maybe
up to 15" or one that supports the resolution native to the built-in iBook's video card should
work. If you use a larger display, it may give you a small in-set view of your desktop, but
not necessarily in a full screen view because the video card in the iBook. And some displays
have settings, too, so there may be some view adjustments in the display's control panel.
If you had SwitchResX installed already, that may be of help in using marginal displays.
I have not tried it; but I have read about it and heard that it works well -- in some cases.
About SwitchResX - http://www.madrau.com/html/SRX/About.html
From Apple Spec - iBook G4 (mid-2005) - Technical Specifications:
http://support.apple.com/specs/ibook/iBookG4_Mid2005.html
Display:
* Support for millions of colors at 1024 x 768 pixel resolution
* Support for resolution scaling to 800 x 600 pixel and 640 x 480 pixel resolution with millions of colors
Graphics support:
* ATI Mobility Radeon 9550 graphics processor with 32MB of dedicated video memory and AGP 4X support
This topic has been covered a few times in Apple Discussions, so maybe a search would
reveal some ideas; such as this thread: http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=943837&tstart=120
Hopefully this helps!
PS: If that isn't workable for whatever reason, you may be able to access the hard disk drive
via a FireWire cable and get the computer to boot using FireWire Target Disk Mode, to view
and retrieve contents via another Macintosh computer which has FW ports. There is a page
in Apple Support about Using Firewire Target Disk Mode, or search those words.