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Apple Display Connector to DVI Adaptor.

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Gus

Joined
Dec 27, 2010
Messages
279
Motherboard
N/A
CPU
N/A
Graphics
N/A
Mac
  1. iMac
  2. MacBook Air
Classic Mac
  1. iBook
  2. Power Mac
Mobile Phone
  1. iOS
  2. Other
So I love apple displays. And I just got myself a cheap 20" display.
But it has an Apple Display Connector so I built myself an adapter. If you want some "in construction" photos I'll make another one and take some more photos. But for now here are the final pictures of the first one.

I used a combination of these pinouts. ADC, DVI, Someone's DVI/ADC to VGA.

To my understanding/knowledge. This will allow any DVI configuration to pass through to the display. ie. Analogue VGA(through a converter), Dual link, Single Link and thus all the connectors associated. See the wikipedia page - here. I found that the display is purely digital.
I am unsure as to what the display will do when only VGA is applied. As in two of the links above it is stated that it will both run and not run on analogue.
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Looking at it now, I would have liked changed the layout. So as to have both the connectors next to each other. Like they would be on the original graphics card. This would mean I could attach the old PCI faceplate to it, and then mount inside the pc. Having USB going to an internal header.

PS. Check out the present from my GF's Dad. Helped him out at work for a day. Come home with a (although dead) beautiful G5.
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UPDATED: 10/04/12
WARNING. Sooooo many photos your computer might just blow up. :p
ALWAYS TEST YOUR PINOUT BEFORE CONNECTING TO YOUR DISPLAY OR MOTHERBOARD/GRAPHICS CARD. I CAN NOT BE HELD RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY MISTAKES YOU MAKE. THIS IS JUST A GUIDE TO SHOW YOU HOW IT WORKED FOR ME.

Using the iBook power supply (45 up to 65W 24V 2A max) caused the display to report a power fault-specifically with a backlight. Changing to the proper rated power supply of >60W 24V and 4A stopped this issue. So I do not recoomend using an old iBook charger.
Sorry it took so long guys. Work just takes up so much time.
So if you have been reading the thread minihack suggested an adapter that would fit into a pci slot on the rear. Since I had already said I would make another adapter to show how I did it I thought I'd make it into a pci mountable version.
For this I used the original back/face plate of the graphics card. This meant the holes were already perfect for the two sockets. However, it left no room for power or USB. But even if a custom rear plate was made there would still not be enough room for the two other connectors. Although this board is still not complete, (it needs the add on board) it does work and pass through the video.

The victim.
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Where I cut the board. Obviously the side closest to the connectors.
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Cutting gear. I highly recommend eye protection and also a dust mask. I just wore a tshirt half way up my face. So many little bits go flying and the circuit board creates a lot of dust! I used "heavy duty cut off wheels".
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The result.
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Cut them again to separate.
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First I chop off the sides. Where the shield solder points are, which are also the points where the connector is held down to the board.
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The DVI has a large amount of space between the board and the bottom of it. Which makes it so easy to cut off.
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This is how it turns out.
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Next, we have to remove the plastic that is keeping all the pins aligned. Cut on the outside of these bits of tape. But be careful not to cut right into the main plastic off the connector.
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Mine actually came off very easily by lifting up the area that I was going to cut. This did not happen the first time. I recommend just cutting rather than risking damaging your pins.
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Now to straighten all the pins. I find it easiest to do this whilst they are still in the housing. However, I took a couple out to show you what they are like.
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All done.
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Here's the ADC. It's just the same but with less space between the board and the bottom of the circuit board. Again, just cut down next to the bottom of the housing.
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Where to cut the ADC to remove the bottom plastic. Again, just be careful not to damage the housing too much.
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With it removed.
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The debris.
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Here you can see the idea of "measuring" the longest wire you could need. I just make them all this size and cut them down as needed once it comes to soldering. Also you can see the template of a pci e x1 slot.
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So if you don't have a helping hands device. Push the pins into the housing until they are tight but still exposed enough to work on easily.
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Here I'm trying to show you how much wire I strip. It's about 2/3mm. Try to keep it small as when soldering the insulation often recedes because of the heat. And you can always take more off if needed, you can not put more on though.
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A terrible photo attempting to show a soldered pin.
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And if your lucky to have a set of extra hands in the form of a croc clip.
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Try to solder as close to the end as possibly. But make sure its only on the thin part so the pin can still be inserted into the housing. The long left over of the pin is cut off to keep the back of the connectors mess free.
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For the C5 pin. I scratch it a bit, trying to keep it in a straight line across the top only, so the wire is joined right up at the top, out of the way of the other minicross pins.
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DVI all finished.
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Repeat for the ADC. Or the DVI depending on which you have done already.
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Crack out the old DMM and start grouping the wires into data pairs. ie. Data 1 and 3, Data 2 and 4, Data 0 and 5. DDC clocks ect, Grounds and finally analogue.
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I then zip tie them to hold in the pairs. I find this makes it easier to plan the pcb layout.
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Matching the DVI and ADC groups of wires.
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On my first adapter there was a lot of talk. So I decided to twist the Data lines and also use the tracks on the circuit board.
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The silver stuff around some of the wires is tinfoil. Once it was wrapped around and the pinout was confirmed I coated it in superglue to hold the tinfoil down and stip it from tearing. Again to reduce talk. I didn't bother doing every set of data channels. But I did put it on the grounds, power, USB, DDC data and clock and the clock +/- lines.
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Through lack of attention I had to unsolder and then resolder wires as I connected them incorrectly. So save yourself the effort and concentrate whilst matching up the wires.
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Here you can really see the twisted data channels.
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Almost finished. The switch is part of the usb/power add on board. I have designed it so that the ADC USB can either be an internal header or an external socket. If it is connected internally then using that switch the socket that is on the rear can be used as a standard USB socket.
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Here it is mounted into a case and mobo. You may be able to see the small header I attached for power for testing.
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And here it is. The working display.
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Interestingly, when I had it hooked up to a powermac g4 there was "talk" on the screen. As there was with the first adapter. This one though is brilliant no funny green dots or fuzzy lines anywhere! Stunning display.

I found that the display did not work through VGA only, so as you can see I have completely removed these pins from the second version. I suggest you do this too, safe time, effort/confusion and probably more importantly space on the board.
I also discovered that this display does not power on unless DVI pin 16 "Hot Plug Detect" was connected. It worked when connected to either DVI pin 14 "+5V power" or ADC pin 3 "LED". I have mine connected to ADC pin 3. Allowed me to remove pin 14 from the DVI connector. Freeing space and clutter.

New pinout attached. Old pinout removed from lower post.

UPDATE: 10/04/12
Finished it completely. Assembled the add on board and also added another header and power lead on the main board.

Main board with power lead.
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From left to right the headers are, USB(add on board), USB socket to motherboard and finally USB ADC to motherboard.
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Here is the add on board. Power in, power LED and USB socket.
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With the power line connected.
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I have 2 power supplies. One is a universal laptop power supply. Rated 24V 4A max. 100W. The other is a converted iBook power supply. Rated 24V 2A (and I think) 65W.
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So there you have it. Nice and easy. Just need to make/buy some USB extension header cable things for these. Reckon I'll make them.
 

Attachments

  • ADC-DVI.xlsx
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I was about to do the same so nice to see that you got it working.
May I ask where you brought the connectors?
 
Cut them out of an apple graphics card.
There is a place that sells the apple display connectors. It's in the US. Can't remember where they are though. Sorry.
 
Yeah. That's the same website I found. I cut them out of the video card leaving some circuit board still on it. then trimmed it as much as i could. Then rotated the socket 90 degrees. And cut parallel to the circuit board. Cutting off the bottom plastic of the connector and a small amount of the pins. This left all the pins free and separate. I just used plies to then straighten the pins ready for soldering.

For the soldering. First time on the ADC I pulled all the pins out. Inserted them half way in about 3/4 at a time so there was lots of room between them. Applied solder to the wire. Then soldered the wire to the pin. Added more solder if necessary.
The second time I did it. I bought myself one of these for a (very worth it) sum of £15. Obviously clamped the wire and pin in those and soldered it together. Made the process faster and easier. Didn't have to worry about touching the plastic of the connector.

I've got another socket set up so I'll take some photos if you'd like to better explain what I meant be cutting the bottom off.
 
Gus, If you have the pictures I would very much like to see them. I know that it is a pain in the b... to solder this kind of connectors out without specialized de-solder station.

I'm actually a bit considering to make a small adaptor(box) for the ADC displays like the one once sold by Apple. Most needed if you are a fan of the old Apple flat panels.

Do you by chance know if it would be possible to plug one of the original ADC graphics cards into a modern MB, somehow connect external power and maybe also USB and then use that directly?
 
Hi Gus,
Hope you dont mind me just putting this link in this thread. It just lists a similar project and the pinout numbers that the other guy used on his mod. Seemed sensible to bundle this in here as it's sort of the same subject.
http://lookanotherblog.com/?p=156
I like your mod Gus, nice and neat.
:thumbup:
 
Nice link minihack. Totally forgot about that.
Maybe someone have actually taken the effort and designed a PCB. With that in hand it would be very easy to solder an adapter together.
 
I'll pull the GPU out of that G5 and do another one with lots of photos! That pinout that minihack linked only have single link. I do not even know if these displays can use dual link but I connected all the TMDS channels.

There are 2 differences between the pinouts.
I have ADC pin 3 connected to DVI pin 14 and DVI pin 16. As well as ADC pin C5 connected to DVI pin C5 and DVI pin 15.
They have no connection for ADC pin 13. ADC pin 11 connected to DVI pin 15.

Both adapters have been confirmed as working so I shall build a second using all the TMDS channels but leaving pin 3 disconnected and connect ADC pin 11 to DVI pin 15 too.

I really need to get myself a proper hack desktop. Shall be testing these adapters with my macbook air thunderbolt using a DVI adapter and a VGA adapter.

See attached pinout. Contains 2 pinouts. Both confirmed to be working.

EDIT: bold shows the correct pins. This post now conforms to the pinout attached!

New pinout in post 1
 
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