![]() Since the original Classic II had tube monitor adjustments hidden on the rear behind a detachable panel, I thought that was the ideal place to put these screen control panel as well. The 3rd driver board did not have the IR sensor mounted, so I stole it from the first fried controller. There are on screen controls to adjust the typical LCD monitor and the original controller came with an IR remote as well as a control panel. The driver board supports multiple inputs (VGA, HDMI, composite 1 and 2). Screen one was confirmed dead, screen 2 and 3 worked fine with board 3. Still dim, so ordered a 3rd board, different design. The 2nd one was dim, so I ordered a 3rd screen. I then thought it was possibly the screen so I ordered a 2nd screen. I think it was a bad driver board, so I ordered a separate replacement, and it failed to work as well. When I received it, initially it worked great, then it fizzled out. The screen I chose was off eBay, a kit with LVDS driver board. This has a smaller screen and 4x the pixels. The Classic II had 9" monochrome CRT 512x342. The 1994 Color Classic had a 10" CRT with 512x384 resolution. I could not find anything between 8 and 9, as 8.7 would have been optimal. There are plenty of 800圆00, but I wanted the best I could find. The best I could find was 8.0 inches at 1024x768. I suppose an ipad mini with retina display at 7.9 inches would be high resolution, but good luck finding a driver for it. There are really no high definition panels out there in this small of a size. I searched around and found others who have done a similar mod. Essentially the internals are mounted on a frame and screwed to the front panel, so the back is just a cover. I am not sure if it is designed that way or the age of the machine. Once the screws are removed, it was a little difficult prying the front panel from the rear. Removal of the two near the handle require a longer tool to reach in the deep sockets. Two on the bottom near the ports, and two on the top near the built in handle. There are only 4 screws on the back of the Classic II that hold the case together. I will emulate OS 9.0.4 on SheepShaver, OS 7.5 on Basilisk II, and OS 6 on mini vMac. somehow Apple botched the IR remote support in Catalina, so to run something like iTunes or Kodi, I will have to boot in High Sierra. The reason for dual boot is the IR remote. Later in the process, I found that the GT730 card was a Kepler device and it did in fact work in Catalina, so this box will boot in High Sierra or Catalina. Since it has an NVIDIA card, I initially did not want to install Mojave or Catalina, because of lack of drivers. I have successfully installed High Sierra 10.13.6. The original frame is steel, my frame is aluminum. I figured I could either sell the A- quality guts on eBay, or make an acrylic case to show off the old guts, so I did not want to modify the existing frame for my components. Thus I built a new interior panel to mount all my ports onto, and built my own internal frame to hold all the components. Since I didn't want to cut the case for the IO panel, I had to decide how to fit all my ports in the same space. I saw another Classic Mac Hackintosh with a mini-ITX motherboard, and I thought I could do it too. I think there is a time for thinking and dreaming, and then things need to fall in place. Apple IR sensor connected to internal USB multi-input LCD driver board (accepts VGA/HDMI/composite1+2), on screen menu, IR remote control SilverStone FW81 fan to suck in air from the bottom of the case Intel Mini-ITX DH61DL motherboard LGA1155, 3 Sata, 1 mPCIE, 1 PCIE 2.0 x 1 (small slot) Apple ADB keyboard/mouse port (so I can use the original kb and mouse) HDMI input (to internal LCD only, no capture capability) LCD IR sensor (remote power of LCD screen) Things my Classic II WILL have that the original did not have: Things my Classic II will NOT have that the original did have: Additional features (IR, wifi, BT, Ethernet, HDMI, etc) Minimal physical appearance changes (Don't mod the case too much) It is near complete, just some minor fine tuning before I call it golden. After a long time of searching for the correct sized LCD panel to replace the tube, I started this project. I came into possession of a vintage 1992 Mac Classic II and thought it would make a great conversion. Two were completed and sold, one is complete and in use as a daily computer, and I have four more shells to fill. I have been working on a few Apple G4 Cube projects. Building a CustoMac Hackintosh: Buyer's Guide
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