Description
This is a “plug and play” VGA adapter for the Macintosh Portable (M5120 and M5126).
Simply plug into your Portable’s display output port, connect to a VGA monitor, and you will get a 640×480 resolution output of the Portable’s 640×400 internal display. Black bars are added to the top and bottom for centering purposes.
The green LED on the Pico stick blinks after every frame of video is captured. It’s expected for that to steadily flicker.
Important Notes:
* Please only connect or disconnect this adapter when the Portable is turned off
* DO NOT use VGA extender cables for the connection to the Portable (see below for why)
* Keep all conductive materials away from the male connector which plugs into the Portable – there’s a pin here which is connected directly to battery voltage
Why should you not use a VGA male to female extender cable for the male port labeled “Plugs Directly Into Portable”? Because although this display port looks like a VGA connector, it most definitely is not VGA.
The Portable has power pins on #3, #8, and #13 of this connector. And naturally, one of those pins is a ground connection on VGA. The VGA cables I’ve tested simply bridge together all the ground pins in the connector housing. This means that you will be shorting the Portable’s main 5v supply directly to ground, with predictably bad results.
I’ll say it again: DO NOT use VGA extender cables on the male plug which connects to the Portable. Extenders on the female connector for the display should be ok, but are untested.
There’s even a pin on the external display connector which is always directly connected to battery voltage – keep anything conductive away from the connector pins which plug into the Portable.
