Hello all! I am new to this list, and thought that I would chip in
with my solution to the "headless mac connundrem". Tell me what you
think!
For anyone still trying to find good ways to use a Mac without a
display and not have it get sluggish, I've hit upon something new that
might work for you, too. It’s called a VGA dummy, and you can make one
on the cheap (cost: $5 for parts and $30 for the mini display to VGA
adapter). This fix is pretty straightforward with the right schematics
and instructions, but be aware that you’ll need a soldering iron and
lots of precision to get the job done. You’ll also need some
resisters, a VGA connector and, if you want to make it look fancy, a
VGA housing. The housing isn’t necessary, it just makes the whole
thing a little more cosmetically attractive. If you’re not good with
solder and micromechanics, you’ll likely need some help from someone
who is. It helps if the person has a little bit of vision so that they
can look at the diagrams in the instructions and can see what they’re
doing.
I’m probably making this seem a lot more daunting than it needs to be.
I let my dad do the soldering for me because I’m not good at following
schematic instructions and have never used a soldering iron, and he
has. But he said that as long as you have a little bit of background
knowledge, it’s pretty straightforward.
So, here goes.
Background:
This came to fruition after I got my Mac Mini in early February. I
began experiencing general sluggishness in Finder and Safari, failure
of the Mac to save my settings, etc. After a Google search, I found
that my Mac was mad at me for not plugging in an external display. I
also discovered Chris Blouch’s idea, to plug in a VGA to NTSC
converter to trick the Mac into thinking that an external display was
plugged in. This wasn't the best fix for me personally because I
wanted to avoid having to clutter my desk any further, or having to
use one of my USB ports to power the box. Also, I wanted to try and
find a cheaper alternative. A friend of mine told me that I should try
to make a VGA dummy instead (cost: $5 for the parts, plus the cost in
time that it takes you to solder and get it working. In the bad old
days of Windows XP, apparently, some blind people had success using
these VGA dummies to trick their laptops into turning off the screens
when there was no dedicated button. When not having to power the LCD
screen, the computer’s battery life greatly improved. My friend, who
had experience making these, thought that the same thing could be used
to trick my Mac Mini into thinking that I was using a dedicated
screen.
Parts:
To do this, I took a trip to my local Radio Shack. My friend had done
some research for me and come up with the proper catalogue numbers, so
my supplies were already pulled when we got there. You need:
• One VGA connector (part number 276-1501)
• One VGA housing (part number 276-1539)
• Three 75 OHM resisters (I couldn't find these, but 68 ohm resisters
did the job just fine)
• Solder (preferably micro solder, if you can find it)
• A soldering iron
Procedure:
To help with the actual soldering, and to make sure of which pins to
solder the resisters to, my friend referred me to
http://soerennielsen.dk/mod/VGAdummy/index_en.php
where I was able to get diagrams and step-by-step instructions.
One thing to note, that this site doesn’t mention: there is no
polarity on the resisters. They can go either way. It took us about an
hour to solder everything in place. Ensure that you solder everything
tightly so that it won’t easily wiggle loose. Also, if you can, coat
the bare resister wires to keep from inadvertent contact. This is why
the housing is sometimes helpful.
Problems along the way:
After putting everything together, we realized that Radio Shack had
given us the wrong housing to go around the VGA connector. The housing
is like a clamshell that fits into place over the top of the resisters
to prevent inadvertent contact. Then the housing is held together at
the bottom of the VGA connecter. However, the housing that Radio Shack
had mistakenly given us instead didn’t fit properly. It prevented the
VGA connector from plugging all the way into the Apple adapter, and
because of that, the Mac wouldn’t recognize it. To fix this, we cut
off the part of the housing that stuck out too far. Insidentally, this
happened to be the part on the bottom of the housing that held it
together. To keep it in place, we used silicone glue to hold the two
parts of the housing together. This did the job nicely, and after
letting the silicone glue dry for 3 hours, I was in business.
Hooking it up:
After finishing and allowing the solder to cool, it was time to test
my VGA dummy. I hooked it up, booted my Mac, and held my breath.
Voila! It worked! I no longer experience the problems that I
encountered before. Voiceover does not constantly report “Finder
busy!” when I try to access my NAS server, and Safari is also a lot
more responsive. I am very happy with my fix!
Additionally:
My dad helped me with this, as did my friend, who is an AT specialist
in our area. I got schematics from the above website. This really was
just happenstance. I got lucky.
I understand that not everyone will want to try this fix, but to each
their own. I figured I'd throw it out here and see what you guys
think.
If you have any other questions, please feel free to either reply to
the list, or send me a private message at meben...@gmail.com
I will be happy to try to help in any way I can.
Happy computing!
Megan
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