Screen Spanning Doctor, Anyone?

[alfiesy]

When I upgraded (or was it downgraded) my first generation Albook 12" G4 867 to an iBook G4 1ghz, one feature I sorely missed was the screen spanning (extended desktop feature) exclusively available to Mac portable's professional line.

Reading old threads on the subject revealed that screen spanning (extended desktop) is a feature that can be enabled / disabled on non Powerbook Mac portables using a handy program called Screen Spanning Doctor (now on v. 0.3.2) - available on versiontracker.com.

However, I've heard tales of graphics cards overheating on ibooks patched with this "warranty voiding" firmware hack, in spite of numerous testimonials to the contrary on the program author's site.

Anybody unlucky enough to have destroyed his iBook with such a hack?

[tdbur]

I had an old ibook 800Mhz and applied a open firmware hack to allow screen spanning. It did not go well. The logic board went all screwy and had to be replaced. After that.. I've sworn off firmware hacks such as that.

[alfiesy]

Thanks tdbur. Guess I'll be reversing the firmware patch I made on my iBook G3 700. Not worth the risk of destroying my "out of warranty" unit.

[ginoledesma]

Guess mine is the opposite. I simply LOVE that firmware hack. I installed it the moment I got my iBook G4, and have been using it thoroughly since. No problems with logic board or what not.

This kind of firmware hack will NOT void your warranty. Software does not void your warranty -- you just lose official support from Apple. In which case it is EASY to undo your customizations. The firmware hack is not permanent, and can be restored to the original state if you want it sent back to Apple for official support under warranty.