iBook G3 Clamshell Upgrade

[MiseriesChild]

Something I've been wanting to do so bad is upgrade my iBook G3 Clamshell with a motherboard out of like a MacBook Air. Something like this, "http://m.ebay.com/itm/iBook-G3-Clamshell-Upgraded-with-Intel-Core-i7-CPU-/112502740157?hash=item1a31af94bd:g:SssAAOSwNuxXZmAb&_trkparms=pageci%3A0023cbb5-7980-11e7-ad3e-74dbd180ec86%7Cparentrq%3Ab0132a2015d0a99bb08ca800ffff5545%7Ciid%3A4

I just don't want to spend $4,000 + $208 shipping and wait 4 to 8 months. I have a good idea how most if the conversion would be done except for making the keyboard and track pad work. The eBay seller figured it out but I really have no idea of where to even start, lol!!

Anyone else ever want to do this or have any idea of how to map out and repin/hack a keyboard/track pad to work? I just love the old Clamshell iBooks. :-)

 

[YveltalGriffin]

I've read that some trackpads use PS/2, but laptop keyboards are just a physical key "matrix"--a bunch of rows and columns of switches. The computer can tell which button is being pressed based on which row and column are connected. I don't believe there's an industry standard for them, so you'd probably need a custom adapter or some kind of reverse-engineered MCU interface to do it.

I wonder how the seller did it, since the listing has some disclaimers about the keyboard not being completely functional (big time hacking alert!) Clearly some magic has been wrought in the innards of the beast to justify the asking price...

 

[cheese]

Doesn't seem terribly difficult at first glance, but you'd need to make some adaptor for the screen, keyboard and mouse