This is purely hypothetical, since I don't have a spare Mini at my disposal and I don't have the case in front of me.

If I were to completely empty the Classic case, all guts including the picture tube, what sort of LCD screen would work? Something from an older color Powerbook?, If so, which ones would be more likely to work? I'm thinking it would have to be pretty old to be small enough. How would you connect them?

Keep in mind, this is a box with no motherboard and some other parts already missing, so I wouldn't be proposing to kill anything!

I don't think an older powerbook would be a good idea.
First, because you'd need some expensive controller board to connect it to the mini's VGA output, and second, if it's really old, the resolution would be 640x480 or 800x600, which isn't nice for OSX.
The best would be to try and find a VGA screen that fits it.
_________________
So this is how PowerPC dies... with thunderous applause

Looks like someone beat you to it.

Your best bet for an LCD is not a powerbook, It would be pretty much impossible for a mere mortal to make that setup work.

Instead, look at small NTSC displays like tiny LCD TVs (target is selling 7-inch ones) or things like old nview/proxima/infocus overhead projector lcd panels, for which you'd need to provide your own back light, and possibly overcome the loud fan typically in those displays.
_________________
[Insert Cool Signature here!]

No, not a cube!
Cubes are too nice to hide them in a Classic, and bigger than a mini, so you would have less space in the case.
The video choices would be the same, since they both have VGA ports (with the adapters), and the machine would be slower.
_________________
So this is how PowerPC dies... with thunderous applause

9" LCDs are very difficult to locate. I've been looking for one for my Taco Color Classic, but I haven't found one yet.

The Cube would allow a larger range of video cards, but the Mini or a 12" 'book of some sort would probably be a smarter choice for cooling and size.

Peace,
Drew
_________________
Power to the PowerPC!

There are 8" to 10" VGA input LCDs listed every day on ebay.com.au, shipping from Hong Kong. 4:3 aspect ratio, 640x480 to 1024x768, some with AV inputs as well, some with built in TV tuners.

They ain't cheap though.

The NTSC/PAL in-car monitors have lousy resolution - way less than even the original 9" CRTs in the Classics.

I've been looking online and maybe something like this

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=270167944925&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT&ih=017

or this

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=320161609697&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT&ih=011

would be doable, if it falls into my lap for super cheap. Now that I own my son's Mini (he wanted to hock it to buy a Generation Next or whatever it's called, so I bought it from him instead to keep it in the house), and I already have the dead Classic, this useless but neato project seems a little more likely to happen someday. Those little flat guys could probably just be duct-taped in there!

That second one looks OK. VGA input, TV tuner, DVD player and 640x480 rez. Not bad.

Still a 10.4" screen could be a bear to get into the 9" aperture of the Classic. You might end up having to carve away the aperture to make the whole screen visible. That's if it will fit into the case at all.

Oh and duct tape? _shudder_ I hate to think what that would do to a nice shiny Mini. Try a little velvet covered slide tray.

A lot of the POS (point of sale) monitors don't have a standard VGA connector - they connect to a POS system via a proprietary cable. It's a catch to look out for.

I have a stash of 9" B&W CRT VGA POS (LMNOPQRSTUV) monitors that do 800x600, and one colour 10" one. No, they're not for sale, and besides shipping is a biotch

Well. To revive this old thread, they now apparently have Samsung digital picture frames with USB connectors that can function as a monitor! Woo-hoo! I have a Mini and may now be on the lookout for one of these on the cheap.

Keep in mind, I would not have duct-taped the Mini, just the monitor!

I think it would just be so cool to have a classic mac running Tiger...

USB for video...

What kind of performance can you squeeze out of a USB video connection? Does Mac OS X even allow you to send video over USB?

Peace,
Drew
_________________
Power to the PowerPC!

*sigh* It seems the monitor function doesn't work with Mac, anyway...

Hey Sludgedragon
Myself Petricnout and I read your entire posting. Please check first that, there is a enough components are available in Mini Power-book Packet. Without motherboard you can not do any thing. Anyways thanks for posting it .Stay connected.

I'm leaning toward petricnout being a spammer, just posting some (nonsensical) posts to build up a post count before flooding the board with actual spam.

I've seen these type of oddball posts on a few messageboards recently. They always start with "Hey [person being replied to] Myself [spammer's nick] and I read your entire posting." Just seems an odd thing to start out the dozen or so posts I've seen with.

Cool stuff