Display mirroring on first-gen iPad? Here's how

Apple introduced the second-gen iPad with an HDMI connector allowing you to easily mirror what you see on the tablet to an HD TV, but is this possible on the original iPad? Turns out, it's not only the iPad, but the iPhone 4 as well as 4th-gen iPod touch that support system-wide mirroring and it only takes a jailbroken iDevice and either Apple's Digital AV Adapter or VGA adapter.

The first step on your way to mirroring content is an update to the latest iOS 4.3.1. You'll need to jailbreak your device, but if jailbreak sounds scary to you, don't hesitate to visit our step-by-step instruction here, which should address all your questions.

Secondly, you need to modify settings in the Springboard app, responsible for managing your home screen. Using SSH, go to:

system/library/coreservices/springboard.app/

Your next step is downloading the K48AP.plist (for the iPad), K90AP.plist (for the iPhone 4), N81AP.plist (for the iPod touch) file from that location to your computer and open it for editing with a program like Xcode for Mac. The only thing left is to change one line so that it matches the image. Save the file, upload to your iDevice, reboot, and voila!

Finally, a word of caution comes from users who have reported that the hack won't work with Apple's Composite or Component cables. Except for that, mirroring seems to work flawlessly. Check out the video below to see content from the first-gen iPad mirrored directly to an HD TV. With so few applications optimized for the dual-core powers of the newest iPad, you might just have found one more reason to stick to your good ol' tablet, haven't you?

source: Nature's Eye Studios