I did replace the LCD cable with a dual link cable, and the display works fine in 1600x900 mode in Ubutnu/Windows. 
  
I built a Display Override for my panel, and now I can see the display in System Information under Graphics/Displays (a good sign!).  However the display is still blank. 
  
I'm wondering if it's coming down to a resolution issue with OSX that was mentioned above.  Did any Macs ship with a 1600x900 screen?