The article got a bit confusing around halfway the post. If I didn't google the software it reads like I would need a configured Raspberry Pi in addition to this software...
The journey to controlling external monitors on M1 Macs
31–40 of 188 posts
Re: The journey to controlling external monitors on M1 Macs
#32Great write-up and a fun read. I was caught off guard by this note: > the delivery guy called me about a laptop: the custom configured M1 MacBook Pro that costed as much as 7 junior developer monthly salaries has arrived! I tried the MacBook Pro configurator and could only get up to $2300 USD (excluding optional software like Logic Pro). I’m sure the price and taxation are higher in the author’s country, but I still…
Dev says right at the top of the entry that they are writing from Romania. Quick Google shows an average software dev salary of 4800 USD per year. If that’s average, seems like 7x monthly of a junior salary checks out.
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Re: The journey to controlling external monitors on M1 Macs
#33Apple seems to be making a lot of display related things difficult lately. This, and Display Stream Compression are two. Just as high refresh and HDR were becoming really mainstream, Big Sur completely broke what was working flawlessly in Catalina (and it has not been fixed as of either 11.5, or the Monterey betas so far - and by completely broke, I mean does not work, at all, for anybody, not just 'some edge case').…
If your livelihood isn't dependent on that kind of a display, personally, I would try to avoid falling into their trap. I'd call it anti-competitive to have previously supported an industry standard, only to then remove that support and push their product as the only way to achieve an equivalent to that standard.
I'm not saying the ProDisplay XDR isn't a good screen, or even overpriced in the class of displays it lives in, but there is a major leap between "I write code/documents/etc. all day and like vibrant monitors" and "I do professional multimedia work and need hyper-accurate displays to do my job correctly."
Telling all the people who want HDR to go buy a $5,000 display they don't need is a bit of a mean spirited move.
Re: The journey to controlling external monitors on M1 Macs
#34Does the gamma solution lower the power use like a proper brightness reduction? And if so, by the same amount? Did you ever attempt to reach out to Apple about how this should be implemented on the new kernel? I would hope there's some forum for this kind of question still.
Unfortunately no, Gamma doesnt reduce the power consumption of the LED backlight of the monitor. It may in fact increase power use a bit because rendering black pixels needs more energy to excite the crystals. I haven't contacted Apple because I don't think they are interested in implementing such a thing really. I've written more about why I think that here: https://lobste.rs/s/2zajeu/journey_controlling_external_mo…
Yep, that sounds a lot like Apple. Thanks for the thorough and interesting writeup on this. I didn't even know I wanted this so badly until now... luckily I still stand a chance I guess.
Re: The journey to controlling external monitors on M1 Macs
#35Great write-up and a fun read. I was caught off guard by this note: > the delivery guy called me about a laptop: the custom configured M1 MacBook Pro that costed as much as 7 junior developer monthly salaries has arrived! I tried the MacBook Pro configurator and could only get up to $2300 USD (excluding optional software like Logic Pro). I’m sure the price and taxation are higher in the author’s country, but I still…
I can't get a Mac Pro high enough it's 7 months of junior developer salary.
Was it a typo?
Re: The journey to controlling external monitors on M1 Macs
#36Quite literally an insta-buy for me. Tried with an LG HDR 5K Display and it worked perfectly in trial mode.
Location mode is everything I've ever wanted from non-Apple monitors with a Mac mini. https://lunar.fyi/#location
Re: The journey to controlling external monitors on M1 Macs
#37Bit of a non-sequitur, but I always laugh whenever I read a blog where someone finally discloses all of the gripes they had with their last Mac while transitioning to the new one. Of course, this new Mac is better than the old one, and won't be susceptible to the same issues they had last time.
Frankly, it all just makes me happier to be out of the ecosystem. I love the fact that there are people like you willing to write beautiful, functional and native system apps, but it also hits me with a pang of sadness when I hear that you spent 7 months salary on a device that will merely give you the ability to package and distribute apps to a certain platform. It's frankly dystopian, and I get the feeling that Apple will continue to edge out "lower-level" software like this in their bid to "increase userland security" (see: gimping MacOS APIs).
Re: The journey to controlling external monitors on M1 Macs
#38Lunar is godsent.
Without automatic brightness control for my external display, I had the exact same problems the author of Lunar describes in his article, constantly and manually adjusting the brightness of my display throughout the day, with its awful on screen menu.
Before I got my Mac with an M1, I‘ve used Brightness Menulet, which also worked quite ok, but not nearly as polished and functional.
Re: The journey to controlling external monitors on M1 Macs
#39Apple seems to be making a lot of display related things difficult lately. This, and Display Stream Compression are two. Just as high refresh and HDR were becoming really mainstream, Big Sur completely broke what was working flawlessly in Catalina (and it has not been fixed as of either 11.5, or the Monterey betas so far - and by completely broke, I mean does not work, at all, for anybody, not just 'some edge case').…
If your livelihood isn't dependent on that kind of a display, personally, I would try to avoid falling into their trap. I'd call it anti-competitive to have previously supported an industry standard, only to then remove that support and push their product as the only way to achieve an equivalent to that standard. I'm not saying the ProDisplay XDR isn't a good screen, or even overpriced in the class of displays it liv…
The M1 still does DDC, it just doesn't end up exposing the raw bus to software. Which is a perfectly reasonable decision.
Re: The journey to controlling external monitors on M1 Macs
#40This seemed neat so I installed Lunar to try out on my M1 MacBook Air with a LG HDR display connected over HDMI.
After launching the app my system started freezing so bad I had a hard time closing the app, inputs unresponsive for 30 sec then active for 1 sec to become unresponsive again.
I figured I'd try to launch it with my monitor unplugged and worked fine, but after plugging in my monitor again it doesn't connect again.
I've tried closing the app, uninstalling it and rebooting my system. Nothing works and now I'm left with no external display. What the hell?!
EDIT: after unplugging my dongle from usb-c (i.e. un-powering it instead of just unplugging it from the laptop) everything works again! phew. I guess it put the dongle in some weird state?