U2717D, DDM, switch inputs via Windows from Apple? #2

I have managed to replicate this and also successfully switch the input sources remotely from a Mac (specifically I can change back to Windows while the Mac is active on the monitor). I hope that you are around and interested (i.e. monitoring this thread) and that I can walk you through my approach.  It's not entirely straightforward but I'm happy to show what I've done.

With Thanks in Advance, Patrick Rynhart

Hi @prynhart, can this be done in MacOS only via Terminal+Scripts combo? I have two DELL P2417H connected to a 2015 Macbook Pro and a Desktop Hackintosh at the same time (Both running Mac OS Catalina).

Thanks in advance.

Gus.

Hi @Gustavo Saliola - That sounds like really nice setup, might have to try a desktop Hackintosh build at some stage.  Re the switching from two Macs directly - Unfortunately not that I know of :(.

I've got one Windows box and one Mac box - and I'm able to switch back and forth, but only using the Windows ddm.exe binary.  The good thing is that the monitor is listening for commands (on the digital inputs of the Dell) even when Windows isn't the 'active' connection though.

If your monitor has three digital inputs (and you don't mind having a minimal, low power Windows box around just to do the switching) then I can probably help you out.  But not sure how you'd like that idea as a workaround though :).

With Thanks,

Patrick

Thanks Patrick! I'm thinking, if there's a way of tricking it via virtualization or "Bottled" app for ddm.exe. Since it should be simple signals to be listened for the monitors.

Maybe DELL listens and pulls the plug on it. Shouldn't be a hard task to port it to MacOS.

Thanks again!

Hi @Gustavo Saliola - Virtualisation doesn't seem to work, I think because the display is virtualised (inside the Windows VM on top of macOS the display shows up as a "VMWare" or "Oracle Virtualbox" resource).

If there was a way to sniff the DDC/CI communications between Windows (on bare metal) and the display then that would be very interesting.  Perhaps it is possible to capture the relevant DDC/CI comms and they 'replay' this from a macOS client.  That would be interesting - and cool

Cheers

Patrick

Alright - I have found a way to do this natively on the Mac!

There is this project - the summary of which makes it sound like it's just for brightness etc: https://github.com/kfix/ddcctl. However, you can successfully use it to natively switch inputs too.

Here's how I proceeded.

1. Install the Xcode Command line tools (macOS will likely prompt and auto install if you start typing commands like git

2. Create a temp directory then:

git clone https://github.com/kfix/ddcctl.git

cd ddcctl

make

You can optionally make install (but I just ran the ddcctl binary that was created). The input selections I did by trial and error, but I could switch to DisplayPort via the Mac (the Dell is my second monitor)

P.S. I tried to paste the actual commands I entered, but the Dell bot keeps deleting my posts because it is detecting them as spam :-(.  I'm therefore trying this summary post without the commands.

Wow! That's Great Patrick! If you're so kind, please explain me how to get this going. I'm not fluent in Xcode (Just installed on the Mac Desktop (Hackintosh) and i'll try to work it out. As i understand, i have to download the Github script and from there, tuning it inside Xcode and running it?

Thanks again! (And sorry for my Noobness, learning everyday).

@prynhart I wrote also in TonyMac Forums, mentioning you.

https://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/controlling-your-monitor-with-osx-ddc-panel.90077/page-10#post-2132862

Hi there - Here's a video showing it in action - can you let me know if you can view it okay ?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DpULXw-Grcw

I know that you're seeing Windows - but I am doing all the switching from my Mac.

Happy to walk you through the full process

Great! Perfect. Now, as i see in the video, you enter commands in Terminal. What i don't quite get yet is the Github part. What script do i have to download from them and what needs to be done in Xcode previous to enter the Terminal commands. Thanks for your time! Bear with me, i'm a graphic designer and this just feels so close to the "Ideal app" where you program a shortcut in both Macs (Ex. the F4 key in Mac, that i never use) and is total happiness.

It's awesome to see what you've done in the video! Like the MacOS Hacker version of the DMM.

Yes. In both machines. In fact, thinking further, this could be done in Automator, like assigning a key (or combo) to that line in Terminal, recording a kind of Macro.

Sure - what version of macOS are you on ?  Catalina ?

Private message me your gmail address. The reason I ask is that Google Docs might be a good way to 'real-time' collaborate. I can create a document with you that will walk you through the process

Thanks

Patrick

Yeap! Thanks a lot!

Hi @prynhart , I have a similar use case where i have two machines (one mac and one windows) connected to same monitor. Could you share your approach where you got it working on Windows by executing remote commands from Mac? I am asking this because the Mac machine is my work computer and I would like to not install any extra software on it.

So if possible share your approach where you first run some DDM commands on windows to change input and then execute some remote commands via Mac on Windows to change input again. I saw other posts where people tried doing it but were unsuccessful, so I would like to know your setup for this.

I tried qwinsta but my terminal reported that the command was not found. I am using Windows 10 and i'll try to make it work, but in meanwhile could you provide some details on your setup ?