Category: Technology

Controlling monitor inputs with DDC

Post author By Tanner
Post date July 30, 2023

I’m really happy that most modern monitors support DDC so that we can programmatically change settings rather than go through clunky OSDs.

The problem

At my desk I have my Mac Studio and my latest gaming PC and they both share a triple monitor setup. When I want to switch the monitors between the two, I either need to:

Turn on auto-switching mode
Manually change the input x 3

Auto-switching kinda worked, but has quirks I can’t live with. One is when I’m playing a game on the PC and the Mac wakes up for whatever reason, the PC receives a signal that hardware has been connected or disconnected and the screen freezes. It seems like a firmware bug to me – if an input is being actively used the others should be ignored.

The manual route is pretty bad as well. The M32U‘s input switchers are on the back of the monitor, which is pretty much the worst spot possible. Only the far right monitor is slightly more convenient to access.

How DDC solves it

By using m1ddc on the Mac we can easily script a way to switch between the two machines. 🎉 This means I can create a keyboard shortcut to toggle the inputs, a physical button, or even run it from an external computer. Hooray!

Edit: Now with web appi-ness!

I threw together a quick Flask app that can be accessed from any device on my network to switch inputs. Neato!

Here’s a GitHub repo for it.

Note: Once I connect the left monitor the same way I connect the other two, the transition should be more in sync. Currently it’s a little slower due to the HDMI connection.

Technology

APC UPS data in Grafana

Post author By Tanner
Post date December 3, 2019

Grafana dashboard with APC UPS information

I don’t know why I didn’t do this long ago. With the Telegraf apcupsd plugin it’s trivial to add your APC UPS data to Grafana.

I did have to manually install the latest binary from Telegraf’s site instead of the version that comes with Ubuntu, but that wasn’t a problem at all.

Projects Technology

The Mac Pro gets an SSD part 2!

Post author By Tanner
Post date August 19, 2015

Welp, that didn’t take long. After installing my new SSD I quickly realized I could do better. Upgrading to SATA III from SATA II for less than $60 was a no-brainer.

Installation couldn’t be simpler either: All I had to do was attach the SSD onto the onboard slot and install the PCIe card. After powering on it booted right up, nothing else required.

Projects Technology

The Mac Pro gets an SSD

Post author By Tanner
Post date August 15, 2015

Six years old, and now running even better: The Mac Pro gets a Samsung 850 Pro 512GB SSD housed in an Icy Dock enclosure.

~~In hindsight I probably should’ve looked into a PCIe SSD to get higher speeds~~ since my 2009 Nehalem machine has only SATA 2.0. Regardless, I’m loving the boost.

Edit: SATA 3 drive controller ordered!

Gadgets Technology

2009 Mac Pro video card upgrade

Post author By Tanner
Post date December 31, 2014

After upgrading to Yosemite, I noticed that graphics performance was starting to lag a bit on my 2009 Mac Pro while driving two monitors at fairly low resolutions. At one point I had two GT 120s running separate monitors, but after one replacement and two failures, I was back down to one.

I decided to look into upgrade options and was happy to see that OS X now supports non-EFI video cards. The only catch: You won’t see anything displayed until OS X loads your drivers. Who cares?

I settled on an EVGA GeForce GTX 660 2GB, which Best Buy happened to sell. I can feel the judgement from the hardcore nerds for buying something at Best Buy. Nevertheless, this was much cheaper than trying to buy another GT 120 to replace my second one and offers WAY more power. I don’t game on my Mac – I just want the OS to feel snappy and fluid.

Like many powerful cards, the GTX 660 requires the PCIe 6 pin power connector from the power supply or motherboard. I’ve ordered this, but until it gets here, I’ve rigged up an external power source.

Steps to install:

Attach one of these cables to your Mac Pro motherboard OR rig up an external PSU like I did
Insert the new card and attach the other end of the 6 pin PCIe power cable
Put the card retainer back in place, fasten everything down and reassemble
If running an external PSU, make sure it is powered up before powering up the Mac Pro

Thoughts after installation:

Why didn’t I do this sooner
OS X is silky smooth
The fans will ramp up audibly if doing anything intensive in apps that utilize the GPU, but that’s OK
Everything just works – no drivers to install
My biggest bottleneck is now my disk – an SSD is next