ryans BTW, do you have reverse engineering skills? The solution to disable dithering is so elegant, so you will wonder you still don't have it.

No need to dig any tools any source code. Just only one string!!!

      NewDwarf I don't own any Apple device currently, unfortunately. I played around with IDA a few years ago, but I just wasn't into learning x86 assembly. To fix this miserable eye strain issue I would learn anything though! I did go to school for CS but we studied a much simpler MIPS assembly. Any tips to get started 😉?

      Out of curiosity do you think your solution would for Linux?

          NewDwarf elegant solution you say? could it be feature string in the driver? :-)

          if you certain it work why not describe it here? describing facts is legal and surely someone else with knowledge will find it from that.

            ryans This solution is macOS specific one. I would say it is kind of a backdoor (to disable dithering even when the System Integrity Protection is active) for the Apple's engineers.

            I believe, if you load the Intel driver into the IDA, you can quickly fine a solution.

                NewDwarf Very interesting. Did you try on Macbook or a Mac Mini? I'm trying to find a good priced Mac Mini that can run Monterey.

                    ryans I did it on MacBook Pro 13'' 2020. But it doesn't matter.

                    Take the driver /System/Library/Extensions/AppleIntelBDWGraphicsFramebuffer.kext and disassemble it. The solution is there.

                    You can find this driver on any Intel based Apple laptop.

                        11 days later

                        NewDwarf I did it on MacBook Pro 13'' 2020.

                        The exact same Mac that is giving me issues and forces me back to my 2015 / 2017 13-inch. Did you have issues using this machine before "the solution"?

                        I have posted multiple times in this thread about my Dithering journey on both Mac and Windows and how I arrived at a conclusion a few years ago that this was an Intel driver issue (not a panel) all along

                        https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/eye-strain-returned-my-2019-16-macbook-pro.2212479/page-12?post=31582068#post-31582068

                        Now to figure out if I need IDA Pro or if Home is sufficient to try this….

                          5 days later

                          MAS-76 do you have any information regarding the modifications that he made to disable the Intel dithering?

                              NewDwarf why did you choose to edit the Broadwell graphics kext? Wouldn't a 2020 MBP use Coffee Lake or Ice Lake (depending on the version)?

                                  devilgrove I didn't/don't modify any kext. I just use them for reversing. There is Intel based MacBook Pro 2020.

                                    devilgrove You don't need to edit kext directly to disable dithering. Try to think about other options….

                                    BTW, does someone have reversing skills? The solution is so simple. It can very surprise you when you will find how dithering is controlled.

                                        NewDwarf No. There is much better and simpler solution. Moreover, modern macOS doesn't allow to do it because of system integrity protection. Additionally, each update will break this.

                                        It is weird this thread has such a long history but the solution is still not found.

                                        It took ~1 hour to reverse the driver and find a solution.

                                        …think about a backdoor. The solution is kind of a backdoor.

                                            insta42014 Also, you already found the magic string. Why you don't want to move in this direction to understand how it is used?

                                              NewDwarf It is weird this thread has such a long history but the solution is still not found.

                                              Thread about AMD graphics which is different driver architecture then the Intel. So not weird at all.

                                              In addendum could be that even when dithering is used the algorithm changes between macOS versions which could explain differences in perceived strain between unmodified versions on same hardware.

                                              Could be changes in algorithm to match some arbitrary benchmark of color reproduction on already released hardware. A guess.

                                                  axel I guess this thread about both, Intel and AMD, GPU's.

                                                  The dithering control is exactly the same between different versions of macOS at least for the Intel GPU regardless of the specific device.

                                                    ryans

                                                    I found this on youtube. These folks used an iphone and filmed at 240fps then slowed it down. The flicker is visible. This is showing a Macbook Pro 2021.

                                                    https://www.youtube.com/shorts/9JCQ_p4olWw

                                                    [Edit]

                                                    Thinking about it now, this might also be showing the OLED PWM flicker. This is an OLED model.

                                                      dev