Could someone with dithering problems who is using a Mac do these steps for me? Go to Terminal/iTerm, run kextstat and save the output to a file? Also please list what model of Mac you have, OS X version, and what GPU and if it has switchable graphics. This is useful: http://www.everymac.com/mac-identification/how-to-find-apple-model-family-numbers-for-mac-identification.html An example (in my case): 2015 15" Macbook Pro, Switchable Intel Iris Pro and AMD R9 370X graphics. You can use code tags to paste it without it obscuring the rest of the post ``` like this ``` like this if(window.hljsLoader && !document.currentScript.parentNode.hasAttribute('data-s9e-livepreview-onupdate')) { window.hljsLoader.highlightBlocks(document.currentScript.parentNode); } Or if it's too big email me, jtl at teamclassified dot ca I tested this morning and might have a way to modify the code of the kexts, which might allow to me to disable the dithering. Let's face it. Amulet Hotkey and the others are useless. Seems like I'm the best shot for the time being. Thanks

JTL Oops. And I accidently caused my laptop to stop booting because I accidently corrupted one of the .kexts while editing it. Goes to show you should always make backups.

Note: Modifying the existing kexts and just injecting code to turn off dithering would be safer and survive OS upgrades. Being able to edit the kext code is a good first step though. The only information about Amulet Hotkey's kext is this screenshot https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-gf7GValbbu4/UIqMb-KqKKI/AAAAAAAAAas/3e5uUtw3ItU/s1600/photo%2B%252810%2529.JPG Notice after ahkinject the <4 3> . That corresponds with the other "required" kexts I think, kext number 3 is IOKit which is a method for drivers to interface with haradware. Don't know much about it.

I'd love it if you got somewhere with this. I'll pull a couple different Macbooks' data for you later today.

Gurm Thanks. The hard part after this is figuring out what functions actually control the dithering. Like I mentioned above I accidently NOP'd (no operation) the wrong function causing my laptop to stop booting. I just copied the kext back into place and it was fixed though. Still annoying.

Very excited by this prospect JTL - it could make a big difference to a lot of people's lives if you could work it out. I no longer use Macbooks I'm afraid, had to chop them out my life!

si_edgey Unfortunate. Not making any promises but now that my vision is stabilizing and I have more time, why not do it?

I think the best goal would be for me to develop a new NVinject of sorts that does IORegistry injection, but works with newer OS X versions and 64-bit, etc. If you disable SIP it let's the kext be fully used without signing (which costs $100 a year) so this is good for testing. If we have a full version that works and we know it I can just pony up the $100 to make an easy-to-use signed version. Also I was looking through the AMD kexts and saw something interesting. jtl-macbookpro:Apple kexts jtl$ strings AMDSupport |grep AAPL AAPL,slot-name AAPL%02X, AAPL,gray-value AAPL00,T1 AAPL00,T2 AAPL00,T3 AAPL00,T4 AAPL00,T5 AAPL00,T6 AAPL00,T7 AAPL00,LinkFormat AAPL00,PixelFormat AAPL00,Dither [sic] if(window.hljsLoader && !document.currentScript.parentNode.hasAttribute('data-s9e-livepreview-onupdate')) { window.hljsLoader.highlightBlocks(document.currentScript.parentNode); } Now if we check the NVinject's Info.plist <key>entriesToAdd</key> <dict> <key>AAPL01,Dither</key> <data> AAAAAQ== </data> </dict> if(window.hljsLoader && !document.currentScript.parentNode.hasAttribute('data-s9e-livepreview-onupdate')) { window.hljsLoader.highlightBlocks(document.currentScript.parentNode); } So there is a difference.

@vinkenvvt I remember you did something with Clover EFI and it didn't work, which one was that?

This is interesting https://developer.apple.com/library/content/documentation/DeviceDrivers/Conceptual/AccessingHardware/AH_Finding_Devices/AH_Finding_Devices.html I made a simple kext that logs to the console app. It works. 151 0 0xffffff7f83e63000 0x2000 0x2000 ca.teamclassified.testkext (1) 194C7603-9A67-39C4-A95B-C1D7780658B8 <4> 2017-09-13 17:23:36.000 kernel[0]: TestKext has loaded

Good work JTL, sounds like progress of some kind. Any joy with the AAPL00 / AAPL01 thing?

OSX dithering - Help wanted

Lauda89

devilgrove But with this tweak, can you now use that MB? Is it something related with the dithering?

devilgrove

Lauda89 i was able to use it before, but still with a decent amount of headaches and eyestrain. However after the fix it's practically as good as Safe Boot (I'm actively trying to find a way to make it 100% equal).

I'd be willing to share, but NewDwarf is technically the reason I was able to figure it out in the first place, so I would want to hear from him first before doing anything.

And yes, it's directly related to dithering.

Lauda89

devilgrove This would be a huge finding! If you share how to do it and several users experience benefits it is something you can bring to apple's attention to put an accessibility setting that would disable that feature.

Is something that can work only with intel GPU or also M1/2 SOC?

devilgrove

Lauda89 to be honest this issue has been around for so long that I don't think Apple cares at this point, but it would be good to get out to the masses so that they don't have to deal with this problem.

I tried looking up if the command would be available on Silicon, but couldn't find anything online. I'd need to get my hands on a Silicon laptop and do some testing on Terminal to figure it out.

NewDwarf

devilgrove You can simply verify the result by the command

log show --predicate "processID == 0" | grep Dither

If you entered the correct command, you can see such kernel log

Default 0x0 0 0 kernel: (AppleIntelICLLPGraphicsFramebuffer) [IGFB][LOG ][MODESET ] Dither is disabled in pipe misc

if it will print out

Default 0x0 0 0 kernel: (AppleIntelICLLPGraphicsFramebuffer) [IGFB][LOG ][MODESET ] Dither is enabled in pipe misc

the command, you entered, was incorrect.

devilgrove

NewDwarf oh wow, when I entered the command, it actually says my dithering is still enabled. Wonder what I did wrong

Liberator005

NewDwarf Hi, I don't know much about mac os as I'm a windows user. I have a macbook pro here from 2015 with intel iris pro, os version is sierra. I tried your command to disable dithering, did it in recovery mode. Now I'm back in normal mode. To verify it worked, I typed your command log show --predicate "processID == 0" | grep Dither

in terminal. But I don't know where to check the kernel logs. If I go to console, there is no kernel.log file. Could you tell me where I can find it.

Thank you.

devilgrove

Since my solution seems to be a unique one (and could possibly be incorrect) I'll post it here.

In Terminal, write:

sudo nvram boot-args="dither=1"

Reboot.

Also, you can check if it's there by entering nvram boot-args afterwards. It should write out boot-args dither-1

Edit: this is actually incorrect, it should be sudo nvram boot-args="dither=0", thanks to NewDwarf for the fix.

NewDwarf

devilgrove Yay! You found it!

…But, you cannot enter this command in normal mode! You must enter the recovery mode first and then run that command.

To disable dithering you have to enter

nvram boot-args="dither=0"

Not sure why you put dither=1. 1 is incorrect parameter here.

CRoebuck

devilgrove I'd be super keen to hear if you still find an improvement given the correct argument being used. I have found a 2020 to try it on but would appreciate hearing about your experience. Having seen your other threads our issue appears very very similar.

karut

devilgrove

I tried this (with dither=0) on my Early 2015 13“ MacBook Pro with an Intel GPU and felt no difference in eye strain unfortunately.

log show --predicate "processID == 0" | grep Dither

Does not return anything

nvram -p | grep dither

returns boot-args dither=0

devilgrove

NewDwarf well, the reason I thought it was dither=1 is because I read that the default was 0, so my assumption was 0=true and 1=false. And the output did change for me, so maybe I got lucky.

Also, I actually inputted your command into Terminal during recovery, but when I input log show --predicate "processID == 0" | grep Dither, it still loops "Dither is enabled in pipe misc" every time. See picture below:

https://imgur.com/a/qbXM4da

If you have any advice on that I'd appreciate it as well, I'm a bit confused now since my eyestrain has undoubtedly relieved.

devilgrove

CRoebuck Let us know how it goes! I'll keep you posted if I find anything else.

NewDwarf

devilgrove What exactly laptop you use?

NewDwarf

devilgrove You must reboot your laptop in the normal mode. Check the logs in the normal mode!

devilgrove

NewDwarf it's a MacBookPro16,2

devilgrove

NewDwarf the logs were actually in normal mode!

https://imgur.com/a/9FSlUI0

NewDwarf

devilgrove Reboot to the normal mode. You have to add the nvram parameter only once. This parameter is passed to the kernel on booting.

NewDwarf

devilgrove Hmm. Interesting…

Could you share the output of below command, please?

nvram -p | grep dither

devilgrove

NewDwarf it outputted boot-args dither=0

NewDwarf

devilgrove One more advice. Wait when the command

log show --predicate "processID == 0" | grep Dither

is finished. More likely, you see the old logs. The last string have to report you about disabled dithering.

devilgrove

NewDwarf Wow, you're right! It does say disabled at the end. I didn't even realize that I was looking at log history, I thought the command was constantly checking for some reason. Thank you!

Looks like OSX dithering has finally been solved 🙂

NewDwarf

devilgrove Happy to hear that.

ryans

devilgrove Looks like OSX dithering has finally been solved

Wow, this is a dream. Nice job! Very nice solution, setting the NVRAM param 🙂. Have folks tried it and saw eye strain improvement!

Would be interesting to see if a similar solution exists for Apple silicon.

« Previous Page Next Page »