Dummy display for Apple Silicon Macs to achieve custom resolutions

Re:Dummy display for Apple Silicon Macs to achieve custom re... by nottorp on Monday November 01, 2021 @10:46AM (#29067223)

Ok silly question because I've never ran into this use case but it got me worried about using real monitors.

I'm using 1920x1200 monitors. If I upgrade to a M1 Pro/Max Mac Mini (if those will ever be available) will I have any trouble using them at their native resolution?

From what I understand, this trick is helpful for headless machines.

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Re:Dummy display for Apple Silicon Macs to achieve custom re... by waydabber on Monday November 01, 2021 @12:31PM (#29069043)

According to my tests the app seems to provide headless macs with a HiDPI virtual display with customizable resolution (tested via Screen Sharing, resolution switch on the fly worked, all resolutions are available without any real display connected - should work with VNC as well, but I did not test that).

I tested this as part of testing the app on Intel and Big Sur (BetterDummy worked fine on this Intel config with an integrated Intel UHD630 so headless Mac Mini 2018 users should be fine).

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Re:Dummy display for Apple Silicon Macs to achieve custom re... by waydabber on Monday November 01, 2021 @10:52AM (#29067323)

No, you won't have trouble using your Mac at native resolutions with an 1920x1200 display, you don't need BetterDummy for that! :)

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Re:Dummy display for Apple Silicon Macs to achieve custom re... by danw1979 on Monday November 01, 2021 @11:25AM (#29067940)

The display output of the M1, according to the very clever devs working on Asahi Linux, is a bit funky under the hood.

I've found display compatibility has not been straightforward, having owned an M1 mini for the last year...which is unfortunate for a computer without a built-in screen.

Don't count on it supporting multiple external monitors. Expect compatibility issues, etc.

Last week it kind of burned a flickering rectangle onto my Dell ultrasharp 4k, which I thought was toast, but it gradually cleared up.

Like I said - weird.

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Re:Dummy display for Apple Silicon Macs to achieve custom re... by nottorp on Monday November 01, 2021 @11:55AM (#29068446)

> Don't count on it supporting multiple external monitors. Expect compatibility issues, etc.

Well, no way I'm buying a M1 due to the lack of RAM. Hopefully Apple will make a decent desktop for me next year and fix some silicon bugs while they're at it.

Incidentally, my current x86 mac mini is wonky with the hdmi output as well. The monitor randomly goes black for a few seconds once in a while.

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Re:Dummy display for Apple Silicon Macs to achieve custom re... by flatiron on Monday November 01, 2021 @12:26PM (#29068959)

ram is on the chip with the cpu now. so i don't see that changing in the near future with the laptop/mac mini versions of the M1 at least

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Re:Dummy display for Apple Silicon Macs to achieve custom re... by nottorp on Monday November 01, 2021 @12:52PM (#29069398)

The M1 Super Duper Max Pro supports 64 G ram if you haven't noticed. All they have to do is put it in a Mac Mini... I don't need a new laptop right now.

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Re:Dummy display for Apple Silicon Macs to achieve custom re... by xenic on Monday November 01, 2021 @01:13PM (#29069723)

The black screen problem is usually a bad HDMI cable.

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Re:Dummy display for Apple Silicon Macs to achieve custom re... by nottorp on Monday November 01, 2021 @02:17PM (#29070679)

All my HDMI cables are bad? :)

The only kind I'm missing is the gold plated kind.

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Re:Dummy display for Apple Silicon Macs to achieve custom re... by xenic on Tuesday November 02, 2021 @07:44AM (#29079801)

Apparently so, as Mac hardware never fails! ;)

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