/ddcctl

DDC monitor controls (brightness) for Mac OSX command line

Primary LanguageC

ddcctl: DDC monitor controls for the OSX command line

Adjust your external monitors' built-in controls from the OSX shell:

  • brightness
  • contrast

And possibly (if your monitor firmware is well implemented):

  • input source
  • built-in speaker volume
  • on/off/standby
  • rgb colors
  • color presets
  • reset

Install

make install

For an On-Screen Display using OSDisplay.app:
make CCFLAGS=-DOSD clean ddcctl

Usage

Run ddcctl -h for some options.
ddcctl.sh is a script I use to control two PC monitors plugged into my Mac Mini.
You can point Alfred, ControlPlane, or Karabiner at it to quickly switch presets.

Known Bugs / Caveats

ddcctl gets a lot of bug reports for stuff that can't be remotely debugged or fixed.
Please include pertinent information on your monitors, Macintosh, and macOS. Be warned, here are the four main issues I will close out-of-hand:

MY HACKINTOSH :
You're on your own with Hackintoshes.

YOUR PC MONITOR MAY SUCK AT DDC
The DDC standard is very loosely implemented by monitor manufacturers beyond sleeping the display.

  • This is because Windows doesn't use brightness sensors to dim screens like OSX does —via USB, not DDC!
  • Adjusting brightness, contrast, and super-awesome-multimedia-frobber-mode may not be possible.

YOUR MONITOR MIGHT FREEZE when making settings, especially the non-brightness/contrast ones.

  • Power cycle the monitor.
  • You just have to trial-and-error what works for your hardware.

VGA cables seem to wreak havoc with DDC comms.
Use DVI/DisplayPort/Thunderbolt if you can.