[Help Needed] My work on an Apple Studio Display M7768 (The Transparent ADC CRT)

[Tuber Goober]

Great news everyone! u/crt09 has managed to wake their Studio Display using WinI2C! Apparently, by pressing the "Standby Test" button, the appropriate wake up signal* is sent and the Studio Display starts displaying a picture. In the same post, @Synceen also found out that the Studio Display supports any resolution as long as it has an 80kHz horizontal frequency. Looks like we've finally cracked the nut and freed these beautiful monitors. Thank you all for your contributions!

*The only caveat of this solution is that it only works on Windows and macOS machines, still, loads better than having to use a G4 era mac! With that said, I'd still like to figure out what the signal actually is. A cursory look at the tools provided in the Hackaday post leads me to believe that the Studio Display manages its power state through appropriate DPMS requests, but I still haven't been able to test that since I can't communicate with my Studio Display. I'm not sure if it's because of an incorrect connection or if it's due to a noisy power supply. Apparently the I2C bus is quite delicate and even very slight voltage fluctuations can disrupt communication. I've noticed that I can "feel" some current whenever i slide my hand on my laptop.

Also, to answer @Titania , I have a feeling that the reason why ddcutil fails to detect the Studio Display is that it simply doesn't reply to DDC requests. If you think about it, the DDC lines in the Studio Display see very little use. They're only used to transmit the EDID information and the wake up signal. That would explain why Apple didn't bother fully implementing the standard. I believe you can force ddcutil into sending a command by specifying the bus that the Studio Display is connected to. I'll be trying that as soon as I can get mine working.

Hello I'm kinda new to this, I ordered and made the adapter for me and my friend who happen to own an m7768. I tried looking up winI2C but I only found a device, there where some downloads but every download I tried would just contain a text file saying winI2C was retired from this website. Granted I've searched on the first page of Google soo far. But could you point me in the right direction? Do I need the device (which isn't cheap) or do I need to keep looking for the software?

 

[panettondoro]

Hello I'm kinda new to this, I ordered and made the adapter for me and my friend who happen to own an m7768. I tried looking up winI2C but I only found a device, there where some downloads but every download I tried would just contain a text file saying winI2C was retired from this website. Granted I've searched on the first page of Google soo far. But could you point me in the right direction? Do I need the device (which isn't cheap) or do I need to keep looking for the software?

Hey there! You can still get WinI2C by downloading the files for this Hackaday project. It should be in DDC Tools/Windows. However, if possible, I would recommend using Twinkle Tray instead since it's still maintained. It *should* work but I'm not sure since no one has tested with the Studio Display yet.

 

[Tuber Goober]

Hey there! You can still get WinI2C by downloading the files for this Hackaday project. It should be in DDC Tools/Windows. However, if possible, I would recommend using Twinkle Tray instead since it's still maintained. It *should* work but I'm not sure since no one has tested with the Studio Display yet.

Thanks for the help. So I tried twinkle tray fist and it says it can't communicate with the monitor. So I tried WinI2C but every time I try to open it, it says it's blocked by the administrator while I am the administrator. I even try to run it as an administrator to no avail. I need to figure out a way to get this running, I don't want this monitor to become an oversized paperweight.

 

[panettondoro]

Thanks for the help. So I tried twinkle tray fist and it says it can't communicate with the monitor. So I tried WinI2C but every time I try to open it, it says it's blocked by the administrator while I am the administrator. I even try to run it as an administrator to no avail. I need to figure out a way to get this running, I don't want this monitor to become an oversized paperweight.

That's weird. The identifier in the first screenshot does not match that of the Studio Display. Are you using an HDMI to VGA adapter by any chance? Unfortunately, they've been found to be quite fickle when it comes to DDC communication . If you have access to one, try using an old laptop or computer with a native VGA output instead as they don't usually perform any kind of "post-processing" to the DDC signals. As for the windows issue, try following this guide, it may be related to SmartScreen settings.

 

[Tuber Goober]

That's weird. The identifier in the first screenshot does not match that of the Studio Display. Are you using an HDMI to VGA adapter by any chance? Unfortunately, they've been found to be quite fickle when it comes to DDC communication . If you have access to one, try using an old laptop or computer with a native VGA output instead as they don't usually perform any kind of "post-processing" to the DDC signals. As for the windows issue, try following this guide, it may be related to SmartScreen settings.

Probably that converter, I'll try my Display port or Dvi-D converter, if not I'll use my xp laptop

 

[panettondoro]

Heads up: the DVI-D cable won't work with the adapter as it only sends digital signals!

 

[getwellkel]

I have been using WinI2C to successfully boot my monitor for the past month, however I have run into the limitations of the trial period. I have attempted to use the registry keys provided in the hackaday project, but once I merge those keys, I still get the expiry notice and cannot use the program any more. It could be because I'm not using the exact same installer as the one packaged in that project zip. The reason why I am not using that one is because it doesn't appear to install correctly, and I get an error message saying there was a "Driver Error" or something. So I have been using the WinI2C 4.05 trial as mirrored from Soft32, because the Nicomsoft download isn't very helpful.

So far, to attempt to salvage WinI2C:

• I have tried a full uninstall via Revo, which is a program that scans for all associated registry keys and file locations and gives you the option to shred them. After a full uninstall and removal and restart, I try a fresh install but that doesn't seem to have cleared whatever saves the trial start date.
• I tried to merge the registry keys included in the aforementioned hackaday project, but they don't seem to have changed anything.
• I sent a hail marry message to Chris Tully on hackaday, who is the OP of that project, to ask for advice on the registry keys. We'll see if they are still active there since their last activity AFAIK was January of 2023.

I have also looked into Twinkle Tray, and have been getting the same (but slightly different) results. It looks like Twinkle Tray also cannot communicate with my Studio Display, however I do have the friendly name present. Another one of the programs provided by Chris Tully was ClickMonitor DDC, I did a bit of experimenting with this program as well but no luck either as it seems like it can't communicate either.

For context, my converter pipeline looks like this.
PC's GPU DisplayPort output -> Active DP to VGA converter -> VGA cable -> ADC converter on the Jasondoesitall PCB -> Studio Display

It would be great to have Twinkle Tray work since its such a clean looking program that's not a legacy EOL program. But it seems like WinI2C is the only program that works with my configuration. Does anyone have any additional insights into bypassing the expired trial?

I have a crummy powerbook that I can use to jumpstart the monitor but its really a piece of junk. I really would prefer the convenience of activating the monitor from my PC as that means I can power off the monitor when I'm not using it. I'm concerned about putting too much strain on the old thing leaving it powered on all the time, but that might just be what I have to do.