Latest macOS Update Disables DisplayLink, Rendering Thousands of Monitors Dead (displaylink.com)

rh2600 writes: Four days ago, Apple's latest macOS 10.13.4 update broke DisplayLink protocol support (perhaps permanently), turning what may be hundreds of thousands of external monitors connected to MacBook Pros via DisplayLink into paperweights. Some days in, DisplayLink has yet to announce any solution, and most worryingly there are indications that this is a permanent change to macOS moving forward. Mac Rumors is reporting that "users of the popular Mac desktop extension app Duet Display are being advised not to update to macOS 10.13.4, due to 'critical bugs' that prevent the software from communicating with connected iOS devices used as extra displays." Users of other desktop extensions apps like Air Display and iDisplay are also reporting incompatibility with the latest version of macOS.

Comments

Dead or just temporarily unusable?

[Anonymous Coward]

Is the external screen hardware bricked beyond repair or simply unusable until some driver software fixed? Dead sounds like click bait if a simple reinstall or patch rollback gets it working again.

Re:Dead or just temporarily unusable?

[Ogive17]

Well.. based on my limited experience with Apple and their products.. rendering "older" hardware useless is a key ploy to get people to buy brand new Apple products.

If I'm going to pay a premium for a product that "just works".. it better keep working for as long as the hardware holds up. They basically used an obsolete OS version to hold my wife's macbook hostage unless we paid around $100 to update it.

Re:Dead or just temporarily unusable?

[fluffernutter]

What I'm wondering is why anyone would ever, ever, buy a monitor as complicated as this! It's a freaking screen, it doesn't need intelligence. You bought it, you asked for any inconvenience it causes.

Re: Dead or just temporarily unusable?

[peragrin]

Don't confuse display port which works fine with display link which is a USB custom display and sometimes you monitor.

Display link =/= display port.

Different tech. Display link existed before display port was widespread. (While convient it uses wierd teh to make it barely work

Why Apple gets away with this bullshit

[DeplorableCodeMonkey]

One of the commenters in the first link is a perfect example of the blame-everyone-but-Apple mentality:

I must have macOS 10.13.4 to run the version of Xcode that allows me to develop for iOS 11.3.

Rolling back my OS, even if I wanted to which I don't, is not an option. My options are 1. wait for a fix, again I might add, DisplayLink died on the last macOS update as well. Or 2. Buy a USB video adapter from another more reliable source.

While I don't want to go spend potentially hundreds, I also will not accept that a thousand dollar monitor is now sitting blank.

I should mention as a macOS and iOS developer, as others have that macOS has a beta program and you could easily have identified this issue weeks ago. Also as a developer, I will always need to update to the new macOS and xCode on the day of their release.

This issue is already 4 days old, waiting on an update from Apple is 100% unacceptable. Having this issue even crop up in the first place is about 98% unacceptable.

Who makes a good USB video adapter capable of between 1080p and 2k? I'll have an answer to this in the next 10 minutes. My relationship with DisplayLink that has lasted years is within 48 hours of being over. Nothing personal, but this is simply untenable.

Yes, blame a peripheral manufacturer for thinking that an update (10.13.3 ->10.13.4) wouldn't do something like break the subsystem that their drivers depend on. Couldn't possibly expect Apple to put some more QA on macOS updates and stop treating the OS like it's a legacy product WRT support.

Dude, I get why you're upset. Your livelihood has just been hit by Apple. However, you should be blaming Apple for doing stupid shit like breaking your drivers in an update and then forcing you to have that particular point release to run an IDE.

You want proof that Apple is now firmly a cult? People would be howling from the rafters if Visual Studio updates required a highly particular set of bleeding edge patches from Microsoft to run. No one outside of the SCADA space would tolerate this level of tied-at-the-hip releasing.

Re:Why Apple gets away with this bullshit

[Anonymous Coward]

One of the commenters in the first link is a perfect example of the blame-everyone-but-Apple mentality:

I must have macOS 10.13.4 to run the version of Xcode that allows me to develop for iOS 11.3.

Rolling back my OS, even if I wanted to which I don't, is not an option. My options are 1. wait for a fix, again I might add, DisplayLink died on the last macOS update as well. Or 2. Buy a USB video adapter from another more reliable source.

While I don't want to go spend potentially hundreds, I also will not accept that a thousand dollar monitor is now sitting blank.

I should mention as a macOS and iOS developer, as others have that macOS has a beta program and you could easily have identified this issue weeks ago. Also as a developer, I will always need to update to the new macOS and xCode on the day of their release.

This issue is already 4 days old, waiting on an update from Apple is 100% unacceptable. Having this issue even crop up in the first place is about 98% unacceptable.

Who makes a good USB video adapter capable of between 1080p and 2k? I'll have an answer to this in the next 10 minutes. My relationship with DisplayLink that has lasted years is within 48 hours of being over. Nothing personal, but this is simply untenable.

Yes, blame a peripheral manufacturer for thinking that an update (10.13.3 ->10.13.4) wouldn't do something like break the subsystem that their drivers depend on. Couldn't possibly expect Apple to put some more QA on macOS updates and stop treating the OS like it's a legacy product WRT support.

Dude, I get why you're upset. Your livelihood has just been hit by Apple. However, you should be blaming Apple for doing stupid shit like breaking your drivers in an update and then forcing you to have that particular point release to run an IDE.

You want proof that Apple is now firmly a cult? People would be howling from the rafters if Visual Studio updates required a highly particular set of bleeding edge patches from Microsoft to run. No one outside of the SCADA space would tolerate this level of tied-at-the-hip releasing.

It should have been asked by any professional long ago what exactly their intent is to support ANY 3rd party. The latest I/O changes make it VERY clear they want you running running hardware made by Apple, Apple, Apple, or Apple. Between that and removing a headphone jack standard in favor of their proprietary bullshit, I will likely have nothing to do with them going forward. Their arrogance has become too much for the professional world which demands a certain level of interoperability. I'm fucking surprised they haven't been arrogant enough to create their own voltage standard in order to sell iPower transformers to everyone who dares not run at 77V/127hz.

Wake up professionals and stop giving them money. They clearly have little intention of supporting you in the long run.

Re:Why Apple gets away with this bullshit

[Joce640k]

In other news: People pay $1000 for a monitor.

Re: Why Apple gets away with this bullshit

[MightyYar]

Why is this a binary choice? A pox on both of their houses.

Re: Why Apple gets away with this bullshit

[Freischutz]

Why is this a binary choice? A pox on both of their houses.

Tunnel vision, caused by an abnormally passionate, visceral hatred of Apple. Yeah Apple screwed up, so does everybody, but there is a whole bunch of people here who should wipe the froth off their mouths, go to the doctor for a rabies shot and then get over themselves. I've had Microsoft updates brick computers, corrupt databases, destroy large and important Office documents and I've had Linux updates mess up my file system, irrecoverably screw up several virtual machines , ... the list goes on. It's annoying but it happens, that's why we make sequential backups at frequent intervals..

Re: Why Apple gets away with this bullshit

[TheFakeTimCook]

Paint it anyway you like it, but driver breakage of this level isn't to be expected on such minor update.

You can call it anti Apple BS, but this incident shows that development at Apple is a bit of a mess.

It may SEEM like a minor Update; but it rolled-out eGPU support for macOS; so OBVIOUSLY there were some fairly "deep" changes to the whole Display Framework; so, breaking a couple of THIRD PARTY display products is pretty much a foreseeable thing.

Re:Why Apple gets away with this bullshit

[TheFakeTimCook]

Also as a developer, I will always need to update to the new macOS and xCode on the day of their release.

I'm so freaking sick of this crap. Fuck "rolling releases". That is the same level of utter stupidity which PLAGUES everything from corporate to OSS. UNIX, nor Linux (yes, even GNU/LInux), was like this. It wasn't until Apple pinheads did it become "normal".

Wrong.

Windows just calls them "Patch Tuesdays", and have been doing the same thing and with NO vast Beta Test Program, and regularly BREAKING things, for DECADES.

Re: Why Apple gets away with this bullshit

[OzPeter]

that's why we make sequential backups at frequent intervals..

That's why I made 2 separate Time Machine backups prior to doing the upgrade on Monday, even though I never had an issue. Funny how Apple also provides you with the tools to protect yourself.

Re: Why Apple gets away with this bullshit

[omnichad]

Sounds like the Beta Testers either didn't report this to Apple, or didn't encounter the failure.

And that nobody at DisplayLink was tasked with bothering to test the pre-release of the OS. This is something that vendors do when OS updates come out - especially with ones known to contain updates specific to their area.

Re:Rename the app?

[Anonymous Coward]

Again, it's the users who do things wrong when Apple shits the bed