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Comment by mmastrac | Hacker News Reader

Was it the Displaylink<->Dual-DVI adapter? Ugh, that was broken for quite a few versions for 2011ish-era devices as soon as Mavericks came out. It took them a few versions to actually fix that up, almost as if they hadn't noticed it was broken.

I'm tempted to try a test install separate from my regular install after getting burned on that last time.

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I recently bought a DVI to USB adapter so that I could plug a second monitor into my 2012 MBA. It wasnt until I actually set it up that I learned of all the trouble. I wouldnt say the set up I have now is perfect but it is workable.

I'd hate to upgrade to Yosemite and have everything go to hell though. Is it possible to downgrade if I have problems?

If your on Maverics you should be Ok not upgrading for a while. I used one of those adapter with snow leopard on a mac book up to this spring (upgrading compatability being questionable). It finally became clear that enough software needed a new OS that I got a newer machine.

Mavericks beachballs on a way faster machine more often than it ever did on snow leopard. I miss that os.

I have a Displayport<-->DVI adapter and that thing never works as intended.

Sometimes it won't detect the screen, so I have to unplug and plug it back again. If the screen is off the Macbook thinks there's still a second screen...

They really botched that thing.

I'm tempted to build a little Arduino thing that measures the current to see if it's active and power cycle it. I ended up plugging it into a little USB extension cable so that I could easily plus and unplug it to reset it -- most of the time this will fix the display. It seems to be sleep mode that really messes it up.

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