Devices in the right box, and displays read from macOS

Beta build for testers. Not recommended for general use.

This is a big one. Since beta.8 the Connected devices list, the display diagnostic, Thunderbolt link readings and the test kit have all changed. The first two sections are where I most need testers.

Connected devices on Thunderbolt chains

USB devices now show under a dock or display only when the hardware proves they are inside it. Before, a device could look as if it sat in the first box in the chain just because nothing said otherwise.

• Anything unproven appears under a new "Other USB devices on this port" heading on that port.
• A dock's own hubs now nest where they belong.

The display diagnostic

It now reads what macOS states about the panel, instead of estimating bandwidth and warning from that.

• It reads every mode the display declares, including the ones in DisplayID blocks that were skipped before. The top mode is the highest declared mode in any format. Nothing is estimated.
• Whether the live mode is compressed (DSC) comes from macOS, and so does whether the panel's top mode is offered on this link. "Display may be using compression to reach its top mode" is gone. Apple displays read as compressed with no blame on the link.
• New wording below the top mode: "Monitor can do more than it is set to" (macOS offers the top mode on this link) and "Monitor can do more than the link is carrying" (it does not).
• Where macOS does not say enough, the card reads "Display connected" with the reason, rather than a guessed all-clear. One case is a driven timing that lists several colour formats without naming the live one.
• A mode a panel supports only in 4:2:0 colour is no longer what the link is judged against. A 4K60 TV-style panel is judged on its best full-colour mode, and the verdict names the 4:2:0-only mode as a declared fact.
• The false "needs about 14.4 Gbps" warning on a monitor with a 75 Hz scan range is gone (#596, thanks @JarvisDong).
• A display waiting behind an accessory's data approval now says "Display connected, data blocked".
• The 8-bit bandwidth figure is still shown, labelled as a receipt.

For scripts: --json display objects gained fields (topMode, edid, drivenTiming, topModeOnLink and others). currentMode.bitsPerComponent can now be null. The compressionPlausible value no longer occurs. --bench-report is now schema version 3 with the full mode list in the EDID object. Anyone parsing either should check.

Thunderbolt links

• A Thunderbolt 5 dock reads 80 Gb/s, not the per-lane 40 (#607, thanks @cannotcollide for the raw dumps and test-kit runs).
• An idle Thunderbolt port no longer reads as linked.
• Asymmetric TB5 links show one rate per direction, on both ends.
• A stale Thunderbolt row left after an unplug can no longer describe a link that is not there.
• Another Mac on the far end of a Thunderbolt cable reads "Linked to another Mac". It no longer blames the cable or a device (#576).
• A cable's Thunderbolt speed claim alone no longer produces "slower than expected".

Test kit

If you contribute diagnostic data, this changes what the run sends.

• It now runs six probes instead of 23. One is a full registry snapshot, taken at the start and again at the end.
• Output is compressed before upload, and each run's captures are grouped under one run ID.
• The consent screen now names the Mac model identifier, which is sent with the run.
• Running it again no longer replaces your earlier submission.
• Size limits are higher, so machines with many HID devices no longer get cut off.

Chargers, cables and accessories

• A third-party charger on MagSafe no longer shows Brick ID junk on the banner, profile list, diagnostics or power monitor, and the card stops spinning on a non-PD charger (#592).
• Charger notifications carry the saved cable's name for Pro users (#593), and labels group by physical port.
• Apple accessories show their own names. Apple's USB-C EarPods read as a small powered accessory, not a 60 W cable (#542, thanks @maelcum).
• The port controller's own active-cable flag now decides passive versus active. Plug type and e-marker chip vendor appear where known.
• Billboard devices (docks, adapters) get their alternate modes from what macOS already decoded, so it works with the deep USB probe switched off.

Also in here

• On a first run the deep USB probe waits until the welcome screen has shown, so the Settings switch is reachable before anything touches your devices (#571, thanks @aapple1944 and @tvalleau). The welcome screen also wraps its text and sizes itself to fit.
• Pro licence device management: see and free your slots from Settings and the CLI.
• New whatcable --bench-report command for a per-cable JSON capture.
• The terminal dashboard's power view no longer sits on "Waiting for telemetry..." on a charger port on M1 Pro and similar Macs (#580, thanks @official-Cromatin).
• Translation updates: Italian (thanks @bovirus), Traditional Chinese (thanks @jimmyorz) and Latvian (thanks @shpokas).

Update both together

If you installed the standalone whatcable-cli with Homebrew and the app by hand from the zip, update both. An older CLI can tell a new app that you have already been onboarded, so the deep USB probe runs before any window appears. Cask users are not affected.

What to look at

• With a dock, a display with USB ports, or a chain of both: do your devices sit in the box they are really in? Report any device shown inside the wrong box.
• Check the "Other USB devices on this port" heading looks right, and that turning "Show hubs" off and on puts devices in the same place.
• A display macOS drives uncompressed, and a display behind an HDMI adapter: does the display diagnostic match System Information > Displays? A screenshot of both is ideal.
• Display cards that read "Display connected" with a reason: is the reason true?
• Anything that read wrongly on a Thunderbolt link before and reads right now, or the other way round.

Install by downloading WhatCable.zip below, unzipping, and dragging WhatCable.app into /Applications over your existing copy.

Please report anything odd on the issue tracker:
https://github.com/darrylmorley/whatcable/issues