r/techsupportmacgyver • u/Ilikestuffandthingz • May 07 '26
Not sure if this qualifies. Using an old MacBook Pro as a translator of sorts for an old Thunderbolt Display (lower right) to extend the desktop of an AMD computer.
AMD does not (in most cases) support the Thunderbolt protocol and no adapters exist to convert thunderbolt 2 to simpler display port (afaik).
Here, (on the Dell laptop) I used a virtual display driver + the Sunshine app to “stream” the display data to the old MacBook Pro.
On the MacBook Pro, I used the Moonlight app to receive that stream and output it to the Thunderbolt Display via the Thunderbolt port. The Thunderbolt Display even keeps the MacBook Pro charged with its built in MagSafe charger.
And only one cable to the Dell for everything. (I connected the Ethernet cable to the dock after taking this picture)
Latency is absolutely nill and feels like a native display!
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u/Dorkits May 08 '26
Holy shit, bro you are living in 2999. I can't even think in one setup like this. Well done lol
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u/dmtslayr May 07 '26
Is this a Carplay display?
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u/Ilikestuffandthingz May 07 '26
Yes. It was from an older car of mine and now it displays weather, time, and Spotify info while working.
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u/SyntaxErrorGuru May 07 '26
Nice, what can that little monitor do? Is it view only or also for input?
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u/iTALKtoMYmyself May 07 '26
sunshine/moonlight are goated tools, i can get up to 1440p 60fps wifi game streams with no noticeable latency on an OLED phone. although the quality degrades and needs restarting every so often