DisplayLink USB 3.0 Device Support Is In The Works

[phoronix]

Phoronix: DisplayLink USB 3.0 Device Support Is In The Works

DisplayLink's line of USB display adapters is known to be Linux-friendly and backed by open-source support, but this is only for their USB 2.0 devices. Fortunately, it appears that DisplayLink is finally working on USB 3.0 device support for Linux...

http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=DisplayLink-USB3-Linux-Bake

[ssokolow]

Took them long enough. I finally ended up buying an nVidia GeForce GTX750 and a $13 passive DisplayPort->DVI-D adapter to attach a third monitor.

(The DisplayPort spec apparently requires the hardware to be able to output DVI/HDMI signals on some of the pins of the DisplayPort connector.)

I can only assume that all the talk of needing an active adapter is mistaken assumptions based on AMD Eyefinity requirements which are either AMD-specific, Windows-only, or only for configurations with 4+ monitors because I can easily span an OpenGL application across all three monitors. (I suspect the last one since AMD Eyefinity claims it needs all monitors to be the same model without an active converter, which would suggest Eyefinity maps N+X (X>0) monitors to N CRTCs by setting up identical settings and syncing them all to the same update clock.)

Hell, Extreme TuxRacer was a pain with two monitors because it always spans when you fullscreen but Just Works? Eyefinity-style on a three-head nVidia TwinView setup.

[darkbasic]

Linux-friendly my arse, in the few times i have got it to display anything it crippled the screen performance.

A better alternative?

[Kwarf]

I've been waiting/hoping for this for quite some time now, having something like the Asus MB168B+ as a portable second monitor for my laptop would be really nice.

I hope they get it to work okay for regular browsing/programming usage.

[cronius]

Took them long enough. I finally ended up buying an nVidia GeForce GTX750 and a $13 passive DisplayPort->DVI-D adapter to attach a third monitor.

(The DisplayPort spec apparently requires the hardware to be able to output DVI/HDMI signals on some of the pins of the DisplayPort connector.)

I can only assume that all the talk of needing an active adapter is mistaken assumptions based on AMD Eyefinity requirements which are either AMD-specific, Windows-only, or only for configurations with 4+ monitors because I can easily span an OpenGL application across all three monitors.

Your card apparently has Dual-mode Displayport ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DisplayPort#Dual-mode ) which does not require active adapters. Explanation here: http://www.overclock.net/t/721931/ac...ters-the-truth .

Eyefinity requires an ACTIVE adapter to enable a third monitor on HD 5000 cards. Passive will NOT work, except for the first two monitors on the eyefinity 5 and eyefinity 6 cards. For the other three/four monitors, active is still required. A quick explanation of why is because DVI/HDMI requires a special clock, which the card is only able to provide two of. Displayport does not use this clock, so ATI used it as a workaround.

[ssokolow]

Your card apparently has Dual-mode Displayport ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DisplayPort#Dual-mode ) which does not require active adapters. Explanation here: http://www.overclock.net/t/721931/ac...ters-the-truth .

Ahh, so, in other words, my suspicions were correct and, to use the old terminology from the Xinerama documentation, the GPUs in Eyefinity 5 and 6 cards have only two CRTC blocks while the GTX750 has three.

(CRTC = Cathode Ray Tube Controller, the dedicated silicon which handles scan-out to an analog output like VGA via DVI-I. I haven't been able to dig up a more modern term for for the cut-down logic blocks which can only drive DVI-D and HDMI because they omit the DAC-related bits.)

[droidhacker]

Meh, that many-monitor issue comes down to the specific card's capabilities.

As far as DP being able to backwards support HDMI/DVI-D, yep. As long as your BOARD manufacturer didn't do some boneheaded oversight like they did on mine and forget to hook up the DDC lines. The workaround is to hard-code the monitor in the kernel, the rest of the lines required by HDMI are ALSO required by DP.
*** ALL AMD DP devices can run an HDMI/DVI-D monitor with this workaround. In fact, probably absolutely all DP devices that have an open source driver. Its kind of hard to hard-code your monitor into a blob driver

[ntrepid8]

Has anyone tried the DisplayLink driver here:

http://www.displaylink.com/downloads/ubuntu.php

In the release notes it looks like they are claiming Linux support for the USB 3.0 chipsets.

DisplayLink Ubuntu Software Release Note

Version: 1.0.68 Date: 17th July 2015

DisplayLink DL-5xxx, DL-3x00 Firmware Version: 8.12.4.73304 DisplayLink DL-41xx Firmware Version: 8.12.4.73304 Extensible Virtual Display Interface version included: 1.0.68

I don't have a USB 3.0 Displaylink device to test with.

[dkasak]

Has anyone tried the DisplayLink driver here:

http://www.displaylink.com/downloads/ubuntu.php

In the release notes it looks like they are claiming Linux support for the USB 3.0 chipsets.


I don't have a USB 3.0 Displaylink device to test with.

I've just had the extreme displeasure ...

1) Everything slows down, including my laptop's primary display ( and it's an Intel GPU, so it needs all the speed it can get ). This would make it fairly painful for everyday use, assuming you can work around ...
2) Constant kernel oopses that bring down X
3) Inconsistent device naming means that after you restart X, your layout ( monitor X is right of monitor Y, etc ) has to be re-done
4) Often a full reboot is required after a kernel oops
5) They use nVidia's "trick" - an open-source loader for a binary module, which is illegal

I'm going to push work to buy something else for Linux users. What we have is totally unusable.