USB 3.0 Displaylink DL-3000 series: DL-3100 / DL-3500 / DL-3900

[khamer]

This is the only way to get more than one external monitor on an linux ultrabook like Lenovo's X1 Carbon. Kickstarter this if you have to - this needs to happen.

[winjer]

Originally Posted by khamer

This is the only way to get more than one external monitor on an linux ultrabook like Lenovo's X1 Carbon. Kickstarter this if you have to - this needs to happen.

Yup, I'd pay for this.

[Dan]

Sorry to disappoint - we can't promise USB 3.0 compatibility with linux any time soon. In the meantime, if linux OS support for hotpluggable monitors using our USB 2.0 technology gets better, it would help to incentivise USB 3.0 support!

We have many products available which should allow an X1 to have extra screens, just not USB 3.0 currently.

[winjer]

Originally Posted by Dan

Sorry to disappoint - we can't promise USB 3.0 compatibility with linux any time soon. In the meantime, if linux OS support for hotpluggable monitors using our USB 2.0 technology gets better, it would help to incentivise USB 3.0 support!

We have many products available which should allow an X1 to have extra screens, just not USB 3.0 currently.

Unfortunately the Lenovo USB 3.0 Hub is the thing I actually have :/

Is there anything I can to do to help?

[gazpel]

Originally Posted by Dan

Sorry to disappoint - we can't promise USB 3.0 compatibility with linux any time soon. In the meantime, if linux OS support for hotpluggable monitors using our USB 2.0 technology gets better, it would help to incentivise USB 3.0 support!

We have many products available which should allow an X1 to have extra screens, just not USB 3.0 currently.

Bummer. Your website still states that linux support for usb3 is coming 'in the near future' though (but it's been that way for more than 6 months now):

The DL-3000 series currently supports recent Windows platforms including Windows Multipoint Server 2010/2011, with support for Apple Mac OS and Linux scheduled in the near future.

My current impression is that you estimate a very low demand for a linux solution and thus do not put any resources behind it. I kind of like the Idea to use crowdfunding to solve this.

Also, did you reach out to the linux community to ask for improvements/help? With the advent of Ultrabooks with usb3.0 i acutally see some demand, especially for the road-warrior/developer type which is typically also found among linux developers.

[mingy]

I really believe that if they'd just release the specs of the device to the world there'd be a driver in no time. My bet is that the they bought there "content protection" from a third party, which does not want it's tech disclosed (or maybe the the code's license used implementing the DRM is not GPL compatible). My prediction is that there will never be a open source drive available for that device series.

But I'd love to be proven wrong.

Originally Posted by gazpel

Bummer. Your website still states that linux support for usb3 is coming 'in the near future' though (but it's been that way for more than 6 months now):



My current impression is that you estimate a very low demand for a linux solution and thus do not put any resources behind it. I kind of like the Idea to use crowdfunding to solve this.

Also, did you reach out to the linux community to ask for improvements/help? With the advent of Ultrabooks with usb3.0 i acutally see some demand, especially for the road-warrior/developer type which is typically also found among linux developers.

[rektide]

Originally Posted by Dan

In the meantime, if linux OS support for hotpluggable monitors using our USB 2.0 technology gets better, it would help to incentivise USB 3.0 support!

Your USB2.0 technology it already works perfectly in many multi-seat uses, thank you very much. There's no need to improve it for many people, and it's mudslinging to tell us to work your product harder when it already does work and is enjoyed.

That said, huge amounts of work have been poured into very modern reworks, namely systemd's multiseat configuration. If that doesnt incentivize you, motivate you, I have no hope anything will. Your post seems to confirm that I ought not have any hope for DisplayLink caring about Linux or open source, and you seem unaware of the work that is being invested.

Originally Posted by Dan

Sorry to disappoint - we can't promise USB 3.0 compatibility with linux any time soon.

You tell us to plug in more monitors, yet the only OS which supports multi-seat in a serious way you do not support, do not release any docs for, have out and out told us you are going to ignore.

Good luck to you. I- we all here- wish you cared, wish we could use your products, in a massive way no one else ever will have interest in, but you've said you don't care about us, and won't do anything to help us.
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DisplayLink:

[Dan]

Originally Posted by rektide

Your USB2.0 technology it already works perfectly in many multi-seat uses, thank you very much. There's no need to improve it for many people, and it's mudslinging to tell us to work your product harder when it already does work and is enjoyed.

Thanks rektide - we have worked closely with Userful and Plugable for example to help multiseat USB work well on linux. As you say USB 2.0 provides a pretty good solution here.

Sorry if you took my remark to be mudslinging.

Originally Posted by rektide

That said, huge amounts of work have been poured into very modern reworks, namely systemd's multiseat configuration. If that doesnt incentivize you, motivate you, I have no hope anything will. Your post seems to confirm that I ought not have any hope for DisplayLink caring about Linux or open source, and you seem unaware of the work that is being invested.

You are right on the ball - multiseat on Linux is much better than the Microsoft solution.

My comments were about hotpluggable multiscreen support on Linux being a bit poor.

Originally Posted by rektide

Good luck to you. I- we all here- wish you cared, wish we could use your products, in a massive way no one else ever will have interest in, but you've said you don't care about us, and won't do anything to help us.
----


DisplayLink:

Well life is complicated. We worked very hard with the USB-IF to produce the USB A/V spec, but that wasn't finished until after we'd made the USB 3.0 chip. We hope to support it with a FW update at some point in the future, but it's very hard to know when currently.

It has long been a desire to enable our ASIC designers to use the technology they are developing to have multiple USB screens on their linux desktops! Unfortunately we're not quite there yet.

I can understand your frustration.

[khamer]

Originally Posted by Dan

Sorry to disappoint - we can't promise USB 3.0 compatibility with linux any time soon. In the meantime, if linux OS support for hotpluggable monitors using our USB 2.0 technology gets better, it would help to incentivise USB 3.0 support!

We have many products available which should allow an X1 to have extra screens, just not USB 3.0 currently.

What product would you recommend? I see that you list these products as certified, and note that none of the DL-3xxx products will work with Macs either. It also looks like both the dual monitor devices are USB 3.0 based. Are there any certified dual monitor DL-2xxx products? Any non-certified dual monitor DL-2xxx products that you're aware of?

Would DL-2xxx adapters work connected to a USB 3.0 hub - as in, for the time being, could I use any USB 3.0 hub (such as the Lenovo dock) with a DL-2xxx based adapter that supports dual monitors or (worse) two DL-2xxx adapters with one monitor each?

I'm still all for finding a way to get support for DL-3xxx for linux, but I'd certainly be happier if there's a recommended way for linux to have two external displaylink monitors off one of USB port right now.

[Dan]

Originally Posted by khamer

What product would you recommend? I see that you list these products as certified, and note that none of the DL-3xxx products will work with Macs either. It also looks like both the dual monitor devices are USB 3.0 based. Are there any certified dual monitor DL-2xxx products? Any non-certified dual monitor DL-2xxx products that you're aware of?

Would DL-2xxx adapters work connected to a USB 3.0 hub - as in, for the time being, could I use any USB 3.0 hub (such as the Lenovo dock) with a DL-2xxx based adapter that supports dual monitors or (worse) two DL-2xxx adapters with one monitor each?

I'm still all for finding a way to get support for DL-3xxx for linux, but I'd certainly be happier if there's a recommended way for linux to have two external displaylink monitors off one of USB port right now.

You can plug in as many DL-1x5 adapters as will fit on the bus (in fact we've had some embedded customers using linux plug in very large numbers). However, you may have to be creative to get hotplugging screens useful on linux (other than for multiseat).

If you check the other forums here, you'll see we've just released Alpha Mac drivers for DL-3xxx.

You can of course plug USB 2.0 devices into a USB 3.0 hub, but you won't see any performance increase.