DisplayLink simply not working on Mac?

MikeKulls · 12-06-2010, 08:42 PM

Hi Guys and Girls, I would like to state my opinion and get replies on whether you agree or disagree. I encourage those who agree to reply also as it seems that more people who disagree tend to reply in forums. My opinion is this

"DisplayLink is simply not up to standard for a Mac"

The reasons I state this are:
- on my mac it has only worked a few days out of several months
- the only solution for me is to reinstall the OS
- the card appears to have sleep issues on laptops (obviously this is an important thing to get right on a laptop)
- we are still in beta after all this time
- support is pretty much lacking an it appears the company is largely ignoring mac users
- the company has started blaming everyone else except themselves asking people to pass questions on to the manufacturer or apple.

I must say this is quite sad because it was an excellent product during the few days it worked and will be even better with the advent of USB 3.0.

So ... opinions please? :-)

Thanks in advance,
Michael

forza · 12-08-2010, 08:01 AM

I have two Videk AN2440 USB display adaptors running on a first generation unibody MacBook Pro with OSX Snow Leopard 10.6.5 in 64 bit mode. I'm using the latest 1.6 beta 3 driver and also have a display connected to the DisplayPort - a total of three 20" Dell panels. All working fine, the only remaining issue I get from time to time is the display order resets and I have to re-arrange the panels in System Prefs. Very nervous about upgrading to a newer MBP as this seems to have been the start of the major problems?

New driver releases and support for Mac has been very slow from DisplayLink and is a crying shame as it's a great product. My fear is they give up on Mac entirely and we're left with no viable USB display solution at all.

MikeKulls · 12-13-2010, 02:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by forza

I have two Videk AN2440 USB display adaptors running on a first generation unibody MacBook Pro with OSX Snow Leopard 10.6.5 in 64 bit mode. I'm using the latest 1.6 beta 3 driver and also have a display connected to the DisplayPort - a total of three 20" Dell panels. All working fine, the only remaining issue I get from time to time is the display order resets and I have to re-arrange the panels in System Prefs. Very nervous about upgrading to a newer MBP as this seems to have been the start of the major problems?

New driver releases and support for Mac has been very slow from DisplayLink and is a crying shame as it's a great product. My fear is they give up on Mac entirely and we're left with no viable USB display solution at all.

The display order thing is likely an apple issue. I'm surprised yours has been working no problems (how long has it been working for?). In my case it was working but I needed the screen in another room so unplugged the USB. After that it never worked again. Is it possible you've just never removed the USB while it is running?

forza · 12-13-2010, 08:59 AM

I've been using this setup for just over a year now. I've done various plugging and un-plugging over that time. The MBP is taken home each night so the displays are daily plugged and unplugged - although this is done with the MBP powered off.

I think the main reason I've had success where others haven't is that my MBP is the first gen unibody - the later i5 and i7 MBPs seem to be the most problematic, but the recent 10.6.5 update from Apple does seem to have made things a lot better. Interesting to note that an update from Apple cured the problems rather than a new driver from DisplayLink ....

I am aware DisplayLink claim to be frustrated by a lack of technical support/information from Apple - but this was primarily around the accelerated graphics support from what I remember. Not sure if Apple's recent opening up of the accelerated APIs has improved this though. So little communication from DisplayLink themselves leaves us all in the dark guessing and coming to our own conclusions - probably incorrectly most of the time.

MikeKulls · 12-15-2010, 07:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by forza

I've been using this setup for just over a year now. I've done various plugging and un-plugging over that time. The MBP is taken home each night so the displays are daily plugged and unplugged - although this is done with the MBP powered off.

I think the main reason I've had success where others haven't is that my MBP is the first gen unibody - the later i5 and i7 MBPs seem to be the most problematic, but the recent 10.6.5 update from Apple does seem to have made things a lot better. Interesting to note that an update from Apple cured the problems rather than a new driver from DisplayLink ....

I am aware DisplayLink claim to be frustrated by a lack of technical support/information from Apple - but this was primarily around the accelerated graphics support from what I remember. Not sure if Apple's recent opening up of the accelerated APIs has improved this though. So little communication from DisplayLink themselves leaves us all in the dark guessing and coming to our own conclusions - probably incorrectly most of the time.

The key thing you said there was "although this is done with the MBP powered off". That makes a big difference. If you try unplugging the USB while the machine is running then it's likely that when you plug it back in it will never work again until you do a full OS reinstall. Previously I did manage to do the unplug/replug a few times without problems but since I reinstalled I only managed to unplug it once before it stopped working.

mastahype · 12-17-2010, 04:00 AM

I've had similar experience to forza with my late '08 MBP. I can plug and unplug usually uneventfully. The key issues I've had are with sleep and wake, which have been improved by DisplayLink.

The main problem is that DisplayLink has been mostly mum for Mac support. They pop in every couple months and lots of progress is made, but users suffer in the times when they choose not to communicate. At this point, I could care less if Apple was the reason behind lots of problems. It's DisplayLink's responsibility to communicate that to it's users. They seem to think it's ok to point users back to the manufacturers, who have almost all simply implemented some reference design and never planned to write their own drivers, likely because DisplayLink said they would do that.

I agree - this technology is just not ready for prime time on the Mac. I actually use it on Windows XP with much fewer issues, although using it with a USB hub does cause issues which are resolved by plug/unplug cycles.

MikeKulls · 12-17-2010, 09:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mastahype

I agree - this technology is just not ready for prime time on the Mac. I actually use it on Windows XP with much fewer issues, although using it with a USB hub does cause issues which are resolved by plug/unplug cycles.

Thanks for the reply. I would suggest not using this on a USB hub. This is the sort of thing that needs every inch of bandwidth it can get.

12-06-2010, 08:42 PM	#1
MikeKulls Junior Member Join Date: Jun 2010 Posts: 18	DisplayLink simply not working on Mac? Hi Guys and Girls, I would like to state my opinion and get replies on whether you agree or disagree. I encourage those who agree to reply also as it seems that more people who disagree tend to reply in forums. My opinion is this "DisplayLink is simply not up to standard for a Mac" The reasons I state this are: - on my mac it has only worked a few days out of several months - the only solution for me is to reinstall the OS - the card appears to have sleep issues on laptops (obviously this is an important thing to get right on a laptop) - we are still in beta after all this time - support is pretty much lacking an it appears the company is largely ignoring mac users - the company has started blaming everyone else except themselves asking people to pass questions on to the manufacturer or apple. I must say this is quite sad because it was an excellent product during the few days it worked and will be even better with the advent of USB 3.0. So ... opinions please? :-) Thanks in advance, Michael

12-08-2010, 08:01 AM	#2
forza Junior Member Join Date: Dec 2009 Posts: 16	I have two Videk AN2440 USB display adaptors running on a first generation unibody MacBook Pro with OSX Snow Leopard 10.6.5 in 64 bit mode. I'm using the latest 1.6 beta 3 driver and also have a display connected to the DisplayPort - a total of three 20" Dell panels. All working fine, the only remaining issue I get from time to time is the display order resets and I have to re-arrange the panels in System Prefs. Very nervous about upgrading to a newer MBP as this seems to have been the start of the major problems? New driver releases and support for Mac has been very slow from DisplayLink and is a crying shame as it's a great product. My fear is they give up on Mac entirely and we're left with no viable USB display solution at all.

12-13-2010, 08:59 AM	#4
forza Junior Member Join Date: Dec 2009 Posts: 16	I've been using this setup for just over a year now. I've done various plugging and un-plugging over that time. The MBP is taken home each night so the displays are daily plugged and unplugged - although this is done with the MBP powered off. I think the main reason I've had success where others haven't is that my MBP is the first gen unibody - the later i5 and i7 MBPs seem to be the most problematic, but the recent 10.6.5 update from Apple does seem to have made things a lot better. Interesting to note that an update from Apple cured the problems rather than a new driver from DisplayLink .... I am aware DisplayLink claim to be frustrated by a lack of technical support/information from Apple - but this was primarily around the accelerated graphics support from what I remember. Not sure if Apple's recent opening up of the accelerated APIs has improved this though. So little communication from DisplayLink themselves leaves us all in the dark guessing and coming to our own conclusions - probably incorrectly most of the time.

12-17-2010, 04:00 AM	#6
mastahype Junior Member Join Date: Jun 2010 Posts: 27	I've had similar experience to forza with my late '08 MBP. I can plug and unplug usually uneventfully. The key issues I've had are with sleep and wake, which have been improved by DisplayLink. The main problem is that DisplayLink has been mostly mum for Mac support. They pop in every couple months and lots of progress is made, but users suffer in the times when they choose not to communicate. At this point, I could care less if Apple was the reason behind lots of problems. It's DisplayLink's responsibility to communicate that to it's users. They seem to think it's ok to point users back to the manufacturers, who have almost all simply implemented some reference design and never planned to write their own drivers, likely because DisplayLink said they would do that. I agree - this technology is just not ready for prime time on the Mac. I actually use it on Windows XP with much fewer issues, although using it with a USB hub does cause issues which are resolved by plug/unplug cycles.