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

[hackan]

Hi,
I just registered since I've ordered an ASUS MB168B+ monitor. I was looking forward to use the monitor with my computer, but since I'm using Ubuntu (14.04) at least half of the time I'm not sure if it's a good idea. Still no news regarding Linux/Ubuntu support, even if there's been talk about driver development from 2012 in this thread?

Also, has anyone noticed there's an Android DisplayLink app ("DisplayLink Desktop", not sure if I'm allowed to post URLs)? When I have the monitor and get hold of an Android 5.x device I'll probably try it...

[bugmenot]

Just willing to know: there are alternatives?
(let's spread them!)

[typhoe]

Originally Posted by hackan

Hi,
I just registered since I've ordered an ASUS MB168B+ monitor. I was looking forward to use the monitor with my computer, but since I'm using Ubuntu (14.04) at least half of the time I'm not sure if it's a good idea. Still no news regarding Linux/Ubuntu support, even if there's been talk about driver development from 2012 in this thread?

Also, has anyone noticed there's an Android DisplayLink app ("DisplayLink Desktop", not sure if I'm allowed to post URLs)? When I have the monitor and get hold of an Android 5.x device I'll probably try it...

Hi,

I'm not able to use my own Asus MB168B+ with any linux (I tried both ubuntu and arch).

I quickly tested the Android DisplayLink app with a Galaxy S4 running CyanogenMod 12.1 nightly.
Although the DisplayLink driver seems to detect the monitor when plugged, it doesn't appear in the casting tile (And yes, I had another power source for the screen and casting to a miracast or chromecast dongle usually works).

So if you expect to use the MB168B+ with windows (or maybe OSX?), it's a great product (that's my case for my work).
But if you hope to use it with linux, it's just a piece of crap and you should definitively return it and try to find an other solution!

Regards.

[vmelandri]

Originally Posted by hackan

an Android DisplayLink app ("DisplayLink Desktop", not sure if I'm allowed to post URLs)? When I have the monitor and get hold of an Android 5.x device I'll probably try it...

The application claims it's doing exactly what we all need.
Will this indirectly shine a tiny beam of light on the situation?
Can the Android driver/module be ported to the 4.* linux kernel?

[aabramwow]

I've got an MSIGT60-0ND-250US laptop with one VGA and one HDMI port. I'm running Xubuntu 15.04 right now and have two external monitors working nicely with these built-in ports.

I also have a StarTech USB 3.0 to DVI Displaylink adapter that works out of the box with my second OS, WinX64 8.1.

I REALLY wish that there were drivers for the StarTech USB 3.0 Displaylink adapter!!! Searching on Google for a USB external display / monitor adapter (search term: "linux usb display adapter") brought me to this forum page and I registered just to pipe in...

It would be SO wonderful if the community would pick up this issue. Being able to extend your desktop to three or more large external monitors is a big productivity gain and I bet *Nix developers would really enjoy and relish the experience.

I'm just piping in to say that I'm just one more in a (possibly) large crowd of folks who'd really love to see a driver come out for this device category.

My apologies for not providing very useful/helpful information. Just feel strongly about this matter (been hoping for a solution for more than two years now) and really wanted to speak up about it.

Fingers crossed folks!

[rektide]

Originally Posted by aabramwow

It would be SO wonderful if the community would pick up this issue. ... Fingers crossed folks!

It's not up to us. The USB2 devices were unencrypted, and the open source community was able to reverse engineer how to talk to the devices. The new USB3 devices are encrypted, and DisplayLink, after initially announcing USB3.0 devices with Linux support and advertising Linux support on the product pages, backpedaled, changed their product listings, and for two and a half years now has done absolutely nothing to give open source developers the starting place they need.

There have been some heroic attempts to hack the problem- keithp has been at it for a while (example 1 example 2 pleading cry for help #3), but there's little sign that without some kind of help, we'll be able to get around the encrypted mess.

Meanwhile, USB-AV is an official USB specification that at one point community manager Dan mentioned as a possible support target for future releases, but that was 2.5 years ago.

DisplayLink product manager Wim recently issued a quick teaser, saying It would be useful to know which Linux distros would be the most popular for DisplayLink support first. It would be of course best if they released some open documentation to let the open source community take over; if DisplayLink drops a closed-source proprietary driver it will be of limited long term use, whereas if they help explore the protocol (what USB-AV would have been a clear win for), work like David Aerlie's Reverse PRIME work would be able to be integrated ongoingly, we could experiment with what would make DisplayLink the best performing, most accessible across the broadest range of systems. But right now, and for the past three years (since USB3.0 product), there is no starting place for open source community, and there is no closed-source support.

Fingers crossed indeed, that we can start using the best multi-seat, multi-monitor platform on the planet with the best auxiliary/peripheral display hardware out there.

[Wim]

Thank you for your patience with DisplayLink over support for Linux.

DisplayLink have been working on extending our OS support beyond Windows and Mac, and have recently introduced support for Android.

Now we have our first support for Android, we are pleased to announce that we will be extending our support for Linux, beyond USB 2.0 devices, with the first public preview for USB 3.0 devices planned in Q3 this year.

We will let you know when we have a first driver release available.

Thanks

Wim

[typhoe]

Originally Posted by Wim

Now we have our first support for Android, we are pleased to announce that we will be extending our support for Linux, beyond USB 2.0 devices, with the first public preview for USB 3.0 devices planned in Q3 this year.

We will let you know when we have a first driver release available.

Whooo! That's really a great news!

I'm looking forward to test it!

THANK YOU!

[joshuapassos]

Originally Posted by Wim

Thank you for your patience with DisplayLink over support for Linux.

DisplayLink have been working on extending our OS support beyond Windows and Mac, and have recently introduced support for Android.

Now we have our first support for Android, we are pleased to announce that we will be extending our support for Linux, beyond USB 2.0 devices, with the first public preview for USB 3.0 devices planned in Q3 this year.

We will let you know when we have a first driver release available.

Thanks

Wim

*_*

Thank you !

[wosen7]

Just joined this forum and thread because I got my USB 3.0 docking station from Dell a week ago, unfortunately not knowing about the deliberate choice of having it incompatible with Linux. I do need it for work, I am a researcher at Emory university and - given that everything has been said already - I would like to express and emphasize the need of DisplayLink programmers to come up with drivers as soon as possible. I will keep my device hoping that the solution will (really) be available by the 3rd quarter of this year.

Then finally this Wiki article will contain some good news:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DisplayLink#cite_note-29

I would like to encourage other costumers to keep on expressing their interest for having DisplayLink hardware drivers for Linux and also their concern about the company's Linux adverse policy! I hope this (3 year waiting time for costumers) situation will not repeat in the future.

Best regards,
D. Hofmann