Make the Linux driver open source and get it into the kernel
If the DisplayLink driver existed in the kernel, it would be SO much easier for the users to get it working. In my role as Chief Digital Officer for a large company (of 8000 people), I would probably have bought 500 of these devices IF the driver were just upstream (you know, how Linux devices normally "just work" without the aggro common in the Windows world). However, the annoyance of a manual driver install, especially when it's broken on updates to newer kernels, is just something I wouldn't want to invest in. Please consider that proprietary drivers are serious impediment to sales, and just work with a willing community upstream.
Richard Neill
shared this idea
38 comments
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Ronald J.
commented
DisplayLink is good stuff--I am impressed when I dualboot into Win 10 and see how well it works, but I have the opposite impression when I boot into Linux. Ubuntu is not my first distro pick, but even when I make every effort to fit into DisplayLinks's driver support, the result is not usable. Clearly, DisplayLink is overwhelmed by the Linux FOSS challenge, and I bet it is about inputs from the legal dept not the capabilities of DisplayLink engineering. As my office moves away from Windows toward Linux, the box of now "spare" DisplayLink docks will head to e-cycling, and I will not approve any further purchases of DisplayLink-based tech. DisplayLink could choose to open source the driver, and suddenly a lot more people will want their stuff, through all the channels, or they can bet on the marketing success of a few Windows-focused OEMs--and inevitably see a lot of their product dumped like so much other dated proprietary waste. Please, DisplayLink, for your own equity sake, give the Linux community a chance to make the products with your ICs, your logo, shine on for years to come.
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Brandon Cross
commented
If the Linux driver is open-sourced then I would happily contribute towards a Raspberry Pi port for it.
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Want-To-Keep-My-Dock
commented
I suppose this will boost your sales! :) Aside several glitches I've managed to get hardware acceleration and 60fps on Debian, but for end users, this is infeasible. Should I consider installing unnecessary, additional wires next time I do the walls in 2020ff?
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Jacek
commented
Need to install manually + sign every time kernel updates (I use Secure Boot) is PITA
Also this would give much better chances for fixing my other issues (nvidia proprietary drivers incompatibility, Fedora support and GPU selection option [I got multiple and GPU0 is the worst])
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Another frustated end user
commented
That displaylink shit is basically dead. Look at the github repo, 3 or 4 people with 20 commits in the past year. There is obvsly no financial backing behind this whole mess. U should fully open source it or give up and let this stuff be. After 5 years you basically accomplished nothing besides vendors of docking stations using that stuff, but there is not even one release that one could call "stable".
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André Fachat
commented
Really, without an in-kernel Linux driver this display-link stuff does not make any sense at all if it breaks with every kernel update. (aside from the fact that I never managed to get the driver to work well)
I am not recommending DisplayLink until this driver gets upstream and fixed. -
Aaron Wrasman commented
Sad. I've avoided getting a displaylink device for years because of the driver issue. My work environment changed and having to plug 5+ devices to my laptop every time I brought it back to the office got me to get a device that had display link. Sadly, the display link part of the device doesn't work. This really needs to be open sourced as more and more developers use laptops and Linux it is just going to make this product like AGP and other connection standards that are history.
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George F Rice
commented
Thank you for considering this request. With desktop Linux use now growing, it's a very good time to show your support. We remember! I'm hoping to buy 2 DisplayLink-based expanders, one for my Linux laptop from Dell, and one for my homebuilt workstation running Ubuntu 20.04 so that I can add additional monitors. Much appreciated!
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MacWinLin
commented
I'm very disappointed that is currently not possible to install the "current" driver in Ubuntu 20.04 with the kernel 5.4.x and its flavours (e.g. MATE incl. the same kernel) . In addition i think its a shame because on Mac and Win it seems not to be problem to have a quick solution. Please fix this as soon as possible.
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TJ
commented
I work for a company that supports large Kubernetes deployments for organizations all over the world. In the Kubernetes and server side community, we live in Linux. After seeing the difficulty of running Zoom, Signal, Atom, Slack, and many other non graphic intensive apps or even just working with multiple monitors on a bad day, I have started heavily recommending to everyone that they not purchase anything dependent on DisplayLink drivers. This is a pity since I otherwise quite like ThinkPads.
Please please fix this driver issue or make it open, so we can. You're alienating a growing segment of the professional market that would otherwise be very happy to give you more money.
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Pablo Algo commented
I bought a thinkpad docker usb c with 2 hdmi and I am very disapointend.
Its a same most of people buying this item usually they do not use windows.
Still doesn' t work well on Fedora 31 I have some many troubles to do it work. I have tried on ubuntu ass well and there just work on gonome but not on wayland it is imposible to rescale 125% or 150% . Only works well on windows 10. I am going to return to Amazon. If you do not offer a good support to linux I would not buy anymore to my bussines -
Alex Potapenko
commented
I've written a patch for 5.2.14 dkms module for Linux 5.4.x compatibility: https://gist.github.com/alllexx88/1aebabd49da990089a489cb4f5c94698
You can apply it as follows:wget -q -O- https://gist.githubusercontent.com/alllexx88/1aebabd49da990089a489cb4f5c94698/raw/c0856b2ab2d15f534686f8bbaa8ee48e8d93b4d6/DisplayLink-5.2.14-Linux-5.4.patch | sudo patch -p1 -d /usr/src/evdi-5.2.14
Then make sure your compiler (/usr/bin/cc) matches the version used to build your kernel (e.g., atm for kernel 5.4.x installed on Ubuntu using ukuu it has to be 9.2.1) and build+install the dkms module:
sudo dkms install evdi/5.2.14 -
Jay
commented
Have a lot of issues with this.
Would be great if it was just integrated with Linux kernel hence not requiring DKMS crap which make kernel hard to boot in secure boot environment.
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Ralf
commented
Still (18. Dec. '19) no support for Kernel 5.4.x !!!!!
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MasterCATZ
commented
ugh still poor linux support , good product crap compatibility because of lack of working drivers
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Akira Onii
commented
It's a shame. Nothing less. In our days and age to have to manually download a
driver, broken moreover, and unable to follow modern kernels developement. This
is unacceptable. -
Marcus Glocker
commented
It's not just about Linux.
There are other OpenSource UNIX like operating out there which also would like to implement an USB3 udl driver which gets you potential new customers.
OpenBSD e.g. has an USB2 udl driver, and we also would like to implement the USB3 one.Why not doing it as suggested by Puchuu Punya and make a compression blob and release the driver itself as open source?
Would appreciate a feedback from you, private or public - Thanks.
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Jason
commented
I been using Linux desktop since 1999 and I cannot believe that today I still have to deal with such a product like this.
I started in a new company, installed Linux and plugged in the Type-C dock that I was provided just to learn that there is a company named DisplayLink that spreads this proprietary technology all over the place.
After doing some research on how to get this dock to light up on my Fedora Laptop, I actually figured I need something else, an alternative to this DisplayLink crap.I use Fedora like many other developers and see that only Ubuntu is supported.
Can anyone recommend something that simply works on Linux? (Type-C x 2 Monitors and charge?)Thanks
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Siva
commented
Has anyone figured out on how to flatpack or snap pack display link drivers along with dependencies? Using solus 4.0 here and a newbie.
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Tset Noitamotua
commented
+1