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
46 comments
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Paul Bartruff
commented
Still not usable for OpenBSD! We are years past the original post, what is the problem.
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Bravo Mike
commented
Tossing my vote in on this. The absolute lack of support, stability and usability on Linux is disappointing considering the premium that DL devices come with.
Regardless of whether or not Linux makes up a notable portion of the DL customer base, customers are customers - and when a product is purchased, there's usually an expectation of at least some semblance of functionality.
I have a Targus dock based on DL, and view it as one of the worst tech purchases I've made due solely to the lack of support for the platform.
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Ezequiel Partida
commented
We have many DisplayLink Ge2 Docks on the company I work for under the Lenovo Brand.
If Lenovo is now selling laptops with Ubuntu I think this issues with kernel should be fixed, not only for ubuntu but for fedora.
I personally use Mageia and Mandriva, they work with the fedora packages but only with some kernels.
Most companies just say that ther is not enough market share on Linux when they are actually the ones slowing it´s growth.
Regards
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82UN0
commented
I'm fed up with the false anouncement. the DisplayLink driver don't work on ubuntu, kubuntu, etc.
Is there only one kernel that accept the driver ?
Too much mistakes.
-------- Open the source or do your job please ! -------- -
Antoine Blondeau
commented
Not having the displaylink driver in the kernel is a huge blocker for company usage, as installation is usually limited to the package managers... it is really sad as this technolgy work really well, just not suitable for any non-mainstream linux install or corporate ones
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pinkston.brent
commented
This is a problem for sure. As of the 5.11 Kernel update broke my DisplayLink. After rolling back to the old kernel, the second monitor was present in display settings, but would not display anything. So I uninstalled and reinstalled the latest DisplayLink driver, rebooted, and no change.
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ff801
commented
Unusable with Linux and AMD Ryzen 4650... what a pain...
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Derrick Robinson
commented
Extremely high CPU usage makes DisplayLink unusable for me and I reluctanly go back to Windows from my beloved Linux environment.
Having read numerous responses below I'd have high confidence that the issues would be resolved and you'd see Many more users enjoying DisplayLink running effeciently in Linux.
I notice it's been over four years since the initial post, thus an "official response" would be higly appreciated, by many, I'm sure.
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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