DisplayLink

DisplayLink devices on Linux still only have experimental support. While some people have had success in using them, it is generally not an easy process and not guaranteed to work. The steps on this page describe the generally most successful methods of using external monitors with DisplayLink.

Installation

USB 2.0 DL-1xx Devices

The kernel DRM driver for DisplayLink is udl, a rewrite of the original udlfb driver. It allows configuring DisplayLink monitors using Xrandr.

First, the setup and installation:

  • Blacklist the old kernel module, udlfb, which may attempt to load itself first.

USB 3.0 DL-DL-5xxx, DL-41xx, DL-3x00 Devices

Install the displaylinkAUR driver from the AUR. It allows configuring DisplayLink monitors using Xrandr in the same manner as the udl driver. Use systemctl to enable and start displaylink.service.

Setting up X Displays

After that, run:

# xrandr --listproviders
Providers: number : 2
Provider 0: id: 0x49 cap: 0xb, Source Output, Sink Output, Sink Offload crtcs: 2 outputs: 8 associated providers: 0 name:Intel
Provider 1: id: 0x13c cap: 0x2, Sink Output crtcs: 1 outputs: 1 associated providers: 0 name:modesetting

In the above output, we can see that provider 0 is the system's regular graphics provider (Intel), and provider 1 (modesetting) is the DisplayLink provider. To use the DisplayLink device, connect provider 1 to provider 0:

# xrandr --setprovideroutputsource 1 0

and xrandr will add a DVI output you can use as normal with xrandr. This is still experimental but supports hotplugging and when works, it's by far the simplest setup. If it works then everything below is unnecessary.

Configuration

These instructions assume that you already have an up and running X server and are simply adding a monitor to your existing setup.

Load the framebuffer device

Before your system will recognize your DisplayLink device, the udl kernel module must be loaded. To do this, run

# modprobe udl

If your DisplayLink device is connected, it should show some visual indication of this. Although a green screen is the standard indicator of this, other variations have been spotted and are perfectly normal. Most importantly, the output of dmesg should show something like the following, indicating a new DisplayLink device was found:

usb 2-1.1: new high-speed USB device number 7 using ehci-pci
usb 2-1.1: New USB device found, idVendor=17e9, idProduct=03e0
usb 2-1.1: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=3
usb 2-1.1: Product: Lenovo LT1421 wide
usb 2-1.1: Manufacturer: DisplayLink
usb 2-1.1: SerialNumber: 6V9BBRM1
[drm] vendor descriptor length:17 data:17 5f 01 00 15 05 00 01 03 00 04
udl 2-1.1:1.0: fb1: udldrmfb frame buffer device
[drm] Initialized udl 0.0.1 20120220 on minor 1

Furthermore, /dev should contain a new fb device, likely /dev/fb1 if you already had a framebuffer for your primary display.

To automatically load udl at boot, create the file udl.conf in /etc/modules-load.d/ with the following contents:

/etc/modules-load.d/udl.conf
udl

For more information on loading kernel modules, see Kernel modules#Loading.

Configuring X Server

There are three popular ways people use DisplayLink devices with X on desktop Linux computers:

  • With xrandr and udl (recommended)
  • Xinerama with a single X server
  • Two separate X servers, linked together in some way

While Xinerama is probably the more desirable setup, it is also less likely to work. Both methods are described below.

xrandr

The udl kernel driver is the only one that works wiith xrandr. Once the driver is loaded, the DisplayLink monitor is listed as an output provider:

$ xrandr --listproviders
Providers: number : 2
Provider 0: id: 0x43 cap: 0xb, Source Output, Sink Output, Sink Offload crtcs: 2 outputs: 2 associated providers: 1 name:Intel
Provider 1: id: 0xcb cap: 0x2, Sink Output crtcs: 1 outputs: 1 associated providers: 1 name:modesetting

In the above example, provider 1 is the DisplayLink device, and provider 0 is the default display. Running xrandr --current gives a list of available screens:

$ xrandr --current
Screen 0: minimum 320 x 200, current 1600 x 900, maximum 8192 x 8192
LVDS1 connected 1600x900+0+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 309mm x 174mm
   1600x900       60.0*+   40.0  
   1440x900       59.9  
   1360x768       59.8     60.0  
   1152x864       60.0  
   1024x768       60.0  
   800x600        60.3     56.2  
   640x480        59.9  
VGA1 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
DVI-1-0 connected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
   1366x768       60.0 +
   1368x768_59.90   59.9  
  1368x768_59.90 (0xd0)   85.7MHz
        h: width  1368 start 1440 end 1584 total 1800 skew    0 clock   47.6KHz
        v: height  768 start  769 end  772 total  795           clock   59.9Hz

If the above does not list the DisplayLink screen, then you will need to offload DisplayLink to the main GPU:

xrandr --setprovideroutputsource 1 0

Once the screen is available, refer to Xrandr for info on setting it up. For automating the configuration process, see displaylink.sh.

Troubleshooting

Screen redraw is broken

If you are using udl as your kernel driver and the monitor appears to work, but is only updating where you move the mouse or when windows change in certain places, then you probably have the wrong modeline for your screen. Getting a proper modeline for your screen with a command like

gtf 1366 768 59.9

where 1366 and 768 are the horizontal and vertical resolutions for your monitor, and 59.9 is the refresh rate from its specs. To use this, create a new mode with xrandr like follows:

xrandr --newmode "1368x768_59.90"  85.72  1368 1440 1584 1800  768 769 772 795  -HSync +Vsync

and add it to Xrandr:

xrandr --addmode DVI-0 1368x768_59.90

Then tell the monitor to use that mode for the DisplayLink monitor, and this should fix the redraw issues. Check the Xrandr page for information on using a different mode.

DisplayLink refresh rate is extremely slow with gnome 3

If once you set up your DisplayLink your entire desktop becomes slow, try setting a more 'simpler' background image, such as complete black.

See Also