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jfmessier
Asked: 2010-10-13 03:46:21 +0800 CST

How can I get a DisplayLink USB monitor work under Ubuntu?

  • 772

I have a DisplayLink-based external USB monitor, which has both power and data over USB, and seems to work perfectly under Windows 7, but only can display a text console under Ubuntu 10.10, and that I can only use when I am actually switched to it. So the only Use I can have so far is to have some text-based monitoring or console that I can watch while working on the graphic display.

I know there are some development done for DisplayLink, but I never could get it to actually run properly.

Yes, I tried the detailed setup described in other posts, but they did not work, and instead crashed my X that I had to restore.

Merci :-)

displaylink usb monitor

6 Answers

  1. Best Answer

    On Aug 3, 2015, Displaylink finally released the USB Monitor driver for Ubuntu.

    Link: http://www.displaylink.com/downloads/ubuntu.php

    I have an AOC usb monitor and Ubuntu 14.04. After installing the driver, my usb Monitor start working.

    If the driver works for your monitor, please let other people know by posting it. Many people waiting for this driver. I've been waiting for 2 years. :-)

    • 13

  2. Maybe this will get you a little bit further.

    General DisplayLink adapter information for Linux is available here.

    Also, if your primary graphics adapter is from NVIDIA, you should read this.

    Good Luck

    • 6

  3. UPDATE: April 2019 -> DisplayLink with kernel > 5.0.5 also works.

    UPDATE: March 2019 -> DisplayLink with kernel > 4.18.20

    It is now possible to install the driver with new versions of kernels. I am writing this after updating to 4.20.13

    You will have to use a script, however, which you can obtain from HERE (Github).

    Once you have the script, remove the currently installed driver/module and install the new version. Script will download all dependencies for you. To remove old/install new apply the below steps:

    sudo ./displaylink-debian.sh --uninstall
sudo dkms remove evdi/1.6.0 --all -q
sudo systemctl stop dlm.service
sudo systemctl disable dlm.service
sudo rm -f /lib/systemd/system/dlm.service
sudo rmmod evdi
sudo displaylink-debian.sh --install

    Enjoy

    February 2019 -> Ubuntu 18.04 LTS

    Installation:

    Download driver from HERE. Then unzip, make sure it's runable and install (change the below file names to your versions):

    $ unzip DisplayLink USB Graphics Software for Ubuntu 4.4.zip
$ chmod 775 displaylink-driver-4.4.24.run
$ ./displaylink-driver-4.4.24.run

    Thats it! Once installed you can connect your DisplayLink to the PC and it should fly.

    Few notes:

    Make sure you have dkms installed on your system.

    $ sudo dpkg -l | grep dkms
ii  dkms          2.3-3ubuntu9.2        all          Dynamic Kernel Module Support Framework

    Also note, it works perfectly with the 4.15.0-45-generic kernel. However, I tried with the newest kernel 4.20 and the driver will not work - evdi for dkms will not compile. I haven't tried other kernels - if I try I will update the answer - but beware of this issue!

    You can check your current kernel like this:

    $ uname -r
4.15.0-45-generic

    EDIT: (14.02.2019)

    Ok, so I decided to try some kernels and it seems that 4.18.20-041820-generic is the most recent working. Nothing higher worked for me.

    • 5

  4. Here's an easy way to test if your DisplayLink device is operable at a low level, under Linux. If you plug in the device and get a green screen, you're ready for the next step.

    First convert a bitmap to the size of your screen, then convert it to 16 bit RGB color. Then copy to the framebuffer for the device:

    convert -resize '800x480!' input.jpg temp1.png
mkdfiff -f RGB16 temp1.png > temp2.png
dd if=temp2.png of=/dev/fb1

    Note that your DisplayLink is probably at /dev/fb1, but you can check with dmesg :

    [581145.816821] udlfb: DisplayLink Kensington M01063 - serial #202241900817
[581145.817000] udlfb: vendor descriptor length:22 data:22 5f 01 0020 05 00 01 03 00 04
[581145.817005] udlfb: DL chip limited to 2360000 pixel modes
[581145.909488] udlfb: DisplayLink USB device /dev/fb1 attached. 800x480 resolution.

    Only version 1 DisplayLink chips are supported by Linux. The DisplayLink 1 chips are limited to 16 bit RGB. Getting the device to work properly under X windows is more challenging.

    • 2

  5. In addition to callmebob's installtion guide on 18.04 I had to do the following routine: Workaround 1: Disable PageFlip for modesetting

    It is preferred to keep using "modesetting" driver, but disabling page flipping is necessary. To do this, as a root user create a file 20-displaylink.conf under:

    /usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d/

    with the following content: 

    Section "Device"
  Identifier "DisplayLink"
  Driver "modesetting"
  Option "PageFlip" "false"
EndSection

    A reboot is required for the setting to be effective.

    • 1

  6. Don't forget to disable Secure Boot (UEFI) if you have it enabled. Here's a guide:

    https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UEFI/SecureBoot/DKMS

    • 1