Linux drivers for Displaylink usb device

Kristopherus

Hi, folks.
I have a lappy with Linux Mint 9 installed. It is the only OS on this machine. I recently got a DisplayLink Display adapter that I use to put my screen on to the TV. I have no problem with the Desktop which is running XP. However Linux does not even recognist the usb connection. I have spent the past 2 nights scouring the DisplayLink and Linux forums for assistance. I have downloaded libdlo-0.1.2.tar.gz and xf86-video-displaylink_and_udlfb.tar.gz, but none of these will extract properly or run.Google provided loads of possible solutions, but I could'nt het any to work:(. Short of dispensing with Linux ( not an easy task anyway), how can I get it to recognise the adapter. Any help greatly appreciated.

Johnboy1951

Are you using a newer kernel? Seems 2.6.38.8 or later is required.

A fully open source (GPL) driver which supports all DisplayLink devices to date (all DL1xx devices) is in the mainline of the Linux 2.6.38 kernel, and can be compiled as a module for certain older kernels. It is called udlfb.

http://libdlo.freedesktop.org/wiki/

Kristopherus

I've gone through all the steps on that site. Copied and pasted all the instructions to the Terminal.When I hit return, I get "Command not found" My kernel version is 2.6.32.21 generic. How do I update the kernel? I have all the other updates downloaded & installed, Which I do on a monthly basis.

Johnboy1951

Kristopherus wrote: »

I've gone through all the steps on that site. Copied and pasted all the instructions to the Terminal.When I hit return, I get "Command not found" My kernel version is 2.6.32.21 generic. How do I update the kernel? I have all the other updates downloaded & installed, Which I do on a monthly basis.

Sorry .... I don't use Mint so cannot advise ..... I use PCLinuxOS and the newer kernels are in the repository and installed using Synaptic.

Maybe some Mint user will chime in ....

dioltas

Kristopherus wrote: »

I've gone through all the steps on that site. Copied and pasted all the instructions to the Terminal.When I hit return, I get "Command not found" My kernel version is 2.6.32.21 generic. How do I update the kernel? I have all the other updates downloaded & installed, Which I do on a monthly basis.

Post up the commands you ran and their outputs, just copy the lot from the terminal.

Which command gave you the command not found? Have you got build-utils installed? Think on ubuntu it's called build-essential, so I think should be the same on mint.

sudo apt-get install build-essential

This has utilities like make for compiling from source.

PrzemoF

Is there a reason why you're not upgrading to Mint 10/11?

Kristopherus

dioltas wrote: »

Post up the commands you ran and their outputs, just copy the lot from the terminal.

Which command gave you the command not found? Have you got build-utils installed? Think on ubuntu it's called build-essential, so I think should be the same on mint.

sudo apt-get install build-essential

This has utilities like make for compiling from source.

I'd love to do that, but they are pages long. Anyway, whatever has happened, the damn lappy would not even boot yesterday morning:(. I have to get the original iso disk back from a relative to try and get it to boot from that dvd. That will be some weeks away, I'm afraid. I will resurrect this thread when (if:eek:) I get it going again.

Kristopherus

PrzemoF wrote: »

Is there a reason why you're not upgrading to Mint 10/11?

No reason at all, except that Mint 9 is supported till 2013, while 10 & 11 are only supported till 2012. See my post above. I expact to be back with more info in a couple of weeks.

PrzemoF

OK, dirty & quick: download mint 11 livecd , boot and test.

I wouldn't worry about support unless it's a production laptop, but I'm guessing it' not a production if you don't need it up and running immediately.

Kristopherus

Its an old (2006) lappy that is only used for the web. None of the myriad of apps that are included in Mint were used. When time permits, I'll go with your suggestion re Mint 11.

Kristopherus

Update.
Well, today was a pissing wet day, so I played a little more with this lappy.Downloaded Linux Mint 11 and it installed. A little fragile, because it crashed twice on me:(.After installing a myriad of updates, it seems pretty stable at the mo. Connected up the Displaylink unit and I'm getting a lovely green screen on the TV, which is described as normal in one of the tutorials on the site posted by Johnboy1951 above.
How do I get my lappy screen on that green tv screen?

PrzemoF

Green screen sounds very "eco" :rolleyes:

Have you tried to go to "Monitor settings" ("Monitor preferences"?) and "Detect screens"?
Not sure how's that called under Mint, but it has to be somewhere in administration/settings and there are some options that let you tweak resolution or display position if you have multi monitor setup.

See the image here: http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?f=90&t=76222

Kristopherus

Thanks for that,PrzemoF. I have gone through all that, but the lappy does not recognise the tv. The usb adapter lights up ok, but does not flash, as it should when transferring data. I get no response when I hit "Detect Screens":(

PrzemoF

OK, the last shot. Can you disconnect it and type "xrandr" in command line then connect it and do the same and post both results here? I want to check if there is any difference between those outputs.

Kristopherus

When unit is plugged in the tv shows "HDMI 2. DVI 1080p 50hz."

Now when plugged OUT ,"xrandr" gives the following:

Scree 0: minimum 300 x 200, current 1280 x 720,maximum 4096 x 4096.
VGA disconnected ( normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
LVDS connected 1280 x 720-0-0 ( normal left inverted right x axis yaxis) 331mm x 207mm.
1280 x 800 60+
1280 x 720* 59.9
1152 x 768 59.8
1024 x 768 59.9
800 x 600 59.9
848 x 480 59.7
720 x 480 59.7
640 x 480 59.4


Does that make any sense to you?


Edit: I made a mess of that post:eek: When the unit is plugged IN, the result is the very same as above.

dioltas

After just plugging in the adapter, what is the output of:

dmesg | tail

and

lsusb

Just want to see what your laptop is recognising it as and what driver it's using.

Kristopherus

Wow, Dioltas, you got me working hard on this.Anyway here are the results.

dmesg ¦ tail:

[664.163682] udlfb: DL chip limited to 2080000 pixel modes
[664.183845] udlfb: Allocated 4 65024 byte urbs
[664. 244007] udlfb:1280 x 720 valid mode
[664. 244081] udlfb: 1280 x 720 valid mode
[664. 244084] udlfb: 640 x 480 valid mode
[664. 244088] udlfb: Reallocating framebuffer. Addresses will change!
[664. 247084] udlfb: 1280 x 720 valid mode
[664. 247090] udlfb: set _par mode 1280 x 720
[664. 257295] udlfb: Displaylink USB device /dev/fb1 attached. 1280 x 720 resolution. Using 3600k framebuffer memory
[664. 257637] usbscore: registered new interface driver udlfb.


lsusb:

Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b: 0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b: 0001Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 17e9: 0198 Newham Research
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b: 0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 toot hub.


Phew !!!!! Decipher that for me, please.

PrzemoF

xrandr results with that thing plugged in as well please - you only sent the output when it was unplugged.

Good news: I'm as sure as I can be (without having the device in my hands) that it is supported by linux.

Kristopherus

Oops!!! My error,PrzemoF.

What I get with it plugged IN is the very same as what I get with it plugged OUT.

From the above, I think that Linux recognises the device. But I'm still getting a lovely green screen !!!!. Have tried it on a CRT 32in and a LSC 32in with the same results !.

PrzemoF

OK, I think that the kernel handles the device, but there is missing/broken xorg driver.

Try to look for something like xf-video-udlfb or xf86-video-displaylink in your distro package manager.

You might also compile it from the source (found here: [1]):

sudo apt-get install pkg-config xorg-dev
cd ~
git clone http://git.plugable.com/webdav/xf-video-udlfb/
cd xf-video-udlfb
./configure
make
sudo make install

[1] http://permalink.gmane.org/gmane.comp.freedesktop.libdlo/633

dioltas

From the dmesg output it looks like it's recognising it correctly and everything anyway, so you should be able to get it working.

It's added the device under /dev/fb.

So now I suppose all you have to do is setup xorg properly, which is always really fun!*

This link might help: http://mulchman.org/blog/?tag=udlfb

Basically you want to tell it you have a second monitor and which side of the screen it should be on. If you want it to actually mirror your current monitor setup may be differently.

You could probably follow a guide for adding a second monitor and adapt it to your device.

*May not actually be fun at all.

Kristopherus

Thanks very much to you both. I will give your suggestions a go later. I'm on a break at work. If the fun is missing, I may not be back:D