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I bought a Sewell USB External Video Card as I wanted to extend my 2 monitor setup on my desktop machine into a 3 monitor setup. The desktop machine is my ‘beefiest’ rig and it’s where I do work when home. I mainly run Linux – Ubuntu 9.04 (64 bit) – and then fire up VMware Workstation when I need to get into Windows to do other stuff. When in Windows via VMware Workstation I put it in fullscreen mode then have it grab the other monitor so that Windows is full screen’d across both monitors. This works great but I’m finding now it would be helpful to have a 3rd monitor for VMware Workstation to use: enter DisplayLink.

DisplayLink lets you attach monitors via USB 2.0 and has official drivers for Windows & Mac. I’ve used my Sewell device on both Windows [Vista Ultimate (64 bit) & XP Professional (32 bit)] and Mac [OS X (10.5.7) with beta DisplayLink driver] and it works just fine. Attaching extra monitors is painless and for my use the refresh rate is just fine (I’m not watching movies or anything on the DisplayLink device). Now comes Linux.

I want to use the device with my desktop machine to add a 3rd monitor but the closest I’ve come is getting 2 monitors going on a different laptop machine and the rest of this post will be directed at how I accomplished this. I’ll be using a package created by Roberto De Ioris found on the Libldo mailing list. Additionally, a lot of the steps I take are from various posts and references on the Libldo mailing list as well.

I’m using an old laptop that I have – a Lenovo 3000 N100 clunky beast – with Ubuntu 8.10 (32 bit). I installed Ubuntu onto the laptop after resizing the primary Windows partition to make room for Ubuntu.

Once Ubuntu was installed I did this (and I’m using Gnome so if your menus don’t match up then that’s why):

  1. Open a terminal (Applications > Accessories > Terminal)
  2. sudo apt-get update
  3. sudo apt-get install libusb-dev xorg-dev build-essential
  4. cd ~/Desktop
  5. wget http://projects.unbit.it/downloads/udlfb-0.2.3_and_xf86-video-displaylink-0.3.tar.gz
  6. tar xzvf udlfb-0.2.3_and_xf86-video-displaylink-0.3.tar.gz
  7. cd udlfb
  8. make && sudo make install && sudo depmod -a
  9. cd ../xf86-video-displaylink
  10. ./configure && make && sudo make install
  11. gksudo gedit /etc/X11/xorg.conf

Here’s where things may get a bit different for you depending on your existing xorg.conf file and what all you need to put in that file for your machine configuration. Essentially, we have to tell X that we’ll be using two screens. We need to add a new “Device” section, a new “Monitor” section, and a new “Screen” section at the minimum. Additionally, we need to modify the “Files” section (if it exists or add it if it doesn’t exist) so that X can find the displaylink_drv.so that we just built and we need to modify the “ServerLayout” section (if it exists or add it if it doesn’t exist) so that X knows we’re using two screens. You also need to tailor the “Modes” sections of the screens so that they match supported resolutions for your monitors. YOU CANNOT JUST COPY AND PASTE THIS NEXT SEGMENT.

Here is what my xorg.conf looks like:

# xorg.conf (X.Org X Window System server configuration file)
#
# This file was generated by dexconf, the Debian X Configuration tool, using
# values from the debconf database.
#
# Edit this file with caution, and see the xorg.conf manual page.
# (Type "man xorg.conf" at the shell prompt.)
#
# This file is automatically updated on xserver-xorg package upgrades *only*
# if it has not been modified since the last upgrade of the xserver-xorg
# package.
#
# Note that some configuration settings that could be done previously
# in this file, now are automatically configured by the server and settings
# here are ignored.
#
# If you have edited this file but would like it to be automatically updated
# again, run the following command:
#   sudo dpkg-reconfigure -phigh xserver-xorg                                                                     

############ Original Video Settings ###########                                                                  

Section "Device"
        Identifier      "Configured Video Device"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
        Identifier      "Configured Monitor"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
        Identifier      "Default Screen"
        Monitor         "Configured Monitor"
        Device          "Configured Video Device"
        SubSection "Display"
                Depth   24
                Modes   "1280x800"
        EndSubSection
EndSection

#################################################                                                                 

Section "ServerLayout"
        Identifier      "Server Layout"
        Screen  0       "Default Screen" 0 0
        Screen  1       "DisplayLinkScreen" LeftOf "Default Screen"
EndSection

#################################################                                                                 

Section "Files"
        ModulePath      "/usr/lib/xorg/modules"
        ModulePath      "/usr/local/lib/xorg/modules"
EndSection

############### DisplayLink Stuff ###############                                                                 

Section "Device"
        Identifier      "DisplayLinkDevice"
        driver          "displaylink"
        Option  "fbdev" "/dev/fb0"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
        Identifier      "DisplayLinkMonitor"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
        Identifier      "DisplayLinkScreen"
	Device          "DisplayLinkDevice"
        Monitor         "DisplayLinkMonitor"
        SubSection "Display"
                Depth   24
		Modes   "1280x1024"
        EndSubSection
EndSection

So that’s what the xorg.conf looks like on the laptop.

The first section titled “Original Video Settings” is what was automatically created by Ubuntu during installation. I edited the screen section to explicitly indicate I wanted 1280×800 for the laptop’s screen resolution.

The next item in my xorg.conf is the “ServerLayout” section but I’m going to leave that alone for now and come back to it.

The next item in my xorg.conf is the “Files” section and it’s needed because when doing “sudo make install” in the xf86-video-displaylink directory it puts the displaylink_drv.so in a different place than where X normally looks (/usr/local/lib/xorg/modules as opposed to /usr/lib/xorg/modules).

The next item is the “Device”, “Monitor”, & “Screen” section for the DisplayLink device. The “Device” & “Monitor” sections can be copy/pasted as-is but make sure to modify the “Screen” section so that the “Display” sub-section has the correct resolution or resolutions that your monitor can use.

Back to the “ServerLayout” section – this is where you indicate the position of the monitors. Essentially what my file says is that the laptop screen will be the primary screen and to the left of it will be the DisplayLink screen. I should note that more advanced users might want to throw in a “Xinerama” “On” line but I haven’t been able to get things to work with Xinerama enabled (- X crashes when it starts). So for now leave any cloning/Xinerama/TwinView/MergedFb/BigDesktop/whatever else out of the config.

Plug the DisplayLink device’s USB connector into the computer and reboot! (NOTE: I was using a DVI -> VGA adapter on the DisplayLink device and that would cause it to not work so stick with DVI if you can).

Here’s what things look like for me:

  1. Computer booting:
  2. Ubuntu loading:
  3. DisplayLink screen turns green showing it working:
  4. X sees two screens (left side has htop on it, right side has a terminal on it):
  5. The Sewell USB External Video Card

So, that’s it! Since there’s no Xinerama (or other such program) running the monitors are separate and you can’t drag windows back and forth but the mouse should be able to move between the monitors and you can fire up separate applications on each screen.

Hopefully in the upcoming months the Linux driver will keep getting better and better and catch up with the Mac & Windows DisplayLink drivers.

This entry was posted by Mulchman on June 26, 2009 at 09:10 under Tech. Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site. Follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

38 Comments

  1. RDX says:

    Thanks for the information. I’m currently tryging to use the x.org driver with my Toshiba dynadock U10 on Debian Squeezy but got some trouble building it:

    make of xf86-video-displaylink fails with this error:

    /usr/include/xorg/xf86Crtc.h:697: error: expected declaration specifiers or ‘…’ before ‘I2CBusPtr’

    June 27, 2009, 17:10

  2. Da_Blitz says:

    The fix for the above issue with the I2C line is to copy the /usr/include/xorg/xf86Crtc.h into the xf86-video-displaylink-0.3/src folder and comment out the offending line

    its a hack, but its a hack that works

    tested on debian 5.0.2

    July 1, 2009, 17:08

  3. Zoran says:

    Can i take a one small picture from your site?
    Zoran

    July 9, 2009, 05:59

  4. Mulchman says:

    Sure, Zoran, provided your post isn’t spam like the countless other random comments that bots try to add and I delete.

    July 9, 2009, 06:30

  5. Mulchman’s Blog » Blog Archive » DisplayLink on Linux - Update says:

    [...] a new alpha driver that replaces udlfb and so I tested it on my laptop machine from my previous DisplayLink on Linux blog post and it seems to work just the [...]

    July 9, 2009, 14:06

  6. Zombie says:

    Great post — I’m *almost* there. I get the bright green screen at bootup and once I’ve logged in, the screen goes white BUT I can move the mouse to the right of my primary screen and it follows onto the white screen (though a copy of it is residual on the primary screen). I’ve modified the xorg.conf to be “RightOf” in my case.

    I’m running Ubuntu 9.04, I’ve followed the special cases for libdlo on this OS (http://libdlo.freedesktop.org/wiki/Ubuntu9.04). I’m really close since I can see *something* and the mouse seems to tack from screen to screen. Any thoughts???

    Thanks!

    August 14, 2009, 07:48

  7. Mark says:

    I’m having trouble with a Samsung SyncMaster LD190 on Ubuntu 9.04 x86.

    I’ve followed your instructions, installed libdlo as per http://libdlo.freedesktop.org/wiki/, and patched glib 2.20 as per http://libdlo.freedesktop.org/wiki/Ubuntu9.04. I also copied the displaylink files to /usr/lib

    The problem is that I get no errors with any of it. The only thing that I can see is that I have no fb device in /dev/fb*. I can’t find any mention of it, but it is in the xorg.conf sample.

    My xorg.conf is below. I have tried it with and withouth the /dev/fb0 line and also with and without the virtual display modes.

    Section “Files”
    ModulePath “/usr/lib/xorg/modules”
    ModulePath “/usr/local/lib/xorg/modules”
    EndSection

    Section “Monitor”
    Identifier “Monitor0″
    Modeline “1024×600″ 48.96 1024 1064 1168 1312 600 601 604 622 -HSync +VSync
    DisplaySize 346 203 # 75 DPI @ 1024×600
    EndSection

    Section “Monitor”
    Identifier “DisplayLinkMonitor”
    EndSection

    Section “Screen”
    Identifier “Screen0″
    Device “Videocard0″
    Monitor “Monitor0″
    DefaultDepth 24
    SubSection “Display”
    Viewport 0 0
    Depth 24
    Modes “1360×768″ “1024×600″ “800×600″ “640×480″
    Virtual 2384 768
    EndSubSection
    EndSection

    Section “Screen”
    Identifier “DisplayLinkScreen”
    Device “DisplayLinkDevice”
    Monitor “DisplayLinkMonitor”
    SubSection “Display”
    Depth 24
    Modes “1360×768″
    Virtual 2384 768
    EndSubSection
    EndSection

    Section “DRI”
    Mode 0666
    EndSection

    Section “ServerLayout”
    Identifier “Server Layout”
    Screen 0 “Screen0″ 0 0
    Screen 1 “DisplayLinkScreen” RightOf “Screen0″
    EndSection

    Section “Device”
    Identifier “Videocard0″
    Driver “Intel”
    Option “MonitorLayout” “LVDS,VGA”
    Option “Clone” “true”
    Option “ForceEnablePipeA” “true”
    Option “MigrationHeuristic” “greedy”
    VideoRam 229376
    Option “CacheLines” “1980″
    Option “FramebufferCompression” “false”
    Option “AccelMethod” “EXA”
    EndSection

    Section “Device”
    Identifier “DisplayLinkDevice”
    driver “displaylink”
    Option “fbdev” “/dev/fb0″
    EndSection

    Section “ServerFlags”
    Option “DontZap” “false”
    EndSection

    I just don’t know where to start because there are no errors that I can see.

    August 18, 2009, 18:16

  8. Diego says:

    I also followed the instructions for Ubuntu 9.04 and patched glib. I also have a green screen (the displaylink_mod is working) but when booting I have this weird error:

    (EE) DL(1): Unknown EDID version 99
    (EE) DL(1): Unknown EDID version 206

    after which gnome starts in a low resolution mode to troubleshoot the problem.

    I have a NVIDIA GeoForce8400M GS and I tried to work around this problem with the Option “IgnoreEDID” set to true in my xorg.conf but it didn’t make a difference.

    I am not by any means an expert in this area. I wonder if you have any idea that I could try. Thanks.

    August 27, 2009, 18:18

  9. momofarm says:

    @Diego:
    I have the same Unknown EDID version error message too. This message
    already bother me for days, I don’t know how to solve it?

    By surfing google, some says this EDID thing is something about the monitor, my monitor is LG L1780Q, will that be related?

    September 1, 2009, 20:29

  10. Peter says:

    I get a core dump :(

    (EE) DL(0): Unknown EDID version 28
    (EE) DL(0): Unknown EDID version 203

    Backtrace:
    0: /usr/bin/X(xorg_backtrace+0×3b) [0x813518b]
    1: /usr/bin/X(xf86SigHandler+0×55) [0x80c7be5]
    2: [0xb7fad400]
    3: /usr/bin/X(InitOutput+0xe13) [0x80b0713]
    4: /usr/bin/X(main+0×1e1) [0x8072111]
    5: /lib/tls/i686/cmov/libc.so.6(__libc_start_main+0xe5) [0xb7b75775]
    6: /usr/bin/X [0x80717a1]
    Saw signal 11. Server aborting.
    ddxSigGiveUp: Closing log
    ddxSigGiveUp: re-raising 11

    September 17, 2009, 18:19

  11. Doug says:

    Hi Guys,

    I got rid of the unknown EDID version error by changing from

    option “fbdev” “/dev/fb0″ to
    option “fbdev” “/dev/fb1″

    check /dev/fb* to see if you have more than one available. I’m guessing that fb0 refers to the native device… not really sure about this.

    I’m having the same problem as zombie. Any ideas on this?

    Doug

    September 25, 2009, 15:36

  12. Doug says:

    I’m having the same problem :( Any ideas?

    September 25, 2009, 15:37

  13. Doug says:

    Looks like this could be a couple of things. I was trying to get this working with Kubuntu 9.04 and KDE 4.3 would only show up on one screen, the other would be black. The mouse would move over to the other screen; however, windows could not be copied over.

    I think this is because KDE 4.3 cannot run two separate instances (thus allowing zaphod mode). If you try running a different window manager you will get probably get zaphod mode…

    try installing fluxbox
    sudo apt-get install fluxbox

    then edit xinitrc … i think it’s in /usr/local/etc/ (locate xinitrc)
    comment out the one line in there, and then add
    /usr/bin/fluxbox (make sure that’s where fluxbox is, my system running Kubuntu is behind the university firewall, so I can’t check it right now for correct file locations).

    Now restart X, you should get an instance of fluxbox working on each monitor. Until Xrandr (or Xinerama) is figured out for displaylink, this is the only way to use this card in Linux….. I think that we’re pretty close to Xrandr working though.

    September 26, 2009, 16:26

  14. gorgone says:

    here same problem with xorg-driver

    X.Org X Server 1.4.2
    Release Date: 11 June 2008
    X Protocol Version 11, Revision 0
    Build Operating System: Linux Debian (xorg-server 2:1.4.2-10.lenny2)
    Current Operating System: Linux NAS 2.6.32-rc2-SS4200 #4 SMP Tue Sep 29 00:09:03 CEST 2009 x86_64
    Build Date: 11 June 2009 09:45:25AM

    Before reporting problems, check http://wiki.x.org
    to make sure that you have the latest version.
    Module Loader present
    Markers: (–) probed, (**) from config file, (==) default setting,
    (++) from command line, (!!) notice, (II) informational,
    (WW) warning, (EE) error, (NI) not implemented, (??) unknown.
    (==) Log file: “/var/log/Xorg.0.log”, Time: Tue Sep 29 00:52:31 2009
    (==) Using config file: “/etc/X11/xorg.conf”

    Backtrace:
    0: /usr/bin/X11/X(xf86SigHandler+0×6a) [0x486e2a]
    1: /lib/libc.so.6 [0x7f8efdb1df60]
    2: /usr/lib/xorg/modules/drivers//displaylink_drv.so [0x7f8efc0c12cd]
    3: /usr/bin/X11/X(InitOutput+0×9eb) [0x46b29b]
    4: /usr/bin/X11/X(main+0×2c6) [0x4369f6]
    5: /lib/libc.so.6(__libc_start_main+0xe6) [0x7f8efdb0a1a6]
    6: /usr/bin/X11/X(FontFileCompleteXLFD+0×281) [0x435e99]

    September 28, 2009, 15:54

  15. Hoorb says:

    I have realtek high definition audio in my computer that can goes from stereo too 7.1 surround sound with 6 jacks. here is the problem the front right and left jack does not seem to work but then same jack operates the left and right back speakers off the same jack but they do work what could be going on, I have updated the driver to see if that would work but it does not. any ideas will be grateful to get them working again.

    ________________
    unlock iphone 3gs

    October 2, 2009, 04:49

  16. Kevin says:

    Thanks for sharing this information!

    I am having the same issue regarding I2C as mentioned above.
    In which file and where should this be commented out?

    Thanks

    October 2, 2009, 12:00

  17. Kevin says:

    Since I might think that many, including myself, is only checking for new posts in the bottom of the thread, I am posting my question again here:

    I am having the same issue as RDX regarding I2C as mentioned above.

    ——–
    make of xf86-video-displaylink fails with this error:

    /usr/include/xorg/xf86Crtc.h:697: error: expected declaration specifiers or ‘…’ before ‘I2CBusPtr’
    ——–

    Da_Blitz suggested this:
    The fix for the above issue with the I2C line is to copy the /usr/include/xorg/xf86Crtc.h into the xf86-video-displaylink-0.3/src folder and comment out the offending line
    ——–

    But In which file and where should this be commented out?

    I am trying to get this to work on Ubuntu 8.04, which I have to stick to. What I have done until now is to configure libdlo as described here: http://libdlo.freedesktop.org/wiki/. This seems to work and when I run ‘make check’ in the end the screen connected to the displaylink adapter shows a clear image with the test results.

    It seems like libdlo include some basic functionality, but that it can’t be used as a driver for X – and therefore Roberto De Ioris’ xf86-driver-displaylink has to be used. Have I understood this right?

    I have then, without any issues, build displaylink-mod – which results in the green screen and a working console on the screen connected to the displaylink adapter.

    Next step is the xf86-driver-displaylink, where I ran into the I2C fail, and this is where I am now.

    I realy hope that anyone can help solving this issue, so that I can come further with this.

    Thanks!

    October 5, 2009, 03:22

  18. Kevin says:

    Since I might think that many, including myself, is only checking for new posts in the bottom of the thread, I am posting my question again here:

    I am having the same issue as RDX regarding I2C as mentioned above.

    ——–
    make of xf86-video-displaylink fails with this error:

    /usr/include/xorg/xf86Crtc.h:697: error: expected declaration specifiers or ‘…’ before ‘I2CBusPtr’
    ——–

    Da_Blitz suggested this:
    The fix for the above issue with the I2C line is to copy the /usr/include/xorg/xf86Crtc.h into the xf86-video-displaylink-0.3/src folder and comment out the offending line
    ——–

    But In which file and where should this be commented out?

    I am trying to get this to work on Ubuntu 8.04, which I have to stick to. What I have done until now is to configure libdlo as described here: http://libdlo.freedesktop.org/wiki/. This seems to work and when I run ‘make check’ in the end the screen connected to the displaylink adapter shows a clear image with the test results.

    It seems like libdlo include some basic functionality, but that it can’t be used as a driver for X – and therefore Roberto De Ioris’ xf86-driver-displaylink has to be used. Have I understood this right?

    I have then, without any issues, build displaylink-mod – which results in the green screen and a working console on the screen connected to the displaylink adapter.

    Next step is the xf86-driver-displaylink, where I ran into the I2C fail, and this is where I am now.

    I realy hope that anyone can help solving this issue, so that I can come further with this.

    Thanks!

    /Kevin

    October 5, 2009, 03:55

  19. simonsearching says:

    Hi

    great advice – brilliant! Just got Mimo UM-720s working with Arch Linux using openbox multi screen support. My main screen is 24″ Widescreen now with the Mimo 7″ alongside. Mimo 7″ playing back video (VLC) – excellent picture.

    thanks

    October 7, 2009, 13:47

  20. rkierzek says:

    Kevin and Da_Blitz i have error about xf86Crtc.h and not know like Kevin what line in what file i must comment out. File is copied in src/ dierctory.

    Do You know now?

    October 30, 2009, 04:53

  21. svenjohan says:

    I was getting the “/usr/include/xorg/xf86Crtc.h:697: error: expected declaration specifiers or ‘…’ before ‘I2CBusPtr’” fail.

    To get it to build I commented out line 696 and 697.

    You want it to look like this:
    /*
    xf86MonPtr
    xf86OutputGetEDID (xf86OutputPtr output, I2CBusPtr pDDCBus);
    */

    November 7, 2009, 03:10

  22. trubshac says:

    Hi
    Has anyone managed to get this working on Ubuntu 9.10 (karmic)? I can see that the USB drivers are pre-bundled with 9.10 as the terminal console output goes to the USB display when I shutdown, but I am unable to get the USB display working with the gnome desktop. Here are some details: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1344039 If anyone could help, I would be most grateful.
    Thanks.

    December 11, 2009, 02:45

  23. James says:

    Hey Mulchman:

    I’m so happy to have found your site — but I’m encountering some mega problems. I bought a DoubleSight Displaylink DS-90 USB monitor. I can get libdlo to run test patterns, but I’ve yet to see the “green screen” of which you speak. Maybe I’m missing something here! Also, I’m running Ubuntu Studio 9.10 — is that a problem?

    Thanks.

    December 15, 2009, 12:31

  24. dougztr says:

    Great! I got a Lilliput UM-70 working in Gentoo using your information. I used kernel 2.6.32 which has the displaylink driver in the Staging Drivers, and I used the xf86-video-displaylink-0.3 mentioned in your article. I found that it conflicts with fglrx, but seems to work with the radeonhd xserver well enough.

    Its in early stages of working, but I have an xterm running in the mini-monitor running a compile job meanwhile using my main monitor to browse and chat. Great information thanks!

    December 27, 2009, 08:32

  25. MTiddens says:

    I’m trying to get the Arkview Viewtone II USB to DVI/HDMA adaptor to work, am using Ubuntu 9.10, have followed your excellent instructions, plus reviewed and did everything else on the DisplayLink Wiki, and get the green screen on the HDMI input to my PC. But what happens next, i.e. how do I get the Ubuntu desktop in place of the green screen? Meanwhile, I can view the Ubuntu desktop via the VGA port, but the system I will use in the future doesn’t have VGA output so I need to use the adaptor to use USB to HDMI.

    December 30, 2009, 14:47

  26. Dave H. says:

    This is a great tutorial. Could someone please help me translate it into CentOS please?

    I could not build the xf86 stuff.

    I got the following error while running ‘configure.’

    [code]
    .
    .
    .
    checking for XORG... configure: error: Package requirements (xorg-server >= 1.0.99.901 xproto fontsproto ) were not met:

    No package 'xorg-server' found
    No package 'xproto' found
    No package 'fontsproto' found

    Consider adjusting the PKG_CONFIG_PATH environment variable if you
    installed software in a non-standard prefix.

    Alternatively, you may set the environment variables XORG_CFLAGS
    and XORG_LIBS to avoid the need to call pkg-config.
    See the pkg-config man page for more details.

    [/code]

    I am totally an Ubuntu guy, but I’m stuck using CentOS for this project. I am pretty new to the package management side of CentOS/RedHat.

    Thanks,
    Dave …

    January 12, 2010, 14:47

  27. µLa says:

    Have the same problem with green screen on ubuntu 9.10. Does anybody have a solution?

    January 14, 2010, 03:03

  28. Marco says:

    It is possible to use this as primary screen?
    I’ve a laptop with broken graphic card.. if i usa a displaylink monitor with linux can it work as primary monitor excluding forever the integrated one?
    Forgive me for my bad english

    January 26, 2010, 02:01

  29. Mulchman says:

    Yes, you can use it as your primary monitor. The driver isn’t simply plug-n-play though; there is some configuration that needs to be done and you would need to be able to see the ’screen’ of the laptop before plugging in the DisplayLink device (either by VGA/s-video/HDMI/DVI out or by setting up a VNC [or similar] server so you can see the screen). Once you’ve set up the driver and your xorg.conf file you can simply plug the DisplayLink monitor in and it will work from boot.

    January 26, 2010, 08:30

  30. Marco says:

    No prob.. the laptop display actualy work.. it’s just covered of random green lines :(

    January 26, 2010, 13:25

  33. DisplayLink #3 – Ubuntu 9.10 (32 bit) « Mulchman's Blog says:

    [...] Now, here’s where things may get a bit difficult – setting up an xorg.conf file.  Modern distros don’t ship with xorg.conf’s anymore so it’s up to the end user to create one when one is needed.  Also, since this laptop doesn’t have an ATI or NVIDIA card there’s no proprietary driver to install (that would then automatically set up an xorg.conf file for me).  I’m creating a xorg.conf file based on this previous DisplayLink blog entry. [...]

    March 9, 2010, 15:41

  34. Ryan Becker says:

    @Mark
    A solution to that would be to unplug your DisplayLink device, open up a Terminal and do “cd /dev && ls | grep fb” (without the quotes). Then, plug in your DispayLink device, run the above command again and see what new entry appears.

    June 12, 2010, 06:31

  35. Amr says:

    I have ubuntu 8.4, I tried both the Libldo & udlfb
    before the xf86-video-displaylink.
    I am using Buffallo GX-DVI/U2.

    The make check with Libldo works just fine.
    But I found out that I am missing the Framebuffer device files /dev/fb*.

    The only change that happens when I connect the device are the usb device files.
    /dev/usbdev*.*_ep00 01 02

    $ lsusb
    BUS *** Device ***: ID 17e9:01ac Newnham Research

    $fbset -i
    Frame buffer device information
    Name : BUFFALO GX-DVI_

    When I tried adding framebuffer support in grub menu.lst as stated in https://wiki.ubuntu.com/FrameBuffer
    The Xwindows fails to detect all the display devices & starts in low graphics mode.

    Also from that thread
    http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=333657
    I tried to enable the Framebuffer support in xorg.conf
    when asked during running
    $ sudo dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg

    I even tried the old Gutsy Framebuffer HOWTO
    http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=652038

    But all the same result, no device files & X failure into low graphics.

    Any hints will be much appreciated.

    TIA
    Amr

    July 21, 2010, 23:08

  36. fatalfeel says:

    Hello~ I am Jesse from Taiwan
    I feel your artical is very helpful for us.
    But I need your help now. Please Help me done it.

    My question is:
    I am using VMware 7.1 and enable vesafb 800×600 ARGB 32
    for /dev/fb0 .
    Here is my vesafb fb0 setting
    http://www.wretch.cc/blog/fatalfeel/655235

    If I need /dev/fb1 for directfb using,do I need to buy an USB External VGA Card?

    Does any other way to enable /dev/fb1 ?

    Please email me fatalfeel@hotmail.com

    July 28, 2010, 02:02

  37. Juliano says:

    Hi guys, I’m using ubuntu 10.04 and have one display link usb with chipset Newnham Research and following the instructions,at the point 10. ./configure && make && sudo make install , i get the following errors:

    displaylink.c:49:27: error: xf86Resources.h: File or folder not found
    displaylink.c:50:21: error: xf86RAC.h: File or folder not found
    displaylink.c: In function ‘DisplayLinkPreInit’:
    displaylink.c:285: error: ‘struct _ScrnInfoRec’ has no member named ‘racMemFlags’
    displaylink.c:285: error: ‘RAC_FB’ undeclared (first use in this function)
    displaylink.c:285: error: (Each undeclared identifier is reported only once
    displaylink.c:285: error: for each function it appears in.)
    displaylink.c:285: error: ‘RAC_COLORMAP’ undeclared (first use in this function)
    displaylink.c:285: error: ‘RAC_CURSOR’ undeclared (first use in this function)
    displaylink.c:285: error: ‘RAC_VIEWPORT’ undeclared (first use in this function)
    displaylink.c:287: error: ‘struct _ScrnInfoRec’ has no member named ‘racIoFlags’
    make[2]: ** [displaylink.lo] Erro 1
    make[2]: exiting folder `/root/Desktop/xf86-video-displaylink/src’
    make[1]: ** [all-recursive] Erro 1
    make[1]: exiting folder `/root/Desktop/xf86-video-displaylink’
    make: ** [all] Erro 2

    Thank’s for the help.

    August 6, 2010, 10:45

  38. Juliano says:

    Hi, the error above was SOLVED using the tips on http://karuppuswamy.com/wordpress/2010/07/19/how-to-get-lilliput-displaylink-based-usb-monitor-um-70-17e902a9-working-in-ubuntu-linux/

    My problem now is that monitor connected on usb device only show OUT OF SYNC, even if i do the right configs on xorg.conf using the specs on the manual.

    Please, help.

    Thank’s.

    August 17, 2010, 12:10

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