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Old 04-04-2019, 02:57 PM   #1
russellr
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Question usb c (3.1) hubs with video hdmi, displayport, vga


I purchased a UGREEN USB C multifunction adapter (model CM120) which includes 2 USB 3.0 ports, 1 HDMI port, 1 DisplayPort, and 1 VGA port.

The USB ports on the hub work fine (4.18 kernel on Ubuntu).

However, the kernel doesn't recognize any of the video ports.

Searching around I found that kernel 4.19 is supposed to support USB-C to DisplayPort.

So, I installed 4.19.33 and this made no difference.

People are reporting that a USB C to DisplayPort *cable* works on this kernel.

But what about hubs?

What does the kernel need for a hub with video to work?

Does there have to be a specific driver written for the hub?

If so, this doesn't much make sense because these hubs are supposed to work out of the box on Windows and Mac.

And that suggests this capability is all part of some standard.

So, when are we likely to see these hubs working in Linux?

Thanks for any info you can provide.
 
Old 04-05-2019, 08:21 AM   #2
dc.901
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Immediately after plugging it in, have you looked at dmesg output?
Then look at lsusb and syslog.
Trying to see what is being recognized by the OS?
 
Old 04-05-2019, 09:13 AM   #3
TB0ne
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Quote:
Originally Posted by russellr View Post
I purchased a UGREEN USB C multifunction adapter (model CM120) which includes 2 USB 3.0 ports, 1 HDMI port, 1 DisplayPort, and 1 VGA port.

The USB ports on the hub work fine (4.18 kernel on Ubuntu). However, the kernel doesn't recognize any of the video ports. Searching around I found that kernel 4.19 is supposed to support USB-C to DisplayPort.

So, I installed 4.19.33 and this made no difference. People are reporting that a USB C to DisplayPort *cable* works on this kernel. But what about hubs? What does the kernel need for a hub with video to work? Does there have to be a specific driver written for the hub?
Did you check the UGREEN website?? You need the DisplayLink driver for Linux, available on their driver-download page. That *MAY* work.
Quote:
If so, this doesn't much make sense because these hubs are supposed to work out of the box on Windows and Mac. And that suggests this capability is all part of some standard. So, when are we likely to see these hubs working in Linux?
Makes perfect sense...since the DisplayLink stuff is proprietary, and has to be reverse-engineered: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DisplayLink

There are *SOME* experimental drivers, but I wouldn't hold your breath. Unless the company wants to release actual Linux drivers/API/code, it'll take a while.
 
Old 04-05-2019, 11:35 AM   #4
dc.901
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Wired enough, I just received a new thunderbolt dock - Dell TB16.
And, none of the USB and Network port worked.
Started looking on Dell site, and found that in BIOS, I had to enable these two things:
Thunderbolt Adapter Pre-boot modules
Thunderbolt Adapter boot support

After that, USB and Network ports now work. I am on CentOS 7.6. I did not have to modify anything in OS.

Maybe this will help you?
 
Old 04-05-2019, 11:46 AM   #5
TB0ne
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Quote:
Originally Posted by dc.901 View Post
Wired enough, I just received a new thunderbolt dock - Dell TB16.
And, none of the USB and Network port worked.
Started looking on Dell site, and found that in BIOS, I had to enable these two things:
Thunderbolt Adapter Pre-boot modules
Thunderbolt Adapter boot support

After that, USB and Network ports now work. I am on CentOS 7.6. I did not have to modify anything in OS Maybe this will help you?
Could be, but if the OP is having video issues, they are most certainly DisplayLink related.
 
Old 04-05-2019, 03:07 PM   #6
russellr
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Quote:
Originally Posted by dc.901 View Post
Immediately after plugging it in, have you looked at dmesg output?
Then look at lsusb and syslog.
Trying to see what is being recognized by the OS?
Yes, I've done all that. The USB ports are recognized and work fine.

Nothing about the video capability though.
 
Old 04-05-2019, 03:11 PM   #7
russellr
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Quote:
Originally Posted by TB0ne View Post
Did you check the UGREEN website?? You need the DisplayLink driver for Linux, available on their driver-download page. That *MAY* work.

Makes perfect sense...since the DisplayLink stuff is proprietary, and has to be reverse-engineered: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DisplayLink

There are *SOME* experimental drivers, but I wouldn't hold your breath. Unless the company wants to release actual Linux drivers/API/code, it'll take a while.
Thanks, I did check the UGreen website for drivers.

There's nothing for this specific model, and they keep describing chipsets. Without opening up the black box, I'm not sure how I'd determine the chipset! :-)

AFAIK, DisplayLink is a particular product offering (see www.displaylink.com) which I've previously used (unsuccessfully) at work. Perhaps UGREEN make some of those products.

This is a genreic hub, not a DisplayLink product.

BUT, you might be right. Perhaps putting that driver in my might work. I'll give it a go.

Last edited by russellr; 04-05-2019 at 03:15 PM. Reason: emoticon
 
Old 04-05-2019, 03:13 PM   #8
russellr
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Quote:
Originally Posted by dc.901 View Post
Wired enough, I just received a new thunderbolt dock - Dell TB16.
And, none of the USB and Network port worked.
Started looking on Dell site, and found that in BIOS, I had to enable these two things:
Thunderbolt Adapter Pre-boot modules
Thunderbolt Adapter boot support

After that, USB and Network ports now work. I am on CentOS 7.6. I did not have to modify anything in OS.

Maybe this will help you?
Thanks for the suggestion.

My computer is a Metabox/Clevo. The bios is unusually terse. Probably because it's UEFI only.

BTW, it doesn't have Thunderbolt, just DisplayPort over USB-C on one of the USB-C ports.
 
Old 04-05-2019, 04:24 PM   #9
russellr
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Update...

The UGREEN DisplayLink driver doesn't install on Ubuntu 18.04 due to source code errors.

So, I tried the driver from www.displaylink.com.

It installs fine, though I couldn't see anything in lsmod regarding displaylink even after a reboot.

There was mention on the site of need to use Nouveau driver instead of NVidia driver. So, I switched to Nouveau, but that stopped my existing external monitors from working (which are connected directly to HDMI and DP).

So, I'm pretty much at the end of my tolerance for this.

I'll return the hub and give up.
 
Old 04-05-2019, 06:51 PM   #10
mrmazda
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Quote:
Originally Posted by russellr View Post
There was mention on the site of need to use Nouveau driver instead of NVidia driver. So, I switched to Nouveau, but that stopped my existing external monitors from working (which are connected directly to HDMI and DP).
Nouveau and NVidia aren't the only two competent DDX drivers for NVidia GPUs. Before giving up entirely you might wish to try the (younger technology, supporting also AMD and Intel GPUs) default, provided in 18.04 by the server package (since 1.17.0) rather than optional DDX driver packages. It's called modesetting, not to be confused with KMS, which, like the Nouveau DDX, it depends on to function. To try it, one can simply make others unavailable, as well as by explicitly configuring its use via xorg.conf*.
 
Old 04-05-2019, 08:23 PM   #11
russellr
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Well, I installed xserver-xorg-core and upon rebooting no keyboard or mouse!

In fact it trashed the computer so badly that I lost another hour of my life recovering it (despite using LVM snapshots to store/restore my root FS)!!

I guess that's why Linux distro's exists - to package stuff that (mostly) works and leave out the marginalised crap that doesn't.

Last edited by russellr; 04-06-2019 at 02:59 PM.
 
Old 04-06-2019, 09:35 AM   #12
TB0ne
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Quote:
Originally Posted by russellr View Post
Thanks, I did check the UGreen website for drivers.
There's nothing for this specific model, and they keep describing chipsets. Without opening up the black box, I'm not sure how I'd determine the chipset! :-)
...because they use ONE driver for any DisplayLink product.
https://www.ugreen.com/drivers/272-en.html
Quote:
AFAIK, DisplayLink is a particular product offering (see www.displaylink.com) which I've previously used (unsuccessfully) at work. Perhaps UGREEN make some of those products. This is a genreic hub, not a DisplayLink product. BUT, you might be right. Perhaps putting that driver in my might work. I'll give it a go.
No, it is not...DisplayLink is a STANDARD, such as ethernet, HDMI, etc.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DisplayLink
 
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