On Jan 1, 2011, DisplayLink released the first beta of their version 5.6 Windows drivers.
The most significant feature in this release is Windows Server support:
- Windows Server 2003 (32-bit only – same as DisplayLink’s XP drivers)
- Windows Server 2008 (32/64-bit)
- Windows Server 2008 R2 and derivatives like Windows Multipoint Server 2011 (64-bit, since R2 is 64-bit only)
Prior to this release, DisplayLink drivers would refuse to install on these server platforms.
This is great news for several use cases, including:
- USB terminals in combination with Microsoft Multipoint Server 2011 Beta. We’ll have much more news on this in coming weeks.
- Anyone using Windows Server SKUs as a client PC (common among software developers)
On the bug fix side, DisplayLink reports improved stability with more than 3 DisplayLink screens.
This release is compatible with all Plugable USB graphics products, and can be downloaded from DisplayLink’s 5.6 Beta Forum. We consider the prior release (5.5 M1 dated Dec 3, 2010) to be a critical upgrade because of nVidia and other compatibility improvements. This one is more of an optional upgrade for the great majority of users on normal client copies of Windows.
