[update May 3, 2012: Support for using fb_defio and the standard, generic X fbdev driver is enabled by default, working, and stable with kernel 3.3 (at least). You’ll get lower CPU consumption and latency with DAMAGE notifications, but on many systems (especially higher end), fbdev is great. And because not everything supports DAMAGE, generic fbdev […]
For a USB virtual graphics solution, performance is critical. For the Linux drivers for DisplayLink devices, there are several patches and alternative implementations that are tough to evaluate, compare (and merge) without hard data. It would be great to know what compression ratio we’re getting, how much data is being sent over USB, etc. So, […]
Soon, we’ll be able to plug inexpensive zero-state USB docks/terminals into new Linux systems, and a new graphical login will pop up in a completely plug and play fashion. Many users can then simultaneously share any single Linux PC. This is great for education, libraries, internet cafes, etc — anywhere where you have clusters of […]
[Update Dec 29, 2011: udlfb was promoted from the staging to the mainline kernel tree in 2.6.38. And in kernel 3.3 pagefault detection and console are enabled by default. See all our udlfb posts for the latest news.] [Update March 14, 2010: udlfb versions have moved to being released with the Linux kernel. Update on […]
There are three codelines of Linux DisplayLink kernel frambuffer drivers currently in use: udlfb (Roberto De Ioris), which is in the Linux kernel staging tree of 2.6.31 and later, and is enabled by default in some recent distros (Ubuntu 9.10). Capable of working with all DisplayLink devices. displaylink-mod (Roberto De Ioris), which adds dynamic mode […]
The video of the talk mentioned in this previous post, is now online (recently moved from the Linux Foundation site, to youtube in 4 parts). Covering: The potential of USB multiseat Some background and earlier work Live demo of USB multiseat with three Plugable devices Walkthrough of the multiseat scripts for Ubuntu 9.04 (available here) […]
Click on the picture for more detail. This is a picture of my work desk today and how I’m using the Plugable dock myself. (yes — I cleaned off a few books and papers — it’s usually much messier!) My $330 Acer Aspire One Atom 1.6Ghz netbook is on the left — I like having […]
The most common use of the Plugable Docking Station today is to enable a Windows/Mac laptop to plug a single USB cable and gain connectivity to an additional monitor, speakers, network cable, and any other 4 USB devices. But the same hardware can be also used on Linux to extend the computer in a different […]
In getting more background from this talk, it was great to review the videos on ndiyo.org and displaylink.org with all the history and background on the concept of low-cost multiseat. Didn’t want too much history in slides, but it will come up verbally, and it’s a rich and interesting history. The one comment the presentation […]
