UD-ULTCDL Compatibility With Manjaro Linux

#1

Hello,

I would like to ask about the compatibility of this docking station with Manjaro Linux. My device (XPS 15 9550) is listed as supported, and this product is listed as Linux compatible, however DisplayLink support is flaky for Arch based distros like Manjaro.

My hope is that the alt-mode port will still function without DisplayLink drivers. While it would be disappointing that all three ports wouldn’t be available, I currently only own one external monitor so it would be “good enough” for the time being - and I could possibly even get the Arch DisplayLink driver working myself. Either through configuration changes or by modifying the source.

If I can get one display output and the rest of the features of this dock without displaylink, that would be a good starting point. More verification beyond that would be on me.

Steven

#2

Hi Steven,

Thanks for reaching out to us, while we do not specifically support Linux with this docking station I am happy to help!

The 4K HDMI port should be functional with the system, type-C DisplayPort Alternate Mode is operating system independent and implemented in hardware and firmware and does not require the DisplayLink software, however the 2K HDMI and DVI ports will both require the DisplayLink software.

We have recently been alerted to an issue with the DisplayLink USB Ethernet Adapter used in our docking stations on some Linux Distributions, namely Ubuntu 18.04, where large data transfers are causing the network connection to go offline. This will not affect the wireless connectivity, only wired Ethernet. I am not sure if this will affect Manjaro as well, the Ethernet Driver is provided as part of the Linux kernel and this issue has just recently been reported so at this time we are warning against relying on the docking station’s Ethernet Port with Linux.

Please let me know if this helps, or if you have any additional question.

Pat
Plugable

#3

This helps a lot, thank you!

I have spent some time since asking this question and have managed to configure DisplayLink for my current dock, the Dell D3100. How I did that is detailed here. If this dock uses the same or a similar chip, I believe I could get it working as well.

I may or may not be affected by the Kernel driver issue. I’m using 4.19.42-1, Ubuntu 18.04 uses version 4.15. I can upgrade to anything up to and including 5.1.1-2 using Manjaro’s built in kernel selector.

#4

Hi Steven,

Getting the Dell Dock working is great! I expect our UD-ULTCDL will work similarly to the Dell D3100 docking station. We use a DisplayLink DL-3900 chipset for the USB 3.0 Graphics ports which uses the same driver as the Dell docking station.

The network issues were easily identifiable by performing network stress testing ( for example iperf3 ) or network file transfers with rsync to a local server. In either case the network dropped quite quickly, generally within a couple of seconds with iperf3 and within the first 10-20 with rsync. It should be possible to test this relatively quickly on your hardware if you are concerned.

Please let me know if you have any additional questions, I am happy to help!

Pat
Plugable Technologies
support@plugable.com

#5

Hi Steven,

I just installed a fresh Manjaro XFCE from 18.04 ISO and I confirm the alt-mode port is working good, XFCE is displaying my screen plugged on the 4K HDMI port.

USB from the dock is working great too, haven’t tried something else for now

Regards

#6

Hi,

Thanks for the update, I am glad to see this is working for you as well!

Please let me know if you have any additional questions, I am happy to help!

Pat
Plugable Technology
support@plugable.com