A discount code for launch: the UGA-125
Posted on 27. Apr, 2010 by Bernie Thompson in Windows
We’re about to formally launch Plugable’s new UGA-125 USB 2.0 to VGA/DVI/HDMI Adapter for Multiple Monitors up to 1440×900 each
We’ve been able to get the UGA-125 down under the $50 price point with all the great service and free shipping benefits of Amazon.com. But for our fans who follow Plugable, we have an additional discount.
Enter claim code “LOVEPLUG” before checkout, and you’ll get an additional $5 off. But only during our launch window, from now until the end of April. And only selling in the USA for now, sorry.
And whether in the market for a new product or not, we’d like to send a big “thank you!” to all our loyal customers who take the time to follow what’s new at Plugable.
DisplayLink: Greener Multi-Monitor Solution
Posted on 22. Apr, 2010 by Bernie Thompson in Windows
This video shows two similar 2-monitor setups: the first using PCIe graphics, the other using Intel chipset graphics + a DisplayLink USB chip like the kind used in Plugable’s products.
The DisplayLink solution takes the power consumption from ~80W down to ~50W. Over time, and as you add more monitors, that’s a huge savings.
Read more about this at http://www.displaylink.com/power_saving.html
Google Summer of Code – USB Multiseat
Posted on 06. Apr, 2010 by Bernie Thompson in UD-160-A
Plugable is offering mentoring and donated hardware for USB graphics projects that are funded as part of Google Summer of Code 2010. Plugable is working through X.Org as a sponsoring organization.
The main focus is USB multiseat, and the details are on the xorg wiki for SoC 2010
With all the pieces that are just coming together now, there is a potential here to do a project with huge impact, without a massive amount of engineering. There is already a very solid proposal coming from a student in Brazil who has previously been involved with the MDM multiseat project.
Google’s deadline for applications is now just a few days away: April 9th.
If there’s interest from other parties, we’ll get everyone talking – or there are other related proposals that we might be able to get in at the last minute. Foremost among those is conversion of the DisplayLink USB driver udlfb and matching X server from a fbdev driver to the KMS model.
Here’s the basics of the USB multiseat opportunity:
USB Multiseat Refinement
Linux Multiseat setups have potential to significantly reduce the cost of computing, but can be hard to configure. Some progress has been made on USB multiseat, where all components of the “terminal’ (display, keyboard, mouse, and more) are on USB, so configuration can be fully plug and play – you can just assume that all devices on the same USB hub constitute a terminal.
Some early prototypes of this are working (see http://plugable.com/2009/11/16/setting-up-usb-multiseat-with-displaylink-on-linux-gdm-up-to-2-20/). The underlying kernel drivers and X servers are largely in place.
But recent changes to the X Server, ConsoleKit, and other components open the possibility for a cleaner implementation.
This SoC project would constitute the refinement/creation of configuration scripts to enable a standard Linux or *nix computer to automatically launch additional seats when a USB terminal is plugged in
* udev rules to detect hubs/devices which should be collectively treated as terminals
* udev attributes to label the set of devices with a common seat id
* udev triggers for on-demand generation of the appropriate Xorg config files, to allow seats to coexist with the primary display/devices.
* ConsoleKit scripts to launch independent GDM/X sessions for each USB terminal seat
* InputClass rules to cause the primary X session to ignore multiseat-assigned devices, and the appropriate seat to use them
* udev rules and X init scripts to grant access to audio, storage, and other devices to the person logged into the matching seatThe one-sentence goal of this project: To make USB multiseat fully plug and play for the end-user, and ready for any distro to safely and cleanly drop in at any time.
Know any aspiring software engineering students that might be interested? Check SoC info from Google and the SoC guidelines from xorg.
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