Plugable UD-160-A driving 1920x1080 display and more, all from a humble Nexus One phone

This setup uses the udlfb DisplayLink Linux driver work from here (git.plugable.com) and a bunch of other components Sven has developed or pulled together, to turn the phone into a full computer with display, keyboard, audio and more. His video of this has gone viral (over 85,000 views). You can see the video and full instructions at Sven’s site. Very cool.

The photo above is of the Plugable UD-160-A Universal Docking Station, in use at Sven’s desk (the dock is laying on its side to better fit in the photo – Sven has removed the weighted bottom stand).

The Plugable dock is perfect for this kind of application with the Nexus One phone — it includes all the USB devices in one place, all with open source drivers. The dock has its own 2.5A AC power (see the USB dual-power Y cable plugged into the front USB A and back USB B ports), along with driving the 1920×1080 monitor (the big DVI cable in the back), and providing ethernet (above the DVI) and audio (in the front – he doesn’t have them plugged in in the pic).

So this all is great for geeks, but when will this work out of the box? Several comments on Sven’s work are messages like “Google! Integrate this into Android now!”

With Google offices near here, and with related USB terminal work on the same Plugable dock being funded as a Google Summer of Code project, it would be great to demo this and get things moving… Whatcha say, Google!?

Unfortunately, on Mac OS X, there is a conflict between recent DisplayLink drivers 1.5+ and the Apple drivers (AppleUSBEthernet) for ASIX chips. The DisplayLink drivers appear to open other USB devices as part of enumeration. As a side effect, this causes USB ethernet devices to show as “disconnected” upon return from system boot or hibernate.

That’s in addition to other graphics and ethernet driver compatibility breaks that Apple’s recent OS X 10.6 updates have introduced, including breaking AppleUSBEthernet for non-Apple USB ethernet hardware.

Until these issues settle down and are fixed in the drivers from DisplayLink, ASIX, and Apple, here is a workaround for the current issues with the ethernet function of the Plugable Universal Docking Station:

Step 1 is to download and install ASIX drivers that are compatible with recent Mac OS X 10.6: http://plugable.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/AppleDefaultDriver_v2.1.5.zip

Step 2 is to copy the following script to a file (call it “install”), and run “sudo ./install”

#!/bin/bash
sudo echo "#!/bin/bash" > /usr/bin/plugable-eth-reset
sudo echo kextunload -b com.apple.driver.AppleUSBEthernet >> /usr/bin/plugable-eth-reset
sudo echo kextload -b com.apple.driver.AppleUSBEthernet >> /usr/bin/plugable-eth-reset
sudo chown root /usr/bin/plugable-eth-reset
sudo chmod o+x /usr/bin/plugable-eth-reset
sudo defaults write com.apple.loginwindow LoginHook /usr/bin/plugable-eth-reset

Now, logging out and logging back in will automatically reload the ethernet driver. Unfortunately, this does not cover the return from low-power cases. Unless we find an improvement to the workaround, you’ll have to log out/log in or just run “sudo /usr/bin/eth-reset” so trigger the script.

As there may be variations in systems out there, please comment if you get different results, and we’ll post an update here at Plugable if (as we hope) this is fixed more directly in the DisplayLink or ASIX drivers in the future.

And, generally if you’re a Mac OS X user, please be cautious about OS updates which might break 3rd party hardware drivers. If you have non-Apple USB hardware, consider deferring updates until there’s time for other people to report on forums about compatibility.

• CrunchGear: Plugable shows off new USB display and docking adapters
• HotHardware: Plugable Technologies Intros New DisplayLink-Enabled USB Products
• NewTechReview: Plugable Technologies USB UGA Docking Stations

A wonderful plug and play experience. See video below for more.

(like the subliminal message at the end? I can’t figure out how to make it go away. )

Here’s the result when you connect the Plugable universal laptop docking station to a completely fresh Windows 7 system:

• Windows automatically finds, downloads, and installs drivers for all the devices on the dock — the built-in USB C-Media audio, ASIX ethernet, DisplayLink graphics functions are all supported.
• *NO* driver disks to find, no web addresses to enter, nothing – you get the latest drivers automatically.
• This will work with the Plugable dock and any Windows 7 machine, now and in the future.

So go ahead, lose your driver disks — just get that off your mind. You won’t need them. Cool.

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 a very thin, light, and cheap development platform that I can throw in a bag to go to a coffee shop, etc. But I can’t stand working on the small 10″ screen all day, so that large screen to the right (21.5″) is a necessity. And using the netbook trackpad is right out — I definitely need a full sized mouse. The keyboard on the Acer isn’t that bad, but I like having the slightly larger keys and distance from the screen that the USB keyboard gives me.

So what’s connected to the dock there in the middle? Up the left hand side, from the bottom, are:

• Power for the dock
• USB from the dock to the netbook (that’s the same USB cable plugged into the left side of the netbook)
• DVI cable to the monitor (being driven by the DisplayLink chip in the dock)
• network connection (I’m using 100Mbs wired ethernet)
• USB cable to a printer under the table
• USB flash drive

On the right hand side of the dock, the two cables are the USB keyboard and mouse. And on the right side of the netbook are power for the netbook, and a USB cable going down to another device (a SheevaPlug) nearby.

So every time I take my highly portable netbook anywhere — without the dock, I’d have 8(!) cables to unplug/replug every time, including a big, fat DVI->VGA cable to screw into the side of my netbook. Instead, I have 2 or 3 cables, and get connected to a ton of devices — including the large screen, which absolutely transforms this cheap netbook into something far more functional.

Also, I’m constantly switching between Windows and Linux, and all I need to do is reboot, and all the devices here can work in both environments. In this pic, I’m running Linux. Note that on Windows, there are production drivers that “just work” (especially if you have Microsoft’s Windows Update enabled), While Linux requires some configuration yet, and has limitations — I’m only using the one large screen (the netbook screen is a text terminal), and I’m not using some things like the audio ports there yet.

I’ve also got a Macbook on the shelf to the left – plug it in, and again all the devices work, including that extra large display. The simple ubiquity of USB is extremely compelling with devices like this that have been designed to use components with drivers across all the major platforms.

I love this setup – it’s far better with the dock than without it. Over the next few weeks, as Windows 7 launches, etc., look for more posts here on how to use the dock in these different environments. For example, Windows 7′s improved Windows Update and driver install are a big step forward that have to be seen to be appreciated.

And by the way, in the picture on the large screen – you can see firefox on Linux, showing the Plugable website. and a smaller window, which is a terminal connected over that other USB wire, to a SheevaPlug which is getting an install of the latest version of Debian. That’s another interesting possibility. More on that later …

And so, we’re proud to announce that the Plugable Universal USB 2.0 Docking Station (UD-160-A) is now — as of Saturday night — for sale on Amazon here in the US. And at a price around or better than any other product with similar functionality.

Because the product fulfillment is handled by Amazon, so you get their reliable same-day turnaround on orders. And all of Amazon’s consumer-focused guarantees and order support.

For more of the product details, see: http://plugable.com/products/ud-160-a/
And for support forums, see: http://getsatisfaction.com/plugable/products/plugable_usb_20_docking_station_ud_160_a

This is a surprisingly flexible and useful device. But that can also make it hard to picture before you have one in hand. So over the coming weeks, look for a series of posts here about how to make the most of the Plugable dock, including some of the most interesting and valuable use cases on Windows, Mac, and Linux.