This update is compatible with and applies to all Plugable USB graphics adapters and docks.

This is great news, as this new version includes a few important fixes and features, and many small ones. Details below.

Notes

• Windows 7 makes Windows Update for hardware automatic, but it can be enabled for Vista and XP also
• The update will automatically be triggered by Windows when it sees a new device. Or for an existing device, you can trigger Windows Update manually, and look for DisplayLink’s drivers among the “Optional” updates.

Important Features/Fixes from 5.5 to 5.6 M1

• Fix for software-triggered screen freezes (which required system reboot or service restart)
• Support for Windows Server SKUs (with Aero installed and enabled)
• Better compatibility with nVidia and ATI GPUs
• Improved compatibility with newer DirectX apps

Full changelist from DisplayLink

C1. Fixed issues between R5.6 (5.6.31721.0) and R5.6 M1 (5.6.31854.0)
—————————————

If the reboot prompt after install is ignored on Windows XP, then the
DisplayLink monitor set to mirror may display corrupted data. (10953)

After installing DisplayLink software on some systems with switchable graphics
architectures, the main monitor may be dimmed and not responsive until reboot.
(10534)

Monitor details were not being updated in “Devices and Printers” folder when
changing the monitors connected to DisplayLink device. (9917)

DisplayLink monitors may flash occasionally when playing fullscreen videos on
several stations. (11173)

On Windows XP after installing DisplayLink drivers several reboot cycles may be
requested. (11079)

C1. Fixed issues between R5.5 (5.5.27797) and R5.6 (5.6.31721.0)
—————————————
DisplayLink Software upgraded through Windows Update will not work correctly
after rebooting the system (issue affecting releases R5.3 to R5.4 on Windows
update). (9658)

Blue screen on Windows 7 on some platforms when rebooting after having applied
layout changes. (9631)

The DisplayLink GUI stops functioning correctly after switching GPU on some
ATI/Intel hybrid systems. (10065, 10106)

Sometimes there are two DisplayLink icons present in the system tray. (9807)

Sometimes the DisplayLink icon is missing in the system tray. (9545, 9837)

Video in Basic Mode not working with the latest Windows updates on both Windows
Vista and Windows 7. (1609)

Video playback issues on Microsoft Windows 7 with the latest NVIDIA Drivers.
(10061)

A DisplayLink USB monitor could occasionally remain blank after a PC reboot.
(9622)

DirectX 9 games could crash when running on a primary, non DisplayLink, screen.
(10027)

DisplayLink software fails to install on NVidia Quadro FX 880M graphics card.
(9637)

On Windows 7 Windows Photo Viewer may show corruption when a DisplayLink
monitor is mirroring the main screen. (9612)

On some systems with switchable graphics architectures disconnecting
a DisplayLink monitor may cause main monitor to be switched off. (9750, 9747)

Screen corruption while performing the Aero 3D flip (Windows+tab) interface
effect. (10425)

Blue screen when restarting with a connected DisplayLink screen in Projector
Only mode. (10457)

After a series of layout changes the DisplayLink screens can sometimes freeze
while the DisplayLink GUI loses functionality. (10489)

2 DisplayLink GUIs are shown in the system tray after installation. (10504)

Blue screen when using a DisplayLink device for the first time on some Optimus
configurations. (10700)

On some Optimus configurations, rebooting with a DisplayLink device connected
causes the DisplayLink screens to remain black with a blinking mouse pointer.
(10701, 10702)

Screen corruption when using 3D GUI effects on DisplayLink screens in some
display configurations. (9611, 10425)

Screen corruption on DisplayLink screens while using some applications after a
transition from projector mode to duplicate. (9612)

Video in Basic Mode not working with the latest Windows updates on both Windows
Vista and Windows 7. (1609)

In rare scenarios a DisplayLink monitor may freeze. (10230)

DisplayLink USB monitor could occasionally remain blank after a PC reboot.
(9622)

Blue screen when playing video on multiple clients. (6309, 9442)

SRC Shell application crashed when playing video clip. (10212)

When the logon screen is displayed, occasionally the DisplayLink displays are
frozen and only updated by the mouse pointer. (10044)

On some switchable systems the main screen flashes continuously after
installing the DisplayLink driver or after connecting the DisplayLink device.
(10653)

Corruption is shown while moving the cursor near the edge of a window on top of
a Windows Media Player window. (10752)

Incorrect/missing Windows Update error reporting from the DisplayLink GUI.
(10523)

Sometimes a Windows XP computer with DisplayLink drivers installed will hang
while starting. (9607)

On some nVidia Optimus systems the DisplayLink display will remain black
immediately after installing the DisplayLink drivers. A reboot recovers from
this issue. (10785)

On some machines Windows falls into endless reboot loop after installation of
DisplayLink drivers. (10918)

Timing not compliant with the CEA861D specification. (10952)

DisplayLink has released an updated Mac driver (1.7 beta 1) with support for Mac OX 10.7 “Lion” (both 32 and 64 bit kernels).

The driver is available for download now at http://displaylink.com/support/mac_downloads.php and is compatible with all Plugable USB graphics adapters and docking stations, such as the Plugable UGA-2K-A.

DisplayLink’s release coincided with Apple’s announcement today at WWDC that the Lion update will be available for purchase next month for $29. Driver updates from DisplayLink are free.

This new line of DisplayLink drivers (1.7 and later) is critical for all DisplayLink Mac users looking to upgrade to Lion, as the new OS release breaks all older USB graphics drivers.

The new DisplayLink driver release includes other fixes, but retains the same high-level characteristics and limitations of prior Mac driver versions (displays up to 2048×1152 on high-end USB adapters; limit of 4 additional displays via 4 USB adapters; no Quartz Extreme/OpenGL support).

nVidia’s latest Win7/Vista drivers (October 18, 2010 and later) conflict with existing DisplayLink drivers (version 5.5 Sept 29th and earlier), causing video playback and some 3D applications to not function. These problems apply to all DisplayLink-based USB graphics products, including ours.

DisplayLink is working to fix the conflicts. They’re trying to roll out updated drivers as quickly as possible, but have some work to do yet.

On Nov 15 they made available a maintenance release of the older DisplayLink driver version 5.4, called “5.4 M1″, which resolves some of the conflict, but not enough to make the solution workable.

Our recommended solution for now is to use the latest DisplayLink drivers, and stay on or move back to nVidia drivers version 258 or earlier. For Windows 7 and Vista 32-bit, you can find the nVidia drivers here. For 64-bit, find them here. These drivers do not have any of these these 3D & video playback conflicts.

Our apologies to users affected by these conflicting drivers. We hope this information helps. Feel free to email support@plugable.com or visit http://plugable.com/support/ and post a question if you have any remaining problems. Again, thank you!

[updated 11/23]

The UD-160-A and other powered CM-6300 devices can be configured in hardware to deliver high power audio output, so it’s great even with unpowered speakers. But for headsets and self-powered speakers, the defaults may be too loud.

For those cases and others, here are some details and tips for adjusting the volume in Windows 7 with USB audio.

First off, it helps to bring up some music in Windows Media player so you can hear the affect of your settings changes. Most Windows 7 installs will have some sample music to play in Libraries->Music->Sample Music

Then, go to where the settings are collected — in the “Sound” settings from the Windows 7 Control Panel.

This will bring up the list of available audio devices, one of which should be your USB audio device. By default, Windows 7 makes a new USB audio device the default — even if it doesn’t have any speakers attached! So this is also the place where, if you’re not actually using your USB or docking station audio, you can select a different audio output (e.g. your laptop’s built-in audio) and click “Set Default” to make it the default for new default sound output and/or for communications (messenger/skype/voip). Windows will persist this setting.

For adjusting the USB audio level, right click on the USB audio device to bring up the context menu and select “Properties”.

The main volume for the device is in the “Levels” tab. When this audio device is the default device, this level is the same as the Windows master audio volume controls (the one you adjust from the sound icon in the Windows system tray) — adjusting one will adjust the other. The default in Windows is a max volume of “100″.

For the high-power audio of the Plugable dock, combined with powered speakers, “100″ is often too loud, and you may find that even setting the level to “1″ is still too loud.

The solution is the “Custom” tab which has an optional “Loudness” checkbox (provided by the Microsoft USB audio class drivers). Windows 7 sets this on by default, but in most cases it should be unchecked. Then, go back to your levels tab and re-adjust the volume to the right and comfortable level.

For most speaker combinations, you should no longer be having to peg the volume down at “1″.

And once you have master volume at a comfortable level – you also have another means of control. Each application has its own volume, which acts in combination with the Windows master settings. So if system sounds or media playback are still to loud or not the right relative volume, look within the particular application for its own sound slider (and most applications will persist this setting).

We hope this helps for anyone experiencing audio which is too loud or too quiet with any Plugable or other USB audio devices on Win 7. Please feel free to comment with any questions or other suggestions.

[Update March 2, 2011]

If you’re on Windows, and the above steps don’t help enough, there is a Windows driver solution to bump the volume down further.

This driver replaces Windows’ default USB audio driver, it’s compatible with the CM6300 in the Plugable Universal Dock. Most functionality doesn’t apply to the CM6300, but the fine grained control over volume is better and helpful.

Here’s where you can download the lower-volume CM6300 driver. Please let us know in the comments if you have any problems or feedback. Thanks!

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!?

Plugable uses DisplayLink chips for USB graphics, and ASIX chips for USB Ethernet functionality. And we have both chips in devices like our Plugable USB 2.0 Universal Docking Station.

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 …