Plugable

Linux USB multiseat audio support

By Bernie ThompsonJanuary 20, 20106 commentsInstalling, Planet Freedesktop, Programming, Terminal, udlfb

Here’s how to add audio support on top of the previous instructions for getting USB multiseat running on Linux, with a Plugable UD-160-A type device. Add the following line to the bottom of the /lib/udev/rules.d/50-usbseat.rules file created per the previous instructions. KERNEL==”control*”, SUBSYSTEM==”sound”, SUBSYSTEMS==”usb”, PROGRAM=”/bin/cat /sys/%p/../../../../../devnum”, SYMLINK+=”usbseat/%c/sound” Then create a new /etc/X11/Xsession.d/50usbseat file which will […]

DisplayLink Linux Rotation

By Bernie ThompsonJanuary 2, 20109 commentsPlanet Freedesktop, Portrait Display, Programming, udlfb, UGA-2K-Aamazon:asin=B0038P1TP4, uga-2k-a

[updated 8/14/2011 with latest udlfb info] The xorg generic fbdev driver (xf86-video-fbdev) supports rotation with a custom option (note it disables DGA and xrandr when it rotated mode). DisplayLink devices can use this driver two ways: With the udlfb fb_defio option enabled to detect framebuffer writes based on page faults With the fbdev xorg server […]

Linux USB quirks on 2.6.32

By Bernie ThompsonJanuary 2, 2010Planet Freedesktop, Programming

Doing development on udlfb on Linux 2.6.32, crossed paths with these two quirks. The usb_skeleton.c sample driver appears to run afoul of this problem, resulting in a warn_on during bulk transfer completion, if done the way the sample recommends. Because completion routines can be called with irqs disabled, usb_buffer_free on dma-ready buffers can’t be called […]

2020: The past decade of ambient computing

By Bernie ThompsonJanuary 1, 2010News

It’s Jan 1, 2020. Ten years ago we were at the end of the “computer on every desk and in every home” era. The iPhone had begun moving computing off the desk and into the pocket. The most important application was the web browser for content, but operating systems still mattered for running applications. Ten […]

fbi – linux framebuffer imageviewer

By Bernie ThompsonDecember 24, 20094 commentsPlanet Freedesktop, Programming

I was embarrassed to discover that the ever-popular dlfb “green screen” is broken in subtle ways by the new defio support. So for now with this new driver, DL devices may up with what appears to be gibberish. I didn’t notice, because my test config launches X on the DisplayLink device immediately. In the absence […]

Take your pick: standard or custom displaylink X drivers both work now

By Bernie ThompsonDecember 21, 200913 commentsNews, Planet Freedesktop, Programming

[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 […]

DisplayLink Linux performance metrics

By Bernie ThompsonDecember 3, 2009Planet Freedesktop, Programming, udlfb

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, […]

Explaining multiseat benefits

By Bernie ThompsonNovember 19, 2009Evaluating, Terminal, Windowsud-160-m

Following on the announcement of Windows Multipoint Server 2010, HP has announced their first product to connect with it: The HP MultiSeat thin client T100. It’s a DisplayLink-based device with VGA, PS/2 keyboard and mouse ports, and audio. It’s a focused competitor to the product that Plugable sells here, and they do a great job […]

Setting up USB multiseat with DisplayLink on Linux (GDM up to 2.20)

By Bernie ThompsonNovember 16, 200958 commentsInstalling, Planet Freedesktop, Terminal, UD-160-Mamazon:asin=B004PXPPNA, amazon:asin=B0081LVOTQ, ud-160-m

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 […]

Microsoft Windows Multipoint Server 2010 Announced

By Bernie ThompsonNovember 12, 20092 commentsNews, Terminal, Windows

Microsoft has announced their Windows solution that’s similar to Linux multiseat: Windows Server Multipoint 2010. Architecturally, it’s actually similar to running several VNC clients in loopback mode on the same Linux server. See Microsoft’s “Unlimited Potential” blog for more information from Microsoft. “Unlimited” is over the top, but there’s certainly unfulfilled potential for multiseat (my […]