after using a lenovo usb c dock and having a lot of display problems. its a displaylink chip. and random disconnects (doesn’t happen on my windows work laptop). i was wondering what are the best supported docks for linux?

in my current situation the dock has the displays, ethernet, keyboard/mouse and audio connected to it so i can easily switch between my work laptop and my desktop pc.

  • Unwind2046@iusearchlinux.fyi
    3·
    2 years ago

    Not a direct answer to your question, but I have a Dell TB16 dock. It does not work well - it sporadically fails to output display to my monitors and it does not charge my non-dell personal laptop (a Lenovo Yoga 730). However, it works great for my Dell work laptop running windows…

    Just adding this Incase you see it on sale or something - take it for what it’s worth!

    • curioushom@lemmy.one
      2·
      2 years ago

      The Dell dock works great with my framework after I installed their display link drivers (proprietary blob unfortunately).

        • krolden
          1·
          2 years ago

          Its the worst for Linux, but works great if you need video out on an android device without video output.

    • wildbus8979@sh.itjust.works
      1·
      2 years ago

      ~I use mine on an XPS, but I have no issues with it driving two displays in either Ubuntu nor Debian. Works fine!~ scratch that I use a WD19-TB, not the same thing.

  • 1010295@lemm.ee
    2·
    2 years ago

    I’m using an Anker dock with a Lenovo laptop running Ubuntu. It works great and will handle two additional displays.

  • Niiru@feddit.de
    1·
    2 years ago

    I have to use Windows because of the docking station problems with Lenovo…

    The only feasible workaround for me was to use the HDMI out for the display and the station for the rest but that defeats the purpose of said station.

    • Sir_mittens2@lemmy.worldOP
      2·
      2 years ago

      I did get it somewhat working by switching to Ubuntu in combination with the Ubuntu display link driver. But it’s never stable

  • M-Reimer@lemmy.world
    1·
    2 years ago

    Probably Thunderbolt docks are better. Should also provide better performance as Display Link compresses the video stream on your CPU before sending over USB.

  • isgleas
    1·
    2 years ago

    For the displaylink, are you using the drivers provided by Synaptics? The driver itself is not opensource, so I doubt you can find it on your distro’s oficial repos

    • Limeade3425@lemmy.one
      1·
      2 years ago

      There are drivers for this? I’ve had to switch away from Linux at work ever since 6.1 because of this

  • krolden
    1·
    2 years ago

    Which lenovo dock were you using? I was recently looking at getting the lenovo USBC gen2 (40AS) dock which I am pretty sure uses displayport alt mode and not displaylink.

  • Zeta@kbin.social
    1·
    2 years ago

    I used to use a Dell WD19TB (that’s the thunderbolt version) and I remembered a period of time where it worked better running on PopOS than it did on Windows 10

  • X3I@lemmy.x3i.tech
    1·
    2 years ago

    This depends more on your individual hardware; if your device has thunderbolt 3 or 4, you should go with a thunderbolt dock. I’m using one from HP, probably the predecessor of this one (because mine is flatter): https://www.hp.com/us-en/shop/pdp/hp-thunderbolt-dock-120w-g2

    Works pretty much without any extra drivers while the maintenance of my gf’s displaylink-based dock is a pain… Displaylink only distributes packages for the Ubuntu LTS versions, so if you are on sth with newer kernels (e.g. PopOS) you have to hold the kernel packages etc. Not fun. Will move her to arch soon.

  • INeedMana@lemmy.world
    0·
    2 years ago

    I’m using Dell WD15 USB-C and have no issues. I use Ethernet, HDMI, and USBs. I was using audio jacks in the past too