I think this is a valuable feature - would be great o have on mga10 as a listed new feature, provided it works.

10beta1?

Guessing the tools group to be assigned correct for the handling of
> - A pluggable conf file 20-displaylink.conf to be installed into /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/

CC isobuilders for implementation in Live.

Assignee: bugsquad => mageiatools
Target Milestone: --- => Mageia 10
CC: (none) => fri, isobuild
Priority: Normal => High

(In reply to Giuseppe Ghibò from comment #0)

> In the bug https://bugs.mageia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=21554 it was added
> support for the DisplayLink driver which allows to support the DisplayLink
> USB dongle to pilot a video Display through a generic USB port.
> 
> It would be fine to add such support to the LiveISO. This would allow the

Of course in the nonfree section.

(In reply to Giuseppe Ghibò from comment #0)
> In the bug https://bugs.mageia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=21554 it was added
> support for the DisplayLink driver which allows to support the DisplayLink
> USB dongle to pilot a video Display through a generic USB port.
> 
> It would be fine to add such support to the LiveISO. This would allow the
> LiveISO to be used in a multimonitor setup trough the USB port.
> 
> The things to add IIRC are:
> 
> - the lib*evdi rpm packages from the evdi package
> - the displaylink package.
> - A pluggable conf file 20-displaylink.conf to be installed into
> /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/
FYI the displaylink poackage already have the file
%{_datadir}/X11/xorg.conf.d/20-displaylink.conf 
if is need to be moved to etc tell me
but as long as I know is working in this way

(In reply to katnatek from comment #3)
> (In reply to Giuseppe Ghibò from comment #0)
> > In the bug https://bugs.mageia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=21554 it was added
> > support for the DisplayLink driver which allows to support the DisplayLink
> > USB dongle to pilot a video Display through a generic USB port.
> > 
> > It would be fine to add such support to the LiveISO. This would allow the
> > LiveISO to be used in a multimonitor setup trough the USB port.
> > 
> > The things to add IIRC are:
> > 
> > - the lib*evdi rpm packages from the evdi package
> > - the displaylink package.
> > - A pluggable conf file 20-displaylink.conf to be installed into
> > /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/
> FYI the displaylink poackage already have the file
> %{_datadir}/X11/xorg.conf.d/20-displaylink.conf 
> if is need to be moved to etc tell me
> but as long as I know is working in this way


You're right, it should work from there too.

I think this should be easily tested on a running 10alpha Live with persistence.

Install only
> - the lib*evdi rpm packages from the evdi package
> - the displaylink package.
Reboot, test.

Who have equipment so they can test?

If it works, to be implemented in 10beta1

CC: (none) => sysadmin-bugs
Assignee: mageiatools => qa-bugs
Component: Installer => Release (media or process)

What is DisplayLink: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DisplayLink

URL: (none) => https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DisplayLink

(In reply to Morgan Leijström from comment #5)

> Who have equipment so they can test?

The users from bug #21554. And I think Ezequiel has one.

Good idea to look there!
I asked in that bug now.

CC: (none) => ezequiel_partida

Strange, Sympa shows no messages have been sent to isobuild@mageia.org

CC: (none) => mageia

Hello everyone!!

Sure I can do test on them.

I have 1 HP branded and 45 Lenovo Branded to test at work!! LOL XD

MGA10-64, Xfce, Nvidia 580 driver

- installed lib64evdi

rebooted.  

A lot of keyboard latency and flashing on the regular HDMI monitor.  So far the displaylink (Mobile Pixels) screen is not working.

- will try adding dev module.

CC: (none) => brtians1

MGA10-64, GNOME, Nvidia 580

I recalled challenges with Xfce (I could see displaylink-driver service connecting to the MobilePixels display, just Xfce not recognizing it) and getting a really bad version to work with GNOME (like 5 years ago).   Sure enough, GNOME works.

The following 3 packages are going to be installed:

- displaylink-native-evdi-6.2-3.mga10.nonfree.x86_64
- lib64evdi-1.14.11-1.mga10.x86_64
- lib64evdi-devel-1.14.11-1.mga10.x86_64

15MB of additional disk space will be used.


Rebooted

- displaylink is working with Mobile Pixels (a little sluggish, but it works)

Are you using USB2.0 or 3.0 port o 3.2gen2?

The lib64evdi-devel shouldn't be strictly necessary for the runtime, if it is I think there is something to fix in the displaylink RPM packaging.

USB 3.0

Agree on lib*evdi-devel, but had picked it anyhow.   I think the DisplayLink rendering in Linux is CPU based versus GPU based.  That's why it was so slow 5 years ago on a wimpy A6 CPU.

Windows boxes render on GPU

(In reply to Brian Rockwell from comment #14)
> USB 3.0
> 
> Agree on lib*evdi-devel, but had picked it anyhow.   I think the DisplayLink
> rendering in Linux is CPU based versus GPU based.  That's why it was so slow
> 5 years ago on a wimpy A6 CPU.
> 
> Windows boxes render on GPU

From what I know it doesn't emulates a GPU whatever, it takes the framebuffer (which could be generated by the host GPU) compress it and sends through the USB and then the dongle converts to HDMI.

It should allow a frame rate of full HD at 60Hz, or 4K at 30Hz over a USB3.0 5Gbps bandwidth.

:0) - that is a more accurate description.  It's been awhile since I discussed it with others.  But yeah, the GPU does more work over on the darkside.

I'm just thrilled it works, displaylink has been a gap for awhile.

MGA10-64, Cinnamon, Nvidia 580

It works.  

Again, very laggy on both the HDMI and the extended DisplayLink screen.  Seems to quit using GPU on both screens when enabled.  Unplugging display link screen quickly sends things back to normal.

I used the same screen in Windows 10/11 - it is very performant on that OS. But, that isn't an Mageia issue, just a driver issue for Linux.  

I'm voting this ready to deploy

Whiteboard: (none) => MGA10-64-OK

@Brian: exactly how did you test?
This bug is about adding the function to mga10 Live, but you say you run cinnamon which makes me wonder...

If this is an installed Mageia 10, report should be in
Bug 21554 - would add support for DisplayLink adapters to mageia

For testing on Live: use persistence and add required packages.

I withdraw MGA10-64-OK from whiteboard, as it triggers a crash in MADb.
This will be fixed in a future version.

CC: (none) => yves.brungard
Whiteboard: MGA10-64-OK => (none)

@Morgan - ah good point. Thank you for calling that out.

When I get some bandwidth I'll test one of the lives.

@Morgan

I tried setting this up on live media.  I set up a persist drive and installed the updates.  REbooted and the updates were lost.

Next I tried just installing the evdi elements, but the system would not work with the extended displaylink device.

Our best option would be to build a live media for GNOME and see if it works after the build.  Not something I can pursue, but maybe Martin could.

(In reply to Brian Rockwell from comment #21)
> @Morgan
> 
> I tried setting this up on live media.  I set up a persist drive and
> installed the updates.  REbooted and the updates were lost.

Then something is not right! Seems the persistence was not working.
I have no problems with persistence on Live xfce 32 and 64 bit, nor Plasma.

https://wiki.mageia.org/en/Persistent_live_systems#Recipe_for_updated_Live

> Next I tried just installing the evdi elements, but the system would not
> work with the extended displaylink device.

Maybe it need things already installed when booting.

> Our best option would be to build a live media for GNOME and see if it works
> after the build.  Not something I can pursue, but maybe Martin could.

@Martin, what do you think?

commit b6f0a43d5a0e8a01ac8ddcf3899bbd983eab9ee3
Author: Martin Whitaker <mageia@...>
Date:   Sun Jan 25 11:57:45 2026 +0000

    Add support for USB DisplayLink dongles (mga#34913)
---
 Commit Link:
   https://gitweb.mageia.org/software/build-system/draklive-config/commit/?id=b6f0a43d5a0e8a01ac8ddcf3899bbd983eab9ee3

displaylink-native-evdi (and the required lib64evdi) is included on all the 10-beta1 Live ISOs. It doesn't appear to be available in the i686 repository.

(In reply to Martin Whitaker from comment #24)
> displaylink-native-evdi (and the required lib64evdi) is included on all the
> 10-beta1 Live ISOs. It doesn't appear to be available in the i686 repository.

For i686 must use displaylink-dkms-evdi, not sure why the module is not included in 
ix86 kernels

I think is better to keep only for 64b Lives to not introduce delays in boot process

At the moment only the x86_64 kernel has the support for EVDI. I didn't know the displaylink manager was also available and repackaged for i686. I'll try to add it in a next kernel build.

(In reply to Giuseppe Ghibò from comment #26)
> At the moment only the x86_64 kernel has the support for EVDI. I didn't know
> the displaylink manager was also available and repackaged for i686. I'll try
> to add it in a next kernel build.

Let me know when you do it, to update displaylink spec

MGA10-64, Live GNOME, Beta1 (Nouveau)

Booted to Live and attached DisplayLink device.

- working as expected.
- able to switch devices and drag windows between the two displays

I read a note the DisplayLink module works well with Nouveau, but not with Nvidia proprietary.   That seems very true in this test.

Great then!

So when support is in next(?) 32 bit kernel, maybe a Live Xfce 32 USB with persistence can be updated and tested.

Status comment: (none) => 64 bit OK, 16 bit need kernel fix

But for who used, how is it working? You said that it's fairly slow (1/10) compared to when it runs on Windows drivers? Does that happen on any USB port (maybe the USB port is not running at full USB3.0 speed? with lsusb -v it would show that).

Now all the pieces are in place, updated 6.18 kernel with evdi module for i686 and
updated displaylink that generate displaylink-native-evdi for i686

Yes, it should be enabled in versions 6.18.7-2.mga10 and the current 6.18.8-1.mga10.

It's not completely clear to me how in the live the packages are installed in the non-free section when booted with this non-free flag enabled, as I'm seeing them installed in the free section as well. I thought there was an "urpmi <packages>" command somewhere in the init scripts, but I don't see it.

The displaylink package is now installed unconditionally on the Live ISOs. If you want it to only be installed when the hardware is detected, you'll have to update ldetect-lst and service_harddrake to support that.

I see, so IIUC, there isn't any specific mechanism in the Draklive boot process (apart from those provided by harddrake) to install extra packages (e.g. listed in the prepared config) in the non-free boot?

ldetect-lst would need the USB IDs of the USB displaylink cards, and I guess there are multiple ones. Could someone post their USB IDs of their cards that are currently being tested?

Is that allowed by the license in the free section? It appears to be "Binary-only, distributable," according to:

https://svnweb.mageia.org/packages/cauldron/displaylink/current/SPECS/displaylink.spec?revision=2314844&view=markup#l17

I assume the current condition to have unconditionally installed, would be similar to what we currently have with "kernel-firmware-nonfree" package, which is nonfree repo and also included in the free boot section?

draklive2 creates a standard Mageia installation using the Mageia installer, and that is what gets booted and run. Adapting to new hardware is handled by service_harddrake, just as it is in a normal Mageia system. I suspect that these days the kernel, udev, and Xorg are sufficiently good at automatically detecting and configuring hardware that service_harddrake is now redundant, and that's certainly something that is overdue for review, but not while we are trying to release Mageia 10.

There is no "free section" in the Live system - it contains whatever packages are selected when draklive2 is run. That already includes a number of nonfree packages - mostly firmware, although I see x11-font-bh-type1 gets included too.

Yes, the small local repository containing the drivers that need to be built by dkms is split into a free and nonfree section, but that's just for drivers that we aren't allowed to distribute in binary form. If the displaylink-native-evdi package falls into that category, it shouldn't be in our repository.

displaylink-native-evdi package is not containing kernel drivers, and doesn't require any extra dkms building at the moment.

(In reply to Martin Whitaker from comment #35)
> There is no "free section" in the Live system - it contains whatever
> packages are selected when draklive2 is run. That already includes a number
> of nonfree packages - mostly firmware, although I see x11-font-bh-type1 gets
> included too.
> 
> Yes, the small local repository containing the drivers that need to be built
> by dkms is split into a free and nonfree section, but that's just for
> drivers that we aren't allowed to distribute in binary form. If the
> displaylink-native-evdi package falls into that category, it shouldn't be in
> our repository.

I don't know But I think we fall in this clause

1.5 You may distribute the Software (other than the Open Source Elements) only
(i) without modification, (ii) in an unobfuscated form which allows the Software
to be identified, and (iii) subject to the terms and conditions of this EULA, a
copy of which shall be included with any such distribution. You may use, copy,
modify and distribute the Open Source Elements in accordance with the terms and
conditions applicable to them.

See the EULA for displaylink in our svn

So is this dead on the vine due to licensing risk?

Looking at the EULA, I think it would be OK to include the package in the local repository on the Live ISO, but not to install it by default. So I'll make that change for the next round of 10-beta1.

Nice. To mention in release notes.
Maybe optimally we should make a short wiki page about what it is and how to enable, and link to that.

Flags: (none) => in_release_notes10?

We can close this?

(In reply to katnatek from comment #41)
> We can close this?

evdi is included in the local repository on the Live ISOs. I don't have the necessary hardware to test whether it works when installed after the system has finished booting.

Which Live do you want me to try?

I don't have a 32-bit one.  I think I validated 64-bit awhile ago.

Do I need to test both 32 and 64 bit?

(In reply to Brian Rockwell from comment #43)
I think you not test with beta 1 rc3, If I'm wrong please close this as Fixed

You're right.

I set up live media for both GNOME and PLASMA

Live - when booted from live mode, would not recognize the device.

Unable to start displaylink service as it wasn't present.

I think it may cause nvidia jumpiness issues when it is enabled anyhow.  Not sure how far you want to go on this.

Well I'll like to at less confirm that the packages are in the iso

@Brian, the displaylink-native-evdi package is no longer installed by default on the Live ISOs (due to licensing and the incompatibility with the nvidia drivers), but it is included in the local repository on the ISO. Did you try installing it in your latest tests? You can use either MCC/rpmdrake or urpmi, with no need to add additional online media. I have tested that it can be installed that way, but without the appropriate hardware, can't test that it works.

I think we can close this and make a note in erratas or release notes.

Flags: (none) => in_errata10?