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points by kittikitti 4 days ago | 0 comments

Recently, I was shopping for docking stations or USB hubs. The lack of support for DisplayLink on Linux is a huge barrier for me. I won't buy a hub, docking station, or otherwise if it requires DisplayLink. If Synpatics didn't do this, I would have changed my filter to include their products and likely purchase DisplayLink technology. It's disappointing that they are intentionally blocking large segments of the market and free technology to make their products better and more profitable. I'm sure their lawyers are getting paid for this. I cannot understand this move by Synaptics any other way.

[–] hypercube33 4 days ago

I'm not sure what lack of support you mean? I was able to get all of my Linux laptops working on DisplayLink with the drivers. I also had success with my Mac Neo that supposedly otherwise only can do one external display. Obviously, on Windows it works. All of the devices are the same - DisplayLink is resource heavy and slow, and mostly not usable for gaming even on newer docks/chipsets. It does however "Just Work" on almost anything.

[–] ctmlr 3 days ago

I expect it to be plug and play on everything! Last I tried my dock did not work out of the box on the latest Ubuntu LTS, that is unacceptable.

It's clear that Synaptics doesn't have the software development resources to keep up with their drivers, if they had anyone competent in charge they would shift their focus all on hardware and embrace and encourage open source DisplayLink drivers. Now I'm in the same position, shopping for a new docking station that is not hostile users and stuck with Synaptics' worthless e-waste that I spent hundreds of dollars on! I'll never trust a company that keeps their drivers closed source ever again.