Will USB 3.0 video adapter work with Ubuntu?

Question

I am thinking about buying a USB 3.0 video adapter (like those) to use with my laptop, when it is docked in a docking station. Docking station only has one video output (DisplayPort), but maybe I could have a second one via a USB 3.0 video adapter.

How well (if at all) do those work in Ubuntu? What kind of performance can I expect? (I intend to use a second monitor for programming and office work, not very demanding applications video-performance-wise, but it would be nice to know what can I expect: is playing video not out of the question? Games?)

Any specific recommendations?

Solution 1

Edit: DisplayLink now offers updated drivers that support their newer chips on Ubuntu. They have updated their software across the board to work with most major desktop and mobile platforms almost two years ago.

Allmost all of these devices are based on DisplayLink chips and far as I know the USB 3.0 chips are still not supported in Linux and probably never will as DisplayLink seems to have no interest in working with FOSS developers.

As some disappointed users in the forums pointed out, this technology may become obsolete with newer devices that support the daisy chaining functionality of upcoming versions of the DisplayPort standard.

Solution 2

DisplayLink is now supporting Ubuntu 14.04 & 16.04: http://www.displaylink.com/downloads/ubuntu

Devices from DisplayLink Chipset: http://www.displaylink.com/products/usb-adapters

Comments

[Cedric Reichenbach]

Just FYI for anyone stumbling over this question; answers might also apply to adapters by Digitus; i.e. DisplayLink's drivers seem to work for those as well.

[Nickolai Leschov]

"the USB 3.0 chips are still not supported in Linux" You mean DisplayLink USB 3.0 video adapter chips specifically, right? Because it looks like USB 3.0 should be supported. Ok, that's a very sorry situation. On the positive side, daisy-chaining looks more elegant and cheaper than that (no need to buy extra hardware, beyond the cable). Wikipedia says it should be supported since HDMI 1.2 (December 2009), so maybe I already have an option to daisy-chain? How do I tell?

[Csabi Vidó]

Sorry for responding so late. "HDMI 1.2" confused me a bit, but I think you meant DisplayPort 1.2. I see you already went ahead and asked a question about DisplayPort MST. Yes I only meant DisplayLink's USB 3.0 chips.

[Fabby]

Although your answer is 100% correct, it might also become 100% useless if that link is moved, changed, merged into another one or the main site just disappears... :-( Therefore, please edit your answer, and copy the relevant steps from the link into your answer, thereby guaranteeing your answer for 100% of the lifetime of this site! ;-) You can always leave the link in at the bottom of your answer as a source for your material...

[fIwJlxSzApHEZIl]

Your answer probably needs to be deleted LiveWireBT. It looks like, per the below answer by Eric Wandchic, that support has finally been added.

[Csabi Vidó]

@anon58192932 an edit will do just fine, it's not big news by the way, I updated the corresponding tag at the time the drivers were released instead of tracking down every single answer: askubuntu.com/posts/7296/revisions