Arch Linux User Repository

Hi folks. I am sorry for delayed response. I no longer actively maintain this package, and if someone wants to adopt it they are welcome.

Reason is that I have replaced one of my monitors and displaylink dock with this monitor: https://www.amazon.in/LG-2560x1440-Pixels-IPS-sRGB-Display/dp/B0BRQV14YD

It has eliminated need of displaylink which was a huge PITA. Also its one power brick and dock less, saving some cabling space under my desk.

I would something like this to anyone facing difficulty.

Setup:

1. Daisy chain this monitor with other monitor(s).

2. Add peripherals like keyboard, webcam directly to this monitor.

3. Connect this monitor to PC with display port.

4. Connect this monitor to laptops/PC with usb-c.

Switching:

1. From laptop to PC: disconnect usb-c cable from laptop and connect it to PC (for peripherals). Monitor will automatically switch to display port or will give a prompt if we want to switch (just press one button - OK). It will use DP for display and usb-c for peripherals.

2. From PC to laptop: disconnect uisb-c cable from PC and connect it to laptop (for peripherals and display). Monitor will again give a prompt that usb-c display detected and if we want to switch (same just press one button - OK). It will use usb-c for both display and peripherals

Note that this specific monitor does not support HDR and freesync while in daisy chain mode (although I could hardly see any difference). For those features we have to turn daisy chain off / use one monitor only. It could be issue for some people. Although from what I read displaylink too struggles with these.

Overall switching experience is pretty seamless.

Also as a small bonus, I can also connect my android phone/samsung dex with this setup. It didn't work with my displaylink dock.

This package seems to be uncompatible with the 6.6.1 kernel. When trying to install the dkms module I get this output:

(3/3) Install DKMS modules
==> dkms install --no-depmod evdi/1.14.03 -k 6.6.1-arch1-1
Error! Bad return status for module build on kernel: 6.6.1-arch1-1 (x86_64)
Consult /var/lib/dkms/evdi/1.14.03/build/make.log for more information.
==> WARNING: `dkms install --no-depmod evdi/1.14.03 -k 6.6.1-arch1-1' exited 10

The last lines of the mentioned log:

/var/lib/dkms/evdi/1.14.03/build/evdi_ioc32.c
/var/lib/dkms/evdi/1.14.03/build/evdi_fb.c: In function ‘evdifb_create’:
/var/lib/dkms/evdi/1.14.03/build/evdi_fb.c:421:23: error: ‘FBINFO_DEFAULT’ undeclared (first use in this function)
  421 |         info->flags = FBINFO_DEFAULT;
      |                       ^~~~~~~~~~~~~~
/var/lib/dkms/evdi/1.14.03/build/evdi_fb.c:421:23: note: each undeclared identifier is reported only once for each function it appears in
/var/lib/dkms/evdi/1.14.03/build/evdi_drm_drv.c:127:31: error: ‘drm_gem_prime_fd_to_handle’ undeclared here (not in a function)
  127 |         .prime_fd_to_handle = drm_gem_prime_fd_to_handle,
      |                               ^~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
make[3]: *** [scripts/Makefile.build:243: /var/lib/dkms/evdi/1.14.03/build/evdi_fb.o] Error 1
make[3]: *** Waiting for unfinished jobs....
/var/lib/dkms/evdi/1.14.03/build/evdi_drm_drv.c:129:31: error: ‘drm_gem_prime_handle_to_fd’ undeclared here (not in a function)
  129 |         .prime_handle_to_fd = drm_gem_prime_handle_to_fd,
      |                               ^~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
make[3]: *** [scripts/Makefile.build:243: /var/lib/dkms/evdi/1.14.03/build/evdi_drm_drv.o] Error 1
make[2]: *** [/usr/lib/modules/6.6.1-arch1-1/build/Makefile:1913: /var/lib/dkms/evdi/1.14.03/build] Error 2
make[1]: *** [Makefile:234: __sub-make] Error 2
make[1]: Leaving directory '/usr/lib/modules/6.6.1-arch1-1/build'
make: *** [Makefile:38: all] Error 2

This breaks my entire DisplayLink setup and I don't have all screens available.

@elirasza That is odd, the package is not dependent on a kernel version. you should have headers for each type of kernel such as linux-lts-headers, or linux-zen-headers or linux-headers. They are not aimed at a version of the kernel, unless you are using something special like a downgraded kernel which has a version in the name.

@tapsu03. yeah, I observed that too on Nvidia/AMD (can't remember which one). I don't use Hyperland often so didn't bother. You can raise this issue in evdi GitHub repo.

After I installed the evdi-compat-git package my hyprland crashed, this doesn't happen if I install the evdi or evdi-git package. hyprland broken. Can you check for me?

The dkms module seems to require old kernel headers. Installing it on 6.4.9 or 6.4.10 linux kernels yields the error Missing 6.3.2-arch1-1 kernel headers for module evdi/1.14.03.

Has it to do with the package, or do I need to recompile something on my side ?

@tristanrw odd, still works fine for me on 6.3.8-zen1-1-zen. I use x btw, for me wayland doesn't show in gdm from a long time. and I am too lazy to get wayland to work.

The current version of this package (1.14.03.r0.g19476e7-1) does not work for me with up to date displaylink (5.7-1) and up to date arch kernel (6.3.8-arch1-1) using wayland. "modprobe evdi" prints nothing so I guess it should work, but the screens just don't turn on (and do not show up in displayconfiguration in settings). Does anybody have an idea how I should try to fix it?

Works perfectly with displaylink 5.7-1 on Arch, while evdi-git is broken once again (as almost always after major updates). Many thanks!!

@olof regarding displaylink + evdi, yeah around last month this package was broken for 3-4 days. One solution for this is that displaylink needs to maintain some backward compatibility with evdi. Other is that they test on Arch - upstream, zen and lts kernels before the release, which can avoid maintaining packages such as this one.

The latest package 1.14.03 is actually 1.13. Real v1.14 was unusable on zen kernel.

@olof, fixed the symbolic link bug.

displalink 5.7.1-version works fine with evdi-compat-git 1.13.1...(Manjaro kernel 6.3.5) Thx!