Complete Manjaro Noob looking for help with displaylink to complete switch over

Support Graphics & Display
1

Hello complete Arch noob here trying to make the switch from ubuntu over to manjaro on my daily driver.

I have a usb to hdm display link device i need for work and need to get up and running asap. I have been using ubuntu for years but admittedly im mostly a gui guy.

Ive looked at the arch wiki link and its mostly greek to me

but this is mostly greek to me so to speak.

What i have managed to do so far in term is

pamac build displaylink

and

pamac build evdi-git

and

systemctl enable displaylink.service

and lastly

stemctl start displaylink.service

after doing all this i still have a black screen. Forgive my ignorance literally my first day of arch / manjaro and need this for work really dont want to have to go back to windows at this point.

Thank you

2

Hi,

Some things first.

I assume this is a typo? Should be systemctl as shown in previous command.

Is there a reason you used the git version? Thats the ‘development’ one. evdi exists.

Now… we have some final steps:

  • You need to use modesetting driver with accelmethod ‘none’ by creating this file:
    /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/99-evdi.conf
    with this content:
Section "OutputClass"
	Identifier "DisplayLink"
	MatchDriver "evdi"
	Driver "modesetting"
	Option "AccelMethod" "none"
EndSection

(you can use something like sudo nano /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/99-evdi.conf to make/edit the file)

  • After a reboot use xrandr ;
xrandr --listproviders

And you should see something like your system at location 0 and displaylink/modesetting at 1
(these numbers may not match but we will use them in the following example)
So then you could use command

xrandr --setprovideroutputsource 1 0

For more info see here: DisplayLink - ArchWiki

1 Like
3

Followed what you had listed

after using xrandr --listproviders

i get Provider 0: id: 0x1b8 cap: 0x1, Source Output crtcs: 4 outputs: 4 associated providers: 0 name:NVIDIA-0

No displaylink

if i try to enable and start the service using the commands i provided i get a error using the command to see the error i get

 Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/displaylink.service; enabled; vendor preset: disabled)
 Active: activating (auto-restart) (Result: exit-code) since Tue 2021-10-26 12:37:53 MDT; 4s ago
Process: 2163 ExecStartPre=/sbin/modprobe evdi (code=exited, status=1/FAILURE)

any ideas?

4

The error seems to state the module cannot be initialized.
(command sudo modprobe evdi if you want to try manually)

Did you stick with the evdi-git or replace it with evdi ?
I would try that for sure.

1 Like
5

I did a reset ( fresh install and used the original evdi as directed )

6

the sudo modprobe presents

modprobe: FATAL: Module evdi not found in directory /lib/modules/5.13.19-2-MANJARO

7

OK… that at least gets us somewhere.

5.13 is EOL now anyways … so lets drop you down to 5.10 LTS
(sort your mirrors and update first;)

sudo pacman-mirrors -g && sudo pacman -Syyu
sudo mhwd-kernel -i linux510
###reboot..
systemctl reboot

You should be able to select the new kernel at boot … if you do not see grub menu please tap Shift or Esc

Oh. Also … since you mentioned evdi, and no automatic connection, I assumed it may be USB3 … can you please verify if it is usb2 or usb3 ?

1 Like
8

now when i sudo modprobe i get

modprobe: FATAL: Module evdi not found in directory /lib/modules/5.10.70-1-MANJARO

yes it is usb 3

still only one provider listed with

xrandr --listproviders
9

OK… lets make sure of some things again:
You should have the headers and git and base-devel …

sudo pacman -Syu linux510-headers base-devel git

(let me know if any of those were not installed)
Then lets rebuild those AUR packages

pamac build displaylink evdi

(I am also assuming we still have our config file created earlier)
Then lets restart again :crossed_fingers:

1 Like
10

yes the config file is still there did everything listed

I now see two providers

ran ```
xrandr --setprovideroutputsource 1 0

and rebooted screen still blank and doesnt show in monitor manager

11

But wait we got somewhere … please show the output of the listproviders command

And since we are here, also please

lsmod | grep udl

PS
Sorry this is taking a little work - I cant remember the last time I troubleshot displaylink, if ever :sweat_smile:

12

xrandr --listproviders

Providers: number : 2
Provider 0: id: 0x1b8 cap: 0x1, Source Output crtcs: 4 outputs: 4 associated providers: 1 name:NVIDIA-0
Provider 1: id: 0x215 cap: 0x2, Sink Output crtcs: 1 outputs: 1 associated providers: 1 name:modesetting

lsmod | grep udl gives no output
13

Hm.
Sorry to ask for one more thing.
I should have asked earlier (maybe append the output to your first post for other eyes)

inxi -Fazy
14

cant post that output thinks its a link…

15

Even if you mark it code?

16

yes unless im doing it wrong… not sure how else to get it on here

17

Hmm.

inxi -Fazy | curl -F 'file=@-' https://0x0.st

will send it to a host and print a short link.
Even if you cant post that link, just break it up somehow like this “manjaroDOTorg” or “manjaro . org” … or similar.

18

https ://0x0.st/-dCw.txt

19

I am at a bit of a loss.
I suppose you could try some of the other things mentioned in the Archwiki above.

20

ooof , Ive looked at the arch wiki its greek to me would rather not have to go back to windows but i need the extra display…