Any suggestions - multi-monitor laptop setup
by bennyfingers from LinuxQuestions.org on (#5GEZX)
Hello, I've been playing with linux on and off for a couple of years, so not a complete noob, but still a bit out of my depth. Hoping someone can look at what I'm trying to achieve and suggest anything I haven't considered.
So, I use a laptop with 2 external monitors. One connects through the sole HDMI output on the laptop, the other connects to a USB 3 port replicator with HDMI output. When its docked I don't use the laptop screen.
At the moment I use Windows. For a few years now I've been playing with Linux in dual boot/VMs and I enjoy it and I'd like to ditch MS for good.
I am not married to any disto, I've played with a few of them (Ubuntu, Mint, Elementary, Fedora, Manjaro). I'd happily use any of them.
Problem is I just can't get my dual monitors working right. I have to use the DisplayLink drivers which are a PITA but they work on the Ubuntu-based distros. But the screen that uses them (the one on the dock) is laggy as hell to the point of being unusable and any time I have an application on that screen my CPU usage goes nuts. So it 'works' but it's not usable in any real sense. This is a known issue with DisplayLink and Xorg and isn't likely to get resolved anytime soon/ever so far as I can see.
I've done a lot of googling, played around with settings, copied and run stuff in terminal that I didn't understand...I just can't seem to get past this roadblock.
It's driving me bananas that this, of all things, is the barrier to switching to Linux for good.
My laptop has no other video output, no USB-C. At the moment the only options I see open to me are
1. Buy a new laptop with USB-c so I can stop using DisplayLink
2. Buy an ultra-wide monitor and use that instead of the two I have.
I don't want/can't afford to do either of those things! If anyone has any better ideas I'd love to hear them and would be so grateful, cheers.
So, I use a laptop with 2 external monitors. One connects through the sole HDMI output on the laptop, the other connects to a USB 3 port replicator with HDMI output. When its docked I don't use the laptop screen.
At the moment I use Windows. For a few years now I've been playing with Linux in dual boot/VMs and I enjoy it and I'd like to ditch MS for good.
I am not married to any disto, I've played with a few of them (Ubuntu, Mint, Elementary, Fedora, Manjaro). I'd happily use any of them.
Problem is I just can't get my dual monitors working right. I have to use the DisplayLink drivers which are a PITA but they work on the Ubuntu-based distros. But the screen that uses them (the one on the dock) is laggy as hell to the point of being unusable and any time I have an application on that screen my CPU usage goes nuts. So it 'works' but it's not usable in any real sense. This is a known issue with DisplayLink and Xorg and isn't likely to get resolved anytime soon/ever so far as I can see.
I've done a lot of googling, played around with settings, copied and run stuff in terminal that I didn't understand...I just can't seem to get past this roadblock.
It's driving me bananas that this, of all things, is the barrier to switching to Linux for good.
My laptop has no other video output, no USB-C. At the moment the only options I see open to me are
1. Buy a new laptop with USB-c so I can stop using DisplayLink
2. Buy an ultra-wide monitor and use that instead of the two I have.
I don't want/can't afford to do either of those things! If anyone has any better ideas I'd love to hear them and would be so grateful, cheers.