Options for VGA out

I know people have had success with using USB to VGA adapters, but I was wondering if you need to buy a certain model or brand to get it to work. I've saw one video were the guy was using a $75 one, but being a poor college student, I'm trying to cut costs. Does anyone have experience with off market ones such as this one? Thanks
http://cgi.ebay.com/USB-VGA-adapter-USB-2-0-extra-display-monitor-/260686626133?pt=Video_Games&hash=item3cb2223d55#ht_5723wt_1139

Your post reminded me that my old Targus Universal Dock ACP50US has a USB2VGA port. Several years back when I bought it I could not get it working with Linux and it was repurposed as a make-shift charging station for my cell phone and other gadgets. I just give it a quick try with my dockstar and after a little tweaking... it works!

Quick howto: Create /etc/X11/xorg.conf

Section "ServerLayout"
        Identifier     "X.org Configured"
        Screen         0  "SISScreen" 0 0
EndSection
Section "Device"
    Identifier  "SISDevice"
    Driver      "sisusb"
EndSection
Section "Monitor"
    Identifier  "SISMonitor"
EndSection
Section "Screen"
    Identifier  "SISScreen"
    Device      "SISDevice"
    Monitor     "SISMonitor"
EndSection

Install the required packages...

apt-get update
# not sure which of the following are necessary - these are what I installed to get my Displaylink screen working
apt-get install xinit xserver-xorg xserver-xorg-dev xfonts-base libusb-dev xorg-dev git-core build-essential
# required for sisusb software rendering
apt-get install libgl1-mesa-dri
# minimal fluxbox set up - plus an xterm & a couple of browsers 
apt-get install fluxbox rxvt midori iceweasel
echo "exec fluxbox" > ~/.xinitrc

To start

startx

It only supports 1024x768 and its slow - especially when dragging windows around - but it is useable. You also get a USB ethernet adapter and USB C-Media audio adapter and a powered 4-port USB hub that look like they work (I haven't tested).

However, the slow video performance and poor resolution does not compare with modern Displaylink adapters. These would be a much better choice if you want a regular desktop.

-PG



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/11/2010 12:22PM by petergunn.

Peter

Do you recommend that adapter in this link, I was on amazon and looked at the reviews of it and tons of people gave it 1 star.

Not sure if I should pick one up but wasn't sure when you say the video is very slow, didn't know how bad it is. :)

Does it come with a power adapter or did you have to pick that up seperately?

I'm using evga 16plus that after rebate comes out to 30 dollars , and wasn't sure if I should get the taurus to put in another dockstar?

Come up wtih anything NEW for your mini lcd screen?

I was wondering if you could ADD a virtual keyboard to the package, because then I could use the mouse only and using the virtual keyboard to type stuff in.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 12/11/2010 03:36PM by rgtaa.

No, I would only be using this as a media server and a few other applications that only require video for setting up. Thanks for the link, it seems almost perfect for my needs.

rgtaa Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Peter
>
> Do you recommend that adapter in this link, I was
> on amazon and looked at the reviews of it and tons
> of people gave it 1 star.

Depends what you want to use if for. Its okay for fluxbox + xterms but simple stuff like web browsing would become annoying quickly. It would be fine for occasional use or for updating a semi-static display.

> Does it come with a power adapter or did you have
> to pick that up seperately?

Mine came with a 3A 5v adapter - so plenty of power for the USB ports. This is why I was using it as a charging station for my gadgets.

> I'm using evga 16plus that after rebate comes out
> to 30 dollars , and wasn't sure if I should get
> the taurus to put in another dockstar?

IMHO all the Displaylink products are far superior than the previous generation of USB2VGA adapters. That said, unless you have a spare monitor for your second dockstar you may get more value out of the powered hub and audio adapter on the Targus. If you see one for ~$20 its probably a good deal - otherwise the EVGA is better.

> Come up wtih anything NEW for your mini lcd
> screen?

Lots of things I'd like to try but no time right now :-(

-PG

Well this worked perfectly for me and now I am running X on my USB2VGA on the dockstar. I am only having one issue and that is, I cant seem to get the text console to work on it. I get the SiS USB Text Console text on top of the screen but cant seem to type anything.

I see that getty is running, I'm stuck, anyone have any ideas? Do I need to set a grub option like I do for my desktop ubuntu machine to get it to boot into text mode?

ok so here what I get with lsmod:

Module                  Size  Used by
ipv6                  253766  16
sisusbvga              47055  1
font                    7090  1 sisusbvga
hmac                    2475  0
evdev                   6582  0
joydev                  8057  0
sha1_generic            1717  0
mv_cesa                 9262  0
aes_generic            32820  1 mv_cesa
ext2                   55323  1
mbcache                 4860  1 ext2
sd_mod                 31324  3
crc_t10dif              1106  1 sd_mod
usbhid                 35658  0
hid                    63178  1 usbhid
usb_storage            35171  2
scsi_mod              119260  2 sd_mod,usb_storage
ehci_hcd               36469  0
usbcore               122487  5 sisusbvga,usbhid,usb_storage,ehci_hcd
mvsdio                  5318  0
nls_base                5367  1 usbcore
mv643xx_eth            22562  0
mmc_core               50206  1 mvsdio
libphy                 14836  1 mv643xx_eth
inet_lro                5060  1 mv643xx_eth

thanks again for all the help and great information.

I'm not sure how to enable the text console. You probably need to add module(s) to /etc/modules and add a setting to /etc/modprobe.d/options. Some info here might be relevant.

Report back if you work out how to do it :-)

-PG