Monitor Setup

Description

This repo contains two bash scripts needed to be able to work with two external monitors using a docking station that works with DisplayLink software.

Important

These scripts are meant to be executed in an ArchLinux distro

1. Install drivers
2. Monitor configuration
3. Execute configuration automatically
   1. Execute on login
   2. Execute on boot

Install drivers

The drivers_installation.sh script will install displaylink driver and evid for the kernel module.

Once these packages are installed it will create a 20-evdi.conf file inside /etc/X11/Xorg.conf.d directory. Then, the following content will be loaded inside this file:

Section "OutputClass"
	Identifier "DisplayLink"
	MatchDriver "evdi"
	Driver "modesetting"
	Option "AccelMethod" "none"
EndSection

Note

It may be necessary to restart the system after the installation.

Monitor configuration and setup

Once the first script has finished installing everything run:

xrandr --listproviders

You should see a list of provider similar to this one (the number of providers may vary depending on how monitors do you have and if there is a dedicated GPU or not):

Providers: number : 4
Provider 0: id: 0x46 cap: 0xf, Source Output, Sink Output, Source Offload, Sink Offload crtcs: 4 outputs: 4 associated providers: 2 name:modesetting
Provider 1: id: 0x2d9 cap: 0x2, Sink Output crtcs: 1 outputs: 1 associated providers: 1 name:modesetting
Provider 2: id: 0x2a7 cap: 0x2, Sink Output crtcs: 1 outputs: 1 associated providers: 1 name:modesetting
Provider 3: id: 0x286 cap: 0x0 crtcs: 0 outputs: 0 associated providers: 0 name:NVIDIA-G0

Set the providers 1 and 2 (both external monitors) to the first provider of the list

xrandr --setprovideroutputsource 1 0
xrandr --setprovideroutputsource 2 0

Then run the setup.sh script to set the external monitors.

This script admits two arguments:

1. The display name. By default, it gets DVI but a different name can be passed, such as HDMI.
2. The name of the internal monitor. My laptop by default is named eDP1 but a different name can be passed.

The script will capture all the connected external monitors, set the first as the primary and the rest as extensions of the primary.

Note

If the monitors work with a resolution different of 1920x1080, the change must be done inside the script.

Automatic configuration

Execute on login

To run the setup.sh script automatically when logging:

1. Open .xprofile file
2. Add the following command

   sh <path_to_script> 

3. Save the file

Execute on boot

To run the setup.sh on boot:

1. Locate your displaylink.service file looking at the Loaded info:

   systemctl status displaylink.service 

2. Open the file in your code editor and verify it contains this information:

   [Unit]
   Description=DisplayLink Manager Service
   After=display-manager.service
   Wants=display-manager.service
   

3. Reload the system daemon and enable the service

   sudo systemctl daemon-reload
   sudo systemctl enable displaylink.service 

4. Modify the display manager configuration. For sddm open the configuration file:

   sudo nano /etc/sddm.conf 

   and write:

    [XDisplay]
    DisplayCommand=/path/to/script.sh
   

Note

To know what display manager you have run systemctl status display-manager.service

5. Restart the service

   sudo systemctl restart sddm

Important

Make sure the file is executable by running sudo chmod +x /path/to/script.

Tip

If there are any issues you can run journalctl -u sddm to see the sddm logs.