If you happen to own an AMD APU powered
system along with a DisplayLink based docking station, you may be aware
about the lackluster performance of this hardware combination straight
out of the box. So far the only way to achieve decent performance was to
use the privative AMDGPU-PRO driver, which seriously limited the Kernel
selection due of the limited compatibility from this AMD driver.
Following the steps from this guide will give you stellar performance
with the added benefits of being able to remain on the most recent
kernels.
Let's go for it.
Low refresh update fix and install guide for DisplayLink based docking stations and AMD Radeon Vega iGPU's.
Our first step will be determining which DKMS version is installed in our system with the dkms -version command.
If your reported DKMS version is equal or higher than 2.8.2, follow these steps:
1- Download the latest DisplayLink driver from their website, unpack it somewhere and give execution permissions to the *.run file with the chmod +x installername.run
2- Install the driver with the sudo bash ./installername.run command. Answer yes when the script prompts you to install some additional dependencies and reboot if we are using Xorg.
3- Upon reboot completes, your secondary display will start working, albeit with a low frame rate.
4- Clone this GitHub repo with the git clone https://github.com/pioto1225/evdi.git command.
5- Copy the contents from the evdi/module directory to /usr/src/evdi-X.XX.X (ex. /usr/src/evdi-1.10.0) with the sudo cp /evdi/module/* /usr/src/evdi-X.XX.X command.
6- Run the following commands:
sudo dkms uninstall evdi/version
sudo dkms unbuild evdi/version
sudo dkms build evdi/version
sudo dkms install evdi/version
Where "version" is your currently installed version (ex. evdi/1.10.0)
7- Edit your /etc/modprobe.d/evdi.conf file with the sudo nano /etc/modprobe.d/evdi.conf command and append “vmap_texture=1” at the end of the config line. Your config line should look similar to this now: “options evdi initial_device_count=4 vmap_texture=1”
8- Lastly, save all changes and reboot your system.
From now on you will notice a great performance improvement with your DisplayLink docking.
If your reported DKMS version is lower than 2.8.2, follow these steps:
Note that using this method you'll need to replace the EVDI module each time the Kernel gets updated. We recommend that you remain on the most stable Kernel.
1- Download the latest DisplayLink driver from their website, unpack it somewhere and give execution permissions to the *.run file with the chmod +x installername.run
2- Install the driver with the sudo bash ./installername.run command. Answer yes when the script prompts you to install some additional dependencies and reboot if we are using Xorg.
3- Upon reboot completes, your secondary display will start working, albeit with a low frame rate.
4- Clone this GitHub repo with the git clone https://github.com/pioto1225/evdi.git command.
5- CD inside the /evdi/module directory and compile the module with the make command.
6- When you're done with the compiling, find out the path to the Kernel module with the sudo modinfo evdi command. You'll see the path at the first line from the wall of text that the last command will return. (ex. /lib/modules/5.13.0-30-generic/updates/dkms/evdi.ko)
7- Copy your compiled module from step 4 to the path from the step 5. (ex. sudo cp evdi.ko /lib/modules/5.13.0-30-generic/updates/dkms/evdi.ko)
8- Edit your /etc/modprobe.d/evdi.conf file with the sudo nano /etc/modprobe.d/evdi.conf command and append “vmap_texture=1” at the end of the config line. Your config line should look similar to this now: “options evdi initial_device_count=4 vmap_texture=1”
9- Lastly, save all changes and reboot your system.
From now on you will notice a great performance improvement with your DisplayLink docking.
