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I recently upgraded to Ubuntu 18.04 and now my multi-monitor setup with DisplayLink is no longer working properly.

CPU usage is almost at 100% all the time where DisplayLinkManager is using about 80% of it.

Did some one managed to setup DisplayLink on Ubuntu 18.04 and got it working smooth? I would love to play videos on the second screen like I could before.

I am using a Zenbook ux31a.

Thomas Venturini
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  • So there was a recent update of display link available that kinda fixed the problem for me. I still notice an exorbitant CPU usage at the beginning but after a fiew minutes 1-3 it getts a lot better. cpu raises if i do a lot with my mouse tough. I hope they will fix it soon. – Thomas Venturini Dec 09 '18 at 11:27

2 Answers2

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If you have any peripherals plugged into the dock like say a usb mouse, move your mouse around really fast while watching the process. It will jump from 20% to 150% cpu. Anything plugged into the dock seems to lag the cpu depending on usage. I switched to an older dock that your laptop snaps into and no issues. But if your dock is using usb3, your peripherals are going to blow up your cpu.. especially the mouse while it is in use.

sintrix
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    the process of DisployLinkManager keep stay above 100% in fact, like 130%, 150%, I then installed the latest driver 5.2, it is better, only high cpu when I am moving the mouse. – BMW Aug 02 '19 at 00:25
  • I can confirm this with an AOL usb monitor connected via usb 3.0 to Ubuntu 20. – mLstudent33 Aug 29 '21 at 20:17
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I run mine on a Zenbook UX330ua running 18.04. Make sure you have the most recent drivers (https://www.displaylink.com/downloads/ubuntu). To be honest though, while the newest drivers do help decrease the CPU usage, it will still occasionally go really high and my computer will stop responding entirely.

If the computer still somewhat responds, you can kill displaylink and let it restart. I added this to my ~/.bashrc to do it in one command: 

alias stopdisplaylink="sudo kill -9 $(ps -A | grep -i displaylink | awk '{print $1}')"

FWIW, DisplayLink also has some troubleshooting posts... but none of them have fixed my issues so far: https://support.displaylink.com/knowledgebase/topics/103927-troubleshooting-ubuntu

james
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  • Side note for anyone else who may see this.. if you have UEFI secure boot enabled, check out: https://askubuntu.com/questions/762254/why-do-i-get-required-key-not-available-when-install-3rd-party-kernel-modules – james Nov 30 '18 at 19:30
  • Same thing still happens with the latest DisplayLink drivers (5.x) on a Lenobo Carbon X1. I switched back to my old HDMI monitor for now. :-\ – Lizozom Mar 11 '19 at 14:02
  • Same Problem with driver version 5.0 Ubuntu 18.04 on a linux optimized hardware. Much too much CPU usage. It got brearable after switching mouse and graphic tablet from the docking station to the usb ports of the notebook, but then why have a docking station? – Calamity Jane Jun 03 '19 at 13:21
  • I have two machines, with ubuntu 20.04, one of them is a zenbook i7, the other is a desktop acer with a10, the zenbook works by well with the dock, in the acer displaylinkmanager uses 50% of cpu, I do not know why, maybe the graphic card? – arpho Jan 30 '21 at 18:06