Convergence - Type-C USB hub with Type C DP-ALT and PD

Hardware Librem 5
1

Convergence is a nice thing, but the Librem 5 will probably still not be a battery-endurance-runner until October, and then only one Type C port is a tight thing.

I’m looking for a Type-C USB hub for the Librem 5 that supports at least DP-ALT 1.4 and PD 3.0 on 2 different Type-C ports to charge the Librem 5 and run a Type-C DP-ALT LCD on it at the same time.

Unfortunately I haven’t found one yet; does anyone have a hint ?

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2

I am not sure if it meets your requirements and unfortunately I didn’t find a statement of how big a phone can be to fit in there. So maybe the L5 is to big. Anyway this is what I found:

It should be possible with the pictures and the total length to find out how wide the gap for the phone is circa.

3

I doubt it. If I understand the requirements correctly then the OP probably doesn’t want a dock that has an HDMI port, needs a dock that has a second USB-C out port, and supports video out on that second USB-C port, and supports power out on that second USB-C port.

So 3 x USB-C ports in total:

  • one for power in (from AC/DC adapter) to the dock
  • one for power out to the Librem 5 and video in from the Librem 5 to the dock
  • one for power out to an external monitor and video out from the dock to the monitor

plus ideally two USB-A 2.0 ports for keyboard and mouse.

At a pinch, HDMI may work if the monitor has dual video inputs and can take video in via HDMI while taking power in via USB-C.

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4

I think that you are on the point. Perhaps this (plus one additional DC charging port) 18-port USB-C docking station suits OP request (?) as it includes (comes with):

5

Continuing the discussion from Convergence - Type-C USB hub with Type C DP-ALT and PD:

Thanks for the proposals.
But indeed it should be at least 3x Type C and not too large.

  1. Type C with DP-ALT
  2. Type C with PD
  3. Type C for Connection to Librem 5

Backround: I have a mobile LCD Monitor Asus MB16AC, which gets Signal and Popwer from the same single Type C Connector.
Carrying around a mobile LCD, together with a pretty large 14 Bay Hub maybe is a bit odd :slightly_smiling_face:
And Plugging this to the Librem 5 directly without an USB-Hub - having also Type C PD - then the fun is over pretty soon.

I also thought that in times when convergence is on many people’s lips, this requirement shouldn’t be a problem.
In the meantime, I’ve been searching the web for a few days now, still without any useful results.

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6

I could be wrong because I don’t have such a monitor but I think this monitor is making your life more difficult because it has no HDMI input and also doesn’t have its own power input (and isn’t a touch screen).

The combination of the monitor and the Librem 5 will be fairly demanding on power.

Maybe the ideal combination for you is a monitor that has its own power input (doesn’t matter whether it’s a standard barrel connector or a USB-C port dedicated to power input), has video input via one USB-C port which also supports supplying power to the Librem 5 via that port, and has two USB-A 2.0 ports for keyboard and mouse - if you need them (you haven’t said). In other words, a monitor that integrates the USB hub. (The NexDock would be quite good for that, as a slightly different approach, but is only a 13.3" screen.)

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8

Thanks for the well-meaning help, unfortunately I don’t live in an ideal world and I still want to use my USB-C monitor and not use an alternative new one.

So should anyone find a USB hub that …

Type C with DP-ALT
Type C with PD
Type C for Connection to Librem 5

… fulfills, I am grateful for any tip, especially since my Librem 5 arrived a week ago and the combination USB Type Monitor on the Librem 5 sucks the battery extremely fast.

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9

I found this curious too… knowing already how big the phone is, would it really have made it that much bigger to put in a second USB-C port? Maybe just a “charge only” port? Can anyone speak to this?

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10

Here’s another compatible hub: Digitus USB Type-C HDMI Multiport Adapter 3-Port
Perhaps s.o. with wiki-editing rights may want to add this to Tested Accessories

Just a few gotchas:

  • Just connecting the hub but no power supply causes the hub to be recognized, but no signal on HDMI
  • The first thing to work was connecting a USB keyboard :white_check_mark:
  • Power:
    • Connecting power into the hub using the cable and adapter shipped with the L5 did not work (red indicator briefly flashed but quickly went blank again) :x:
    • Connecting power using an old USB-A power adapter and a USB-C to USB-A cable did work.:white_check_mark:
  • Once power was established, also the HDMI port came to live. :white_check_mark:
  • At one point I had the phone in landscape mode, when the screen went blank. When resuming, the slide button to enter the passcode was no-where in sight (perhaps below the external screen). Pushing the power button twice brought it back in portrait mode and all was well :slight_smile:
  • Mouse:
    • First I tried to connect my bluetooth mouse (MX Anywhere 2), but it was never found by L5 :x:
    • Instead I inserted another hub (USB-A 1:4) and luckily no complaint about cascaded hubs so I could connect keyboard and mouse using USB. :white_check_mark:

It seems I’m all set :slight_smile:

Just if s.o. might have a hint regarding the bluetooth mouse, that would be swell.

Edit1:
Something’s not right here, since I connect to that hub things go awry:

  • WiFi continues to have problems, it may start working OK, after some minutes it stalls, eventually it disconnects completely.
  • red indicator starts to flash at some point (slowly - i.e., charger problem)
  • when I disconnected from the hub the flashing quickens to several Hertz
  • only rebooting stops the red indicator.

FWIW, I tried to follow this nice tutorial, on first attempt, the problems started when installing gnome-builder (it succeeded but the red flashing started, IIRC the logs mentioned the charger running hot – though I had started with a near 100% charge). Second time I was watching the video, then Gnome Builder started to download additional stuff, then nothing again. No connectivity, flashing started …

Seems I should more closely watch the logs re charging and re WiFi. Any ideas what I should be looking for?

Edit2:
In my next session my only change was avoiding the web browser. I ran gnome builder via HDMI, with lots of downloads / installs via WiFi. => No flashing indicator, no WiFi problems.

I have also seen web browser crashes in previous sessions, so that seems to be the component to watch for trouble.

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11

[ Some text merged into the previous post ]

Also as I am typing this message letters appear at max 2 char/sec. And Usage shows “Web” at 100%, mmmhh…

12

after disconnecting the external display things are quick again!

Bonus question: how did I select the text to quote for this comment? I found no way on the phone but I still have the external mouse :slight_smile:

13

This is the smallest USB4 dock I could find (didn’t say buy): https://www.goodway.com.tw/product3.asp?listid=0&id=48&subid=122&pid=1334.

14

I was reading today about DRP USB PD Controller LDR6282 and thought that even (while not sure if LDR6282 device available) this one might work there (if you report back), with ASUS ZenScreen and …: https://cforcedesign.com/collections/recommended-to-you/products/cf120-central-hub-video-processor-for-cf015c-cf012s.

15

@o-k and @NETaylor, this USB-C bi-directional switcher looks like proper solution for at least one of your usage scenarios: https://www.indiegogo.com/project/preview/6d3aef8c.