Docking Station

I was wondering if I could find a docking station for my Librem 5.

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CSV-1599 is already available for purchase and works out-of-the-box with the Librem 5.

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Read under update 2 on this page about the docking station that I use.

I checked it in amazon.de, it sells for 130€…

Does it support charging with the L5’s power supply while connecting, for example an USB keyboard or a HMDI TV screen? What are other use cases?

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When original Librem 5 power supply used to provide power to CSV-1599 PD input port (measured there over 2.2A), CSV-1599 docking station agreed to charge Librem 5 battery, etc. with max. of 1.4A:

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I’m using https://i-tec.pro/en/produkt/c31nanodocklanpd-2/, it’s working great, supports up to 100w PD so it can be used for your L5 or laptop

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@fralb5, C31NANODOCKLANPD is one of the best docking stations for the Librem 5 and therefore I would like to know if you are getting power agreement of at least 1.5A, when your librem 5 connected to it? Asking while today I’m thinking about if Librem 5 can at all accept/negotiate more than 1.5A (over some particular dock, as related/described here). As my above screenshot shows, command that I’m referring to is posted here: A Humble Librem 5 Daily User Review.

First one is L5 on battery
Second one is L5 connected to the dock, with the L5 power supply connected to the dock
Third one is L5 connected directly to the L5 power supply (result identical to previous)

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I just got the Hoyoki dock from Purism. Seems to do the job. It looked like the Librem 5 was getting power.

Are you getting POWER_SUPPLY_CURRENT_MAX=1500000 output (from command linked above, when projecting content from Librem 5 on some external monitor)? Or perhaps some other amperage related value?

Oh you give me far too much credit. I’m looking at the battery indicator and seeing it increase.

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Since receiving my Librem 5 last week I’ve discovered that I can keep my Librem 5 charged when connected to my Nextdock 360 by setting the Librem to single display and selecting the Nextdock 360 as the single display. So far so good.

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Btw (taking the opportunity to ask for participation), anybody can ask for an account and help to fill the gaps! :hugs:

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Done for the i-tec nano dock station in the Hubs section :wink:

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I’m curious, has anyone tried using xrdp as a means to interact with the L5? in lieu of a docking station?

In other words, leverage the L5 connected to the home network via wifi, and use xrdp, or something similar to access it’s desktop. Is this viable?

I ask, because, I noticed that Uperfect is actually developing a wireless lapdock?! https://www.uperfectmonitor.com/products/uperfect-x-14-pro-wireless-lapdock

having a wireless option would be so much nicer with the L5.

Maybe not with the current battery life. But then again it may not be so bad if you’re only using the dock’s screen?

Well, um, two questions:

  1. Would this work at all on the Librem 5? (May need both support within the operating system and support within the WiFi card. Would have to study the available modes of the WiFi card.)
  2. Assuming it does work at all, can the Librem 5 simultaneously communicate with the lapdock for its display (and keyboard and mouse) and with the local Wireless Access Point for networking? Apparently this is an optional feature, so it may not be available. (If it isn’t then this need not be fatal for all use cases - because the Librem 5 can still access the internet via the cellular modem - but for some use cases this would be a major problem.)

You would certainly want to ask some questions about security in this scenario (wireless display). However probably not worth asking unless someone finds that it works at all.

As far as power goes, this is a trade-off i.e. the Librem 5 then can’t be charged by the lapdock - but the USB-C port is free for another power source if one is available. Based on the discussion here: UPERFECT X Mini lapdock works with Librem 5 even without another power source for the Librem 5, the lack of charging for the Librem 5 may not be a major problem - but that doesn’t take into account the energy used in pumping the WiFi hard (minus the energy used in pumping the USB-C hard). You probably aren’t going to get a whole day out of it - so you would need a power bank (or spare battery) for the Librem 5.

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The wireless displays in most cases, I believe would rely on the same standard that is used by chromecast, etc. There is preliminary support in Linux and there is a GNOME project to allow wireless screencasting in display settings, but it’s pretty early days still, and apparently in many cases requires a patched wpa_supplicant.

I’ve thought about that use case a fair amount. At least for a lapdock the novelty is neat but I would actually much prefer my laptop dock actively charge my phone while I’m using it on the larger screen. With a magnetic mount on the side it’s not that clumsy to use and it’s nice to keep the Librem 5 battery topped off.

It was charging capability and the higher quality screen that ultimately made me switch back to using the nexdock 360 with my Librem 5 over the uperfect x mini.

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thanks for the info @Kyle_Rankin. It’s good to know that there is still a big lift involved on the tech side of things.

And, to your point about the value of a lapdock actively charging the L5. This is more of a temporary situation right? Meaning, as progress is made on power efficiency, this value will diminish over time?

Also, I wanted to offer another use case / scenario on this topic. Convergence is a tremendous value with the L5. But, inorder to take advantage of this, some investments are needed, such as a hub, monitor, cables, etc. A lapdock is a decent size investment in the broader scheme of things. So, It seems like a selling point for L5 would be for customers to be able to leverage convergence capabilities with minimal additional investments.

For example, I’m writing this post using my L15. And I can use this the L15 to connect to the L5 using ssh. but, that has limited capabilities. It would be really cool if I could also connect to the L5 using a graphical desktop connection without having to add an additional device (a lapdock) to my inventory. this is just to point out a potential use case.

No pressure here, I realize that there is some significant work to be done to make this a possibility so I understand this won’t be anytime soon, or a high priority. However, this could be a feature that helps sell the L5 to people by conveying the value they will receive without need for more investments to leverage convergence.

In theory you can already do that (with any Linux computer as the destination). However I couldn’t get it working with the Librem 5. I’m sure someone will get it working.