How to connect librem 5 usa with my monitor, keyboard and mouse?

Hardware Librem 5
22

Meanwhile i got my librem 5 usa and the following stuff:



The good news is the docking station works in terms of i managed to connect the librem 5 to a monitor, keyboard and mouse.

The bad news however:

1.The charging does not work through the docking station using this charger:


Do i have to configure something?
Why is it not working? if i connect the charger directly to the librem 5 it works.

2.The active usb-c extension cable is straight up not working.
I connected it between the librem 5 and docking station. Nothing.
I also tried to connect it between the librem 5 and charger and it’s also not working.
Is the cable maybe defective or what do i have to look out for when buying an extension? (Which i need)

23

Check out this thread.
We got tons of comments and tests on this non-trivial topic:

1 Like
24

Are you sure it can’t be a problem with the charger or configuration?
Because my dockstation https://eu.targus.com/products/usb-c-dp-alt-mode-single-video-4k-hdmi-vga-docking-station-dock419euz

Claims:
It supports up to 100W (20V/5A) charging max.

25

Why? Would it be possible to extend the outputs of the dock, rather than extending the USB-C? Obviously we don’t have a full picture of your setup.

The USB-C between dock and phone is performing 3 roles

  • video
  • power (specifically PD)
  • data

Maybe confirm with the seller of the USB-C extension that it purports to support all 3 roles, and all 3 roles simultaneously.

Does the extension cable work in any scenario? e.g. just a computer connected to a keyboard? or e.g. a computer connected to a USB-C peripheral that supplies its own power? or e.g. a computer connected to a USB-C monitor (directly or indirectly)?

If I had to take a guess, as the extension cable appears to have no external power source, it probably doesn’t handle the “power” side of USB-C adequately but may handle data and may handle video.

2 Likes
26

The thing about USB-C is that it negotiates what to use.
So if I am not mistaken, you have:

  1. Negotiation between Librem 5 and the docking station.
  2. Negotiation between the docking station and the power supply.
    And the used cables between can also influence the results of the negotiations.

Librem 5 always negotiates 5V between itself and the docking station. The maximum is 5V 3A. I have seen 5V 3A, 5V 2A, 5V 1,5A, 5V 0,5A and 5V 0,1A depending on docking station, power supply and used cables.
Your setup only makes sense in my opinion when you reach at least the 5V 1,5A negotiation because with the 0,5A your battery will discharge when you use Librem 5 in convergence mode.
So Librem 5 will never get 20V regardless of what is written on your docking station.

First cornerstone is the controller of the docking station that is used for negotiating the connection between Librem 5 and the docking station. As far as I understand this controller will not only matter for the quality of power supply, but also for the quality of your video signal to your external monitor. So it is important to be high quality.

Second cornerstone is the power supply. Interestingly both me and Quarnero got good results with a more “stupid” power supply. Since yesterday I use an old Samsung phone charger 5V 2A USB-A to USB-C and I get 5V 2A negotiated to the Librem 5.
The more “intelligent” power supplies did not work for me for any of the small docking hubs as the one you use.
I tested one big expensive Lenovo notebook docking station and it was the only one that managed to make a chain 5V 3A to Librem 5 and 20V 5A between the docking station and the power supply. BUT! It was useless, because with it the video signal was not working :smile: đŸ€ŠđŸ»
So when you are done with the power topic, the next party is the video signal. Many docking stations don’t really transmit the video when you use Linux. And many docking stations write 120Hz while at the end managing only 30Hz in the real world. And there is also the flickering and instability issues with some of the docking stations. It is sufficient to read some reviews under docking stations on Amazon to see that this problem exists. It is again a matter of the used controller for the video signal in the docking station (in combination with the controller for the connection to the Librem 5 in the docking station).

My Tipp. Grab the command for checking the negotiated power supply from the other topic.
Grab an old Phone Charger 5V 2A.
Do the test with your docking station.
It you only get 5V 0,5A, then consider returning the docking station if you are still in the window that allows return.

Recently I saw this device on the Internet that might deliver everything. But I have not tested it so you have no guarantees whatsoever that it will do the job:
https://www.linuxlaptop.be/USB3-docking-station-for-linux-compatible-portreplicator
Or take one of the AENZRs that Quarnero recommends as I did yesterday.

It is funny that the EU wants to enforce USB-C as a standard while at the same time USB-C can vary so much that the consumer might end up with a pile of USB-C devices and cables with mysterious compatibility between each other.

1 Like
27

As and when the Librem 5 connected as host, over its USB-C port, to the compliant docking station we need to provide to it up to 15W (5V/3A). If and when negotiated less than 2.5W (as within docking station built-in pass-through charging controller just do not like to “talk” properly with your carefully chosen “most expensive” PD3.0 power supply with up to the 100W per USB-PD port).

Each USB-PD port, as shown below, might be usable 
 (but let us focus, please, on what needs to be ensured, for this topic purpose):

01_IMG_20220818_135521
01_IMG_20220818_1355213446×1941 277 KB

28

I just bought one.

I only found these on banggoods

Where they are out of stock.
Can i get them somewhere else?

Wouldn’t be this one sold by purism the best choice?
https://shop.puri.sm/shop/usb-c-hub/
or am i missing something?

1 Like
29

I would assume so. I had no idea they sold a hub.

Edit: don’t see any display out, though.

30

It has hdmi. You probably missed that.

31

Ah so I did, I thought that was another USB in the picture.

I’d just buy that one then.

32

I beleive that this is the very direct store from AENZR:

Please test it with this old school 5V/3A PD complaint power supply: https://www.artwizz.com/en/smartphone-accessories/technics/powerplug-usb-c-cable_28424_15853/ (one of my favorites). As yesterday introduced here: USB-DCP-5V-1.5A protocol and Librem 5.

EDIT: Both linked Artwizz 5V/3.0A boot up Librem 5, when its provided battery not inserted (without any additional firmware upgrade). Meaning without:

And as kindly, closely and directly related:

33

The limitation to 5V only can be disabled, but using higher voltages can cause issues due to possibility of shorting CC lines to Vbus. CC lines can take 5V, but not much more. We have a protection chip that should in theory mitigate that risk, but it turned out that with the TI USB-C controller we’re using there’s still a small risk of burning CC lines even despite of the protection chip being in place, so we decided to limit the input voltage to 5V to get rid of that risk altogether.

3 Likes
34

Please tell us if you see 9636|ALGOLTEK, INC.

Nothing like this in lsusb output, if that is a question.

The docking station reports as DP1 on my laptop.

On Librem 5 /sys/class/typec/port0-partner/type reports ama Alternate Mode Adapter.

When I connect monitor dmesg reports

[drm] Connector status: 1
cdns-mhdp-imx 32c00000.hdmi: 0,ff,ff,ff,ff,ff,ff,0
imx-dcss 32e00000.display-controller: [drm] fb1: imx-dcssdrmfb frame buffer device
[drm] HDMI/DP Cable Plug In
[drm] Mode: 1600x1200p162000
cdns-mhdp-imx 32c00000.hdmi: [drm:cdns_mhdp_set_host_cap [cdns_mhdp_drmcore]] Using 2 lanes
cdns-mhdp-imx 32c00000.hdmi: [drm:cdns_mhdp_train_link [cdns_mhdp_drmcore]] Starting link training
[drm] Mode: 1600x1200p162000
[drm] hpd irq
cdns-mhdp-imx 32c00000.hdmi: [drm:cdns_mhdp_set_host_cap [cdns_mhdp_drmcore]] Using 2 lanes
cdns-mhdp-imx 32c00000.hdmi: [drm:cdns_mhdp_train_link [cdns_mhdp_drmcore]] Starting link training
[drm] Connector status: 1
[drm] HDMI/DP Cable Plug In

I am not sure how to check details of the selected alternate mode.

1 Like
35

As long as your docking station works fine (including its monitor chip/output) nobody cares for real :wink:. Besides 9636 as manufacturer number is still not included within current http://www.linux-usb.org/usb.ids (therefore no related lsusb output, and I didn’t check this earlier):

apt list usb.ids
Listing... Done
usb.ids/now 2022.05.20-0+deb11u1 all [installed]
1 Like
36

I’m slowly getting frustrated.
My new 5v 2a power supply also didn’t work with the hub:

My newly ordered usb c extension also doesn’t work:


It actually works for charging and also keyboard & mouse but no video signal at the vga output of my docking station. without using the extension video works. That sucks because the description states it does transmit video.

I will now buy another docking station.
Does somebody know a confirmed working usb c extension cable that works for all three things (and at the same time): charging, data and video?

37

Did you look into the one Purism is selling?

38

Well option 1 is buying that and option 2 is the aenzr. Not 100% sure yet.

Even more desperate trying to find a working usb c extension cable that can transmit power, data and video at the same time. If you guys know one please let me know.

39

I’d email support about the dock. They should know everything.

Instead of an extension, why not just buy a longer cable?

40

This was precisely my problem. I had a 250€ Lenovo docking station from my work. Charging, keyboard and mouse worked, but video didn’t. Companies apparently know that the majority of people are going to use the devices with Windows and don’t care about proper Linux support. They have tested it with Lenovo notebooks on Windows and released it on the market.

41

No video works with the docking station. But if i put my extension cable between the phone and docking station, video does not work despite the cable description says it should work:

Someone knows a working extension cable for power, data and video and all at the same time?