Mini.v2 Compatible Monitors

How do I tell if a monitor will work with my Librem Mini.v2 and QubesOS?
I need a LOT of screen space. And I have only been able to get dual monitors working on the Mini (using the DisplayPort and the HDMI port).
So I’m thinking to get a very large monitor to replace my old Windows 4 screen setup.
I’m looking at this 43" monitor:


But I don’t know if I’m going to run into trouble or not. Will it work out of the box? Or do I need to configure some config file? Will I need special drivers? (There is no Linux supported drivers on the the LG site.)
I’m pretty much out of my depth with video that’s not plug-and-play.
:frowning:
Thanks for any help .

PS. I don’t have the time to learn and troubleshoot video… it’s a serious constraint, but a 2nd option is to get in the weeds and figure out how to get 4 monitors working. I searched these forums and the technical stuff I ran into scared the crap out of me.
So far I don’t think the Mini.v2 supports more than 2 monitors, but if it does, is there a way to get my 2 usb video converters (Plugable DisplayLink - USB 3.0, UGA-3000) to work so I can have 4 monitors.
I’m running Qubes and I tried but couldn’t figure it out. Qubes isolates USB devices from dom0. I don’t know how to create an exception to allow them to work properly (although there is a Keyboard exception).

instead of one 4k, would 2 x 1440p or similar 16:10 work for you ?

is there a particular reason why you think you need 3 or 4 monitors ?

the mini v2 from Purism has a usb-C on the back but i don’t know if it can output to a 3rd monitor ? you would need confirmation from @MrChromebox

if it did you would get 3 outputs (HDMI + DP + DP/HDMI < not sure about this last one)

also do you need 30 fps or 60 or more ?

I don’t need 4k, just couldn’t find a 43" monitor without it. Need the real-estate.

I do a lot of monitoring for my work and can’t have any windows behind other windows. 3 monitors just wouldn’t cut it.

I don’t need spectacular graphics by today’s standards, but need a decent update/refresh speed (never been good with the terms).
I’m not sure what acceptable fps for me would be (frames per second?) but my vision/headaches are a problem after 8 hours, so need less eye strain.
Not gaming, maybe watch a vid from time to time.

Thanks.

I got an email answer from support. Yes. I’m a happy dude. :slight_smile:

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Just to help you on further search you should look for something like this one as within this linked table you’ll read/find that native Refresh rate is 100Hz / 120Hz (instead of usually used 50Hz for PAL & 60Hz for NTSC). In addition TX-43HXT976 might turn out as slightly better option because you might prefer to change screen angle (another stand, instead of fixed legs). Also, please note that both of those support native (meaning no FRC) panel bit depth of 10-bits.

Thanks Quarnero,
I ordered the other monitor a few hours ago. :frowning:
I’ll check out the specs on your suggestions, and the price. I like the 100 refresh rate. If I can find it to buy, I may cancel the other order.
:+1:

the Mini/Mini v2 do not support USB-C DP Alt-mode. DisplayLink is an option if a 3rd output is needed

generally speaking, displays don’t need drivers. The Mini/Mini v2 can drive any 4K display via either the HDMI 2.0 or DisplayPort outputs. It can even drive one 4K display from each simultaneously.

yeah, i tested just for safe measure, my usb-C enabled monitor that supports DP over usb-C and the mini (neither v1 nor v2 from Purism) send anything to the monitor through the usb-C port present on the ‘back’ (front?) of the motherboard …

it’d be nice for a future version if this was the case …

I couldn’t find the recommended monitors above, so I went looking for something with the higher refresh rate and found the Asus below.

It is very large. I installed it yesterday everything is much slower.
The slow down includes qubes starting and stopping, video rendering, even web pages are extremely slow compared to before.
Is there anything I can do about it?
(Qubes people, does dom0 need more resources dedicated to it?)

It is a large 43" monitor. 3840 x 2160.
My work requires a lot of screen space and my previous Windows setup had 4 22" monitors, so this replaces them all:

rog.asus.com

ROG Strix XG438Q | Above 34 Inches | Gaming Monitors|ROG - Republic of…

ROG Swift XG438Q

I am running the Librem Mini v2 with the following specs:
Processor: Intel Core i7-10510U (Comet Lake), 4 Cores, 8 Threads, up to 4.9GHz
Graphics: Intel UHD Graphics 620
Video: 1 HDMI 2.0 4K@60Hz, 1 DisplayPort 1.2 4K@60Hz
My RAM is 32GB, DDR4-2400, 1.2V DDR4 L2133/2400MHz
And my storage is 2 drives:
250 GB, M.2 SSD and 250 GB, 2.5" SSD

But, as I said, everything is laggy since.
Any ideas how to increase system performance?
Thanks!
Jon

TV screens (as within my post suggested) and PC monitors aren’t having much in common (usually, not at all in over 90% cases, just guessing here). Extra short explanation: PAL TV sender is sending 25Hz pictures per second, TV screen is usually showing 50Hz per second, and 100Hz PAL (for NTSC broadcast area this equals to 120Hz) TV screens have built-in (their own native) support to show (TV and PC driven) screen movements in such (doubled) refresh rate. Back to your post, for reproducing 4K pictures with 120Hz refresh rate your ROG Swift monitor needs additional external dedicated GPU, as internal main processor one isn’t powerful enough (to be able to work with 4K/120Hz), that you don’t have over there.

Please go down to (try with) 1080p resolution (start with 720p) if you’ll be able of getting 120Hz refresh rate with Intel UHD Graphics 620 (10th Gen).

P.S. I’m not familiar with QubesOS support for 120Hz, cannot help further. Also how AMD FreeSync Premium Pro monitors and QubesOS match together I don’t have any experience, but please take a look here anyway: https://www.amd.com/en/support/kb/faq/gpu-754, understand that: “Please note that you must have a Display Port Freesync compatible monitor.

Thank you! I’ll look into that. I need to learn it and greatly appreciate being pointed at where to look.

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you indicated that you’re running 4K displays on both HDMI and DP - to which output is this connected? Have you tried disconnecting the other 4K monitor? Have you verified that Qubes has set the refresh rate to 60Hz and not 24 or 30Hz?

I am using the DP, not HDMI. I only have the 1 monitor connected. Qubes refresh is 60Hz.
I tried HDMI when first plugged in but it didn’t display anything when I tried so I just moved over to DP.
Someone suggested I give the GPU more memory in the BIOS. Is that possible? And do you recommend any particular settings?
(I assume I’d have to update my LibremKey).
Thanks

no, the DVMT is fixed, and the rest is dynamically allocated. There are no settings to adjust, especially if the display is running properly at 2160p60.

I tried to replicate this here on my 4K TV, but the Mini wouldn’t play nice unless I used a DP-HDMI adapter which limited the output to 30Hz. I’ll have to see if I can wrangle a 4K monitor for testing

The performance is better, tolerable actually.
I reduced the workspaces from 4 down to just “Workspace 1”.
That’s probably what made the difference, but I made a few other changes I haven’t backed out of yet:
I set the main qube/vm I use for work to use all 4 cores. I don’t yet understand the full implications of that, nor whether it’s wise to do that for other qubes. I also gave it more RAM
I learned HDMI requires more bandwidth because it will pass audio as well as video, but I’m on DisplayPort anyway.

So currently running this:
Using DisplayPort not HDMI.
Resolution is 3840 x 2160.
Refresh is 60Hz.
1 Workspace instead of the default 4.
A single qube/vm has 4 cores and extra ram.

I want to look into this more but lost too much work time. Since I can work now, troubleshooting delayed until weekend.
This is fun, except for being short on time. :slight_smile:

MrChromebox, please don’t consider this top priority for me at the moment. I appreciate your work and am sure there’s more important stuff you are working on.
I will update this if I learn anymore (perhaps as I dig into the capabilities of this monitor)