I’m considering the Nexdoc as an option, but have not made a decision yet. 
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Once question i had, could the same method or software be used to show the phone on a large display when plugging the phone into a USB hub, where the large display is also used by a desktop computer with two displays, where it could negotiate or let the use decide whether to display the desktop or the phone input, in theory could that work?
My usecase is that i have a desktop with two displays, but for certain trouble shooting i might want to use one of these displays to show the phone content and use a mouse and keyboard.
There are multiple approaches.
- There are hardware KVM switches letting you choose the input devices for a monitor. Some monitors have it built in.
- I vaguely remember having read of a software KVM switch, but I did not try it.
- Another approach could simply be using a remote desktop system like VNC or so. That works over the network and would be quite flexible I think. I remember having read that posts here in this forum that hosting a remote desktop on the L5 does not work. That’s quite some time ago so maybe there is progress.
- There’s something like a remote X session via
ssh -X, but I never tried it. The ssh man page tells something about it.
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I have a KVM switch setup that I use. Or I should say, KM, no video 
My monitor has multiple video inputs, so I just manage that with the monitor controls. IT all works really nicely with the hub i bought from purism when I got my L5. I do notice, that when I switch the keyboard and mouse to another device on the switch, it does something strange to the L5. the L5 suddenly thinks it is NOT docked any more and it changes the windows back to full display on the L5. Even though the external monitor is still connected to it. So, with my setup, I switch the keyboard and mouse, but not the video. So, that seems to confuse phosh, and so even though a monitor is connected to the hub, it assumes there is no monitor when the KM is swtiched to another computer.
But, overall, it works really well. This is how I do “lapdocking”. I had asked about doing RDP to the L5, and unfortuntately that seems to be a low priority for purism. I don’t understand way. They seem to prefer you buy a new lapdock device to expand your L5 screen space, rather than using an existing device, laptop or desktop computer you already have access to and is on the network?!
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Did you buy the hub from the Purism shop? For the connection to the monitor do you use HDMI to the hub or some other type of connection?
I ask because the dock I have connects to a monitor using HDMI but the video will flash in and out at times or flicker. I suspect a loose connection at the hub but I wanted to hear about other people’s experience using HDMI to connect their Librem 5.
@Kyle_Rankin
This is a great addition to the shop. Wonderful being able to buy a supported docking station. Thanks!
Yeah, I bought the hub from purism when my L5 was getting shipped, and I use hdmi cables. I actually have 2 monitors. One is a 43" LG 4k monitor. the L5 drives that with no problem! It gets pretty hot though no real flickering or any problem. My other monitor is a 24" HD monitor, an old Gateway monitor It only has the old VESA and dvi inputs. so, I use an hdmi cable with a converter to VESA (I think that is the format). the monitor is like 15 years old, but still works.
These days I use the smaller HD monitor more, because it doesn’t get the L5 as hot. But, I can swap out the hdmi cable from either monitor into the hub and everything works fine.
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My biggest gripe with the Nexdock2 is how quickly it “gives up” - ie, my SBC or Librem 5 will blank the screen and a few seconds later the ND2 decides there’s no signal therefore time to shutdown. Catastrophic on an SBC that’s drawing power from the ND2, not so bad on the L5, but annoying nonetheless. Annoying because I have to disconnect the L5, reconnect it, sometimes twice, then re-setup all my external monitor settings and window positions because Phosh does not yet remember those.
Is this still an issue with the ND360? Is the timeout configurable?
It’s still present in the 360. There isn’t any way to change the timeout that I’m aware of. Only a handful of options.
I see, that’s unfortunate…
Maybe you can save the monitor settings to a file/script with arandr so that you can reset them easier a d quicker. Maybe that can be automated with udev or so.
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I could be mistaken, but I believe phosh uses the presence of the keyboard and mouse to enter “convergence mode”. I’m not sure if that can be overridden.
I remember on the Nexdock 2 thinking that the timeout in general was incredibly short, before it powered off, especially in the early days of convergence mode when it took the Librem 5 some time to negotiate everything. I haven’t experienced that kind of timeout on my Nexdock 360.
As far as screen blanking goes though, I haven’t run into that issue as my screen doesn’t blank on my Librem 5 while docked (it is being charged and isn’t configured to auto blank the screen when plugged in). I did just run a test where I hit the power button on the Librem 5 to blank the screen while docked, and it did also blank the Nexdock 360 and it disconnected. So I guess you can work around this by simply not hitting the power button to enter that low power state while docked.
Check out my toggle_tablet.sh script I reference in my recent lapdock article: https://puri.sm/posts/my-top-10-lapdock-kit-tips/. You may be able to adapt that to your situation to have the monitor settings you want, and simply recall it by pressing an icon on your screen.
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Thanks for the details! I’ll check those settings and scripts (e.g. I wasn’t aware the screen blanking could be changed based on whether it was docker or not…)
btw @Kyle_Rankin small correction needed in that blog post, where you provide the location of the .desktop file:
/home/purism/local/share/applications/toggle_tablet.desktop
I think the dot is missing in .local:
/home/purism/.local/share/applications/toggle_tablet.desktop
Other than that, I’ve created a .desktop entry to enable 1.25 scaling and ensure proper resolution. Can’t set primary monitor with wlr-randr. In either case, I now have a script easy to toggle where I can stuff other automations I want to run when docking. Simple
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After thinking about if for two months and a half I finally decided I want one, and I see it’s Out Of Stock 
@Kyle_Rankin are you planning to restock?
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I’d like to buy one too. Any news on availability??
I have a four-way KVM switch in my home office that is working well. One of the four selections is plugged in to a Lenovo ThinkPad (laptop) docking station. That works well. This Lenovo docking station has two Thunderbolt connectors that plug the laptop in to the docking station. I tried plugging the Thunderbolt USB-C connector from that docking station in to my Librem 5. That didn’t work. The monitors wouldn’t even wake up. I am guessing that without the other Thunderbolt connector (a rectangular plug with a yellow interior), there are probably proprietary elements that don’t work. So it looks like I’ll need to buy a more generic docking station to get convergence for the Librem 5. I’ll need more ports and ports of different types than the hub that Purism sells has. With four computers sharing two monitors, keyboard, and mouse, adding more monitors, keyboards, and another mouse dedicated to just the Librem 5 doesn’t seem like a good solution.