I have an ASUS ZenScreen MB16AC 15.6" portable monitor that currently has stable drivers available for Ubuntu. Is there a decent chance these drivers could be made to work on PureOS as well? I’d like very much to use this screen for work purposes with the Librem 5 and Librem 13 I have on order. And if the drivers are not available or likely to be made so, is there some way I can put a ‘bounty’ on translating/porting them over to PureOS?
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How did you install the drivers? Ubuntu and PureOS are both based on Debian, so there’s a chance the Ubuntu drivers will just work on PureOS. I don’t see Linux drivers available for download when I search that device, though.
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It’d certainly be nice if I could run it with drivers it already has. When I first got it and plugged it in it prompted me to download drivers through DisplayLink; At the time I recall it gave something like “Linux (Ubuntu 14.x or greater)” as an option along with the various Mac and Windows options. I haven’t tried it with Ubuntu yet since (ugh) we’re currently still using Windows at work until we replace the current hardware at the end of the year, but I found a couple reviews from other owners of the monitor who say it’s working without issue on Ubuntu.
I see. Well, I don’t see Linux drivers mentioned on the download page for that product now. I don’t expect it to work out of the box on PureOS, but if you could find a copy of the Ubuntu driver, there’s a decent chance that installing it on PureOS would allow it to work.
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The kernel is the part of the OS that is closest to hardware, so it tends to hold drivers. Ubuntu and PureOS use fairly recent kernels so there is a good chance they’ll work in PureOS. Even if they’re packaged for Ubuntu they ought to work.
The specifications from the manufacturer seem to point to the fact that it is compatible with Linux;
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Do you know what the driver is called? It might be possible to find that information from dmesg -w logs while attaching the screen.
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Sorry to resurrect such an old post, but thought others might like to know I’ve made a little progress. I read this article and was compelled to load up Ubuntu Touch on an older smartphone of mine for test purposes:
As long as PureOS/Librem 5 use USB-C ALT-MODE the same way my Ubuntu Touch/Nexus device does, I’m pretty confident the monitor will work out of the box and require minimal optimization. It works just fine with my Ubuntu Touch phone for sure now.
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