this post was submitted on 18 Jan 2024
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Okay, most of the relevant information is in the title - I got a nice deal on an old Lenovo X280, threw Debian on there with KDE. I have an HP Elite book for my work, and thus a work provided HP G2 DisplayLink dock with USBC connection.

In order for this dock to work, I had to install the displaylink drivers for "Ubuntu" from here. The drivers work as expected, and I am able to dock the X280 to my workstation, and use both external monitors. It feels pretty nice when I am just browsing/emailing/bullshitting. But when I tried to play Minecraft on it, the game feels incredibly laggy.

At first I thought this was due to an under-powered graphics card, but I did some testing with the external monitors using an HDMI cord directly to the X280, and everything feels clean and smooth when I use it in that way. The other odd glitch is that when I have the laptop docked, and I am trying to play MC, if I put MC on the external monitor = lag. But if I just drag the MC window to the laptop's screen = no lag.

I'm assuming this issue is related to the dock and/or drivers. I've looked around for some sort of workaround, but came up empty handed. So now I think the solution might be a different dock.
The dock would need to:

  1. support USBC connections to my HP Elitebook, preferably without new drivers needed for the HP (dumb work won't give me admin rights, but I think I could convince them to install the necessary drivers for me. I WFH, so it makes sense that I would need a setup at home.
  2. support USB/Lightning to my X280
  3. have 1+ HDMI out or 2+ Display port out

So... Does anyone have any experience with Linux (Debian preferred) compatible docks that don't introduce input delay when gaming?

ps. Sweet community you got here. I subbed, and it's DEFINITELY going to result in me buying more stuff...

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

Ah in that case, I’ve never had a problem with the OWC line of docks: https://eshop.macsales.com/shop/owc-thunderbolt-dock

They’re good across PC & Mac and have a solid return policy. They’ve also got newer models with more ports / capabilities, but that one has been working for the last couple of years.

The HP G5 dock (used) is also super reliable — HP USB-C G5 Essential Dock 72C71AA#ABA (Renewed) https://a.co/d/8SiyLxX

My spouse uses it with her dual 4K setup and it seems solid, but I haven’t gamed with it. No visible lag when doing “normal” things.

(EDIT: I realize you asked for Linux-compatible — these do work with my steam deck and other devices.)