DreamPlug ARM box boosts plug computing

Marvell Sheeva 1.2 GHz CPU, 512 MiB DDR2 RAM, long and impressive list of built-in peripheral interfaces: the DreamPlug

I have closely followed “Plug Computing” since the announcement of the original SheevaPlug (and I have one at home!). The problem with making it useful for RISC OS was always the missing video output. There are USB dongles available that present a graphics card to the system (mostly using the DisplayLink chipset), but experience with fast PCs and those dongles suggest that it would be a major performance hit, and the official Linux driver does not contain the rather essential compression stuff.

On the other hand, maybe it would be a good idea to try to get basic DisplayLink support working for RISC OS - if only to allow faster initial porting of RISC OS to other platforms.

BTW, there is one Plug computer announced by GlobalScale as “available soon” that comes with video: the GuruPlug Display. However, it seems to use the rather old PXA168 as CPU/GPU.

Would the situation not be similar to a viewfinder on a risc pc? (Or is graphic acceleration not available or hard to implement on the Displaylink?)

Would VNC be an alternative?

I think the new powerful Cirtex-A9 machines look great but it is likely to be the one that has the easiest video driver to implement that will win the day.

On the other hand, maybe it would be a good idea to try to get basic DisplayLink support working for RISC OS - if only to allow faster initial porting of RISC OS to other platforms.

Has anyone seen a reasonably priced USB DisplayLink monitor that is actually available? I looked yesterday, but could only find references to discontinued products.

Well, strictly I also saw some references to some very high priced monitors, so I didn’t follow those up to see if they were available.

There are DisplayLink USB to VGA adapters so no need to buy very expensive monitors.

Small displaylink monitors can be had for around 150 euros.

Has anyone seen a reasonably priced USB DisplayLink monitor …

There are DisplayLink USB to VGA adapters so no need to buy very expensive monitors.

I suspect the point is that if the (displaylink) hardware is within the screen casing, then not having built in video doesn’t increase your box count.

If you have to have a box plugged into the wallplug unit, you might as well buy a small machine with video built in.

It seems difficult to obtain any computer that doesn’t include several external boxes, often with power supplies too. If we couldn’t put up with that approach, we wouldn’t have bought BeagleBoards! (My BB at least has the 7-port USB hub built into the case, which is one up on my Iyonix and two up on my desktop at work; on the other hand, it has an external HDD and Ethernet dongle.)

I’ve found various USB video adaptors, some for little more than GBP30 on eBay. The cheaper they are, the less likely they seem to be to mention the DisplayLink name. I don’t know if DisplayLink have any competition. Perhaps I’ll have to ask some suppliers what the USB vendor and product IDs are of their offerings.

Some (most?) of the adaptors have both VGA and DVI-D outputs, which is cute. Some even have sound too, although presumably that would require isochronous support.

Hmm, maybe one day…

Hi Dave,

I was quite successful hunting for USB graphics card with DisplayLink chipset by downloading the respective windows drivers and inspecting them if the are from DisplayLink!

Try e.g. Delock 61644 “USB 2.0 to DVI VGA HDMI Adapter” (delock.co.uk, the “Multimedia”), the .exe inside the archive is called “DisplayLink….exe”!

I think the MIMO monitors sold by NewIT also have DisplayLink chipsets.

I think the MIMO monitors sold by NewIT also have DisplayLink chipsets.

They certainly do – I’ve got one sat on a shelf waiting for when I can be bothered to try getting it to work properly with my Linux box (or for someone to write a RISC OS driver ;-))

I think a DisplayLink driver has to be my next USB project.

Dave, let me know if you need any advice on that – I was the person who wrote libdlo

Dave, let me know if you need any advice on that – I was the person who wrote libdlo

Wow, thanks, Steve. I’m sure I will be contacting you for that. I need to order a device – but I have some unfinished business on the CMOS RAM functionality first.

Don’t overlook the fact that it’s not going to be a simple job to get this working properly though. A relatively simple job, such as implementing a library similar to ‘libdlo’ would certainly be a start. I love the idea of having a little LCD display next to my monitors which just has one thing in it (e.g. my email inbox) even when the main monitors are switched off.

for those seeking a USB monitor: I just got myself a Samsung SPF-107H which is a digital photoframe 1024×600 that can double as a USB monitor. looks nice and is in desperate need of a RISC OS driver ;-)

heck.. shouted too soon. the SPF-107H is NOT a display link device! Samsung apparently uses some proprietary communication protocol :-(

There are a few listed at carcomputer.co.uk. Most are only 800×480 resolution, although the Lilliput UM80-NP/T is 800×600 and the Lilliput UM1010-NP/T is 1024×576. Maybe there’s something there worth considering, if they’re DisplayLink.

This device uses the standard DisplayLink drivers and also provides both USB and network interfaces.
You can also connect upto 4 machines to it at once (using the USB over network drivers).

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/251768

£34.81 is pretty much the cheapest device i’ve seen.