DisplayLink Releases USB Display Drivers under LGPL
Universal Serial Bus (USB) is becoming true to its name by providing universal access to monitors, this time for Linux.
The technology behind connecting multiple monitors over USB ports isn't new, but was available previously only to Windows and Mac drivers. Now chipmaker DisplayLink has taken up the gauntlet for Linux. According to LinuxDevices.com and the Palo Alto CA company's own press release, DisplayLink released the source code for the previous driver under LGPL. It is also working with Novell and the Linux Driver Project (LDP) to offer the driver to a wider audience and officially integrate it into the Linux kernel.
USB provides "plug-and-display simplicity" when coupling monitors, such as when attaching a larger monitor to a mobile phone or MP3 player. The monitors or adapters must have one of the DisplayLink "Alex" chips on board. The DL-120 has a maximum 1280 x 1024 resolution, while the DL-160 has a 1600 x 1200 resolution, both with 32-bit True Color depth.
The DisplayLink USB driver source code is available on FreeDesktop.org.
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