I am running Qubes OS v4.1.0 on a Librem 14v1 laptop. I intend to typically use this at my desk with a dual-monitor, USB-A mouse, and USB-A keyboard setup. I would strongly prefer to use a dock so that I don’t need to constantly plug/unplug these 4 items into the laptop each time I want to work away from my desk, so I’m looking for a dock. For the display ports, I suppose HDMI or DisplayPort would do. I anticipate that such a port would connect to the laptop via USB-C, of which I have x2 (as well as x2 USB-A), but no Tunderbolt support.
This is not a request for just any dock that has these 4 ports, but I’m hoping someone can tell me of a dock they’ve used that works well with Qubes OS v4.1.0 (or at least v4.0) and meets these criteria. I would also strongly prefer to not have to install new drivers if possible (in that case, I may prefer to just not use a dock).
I’ve found a Cable Matters dock (https://www.amazon.com/Cable-Matters-Multiport-DisplayPort-Ethernet/dp/B0746NKVBN) that may work, but am not sure how well this plays with Qubes or if there is something better. I do acknowledge that this has Thunderbolt support, whereas my laptop does not, but it appears it may work over non-Thunderbolt USB-C unless I’m not understanding or reading this correctly.
For anyone interested, the dock I mentioned in the original post works pretty well with Qubes OS without needing to manually install drivers.
The only issue I’ve run into is the system usually crashes during boot-up with the dock plugged in. When this happens, it eventually takes me to a LUKS decryption screen which I’ve never seen before, but freezes here. If anyone has any idea what may cause this or how to fix it, please share.
I haven’t tried Ethernet, but am guessing it would work. I’m not anywhere near a LAN port, so it would be a pain for me to test this.
Unplugging/replugging does work without reboot for the displays. The only annoying thing here is it always defaults to mirroring to all 3 displays (laptop, x2 external display). You then need to go to [Start Button] > System Tools > Display and configure your displays. Pro tip: Once you set up your displays, you can save them in a configuration in the Advanced tab in the Display settings. This saves me time each time I plug the dock in. I also have a USB mouse and USB keyboard plugged into the dock. When I plug the dock into Librem, I just need to attach them to the appropriate qube.
One other thing I should mention is Qubes OS often crashes on me (~90% of the time) during boot up with the dock plugged in, requiring doing a force-shutdown. The frustrating thing about this is it will work a few times in a row, then crash many times in a row. It could be in my head, but there may be a race condition here because if I boot from the PureBoot menu with a specific timing, it appears as though I can reduce the chance it will crash. If I can’t get it to boot with the dock plugged in, I will just boot without it, then plug it in once I log into the desktop environment.
I have not tried a Dell dock. I went with a Cable Matters dock because it is one of the only ones that claims Linux support, for whatever that’s worth, and it is cheap.
Yes. I am using two external monitors via DisplayPort from the dock. I didn’t need to install any drivers or do other setup. The only issue I’ve run into is some crashing during boot up with the dock plugged in - see my previous reply to peterle in this post.
I couldn’t order the Cable matters dock here in Europe. However, I had a old Lenovo hub laying around that works. I think it would be very useful to collect working hubs in a thread. I have created a dedicated thread: Can you maybe add your dock there?