DisplayLink (formerly Newnham Research) is a

semiconductor A semiconductor is a material which has an electrical conductivity value falling between that of a conductor, such as copper, and an insulator, such as glass. Its resistivity falls as its temperature rises; metals behave in the opposite way. ...

and

software Software is a set of computer programs and associated documentation and data. This is in contrast to hardware, from which the system is built and which actually performs the work. At the lowest programming level, executable code consists o ...

technology company. They develop the DisplayLink USB graphics technology, which is designed to connect computers and displays using USB, Ethernet, and WiFi. It also allows multiple displays to be connected to a single computer. DisplayLink's primary customers are notebook OEMs LCD monitor manufacturers and PC accessory vendors supporting the Microsoft Windows, macOS, Android, ChromeOS and Linux operating systems. DisplayLink operates worldwide with offices in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territo ...

, the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and Nor ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

, and

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the northeast ...

. The company is privately funded and by 2013 had raised $75 million in financing from venture capital organizations

Atlas Venture Atlas Venture is an early-stage venture capital firm that invests in life sciences startup companies in the U.S. Atlas is headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where the majority of its investments are located. Atlas rolled out its eleventh b ...

Balderton Capital Balderton Capital is a venture capital firm based in London, UK, that invests in early-stage, technology and internet startup companies in Europe. It is considered to be among the four-biggest venture capital firms in the English capital. Foun ...

, Cipio Partners

DAG Ventures DAG Ventures is an American venture capital firm based in Palo Alto, California. DAG Ventures works with startups in providing early stage and growth stage funding. Since its founding in 2004, by Tom Goodrich and John Cadeddu, the firm has backed ...

and

DFJ Esprit Draper Fisher Jurvetson (DFJ) is an American venture capital firm focused on investments in enterprise, consumer and disruptive technologies. In January 2019, DFJ Venture, the early-stage team, spun out and formed Threshold Ventures. DFJ Growt ...

Company history

DisplayLink was founded in 2003 as Newnham Research by Dr.

Quentin Stafford-Fraser James Quentin Stafford-Fraser is a computer scientist and entrepreneur based in Cambridge, England. He was one of the team that created the first webcam, the Trojan room coffee pot. Quentin pointed a camera at the coffee pot and wrote the XCoff ...

and Martin King. The Newnham Research team invented NIVO (Network In, Video Out) designed for low cost thin client computing over

Ethernet Ethernet () is a family of wired computer networking technologies commonly used in local area networks (LAN), metropolitan area networks (MAN) and wide area networks (WAN). It was commercially introduced in 1980 and first standardized in 19 ...

networks. The company referred to these thin-client computers as network displays. In 2006, Newnham Research launched its first commercially available product in partnership with the

Kensington Computer Products Group ACCO Brands Corporation is an American multinational company and is one of the world's largest designers, manufacturers, and marketers of premium business, technology, academic, and consumer products. It was created by the merger of ACCO World ...

: a

USB Universal Serial Bus (USB) is an industry standard that establishes specifications for cables, connectors and protocols for connection, communication and power supply ( interfacing) between computers, peripherals and other computers. A broad ...

2.0 universal laptop docking station designed for the retail market. In November 2006, Newnham Research renamed itself to DisplayLink, a name that allegedly better described their display connection technology. Note the name is very similar to

DisplayPort DisplayPort (DP) is a digital display interface developed by a consortium of PC and chip manufacturers and standardized by the Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA). It is primarily used to connect a video source to a display device su ...

which was approved by VESA earlier that year. DisplayLink launched its first

product family, the DL-120 and DL-160 USB 2.0 graphics devices, in January 2007, signalling an important change in the company's business plan from FPGA-based systems to semiconductors. The DL-120 and DL-160 allow up to six additional monitors to be added to a PC through USB 2.0. In May 2009, DisplayLink launched its second semiconductor product family, the DL-125, DL-165, and DL-195 USB 2.0 graphics devices. This DL-1x5 family brings improved performance, an increase in maximum resolution to 2048x1152, and the integration of a

DVI Digital Visual Interface (DVI) is a video display interface developed by the Digital Display Working Group (DDWG). The digital interface is used to connect a video source, such as a video display controller, to a display device, such as a comp ...

transmitter and video DAC. The first products to ship with the new DL-1x5 chips were the

Samsung The Samsung Group (or simply Samsung) ( ko, 삼성 ) is a South Korean multinational manufacturing conglomerate headquartered in Samsung Town, Seoul, South Korea. It comprises numerous affiliated businesses, most of them united under the ...

Lapfit LD190G and LD220G monitors. On November 17, 2009, DisplayLink announced their first

Thin Client In computer networking, a thin client is a simple (low- performance) computer that has been optimized for establishing a remote connection with a server-based computing environment. They are sometimes known as ''network computers'', or in t ...

product based on their USB 2.0 virtual graphics technology, designed for Microsoft

Windows MultiPoint Server Windows MultiPoint Server is an operating system based on Microsoft Windows Server using Remote Desktop Services technology to host multiple simultaneous independent computing stations or terminals connected to a single computer ( multiseat comp ...

. Thin client manufacturer HP was the first to announce a product based on DisplayLink USB Graphics technology with the launch of the t100 Thin Client. At the

Consumer Electronics Show CES (; formerly an initialism for Consumer Electronics Show) is an annual trade show organized by the Consumer Technology Association (CTA). Held in January at the Las Vegas Convention Center in Winchester, Nevada, United States, the event typi ...

(CES) in 2012, DisplayLink announced several products incorporating video and graphics over a

USB 3.0 USB 3.0, released in November 2008, is the third major version of the Universal Serial Bus (USB) standard for interfacing computers and electronic devices. Among other improvements, USB 3.0 adds the new transfer rate referred to as '' ...

SuperSpeed USB USB 3.0, released in November 2008, is the third major version of the Universal Serial Bus (USB) standard for interfacing computers and electronic devices. Among other improvements, USB 3.0 adds the new transfer rate referred to as '' ...

" connection, showing substantial improvements in performance, resolution support, and video quality. At CES in 2013, DisplayLink demonstrated USB Power Delivery in which a standard USB cable is used to charge a laptop computer. At CES in 2016, DisplayLink announced their latest docking chip, DL-6000 series, to support dual 4Kp60 over USB 3.0. At CES in 2017, DisplayLink demonstrated Wireless VR using DisplayLink graphics over a wireless 60 GHz link. On the 31st August 2020 DisplayLink was sold to

Synaptics Synaptics is a publicly owned San Jose, California-based developer of human interface (HMI) hardware and software, including touchpads for computer laptops; touch, display driver, and fingerprint biometrics technology for smartphones; and touch, ...

Technology

The DisplayLink network graphics technology is composed of Virtual Graphics Card (VGC) software that is installed on a PC and a Hardware Rendering Engine (HRE) embedded or connected to a display device. The DisplayLink VGC software is based on a proprietary adaptive graphics technology. The VGC software runs on a

Windows Windows is a group of several Proprietary software, proprietary graphical user interface, graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, W ...

macOS macOS (; previously OS X and originally Mac OS X) is a Unix operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc. since 2001. It is the primary operating system for Apple's Mac computers. Within the market of desktop and lap ...

, or

Linux Linux ( or ) is a family of open-source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged as a Linux distribution, which in ...

host PC and takes information from the graphics adapter and compresses the changes to the display from the last update and sends it over any standard network including USB, Wireless USB, Ethernet, and Wi-Fi. After receiving the data, the HRE then transforms it back into pixels to be displayed on the monitor. While the basic network graphics technology can be used on a variety of network interfaces (

, and

Wi-Fi Wi-Fi () is a family of wireless network Communication protocol, protocols, based on the IEEE 802.11 family of standards, which are commonly used for Wireless LAN, local area networking of devices and Internet access, allowing nearby digital d ...

), DisplayLink has to date only designed products around

2.0,

, and

Wireless USB Wireless USB (Universal Serial Bus) was a short-range, high-bandwidth wireless radio communication protocol created by the Wireless USB Promoter Group which intended to increase the availability of general USB-based technologies. It was unrelat ...

connectivity. Products with DisplayLink technology are supported on

Windows 10 Windows 10 is a major release of Microsoft's Windows NT operating system. It is the direct successor to Windows 8.1, which was released nearly two years earlier. It was released to manufacturing on July 15, 2015, and later to retail on ...

Windows 8 Windows 8 is a major release of the Windows NT operating system developed by Microsoft. It was released to manufacturing on August 1, 2012; it was subsequently made available for download via MSDN and TechNet on August 15, 2012, and later to ...

Windows 7 Windows 7 is a major release of the Windows NT operating system developed by Microsoft. It was Software release life cycle#Release to manufacturing (RTM), released to manufacturing on July 22, 2009, and became generally available on October 22, ...

Windows Vista Windows Vista is a major release of the Windows NT operating system developed by Microsoft. It was the direct successor to Windows XP, which was released five years before, at the time being the longest time span between successive releases of ...

Windows XP Windows XP is a major release of Microsoft's Windows NT operating system. It was released to manufacturing on August 24, 2001, and later to retail on October 25, 2001. It is a direct upgrade to its predecessors, Windows 2000 for high-end and ...

, Android,

ChromeOS ChromeOS, sometimes stylized as chromeOS and formerly styled as Chrome OS, is a Linux-based operating system designed by Google. It is derived from the open-source ChromiumOS and uses the Google Chrome web browser as its principal user interfac ...

and

Ubuntu Ubuntu ( ) is a Linux distribution based on Debian and composed mostly of free and open-source software. Ubuntu is officially released in three editions: '' Desktop'', ''Server'', and ''Core'' for Internet of things devices and robots. All the ...

IC Generations

DL-1x0

The DL-1x0 series were the first generation of DisplayLink ICs, launched in January 2007. The family consisted of 2 products: DL-120 and DL-160, differentiated by the maximum resolution supported by the device. DL-120 supported up to 1280x1024/1400x1050 and DL-160 up to 1600x1200/1680x1050. The ICs supported a USB 2.0 input and a 24bit RGB output or LVDS output. Additional chips needed in the design are an EEPROM and DDR Memory. If the design required an Analog RGB (VGA) or DVI output an additional chip was needed to convert the 24bit RGB output to VGA or DVI. The DisplayLink website no longer shows the DL-1x0 ICs available, so are presumed to be no longer available (as of February 2013).

DL-1x5

The DL-1x5 series were introduced in May 2009. The family consists of 4 products: DL-115, DL-125, DL-165 and DL-195, again differentiated by the maximum resolution supported by the device. Features of the DL-1x5 family are: * Integrated DVI, VGA, TTL and LVDS (FPI) * Dual core design (DL-195/DL-165) * Maximum resolution supported: 2048 x 1152 * Integrated USB 2.0 * DisplayLink DL 2+ Compression

DL-3xxx

The DL-3x00 series was first demonstrated at IDF in September 2011. It supports dual video outputs (DL-3900 and DL-3950) and integrated 5.1 audio and Gigabit Ethernet. It also integrated a new compression scheme, called DL3.0 and content protection using HDCP 2.0 encryption. The DL-3xxx IC won the Best of CES Innovations 2011 Design and Engineering Award Honoree.

DL-41xx

The DL-41xx series came out in 2013. It is a USB 3.0 to LVDS device, supporting DL3 compression and HDCP 2.0 encryption. It is designed to be embedded into monitors to enable USB as a video input on displays. It is described as a low power device, which enables it to be powered from the USB bus without the need for an external power supply. Power and video data can be delivered over a single cable. The IC has been integrated into a number of portable USB displays from AOC, ASUS and Taeseok.

DL-5xxx

The DL-5xxx series was the first USB 3.0 graphics chipset to support 4K UHD resolutions. The chipset was launched in 2014 at Interop.

DL-6xxx

The DL-6xxx series was announced at CES 2016. This chip supports dual 4Kp60 displays over a USB-C or USB Standard A connector.

OS Support

DisplayLink technology does not install any hardware on the USB host device, therefore a driver must be installed. DisplayLink drivers for several operating systems are available.

Microsoft Windows

The current DisplayLink drivers (June 2017) support Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 8.1 and Windows 10. Support for Windows XP (32bit only) and Windows Vista is available with older DisplayLink driver versions. There is no support for Windows RT versions.

macOS

DisplayLink drivers are available for OS X 10.8 and later but newer DisplayLink chipsets require newer versions of the driver, which in turn require more recent macOS versions. DisplayLink confirmed that macOS version 10.13.4 through 10.13.6 broke compatibility with their driver. DisplayLink is supported on macOS 10.14. macOS 10.13.4 introduced support for external graphics processors also known as eGPUs.

Android

An Android app was made available in the Google Play store, called DisplayLink Desktop, in May 2015, however it is only available for Android 5.0 Lollipop, and later.

Linux

The current generation of USB3 chips is supported by a binary-only driver on Ubuntu. The Linux kernel 3.4 also contains a basic DisplayLink driver. A DisplayLink driver installer for Debian and Ubuntu based Linux distribution (Elementary OS, Mint, Kali, Deepin, etc.) is available as part of displaylink-debian project. There was a DisplayLink-supported open source project called libdlo with the goal of bringing support to

and other platforms. There are also unofficial reverse-engineered specifications available for older revisions of DisplayLink technology.

ChromeOS

DisplayLink enabled devices can be used on

from R51 onwards.

Criticism

Summer 2012 10.8 OS X problems were addressed by a new DisplayLink Mac driver announced at the 2013

. An article on DisplayLink's website said that minor issues under Mavericks (October 2013) and

Yosemite Yosemite National Park ( ) is an American national park in California, surrounded on the southeast by Sierra National Forest and on the northwest by Stanislaus National Forest. The park is managed by the National Park Service and covers an ar ...

(October 2014) were being resolved in collaboration with Apple. Customers have also complained that DisplayLink USB3 video certified technologies have falsely advertised support for Linux, or not stated that it is OS dependent when running the Display link 3xxx/41xx chipset. DisplayLink finally responded to this in August 2015 by releasing a binary driver for Ubuntu, which supports all current USB 3.0 ICs. It is unclear if other Linux distributions will have DisplayLink support, however details on how to port the driver to other distributions have been provided on the DisplayLink website. An independent review determined that DisplayLink use leads to significantly higher

CPU A central processing unit (CPU), also called a central processor, main processor or just processor, is the electronic circuitry that executes instructions comprising a computer program. The CPU performs basic arithmetic, logic, controlling, and ...

utilization compared to displays connected by native video interfaces.

References

External links

*
DisplayLink Zero Client Overview

DisplayLink Linux Project (libdlo)

Unofficial DisplayLink Hardware Specs
{{DEFAULTSORT:Displaylink Companies based in Cambridge Fabless semiconductor companies Thin clients Companies established in 2003 Semiconductor companies of the United States