Arch Linux

iantom

Member

Registered: 2020-08-27

Posts: 2

Is wireless display (miracast..) on roadmap?

The support for Wireless display is out-of-box for windows 10 (and Android) and working pretty smoothly nowadays. But it seems to me there still no much progress for Linux:

- there are no much info available on Arch Wiki
- few posts (eg. https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=252723) on this forum, neither got good answers.
- I tried https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/gnome-network-displays step by step, but failed to cast my dual-boot laptop (win10 + manjaro xfce) to tv when running manjaro. ( for the same hardware it is pretty smooth casting win10 to the same tv on the same wlan)

Yes, the feature is import to me and I bet wireless display would become mainstream in near future, if not yet. So I would like to know whether it be on the roadmap. Any info is appreciated. Thanks.

P.S. This is my first post here but I have been learning a lot from Arch Wiki.

twelveeighty

Member

Registered: 2011-09-04

Posts: 1,456

Re: Is wireless display (miracast..) on roadmap?

If you are running Manjaro, you missed an important step when signing up for these forums: they are for Arch Linux only. Please post on the forums of your distribution instead.

The various software projects that are needed for wireless displays are done by volunteers and community driven. If you want something that's currently not running or not running well: roll up your sleeves, get involved and help out.

Last edited by twelveeighty (2020-08-27 13:54:15)

seth

Member

From: Won't reply 2 private help req

Registered: 2012-09-03

Posts: 77,641

Re: Is wireless display (miracast..) on roadmap?

I bet wireless display would become mainstream in near future, if not yet

You lost.

Miracast is
a) shit according to everyone who's worked on implementations (the protocol as well as mostly unavailable extensions to the HDMI stack) - intel (!) silently gave up on it.
b) dead (android doesn't use it anymore, Apple never did, the implementation in receiving devices is chinese roulette, samsung has its own thing …)

Despite being an "open" standard, you've to pay quite a fee to actually see the specs.
Google has turned to google cast which casts content, not output. Miracast was dropped w/ iirc android 6.0

Linux implementations showed up around 2014 as miraclecast and wds (the latter being the intel approach) but never went beyond POC state.

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V1del

Forum Moderator

Registered: 2012-10-16

Posts: 25,352

Re: Is wireless display (miracast..) on roadmap?

I'll leave this open as it poses a more general question that will be applicable to a wide variety of linux systems, but be aware of our rules regarding Manjaro if you happen to have any other questions which are more specific to your system.

Last edited by V1del (2020-08-27 15:12:38)

zebulon

Member

Registered: 2008-10-20

Posts: 385

Re: Is wireless display (miracast..) on roadmap?

Having searched a way to do this, I can also report my experience. Computer runs Arch (obviously...) and TV is a Q7FN 2018 from Samsung.

I was able to do a Miraclecast connection to the TV using instructions given at https://github.com/albfan/miraclecast/issues/47. However, that is just that, a connection (the TV acknowledges the connection) and as explained on the same link, you need to stream a flux to get an image to your TV. The thread suggests cvlc, which used, but I did not find which app to use on the TV to read that stream. Using a Samsung phone, this works automatically, I am wondering which mechanism is behind this (maybe a specific port)? Anyway, miracast has a big disadvantage: you need to use a Wifi adapter dedicated for this, meaning you lose Internet connection on the PC.

Then I tried Steam. Steam Link app is available for Samsung smart TV. And this works great. I was able to command using a Steam Controler (in Blutooth mode) from the TV. I was also able to exit big picture, leading to being able to see and use the underlying Linux desktop. Unfortunately, I had to use a virtual keyboard, but this is a good enough solution for me. Maybe a blutooth keyboard would be useable as well?

iantom

Member

Registered: 2020-08-27

Posts: 2

Re: Is wireless display (miracast..) on roadmap?

Thank @seth @zebulon for the info.
I guess I am not the last one looking for wireless display solution on (Arch) Linux, who had some user experience with miracast/chromecast/airplay, but had not enough knowledge/experience of DIY or implementation of the subject.  So to sum up:

-- As of 2020 miracast is mainly adopted by windows and the future of the protocol is still uncertain.
-- there doesn't seem to be any driven development resource on Linux about miracast.
-- gnome-network-displays might be a solution. And it doesn't stop the wifi connection. (but in my case I was trying to cast to a LG webos TV, which is on the list of tested device according to the project's Readme.md, and just got connected for one second before some error occurs.)
-- Miraclecast (cf.#5 above) is an implementation of the protocol, but one need do more to cast screen and would lost wifi internet during the casting.

While, I think I just need to move on -- many other "projects" to do/learn besides my regular job. BTW, I also running Arch in VM.

Thanks again for the great Arch Wiki and all the contributors.

ondoho

Member

Registered: 2013-04-30

Posts: 692

Website

Re: Is wireless display (miracast..) on roadmap?

This question is not really distro-specific anyhow.
I'm not sure about the technical requirements, but I'm sure people are working on it.
Searching the AUR for miracast brings up a few things. Did you delve into the topic at all?
Complaining that it isn't quite there yet is the same as complaining that they don't work fast enough.
Two ways to solve this:

• be capable enough to help them make it faster

• pay money for them to work faster

ugjka

Member

From: Latvia

Registered: 2014-04-01

Posts: 1,957

Website

Re: Is wireless display (miracast..) on roadmap?

I wonder if you could use OBS to encode your screen and then use Chromecast to ship the encode to your TV

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progandy

Member

Registered: 2012-05-17

Posts: 5,321

Re: Is wireless display (miracast..) on roadmap?

It looks like there was some work done in iwd to enable miracast.

https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page= … st-Display

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saint613

Member

Registered: 2020-06-25

Posts: 11

Re: Is wireless display (miracast..) on roadmap?

Easier to buy a chromecast device, plug it into your TV and use Stream2Chromecast for linux. Miracast's performance is crap

zebulon

Member

Registered: 2008-10-20

Posts: 385

Re: Is wireless display (miracast..) on roadmap?

As far as I understand, Samsung smart TVs from 2017 onwards have a Chromecast-like feature called "Smart View". I wonder if there is any Linux implementation that would allow to cast to a TV. Would avoid having to buy a Chromecast device.