Arch Linux

gestalt

Member

Registered: 2017-06-30

Posts: 9

Two external monitors with docking station and thunderbolt 3

Hey guys. I wanna EXTEND my space with two external monitors through the Lenovo Thunderbolt 3 Docking Station Gen 2.
I tested it with a Windows Laptop and it worked flawlessly.

My initial xrandr output

xrandr | grep connected
eDP-1 connected primary 1920x1080+2560+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 344mm x 194mm
eDP-1-2 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
HDMI-1-1 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
eDP-1-3 connected 2560x1440+0+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 597mm x 336mm
eDP-1-4 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
DP-1-1 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)

I can successfully extend my monitor with xrandr --output eDP-1 --primary --auto --output eDP-1-3 --left-of eDP-1 --auto

But it mirrors the output on both monitors. Now I wonder if something is going on with thunderbolt 3. I use bolt to get some info.

 boltctl
 ● Lenovo ThinkPad Thunderbolt 3 Dock
   ├─ type:          peripheral
   ├─ name:          ThinkPad Thunderbolt 3 Dock
   ├─ vendor:        Lenovo
   ├─ uuid:          00cbe088-417d-0801-ffff-ffffffffffff
   ├─ generation:    Thunderbolt 3
   ├─ status:        authorized
   │  ├─ domain:     cd010000-00a0-ac1e-8384-ee2598e43125
   │  ├─ rx speed:   40 Gb/s = 2 lanes * 20 Gb/s
   │  ├─ tx speed:   40 Gb/s = 2 lanes * 20 Gb/s
   │  └─ authflags:  none
   ├─ authorized:    Fri 05 Mar 2021 07:56:11 AM UTC
   ├─ connected:     Fri 05 Mar 2021 07:56:11 AM UTC
   └─ stored:        Fri 05 Mar 2021 09:02:34 AM UTC
      ├─ policy:     iommu
      └─ key:        no

Anybody has an idea?

fistrosan

Member

Registered: 2020-04-01

Posts: 171

Re: Two external monitors with docking station and thunderbolt 3

I have had many problems using the Lenovo thunderbolt 3 docking station. I suggest to make sure that you have the latest firmware for the docking station and thunderbolt 3 via fwupdmgr https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Le … (fwupdmgr).

And, then finally, once you have all that under control, I would definitely use a tool such as arandr to set up the monitors the way you like and then store a script that you can run. In my case I have two 2560x1440 external screens connected to the docking station plus the laptop screen as such:

xrandr --output DP-1.2 --primary --mode 2560x1440 --pos 1920x0 --rotate normal --output DP-1.3
 --mode 2560x1440 --pos 4480x0 --rotate normal --output eDP-1-1 --mode 1920x1080 --pos 0x0 --rotate normal

The above was produced by arandr.

gestalt

Member

Registered: 2017-06-30

Posts: 9

Re: Two external monitors with docking station and thunderbolt 3

I have had many problems using the Lenovo thunderbolt 3 docking station. I suggest to make sure that you have the latest firmware for the docking station and thunderbolt 3 via fwupdmgr https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Le … (fwupdmgr).

And, then finally, once you have all that under control, I would definitely use a tool such as arandr to set up the monitors the way you like and then store a script that you can run. In my case I have two 2560x1440 external screens connected to the docking station plus the laptop screen as such:

xrandr --output DP-1.2 --primary --mode 2560x1440 --pos 1920x0 --rotate normal --output DP-1.3
 --mode 2560x1440 --pos 4480x0 --rotate normal --output eDP-1-1 --mode 1920x1080 --pos 0x0 --rotate normal

The above was produced by arandr.

k thanks for the input.

I'll check when Im back in office and report. Might take a while