XPS 15 (9560) with WD19 Dual display in Ubuntu

Question

I recently purchased a WD19 dock for my laptop with the intention of using it with two displays. Currently my device registers the two screens, but can only use them at a maximum of FHD instead of their native resolution QHD.

I am running Ubuntu 20.04 with Thunderbolt Direct GPU Access enabled. I do not see the dock listed under attached Thunderbolt devices.

Both the dock and the laptop have been updated to the latest BIOS / firmware.

Is what I am trying to achieve possible? Is there a Linux driver that I am missing?

Thanks in advance.

jphughan · Answer

@wew74  The regular WD19 is not a Thunderbolt dock. It is a regular USB-C dock, which is probably why you’re not seeing it as a Thunderbolt device. And since the XPS 15 9560 only supports DP 1.2/HBR2 over USB-C/TB3, a regular USB-C dock on that system will only allow dual displays up to 1920x1200, or a single display up to 1440p. A Thunderbolt dock like the WD19TB when paired with that system would allow dual displays up to 4K 60 Hz. But if you don’t want to replace the dock, your best workaround would be to connect one of the displays to the system’s built-in HDMI output so that its bandwidth requirements don’t have to be met over the USB-C link.

XPS

XPS 15 (9560) with WD19 Dual display in Ubuntu

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