I have an older USB DisplayLink dock that was not even branded with a maker or model number. I bought it in 2014 from CableWholesale.com and the part number was 90U3-10100 on their site. It is no longer available, but after loading the DisplayLink drivers for Ubuntu, I did get it to function for video on Ubuntu 21.10. The resolution was basically unusable so I tested almost nothing else. I’m only adding these details in case someone else is looking to buy and wants to know what works/doesn’t ahead of time. I am going to be purchasing one of the docks listed in the links above.
I received my Anker Apex docking station and it seems to be doing well so far with 2 monitors. I did not like the look of having my speakers plug into the front of the dock so I purchased a Creative Sound Blaster Play 3 USB audio card. From an aesthetic perspective I do like how it looks better. I am thinking of buying a USB hub for the other USB-C/Thunderbolt port on the front of the dock with a few USB 3.0 ports and a USB-C port. I do not know if such an animal exists but I will be looking for one tomorrow.
I only have one problem that I have not been able to solve yet. I would like for the docking station to turn on/off my laptop from the dock’s power button. Anybody get that to work yet?
Yes, that’s an easy one. Just enable “Power on on AC Power” on the BIOS, that’s all there is to it.
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Do you know if the on/off switch on dock works to turn on Framework?
It does not, but I haven’t changed the settings Carlos called out before you. I’ll try and make the changes this week and retry to see what happens.
Thank you Carlos, the dock now turns on the power to the laptop. In my search for a USB hub I found one just released by EZQuest. It is a 7-port hub with 4 USB-C and 3 USB-3.0. ports. The specific specs are as follows.
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- 3X USB-C Gen-2 10Gbs Ports
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- USB-C 5V/3A for charging if PD is connected if not 5V/1A
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- 1X 100 Watts USB-C with Power Delivery 3.0/5Gbs Data
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- 3X USB 3.0 5Gbs Ports
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- USB-A 5V/0.9A for charging
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- Shared total charging for this hub is 15-18 Watts
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- Thunderbolt 3/4 Compatible
Since it is Thunderbolt 4 compatible it should pair nicely with the Anker Apex which is Thunderbolt 4 only and does not support earlier Thunderbolt versions. I would think it would also work if it is directly plugged into the laptop. These are not on Amazon yet so they have to be purchased from the EZQuest website. I think I am going to give it a try and see what happens. Link to the unit is down below. If anyone else has one please let me know your experience with it.
Sorry, bad link. It did not include the ‘L’ in HTML. Here is the corrected link
I can confirm the Framework laptop (Fifth batch) works well with the Dell hub monitor and secondary external monitor.
Dell WD19TB - Windows 11 - Triple monitor working at 1920x1080 60hz, 2x DP to HDMI, 1x HDMI.
Ethernet working through dock
Audio working through dock
Only cable plugged into the Framework laptop is the dock itself.
All dell firmware and drivers installed.
A recommendation: If it’s working for you, don’t update the firmware. Ever.
Firmware “upgrades” to TB16 made mine go from working OK to having all kind of problems.
I used to love my Dell XPS 13 + TB16 combination back then, but Framework + Anker blows it out of the water.
Regarding Dell dock WD19TB, I’ve had zero issues with it on Manjaro. power/charging works, display port + HDMI output (with audio) works. I’ve not tried upgrading firmware with fwupd.
Any specific tests someone wants me to run?
Does the power button (on the dock) work? (i.e. can it turn on the laptop from totally off, sleep, etc)
@Carlos_Fernandez_San i also have the wd19tb and the power button does NOT seem to do anything with the laptop. That being said there is a bios to power on when ac plugged in and I wonder if that would work.
I have a Corsair TBT100 dock that I use with my MBP for work and it mostly seems to work with the Framework laptop. The USB hub, Ethernet, etc, all work. However, even though the dock supports 2 monitors at 4k60, only one will work at a time using the Framework. If I reconnect the dock or reboot the Framework it’s random which monitor will power on. Also, if anyone knows why this behavior might be happening under both Manjaro Linux and Windows 10, I would appreciate it.
Does anyone here have the Cable Matters Hybrid Thunderbolt 3 dock (107044)?
Amazon.com: Cable Matters Hybrid 14-Port Thunderbolt 3 Dock/USB C Dock with Dual 4K 60Hz (2 HDMI/2 DP), Gigabit Ethernet, 96w Charging and More for Mac and Windows - Compatible with USB4 and Thunderbolt 4 Port : Electronics
I have one which works just fine with two HDMI-connected 1080p monitors on an HP 10th gen i7 laptop, but with the Framework i5 I can only get one of the two monitors working.
I haven’t tried to use Displayport on the other monitor yet and will do so shortly.
Received my VisionTek VT4500 dock and it seems to work for 2 HDMI monitors, mouse and ethernet just fine.
However when the dock is powered and connected to the laptop, the computer (Win 10) will not power on. The on/off button lights up, the screen subtly flashes, but then nothing appears.
Any ideas?
Bought a J5Create USB-C Triple Display (JCD543P) Docking station from Costco online. It needs a driver which is available from the J5Create website. I am not a gamer so I will probably never use the triple monitor feature but I have senior eyes so I am running it now with a 5 year old Dell 23" external monitor using an HDMI cable, audio out to external speakers using the 3.5mm audio jack and USB A port, a USB A keyboard and a USB A dongle for a wireless mouse. It setup easily with no problems evident after 1 day. It comes with a 100-watt power supply for pass through USB C charging of my Framework which also seems to be working fine. I currently only have Windows 10 installed. Will update with my experience after Windows 11 upgrade and possible Linux install in the future.
I have been using a Baseus 6-in-1 docking station from AliExpress.
At first I encountered some “slow charging” and intermittent disconnection issues while using the Framework PSU, so I upgraded to a higher-wattage third-party supply (Aukey and Anker both did the trick).
I use HDMI, Ethernet, and occasionally one or two USB ports (webcam, headset) via this dock rather than directly from the laptop so that I can more easily unplug my laptop for use elsewhere.
Today I had a frustrating issue in Windows 10 where my Ethernet connection would drop and only come back up after I rebooted or unplugged/re-plugged the docking station. I tried moving to a different USB-C port by swapping my HDMI and USB-C ports, but it is unclear if this made a difference (the problem happened again, but seems to have taken longer for the problem to start for the first time from boot).
I think this is attributable to the dock, although I also lost my WiFi connection at the same time (repeatedly!) so it could de something else. Of course this was taking place during a Zoom meeting for paid tutoring sessions so it was very embarrasing and also made serious troubleshooting tricky. And so far it seems only to be happening while I use Zoom, which is odd but does make sense in that Zoom is an application that uses multiple peripherals simulteanously via the docking station (webcam, headset, HDMI, and streaming audio/video via the Ethernet connection).
Until I can get to the bottom of this by troubleshooting in detail I would say this particular cheap docking station is probably not a good option.
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Follow up to my earlier post on the J5Create docking station. Upgraded to Windows 11 and docking station operates as before. No problems.
What are you doing connecting any from Aliexpress to your Framework 
That’s borderline heretic
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