DisplayLink Is Already Looking Towards Linux 2.6.37

The Linux 2.6.36-rc1 kernel was released earlier in the week and while it will still be a couple months until the Linux 2.6.36 kernel will be officially released, the developers behind the open-source DisplayLink graphics driver are already looking forward to the Linux 2.6.37 kernel. This next kernel release that will make it out in early 2011 will bring new features and fixes to this driver that supports many graphics products over USB.

While the Linux 2.6.36 kernel cycle is still young, due in part to the more strict rules as of late by Linus Torvalds in regards to merge/pull requests after the first release candidate is christened, the DisplayLink developers are already talking about what's on the table for the Linux 2.6.37 kernel with regards to their driver. It's been not even a year and a half since DisplayLink began pursuing Linux support for their GPU adapters used over USB and they began their Linux support push by releasing some open-source libraries and then in June came open-source frame-buffer and X.Org drivers.

The DisplayLink graphics support on Linux has been quick to mature in subsequent kernel releases and has already been used in interesting ways such as to run nine monitors over USB on Linux. While this driver has been in the mainline kernel for a few releases now, it's been living within the Linux "staging" area, but this too may change with the Linux 2.6.37 kernel.

DisplayLink adapters with Linux 2.6.37 will support DPMS (Display Power Management Signaling) via the standard X interfaces and there will be support for supplying the EDID (Extended Display Identification Data) via its sysfs interface. There's also fixes so low-end graphics chips on high-end monitors no longer result in a black screen and PowerPC fixes, among various other changes. More on the changes to the udlfb kernel driver can be found on the Linux driver mailing list.

At least the DisplayLink Linux support is moving along faster than VIA.