Add the new mode you copied above to xrandr with the following command: sudo xrandr -newmode The above command will give you an output like this:ģ. For example, with my particular monitor, the AOC E1659FWU, it appears that its resolution is really 1360x768 and not the default 1366x768 displayed above. Replace the above numbers with your desired resolution.

Calculate the modeline for your desired resolution with the following command: cvt 1360 768 The second highlighted in red is the display device name of your USB monitor. You want to scroll down a little until you see a second display device: You don't want the first display device you see- that's your primary display device (in my case eDP-1) which is the one on your laptop. Obtain the USB device name by plugging in the monitor and running the following command: xrandr All of the following steps should be completed with the USB monitor plugged in.ġ. To fix this, we simply need to pass the correct resolutions to Ubuntu.

This is because the DisplayLink driver often presents the wrong default screen resolutions to our Ubuntu OS. However, there's a good chance that if you plug in your USB monitor, you'll get those diagonal squiggly lines I was talking about before. Set a Custom Screen Resolution in Ubuntu:Īt this point, our driver is now installed. I often use this to avoid mistyping a file. displ' and hit tab to allow the command line to autocomplete the driver for you. run will vary based on the version you downloaded. Open a terminal in the extracted file path and run the install script: sudo. Extract the driver from your Downloads folder.ģ. In this tutorial I will show you to how install the DisplayLink driver from scratch and update the list of available resolutions presented to Ubuntu. This often manifests itself as a USB monitor that turns on, but displays a bunch of vertical/squiggly lines. The chief reason being that the DisplayLink driver often doesn't present the correct list of available resolutions to Ubuntu. (You also needn't spend a lot of money on one- the AOC E1659FWU, which at $89 on Amazon, is an absolute steal.) On Linux, installing the DisplayLink driver that AOC (and many other USB monitors) use isn't the simplest thing to do in the world. But what about when you're not at your desk? That's where portable USB monitors come in. They eliminate the interruption of having to flip back and forth between related activities. Dual monitors are essential for productivity.

Portable usb port