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I'm running Debian Buster on my Thinkpad T480 (link to manufacturer)

$ lsb_release -a
No LSB modules are available.
Distributor ID: Debian
Description:    Debian GNU/Linux 10 (buster)
Release:    10
Codename:   buster

I got from my office a Thinkpad docking station for my wokring computer, but would also like to use it for my Linux one (private computer). It is the following Docking station: Lenovo USB-C Hybrid Dock 135W.

I searched around and tried to disable secure boot in the Thunderbolt BIOS setup. However, it still doesn't recognize my external monitors, nor USB devices. It gets charged at least. Does someone know how to make it run on Debian?

I've set the Thunderbold to No Securityin the Bios, without any success.

enter image description here

math
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  • Could you post output of lsusb -v? – tukan Jun 14 '20 at 08:43
  • @tukan the output is too long. could you provide what you are looking for so that I can search for it accordingly, pls – math Jun 16 '20 at 19:00
  • If the output is too long paste it to https://pastebin.com/ – tukan Jun 16 '20 at 19:43
  • @tukan here is the output of lsusb -v. Happy to share additional information. https://pastebin.com/t1X88ZRw – math Aug 30 '20 at 11:27
  • It seems like this dock has two USB-C jacks of which only is intended for connecting a computer. Can you confirm you plugged your laptop into the right one (the one with the little laptop icon)? – Martin Konrad Aug 31 '20 at 01:53
  • @MartinKonrad Hi Martin, yes indeed it has two USB-C. I plugged in the correct one, with the laptop. This was confirmed as I was using the dock for my work pc as well (running on windows). There it workes out of the box, as expected. happy to provide any other information which might help – math Aug 31 '20 at 10:00
  • I'm wondering if this is a Linux-only issue or a limitation of the hardware. Could you please try with Windows in case you have it on the machine? It might also be worth contacting Lenovo's support to confirm what you want to do is supported by the hardware. – Martin Konrad Sep 03 '20 at 21:57
  • @MartinKonrad it works on Windows. It might be an hardware issue, as it isn't supported out of the box. however, a web searc indicates that people under linux are able to use it. that's why I posted it here – math Sep 05 '20 at 07:08

2 Answers2

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Maybe you have set some level of security in your Thunderbolt setup (in UEFI/BIOS). You talked about secure boot, this is another thing.

For Linux AFAIK for the Thunderbolt to work there has to be set No security, otherwise it possibly would require some driver to handle it.

This is my own Dell laptop with its own Thunderbolt BIOS setup:

my own Dell laptop with its own Thunderbolt BIOS setup

Vlastimil Burián
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  • Thanks for your answer. I've already tried the No Security option without any success – math Jun 16 '20 at 18:49
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This dock does not support Thunderbolt alternative display protocol. It uses DisplayLink instead, which... works if you spend time on it.

Ubuntu has official drivers which include binary blobs. Many other distros repackage it. This is a good link to get started for details and configuration https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/DisplayLink The support in 2021 is still not amazing - it's laggy and needs custom configuration on many machines, but it does work most of the time.

viraptor
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