I’m looking for a docking station for my frame.work laptop running Linux. The big ask is I want to be able to hook up to my big monitor with a 3840x2160 resolution (I think it is 8K?).

Has anyone found one that works with that combination of factors?

I’ve read a bunch of posts on the frame.work forums and looked at a bunch of docks on Amazon, but haven’t found one that gives me confidence it’ll work.

  • @[email protected]
    5•7 months ago

    That’s 4k.

    If you want it cheap you can get a usb-c hub on aliexpress for $10-$20. I have one and it works great.

    Look for one that says it supports 4k 60hz on HDMI.

  • ShertsonOP
    2•7 months ago

    So, I took the advice of @steal_your_face and got the caldigit ts3. I had to grab a displayport to hdmi adapter since I don’t have displayport cables.

    So far, I have the display working at full 3840x2160. It struggled at first, but eventually Fedora got it working without any changes. I did have to unplug and plug in the usb-c cable. Mouse and Keyboard recognized without issue. Audio through the dock to the screen to speaker is working. Mounted and worked with files on usb drive, no issues. Videos played off the usb drive fine.

    So, in short, it works as expected, no extra setup/config required.

  • @[email protected]English
    2•7 months ago

    I have a caldigit ts3 I got from work that works well with the framework. Looks like it only does a max of one 5k or two 4k monitors. They have a new one (caldigit ts4) that appears to work up to 8k.

    If it were me (and I didn’t get the dock free from work) I’d just buy and test a few cheap amazon docks then return the ones I dont like.

    • ShertsonOP
      2•7 months ago

      I hate returning stuff, but sometimes it just can’t be avoided.

      I’ve ordered the Caldigit TS3. I’ll update after I get a chance to test it.

    • ShertsonOP
      2•6 months ago

      Just wanted to share a follow up.

      The dock works great under most circumstances. The issue that i have, which was listed by others in reviews for many different docks, is when connected through my KVM. It takes forever to sync up and drive my display. By forever, I mean 30+ seconds most of the time, and occasionally I have to disconnect the cable, open the laptop lid and then reconnect the cable.

      • @[email protected]English
        1•6 months ago

        Oof thats annoying. I never used a kvm. Just used the same inputs for my work and personal laptop and switched which one was plugged into the dock.

        • ShertsonOP
          2•6 months ago

          Yeah, I have a 4 port KVM. One for my work issued Surface laptop, one for my mini-pc, one for my Framework 13, and one for any computer that I’m troubleshooting. I’m thinking about moving to my Framework fully and changing the mini-pc into another node for self-hosting setup.

  • bitwolf
    1•7 months ago

    If I need a dock I’ll always get the newest Caldigit. Having gone through many, nothing else compares.

    • ShertsonOP
      1•6 months ago

      Sorry, I thought I replied.

      Thank you for the correction.