U3421WE, DDM, no Linux support

Question

Hello,

I am a satisfied Dell customer since many years. I currently have a U2415 monitor that has worked flawlessly since I purchased it over 5 years ago, and I recently invested in a Precision 7550 laptop, mainly because of Dell's commitment to provide Linux support out of the box. I am now looking at options to upgrade my monitor setup to a 34'' Ultrawide, and the U3421WE looks very neat and feature rich. Unfortunately, most of the advertised productivity features (such as KVM switch, Picture-by-Picture and Picture-In-Picture) require the "Dell Display Manager" software which, if I understand correctly, can only be installed on Windows or macOS =

That is quite sad, since I want to use the U3421WE to switch between my Precision 7550 laptop that runs Fedora Linux, and another laptop that runs Windows 10. My question: is there any way to access the KVM switch and/or the other advanced functionality this U3421WE offers from Linux? It could be something official from Dell, or some unoffical/Open-Source solution/configuration, anything that works is fine. If this is not possible, then it's difficult to motivate spending so much on a monitor with built-in circuitry/capabilities that I am not able to use. In that case it would make more sense for me to buy a cheaper monitor without a built-in KVM switch, and buy an external KVM switch instead (even though it wouldn't look as neat on the desktop).

Thank you for your help and insights!

Joni

jonosphere · Accepted Answer

Hi @CBarty, I have now used the U3421WE for almost a year, so I am doing a follow-up post with my experience until now. Maybe it is of help.

The monitor itself is amazing, and I am very satisfied with it. This is the first time I use a curved monitor, so most of the upgrade lies in using a single curved monitor, instead of a dual 24'' setup.

More on my setup: I have my wireless mouse and keyboard connected to the monitor and two laptop, the work laptop (windows) is connected to the monitor via USB-C, while my Dell laptop running Fedora Linux with KDE is connected through HDMI + USB-A.

In my use-case, I rarely need to use both laptops at the same time, so switching between laptops is easy. Usually it is enough to put one to sleep and the other one shows up automatically. The mouse and keyboard follow whichever laptop is active at the moment. One issue I have experienced, is that the Linux laptop sometimes has trouble redetecting the mouse+keyboard combo when waking up again after its sleep. Removing and reinserting the USB-A cable helps most of the times. This doesn't seem to work if the Linux is at the login screen, so in those cases I am forced to enter the password from the laptop keyboard, and then everything works again once the login is performed. I don't think the monitor is to blame though, my guess is that this is a Linux or Fedora or KDE issue.

I have also used the Picture-by-Picture a handful of times. It is possible to do it via the menu, although it is not very user-friendly. The USB-C laptop is shown on the left side by default, while that laptop is on the right side of my desk, so I've ended up needing to move the screens around when I to set this up. My impression is that this setting is not remembered if you switch between different PbP settings. Using the KVM switch in PbP mode requires a handful of clicks on the menu button, but is also OK (although not as seamless as advertised in Dell Display Manager).

All in all the U3421WE is a great screen and its KVM-switch has made it easier for me to switch between my laptops without needing plug and unplug cables, thus also bringing some more order on my desk. The Dell Display Manager would have been an upgrade, and probably would have enabled me to use PbP more often, but my particular use case works well enough as it is.

Let me know if you find some way to install Dell Display Manager on you Linux.

DELL-Chris M · Answer

DDM will not receive Linux support.

jonosphere · Answer

I have now taken a deep dive into the U3421WE User's Guide, especially the OSD (On Screen Display) menu.

All in all, I got the impression that setting up the USB mouse and keyboard switching should be quite straightforward from the OSD menu, which is very positive! I guess that answers the KVM switch part of my original question.

There are also a few PbP/PiP settings available from the OSD menu (the three side-by-side PbP options look the most useful to me; then there's eight PiP settings which I am not sure how they would actually work). It is unclear though if the menu tinkering needed to activate/configure these settings would make them user friendly enough for them to be useful in realtime. So the second part of my question still stands: is there any way to configure/switch between different PbP/PiP modes via software from Linux?

Cheers!

Joni

CBarty · Answer

I'm in the same boat ... I have mixed systems - Ubuntu and Win10 ... I haven't done any detective work yet other than finding this post but it would be nice if the Dell Display Manager ran in the Dell-installed Ubuntu.

Thanks for the info @jonosphere

jonhp-charter · Answer

Hello Dell. When will Dell provide DDM on Linux? Jon

Monitors

U3421WE, DDM, no Linux support

Was this post helpful?