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USB Display posts

Filed under: Accessories, Mac mini

Simple fix for the USB monitor black screen of doom

by Erica Sadun (RSS feed) on Jun 9th, 2009

If you use a USB display adapter to add a 2nd screen to your Mac, you may have noticed that ever since Mac OS X 10.5.7 came out, they have been mysteriously failing. This morning, after logging out and logging back in, the black-screen-of-doom scenario happened on my Mac mini's second monitor. By searching around, I came across a DisplayLink FAQ that seemed to provide answers.

Mind you, I don't own a "DisplayLink". I use an eVGA UV Plus on my mini. Like many other external monitor devices, however, my eVGA uses the DisplayLink chipset and drivers. So even if you think this solution doesn't apply to your USB monitor solution, it very well may.

I didn't just upgrade to 10.5.7 yesterday. It's been running on my system for ages. So why did everything fail after my log-out/log-in? I seriously have no idea. Following the suggestions on the DisplayLink site and on several Mac support boards, I re-installed the 1.1 drivers and rebooted. My monitor is now back to life.

So, bottom line, if you are using an external USB-powered display on your Mac and it stops working, try re-installing drivers. You'll find the latest Mac drivers here, plus the newest beta releases. You'll need to agree to the DisplayLink EULA before you're permitted to download the software. And you will need to reboot. However, on an annoyance scale between 0 (everything working) and 10 (losing access to your second monitor), a simple reinstall & reboot clocks in at about a 3.

Tags: Display Link, DisplayLink, eVGA, External Monitor, ExternalMonitor, Fixes, USB Display, UsbDisplay, UV Plus, UvPlus

Filed under: Hardware

Mimo 7" USB displays

by Mat Lu (RSS feed) on Feb 5th, 2009

I've been fascinated by these little 7" USB displays since they first started showing up on the gadget blogs a few weeks back. At first it didn't look like they were going to be available in the States, but now Mimo Monitors is preparing to ship a couple of models soon. These little displays connect to your Mac with just a USB cable and provide an extra 800 x 480 pixels worth of desktop space.

Obviously, that's not really enough screen real estate for serious work, but it could be perfect for stashing away palettes or something like an iChat Buddy List. Mimo is offering two model: the plain vanilla 710 for $129.99 and the somewhat fancier 740 which adds a webcam, mic, and touchscreen for $199. Both include Mac display drivers, but if you want the 740 you'll annoyingly have to shell out an extra $30 for a third-party touchscreen driver. Both come with a detachable stand that allows the display to rotated.

Given that you can pick up a full sized 22" LCD for around $200 these days, I can't help thinking these Mimo's are over-priced. On the other hand, if you don't have another display output or if you want to turn your iMac into a replica of the Space Shuttle cockpit, these might be just the thing.

[via Macworld]

Tags: mimo monitor, MimoMonitor, usb display, UsbDisplay

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