Lenovo docking stations
reddit / BSD

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finderxxx · 2020-09-17 20:52

Since many of you guys using Thinkpads... I've got a Thunderbolt dock,
but unfortunately no luck running it. On FreeBSD the dock's ethernet
isn't supported, on OpenBSD the Thunderbolt itself causes some
problems on resume.

Now before I spend another 200 euro on the classic docking station,
could you perhaps tell me how it does on \*BSD? Lenovo calls it
driver-free, so is it just de-multiplexing TB3 signal into DP and USB?
What if I disable the TB in UEFI (which is required for OpenBSD to
function properly)? If I do this, my current dock only relays the
DisplayPort signal, but no USB.

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Neutral_Knievel · 2020-09-18 13:04

I have a Thinkpad T450 which runs FreeBSD 12.1. My dock is an
Ultradock 4A02, which can be picked up used for dirt cheap. My results
are mixed:

* Ethernet works fine on the Dock-- no issues
* USB Mostly works fine, but sometimes if I leave the Thinkpad docked
for a few days, I lose the USB devices on the dock and have to
physically undock and redock to get them back
* External monitors (DVI and VGA) work as well as the VGA port on the
laptop itself, but I have an issue with Monitor Hotplug Detection and
X in general. Others on the FreeBSD forums claim this works for them.
* If I put the laptop to sleep while docked, I can't wake it up
reliably
* The Audio jack on the dock doesn't automatically mirror the built in
audiojack. It might be possible to configure the audio to output there
instead of the laptop jack,but I haven't tried because the laptop jack
is more convenient for my setup.

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kusuriya · 2020-10-01 03:58

so generally if the dock is both USB-C and thunderbolt if it doesnt
negotiate TB it provides DP-over-USB-C which is a standard, and then
everything else is connected to a USB 3 port on the inside. with out
knowing which TB3 dock you got though it would be hard to say if it
works like that. The pro dock I have that is how it works if TB-3 isnt
negotiated, but you're limited to the size of the monitors at that
point (1 4k@60Hz IIRC)