Plugable

Alternative Video Output Solutions for macOS 10.13.4 systems with UD-ULTCDL and UD-ULTC4K Docks

2018-04-05T01:46:05Z

Recently we wrote about how the latest update to macOS 10.13.4 causes several different types of video devices, including those based on the DisplayLink technology we use in many of our products, to stop working. This loss of functionality is a frustrating development for those of us who have become accustomed to multi-monitor goodness as part of our daily workflow.

With this OS change, the total number of displays that can be connected to Thunderbolt 3 and USB-C Macs is now significantly reduced. Users of our UD-ULTCDL and UD-ULTC4K docks can continue to drive a single monitor connected to the 4K “Alt Mode” HDMI output on their dock. See the table below for information on the total number of monitors your 10.13.4 MacBook supports, and details on which products can be connected to a free Thunderbolt 3 port on your system to connect additional display(s) in conjunction with the monitor connected to your UD-ULTCDL/ULTC4K docking station.

For a more comprehensive look at the display support on specific Mac platforms along with additional options that aren’t based on DisplayLink technology to help ‘get back’ some displays, see additional details below.

Thunderbolt 3 MacBook Pros with AMD GPU

Apple systems that have Thunderbolt 3 ports and also have an internal AMD graphics adapter (GPU) have the most options available, as they can support a maximum of four external displays using a combination of USB-C or Thunderbolt 3 devices. An important element to keep in mind is that the one functioning display connected to the dock is included in that total number.

The most simple (and least expensive) method to add two displays is to connect them directly to the Thunderbolt 3 ports of the system using a combination of any two of our USB-C video cables or adapters (one adapter for each display):

USB-C to DisplayPort cable -> https://plugable.com/products/usbc-dp
USB-C to HDMI cable -> https://plugable.com/products/usbc-hdmi-cable
USB-C to HDMI adapter -> https://plugable.com/products/usbc-hdmi
USB-C to DVI adapter -> https://plugable.com/products/usbc-dvi
USB-C to VGA adapter -> https://plugable.com/products/usbc-vga

A slightly more expensive solution (but a one that requires the use of one less Thunderbolt 3 port) is to add one of our Thunderbolt 3 Dual Display Adapters:

Thunderbolt 3 Dual DisplayPort Adapter -> https://plugable.com/products/tbt3-dp2x-83
Thunderbolt 3 Dual HDMI adapter -> https://plugable.com/products/tbt3-hdmi2x-83/

Thunderbolt 3 MacBook Pros with Intel GPU

Apple systems that have Thunderbolt 3 ports and have only an internal Intel graphics adapter (GPU) are slightly more limited, as they can only support a maximum of two external displays using a combination of USB-C or Thunderbolt 3 devices.

As mentioned earlier, the single video output of either dock that is still working counts against this total, so the only option is to add one additional display to the system using one of USB-C video cables or adapters:

** Important note – Thunderbolt 3 Dual Display adapters cannot circumvent the total display limitations present in any MacBook Pro. The total maximum number of displays will always be in effect regardless of what types of adapters or cables are in use. **

USB-C 12” Retina MacBook (no Thunderbolt 3 support)

For MacBooks (without the ‘Pro’ designation), as the system only has a single USB-C port unfortunately there are no other options to connect additional displays beyond what is already working in the dock. Without the ability to use a DisplayLink-powered device, the MacBook can only connect to one external display.

While certainly less than ideal, depending on what Mac system you have there are options to use more than the one additional display currently afforded by the dock. While certainly not a solution for the original problem caused by the update, these other connection types can provide at least a partial workaround.

Legacy MacBooks with Mini DisplayPort/Thunderbolt/Thunderbolt 2

We have not officially supported our USB 3.0 generation docking stations and graphics adapters on Mac due to driver issues present in OS X 10.9 (Mavericks) and later. But we realize that even though we state “Mac not supported” on these products, some customers did go ahead and purchase them for use on Mac systems. For these MacBooks, a Mini DisplayPort adapter can be used for a single display. Alternatively, Thunderbolt 2 docking stations are available from other vendors.

As always, please let us know if you have any questions in the comments below or contact us directly via support@plugable.com

The post Alternative Video Output Solutions for macOS 10.13.4 systems with UD-ULTCDL and UD-ULTC4K Docks appeared first on Plugable.

macOS 10.13.4: DisplayLink, Duet Display, and other Virtual Graphics Products Not Working

2018-04-06T18:56:19Z

Some secondary display products no longer work on macOS 10.13.4, including all products using DisplayLink technology like USB docks and graphics adapters, and all apps which enable using a tablet as a second monitor. It’s unclear if Apple will be providing fixes. The only available solution currently is to disable updates and stay on macOS 10.13.3.

Background

Recently we wrote that the beta version of the next release of macOS, version 10.13.4, would cause USB video adapters and USB docking stations based on DisplayLink technology to stop working. This only affects Mac users, it does not affect those running Windows or Chrome OS.

Apple released the final version of 10.13.4 in the evening of 3/29/2018 and unfortunately the problem has not been fixed. If a system is updated to the final public release of macOS 10.13.4, all graphics devices which aren’t directly controlled by the system’s graphics processor or AirPlay will stop working.

As a result we strongly recommend that any Plugable customer using a DisplayLink-based product not update to 10.13.4. For advanced users, reinstalling macOS 10.13.3 and the necessary DisplayLink drivers should restore functionality. However, this is a time-consuming, complex process that isn’t for everyone.

To disable automatic update to 10.13.4, uncheck the two highlighted boxes in the screenshot below. The boxes to uncheck (disable) are “Download updates in background” and “Install macOS updates” These are found in the “App Store” portion of “System Preferences” within macOS.

Once a Mac is on macOS 10.13.4 it is a technically difficult process to return the system to 10.13.3. Here are some options:

FAQ

Are docks from other brands affected by this OS update?
Yes, all brands of USB docking stations which use DisplayLink chips and drivers are affected. This includes Dell, Lenovo, Toshiba, Targus, Kensington, Anker, StarTech, etc. Regardless of brand, if the dock uses DisplayLink technology for graphics output, it will no longer function as expected after updating to macOS 10.13.4.

Has Apple permanently disabled DisplayLink Support?
Not that we know of, but they’ve not made any statements on timeframe or commitment to fix.

What is DisplayLink doing?
While the primary issue is out of DisplayLink’s hands, DisplayLink has released a beta driver version 4.3 that will allow DisplayLink-powered displays to function in what is known as ‘clone’ mode.

When using clone mode, the image from the primary display (either an internal laptop display or an external display connected to a built-in video output not using DisplayLink technology) is ‘cloned’ to the DisplayLink-powered display. This will happen transparently and there will be no ability to control this behavior via the ‘Displays’ preference pane. The resolution of the DisplayLink-powered displays will match that of the primary and will scale and/or letterbox as necessary.

The beta driver (version 4.3) can be downloaded from DisplayLink directly here -> http://www.displaylink.com/downloads/macos

Is there a way for users or organizations to request that Apple fix the issue?
For those with an Apple developer ID, DisplayLink suggests reporting the issue to Apple, referencing existing bug ID #37385102 to help raise the priority of the issue:
https://developer.apple.com/bug-reporting/

Is this a temporary or permanent situation?
We don’t know. We understand that the current situation will be extremely frustrating for our customers. We are taking every step we can with DisplayLink and Apple. We will update this blog post with updates as we have them.

Are there any other options to add additional displays to my 10.13.4 Mac?
It depends. Without the ability to use virtual graphics technologies like DisplayLink and others, Mac systems are limited to either the number of monitors natively supported by their system’s graphics adapter (“GPU”) or the number of display outputs on their system, whichever is lower. We’ve written a blog post with an overview of how many monitors are supported by each type of USB-C and Thunderbolt 3 Mac system and information on how that can be accomplished, along with additional details about options for legacy MacBooks with USB 3.0/USB-A and Thunderbolt 2 ports.

If you have any additional questions, please let us know in the comments below.

The post macOS 10.13.4: DisplayLink, Duet Display, and other Virtual Graphics Products Not Working appeared first on Plugable.

Introducing the UD-3900H USB 3.0 Dual Monitor Horizontal Docking Station

2018-03-26T15:34:58Z

We’re excited to announce the launch of our latest universal dock, the Plugable UD-3900H Dual Monitor Horizontal Docking Station! The UD-3900H was designed based on customer feedback requests for a horizontally-oriented dock with similar functionality to our acclaimed UD-3900 docking station. Additionally, we’ve given this dock a predominantly matte finish; another common request. It’s a great value for those looking for a horizontal docking station to connect to their Windows laptop or tablet.

Built on the tried-and-tested DisplayLink DL-3900 chipset, the UD-3900H dock offers an HDMI and a DVI port for connecting two external monitors up to 1920×1080 (1080p) resolution, and includes DVI-to-HDMI and DVI-to-VGA passive adapters for maximum display flexibility. And for those who prefer a single higher-resolution display, the UD-3900H supports one 2560×1440 (1440p) HDMI monitor when it’s the only display connected. Additionally, the dock offers 6 USB ports for connecting your favorite peripherals (2x USB 3.0 ports and 4x USB 2.0 ports), a Gigabit Ethernet port, and audio input and output ports on the side of the dock to connect external speakers, headphones or microphone. All through a single USB cable.

The sleek, lay-flat design of the UD-3900H enables flexible placement of the dock for quick, convenient access or a less-visible low-profile installation. The dock includes a USB 3.0 Type-B to Type-A and USB 3.0 Type-B to Type-C cables to accommodate a wide range of systems with legacy USB Type-A ports and the newer USB Type-C port that is increasingly common on new systems. Additionally, the dock includes passive HDMI and VGA adapters mentioned above, and a UL certified 24W (12V/2A) power adapter.

Please be aware that like the UD-3900 dock, the UD-3900H dock will not charge the battery of the host system, so you’ll need to continue to use the charger included by your system manufacturer. And as with our other DisplayLink-based docks and USB graphics adapters, it’s recommended for office/productivity applications and won’t be a good fit for gaming or some applications which require certain graphical acceleration functionality. The dock supports Windows 10, 8.1, 7, and XP systems with an Intel, AMD, or Nvidia graphics processor and WDDM drivers (most modern systems meet these requirements). Please note that Windows RT, macOS, and Linux/Unix are not currently supported.

The UD-3900H is available immediately in the U.S., and availability in Canada, Japan, UK and the EU is expected before the end of the March. For more information, please see the Plugable UD-3900H product page for additional details, and feel free to comment below or contact our support team directly at support@plugable.com with any questions or comments and we’ll be happy to help!

Plugable USB 3.0 Dual Monitor Horizontal Docking Station

MSRP $109.99

The post Introducing the UD-3900H USB 3.0 Dual Monitor Horizontal Docking Station appeared first on Plugable.

macOS High Sierra 10.13.4 Beta compatibility with DisplayLink devices

2018-03-29T18:28:46Z

Update 3/29/2018 – We have updated our recommendations for changing for the system update options within system preferences. Please see the details below

As Apple improves and releases updates to their operating system macOS, they release public beta versions so that those who wish to do so can test new features and fixes and report any problems should they arise.

With the recent public beta release of the next version of macOS version 10.13.4 beta, changes made by Apple have unfortunately broken support for USB video adapters and/or docking stations based on DisplayLink technology.

The USB docking stations that Plugable offers and supports within macOS such as our UD-ULTCDL and UD-ULTC4K are based on DisplayLink technology, so as a result if any of our customers using these products update to the public beta of 10.13.4 the displays attached to their devices will stop working.

DisplayLink (the separate company from Plugable that makes the chips in our DisplayLink-based products and writes the driver) are aware of the issue and are working on a fix. The issue is being tracked publicly in their support forum here -> https://www.displaylink.org/forum/showthread.php?t=65890

DisplayLink has also raised the issue with Apple directly (Bug ID# 37385102) but as of today there is no fix or workaround for the behavior. Plugable recommends that any of our customers not install the 10.13.4 beta if they are using a DisplayLink-based video adapter or docking station.

Apple does not publish a specific date for when the final non-beta release will be made available, but as a precaution moving forward we would recommend that any of our potentially affected customers temporarily remove the check mark for both the ‘Download newly available updates in the background’ and ‘Install macOS Updates’ options within the App Store preferences application available within System Preferences. This will help ensure that if a fix is not found prior to the final public release of 10.13.4, their systems will remain on the 10.13.3 version which does work properly with DisplayLink.

As we have updates for this issue we will update the top of this post to reflect them. If any of our customers have any additional questions regarding this issue, please reach out to us directly via support@plugable.com and we will be happy to help.

The post macOS High Sierra 10.13.4 Beta compatibility with DisplayLink devices appeared first on Plugable.

Hands on with the Intel Hades Canyon NUC and Plugable Products

2018-03-06T20:30:06Z

Last month Intel was kind enough to send us their latest Hades Canyon NUC system to test with our Thunderbolt 3 products. Intel NUC systems have been around for many years, but this new NUC model is the first to use a chip created through a partnership between Intel and AMD. A single chip combines an Intel 8th generation CPU with AMD’s powerful Vega RX M gaming-class graphics processor. We previously evaluated the Intel Skull Canyon NUC which was a solid compact-system but wasn’t without limitations. The new Hades Canyon system has significantly improved compatibility, features, and performance. Please keep in mind that ours is a pre-production unit, so things could change in the near future.

The Hades Canyon NUC was primarily designed to be an ultra-compact, high-performance desktop replacement in place of traditional full-size desktop computer. With options for the latest 8th Generation Core i7 processors with built in AMD RX Vega M graphics and Thunderbolt 3 connectivity, it makes for quite a versatile system – even for some AAA games like PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds or Counter-Strike: Global Offensive.

The NUC has a plethora of ports available: two Thunderbolt 3 enabled USB-C ports, two HDMI ports, two Mini-DisplayPort ports, 7 USB ports (one is USB-C), dual gigabit Ethernet ports, and a 3.5mm TRRS combo audio jack. As such the need for a docking station is unlikely, however as the system can support up to 6 displays natively the need for adapters to connect them is where we come in. We immediately dropped an NVMe SSD, DDR4 RAM, and installed Windows 10 then began our testing.

Verified compatible graphics products

MDP-HDMI (Mini DP to HDMI adapter)
Tested on both Mini-DisplayPorts on the NUC, works at 1080P and 4K (60Hz on supported monitors).
USBC-DVI (USB-C to DVI adapter)
Tested and works as expected. Note: Single-link DVI monitors only.
USBC-DP (USB-C to DisplayPort cable)
Tested and works as expected at 4K@60Hz on Thunderbolt 3 port
USBC-HDMI-CABLE (USB-C to HDMI cable)
Tested and works as expected at 4K@60Hz on Thunderbolt 3 port
USBC-HDMI (USB-C to HDMI adapter)
Tested and works as expected at 4K@60Hz on Thunderbolt 3 port
USBC-VGA-CABLE (USB-C to VGA cable)
Tested and works as expected at 1080P@60Hz on Thunderbolt 3 port
USBC-VGA (USB-C to VGA adapter)
Tested and works as expected at 1080P@60Hz on Thunderbolt 3 port
USBC-MD101 (USB-C Mini Dock with HDMI, USB 3.0 and Pass-Through Charging)
Tested 4K@30Hz on Thunderbolt 3 port (expected behavior for USB-C DisplayPort Alternate Mode devices with USB 3.0 connectivity)
TBT3-HDMI2X-83 and TBT3-DP2X-83 (Thunderbolt 3 head HDMI and DP adapters)
Tested and works as expected. Please note, there is a maximum of two monitors total supported over Thunderbolt 3 on this system. So while there are two Thunderbolt 3 ports, if one is used with this adapter plus two displays, the other port will be for data only.

Other verified products

TBT3-NVME480 (Thunderbolt 3 480GB NVMe SSD Drive )
Tested and works as expected. Full bandwidth via PCIe Gen3 x4 link.

Benchmark of the performance:

Typical use case scenarios

Our Mini-DisplayPort to HDMI 2.0 Active adapters let you use the NUC’s mini-DisplayPort ports to connect HDMI displays up to 4K@60Hz, leaving both of your Thunderbolt 3 Ports free. You can also use one of our USB-C to DisplayPort, HDMI, DVI, or VGA adapters to connect a display to each Thunderbolt 3 port. Alternatively, if you want to maximize the number of displays while still keeping a Thunderbolt 3 port free for another Thunderbolt 3 or USB-C device, you can even use our Thunderbolt 3 Dual 4K Graphics Adapters which we make in both HDMI and DisplayPort versions. This setup would leave room to use the second Thunderbolt 3 port for something else, like connecting our incredibly fast Thunderbolt 3 NVMe SSD with your Steam library.

We also have a full line of Plugable Performance accessories, such as our Mechanical Keyboard and Performance Mouse. If you want a streaming setup, you can also use our Plugable Cardioid Mic as well!

Incompatible products:

TBT3-UDV
Not recommended at this time. Additional testing needed and we will report back later if compatibility is confirmed.

For any questions about use of our products with the Hades Canyon NUC just contact us at support@plugable.com and we’ll be happy to assist!

Also, check out our video on YouTube using the NUC!

The post Hands on with the Intel Hades Canyon NUC and Plugable Products appeared first on Plugable.

Ludicrous Speed: Plugable’s New Portable 480GB Thunderbolt™ 3 NVMe SSD Drive

2018-02-08T18:24:12Z

Plugable has been a market leader in high performance Thunderbolt 3 peripherals. In 2016, we were the first to launch a Thunderbolt 3 Dual DisplayPort Graphics Adapter, followed by the first HDMI 2.0 version in 2017. Our Plugable TBT3-NVME480 480GB NVMe SSD drive hits performance levels not possible with external media before Thunderbolt 3. Based on the Phison E7 MLC controller, this SSD offers amazing speeds of up to 2400+ MB/sec read and 1200+ MB/sec write, all without the need for an external power connection. Packed into a compact aluminum chassis, this drive is perfect for uncompromising on-the-go storage. Weighing only 6.2oz and with a minimal profile of 108mm x 65mm x 14.5mm it can be tucked in a pocket or bag without hassle.

Intel Thunderbolt 3 technology offers blistering transfer speeds up to 40Gbps and is the perfect connection to take advantage of new storage technologies. Unlike traditional external storage solutions that are limited by the SATA III interface, NVMe technology allows solid state media to interface directly with your CPU via PCI Express, allowing vastly improved performance as well as lower latency and reduced CPU usage. With the TBT3-NVME480 external solid state drive, you can experience performance like never before, often as fast (or faster!) than your computer’s built-in storage, and roughly 5x faster than traditional SATA III solid state drives connected with USB 3.1 Gen 2.

Our benchmark testing with a Dell XPS 9370 with a full spec PCIe x4 lane Thunderbolt 3 connection has shown us massive performance numbers:

The Plugable TBT3-NVME480 is available immediately in the U.S. at the link below, with availability in Canada and Europe coming in the weeks ahead.

An important note that’s true of all Thunderbolt 3 devices: Although this drive will fit in any USB-C port, it’s a Thuderbolt 3 device. It will only work with Thunderbolt 3 ports, and not all USB-C ports are Thunderbolt 3 capable. So, for example, it will work on the 2016/2017 MacBook Pros with USB-C, but not the lower-end MacBooks with USB-C. Or, even more confusingly — on some Windows PCs, the USB-C ports on the laptop are a mix of Thunderbolt 3 and non-Thunderbolt capable ports. So just make sure you’re plugging into a Thunderbolt 3 port before buying this drive.

If you have any questions at all, please comment below or email support@plugable.com anytime and we’ll be glad to help.

Thunderbolt™ 3 480GB NVMe Solid State Drive

MSRP $559.99

The post Ludicrous Speed: Plugable’s New Portable 480GB Thunderbolt™ 3 NVMe SSD Drive appeared first on Plugable.

The New Plugable Performance Mouse Pad

2018-01-23T16:20:07Z

Today we’re launching the latest product in our Plugable Performance lineup, the Plugable Performance Mouse Pad!

Say goodbye to the typical freebie mouse pads you’re familiar with that are thin, coarse, and prone to fraying around the edges. The Plugable Performance Mouse Pad features a natural rubber underside and a polyester hybrid surface that makes for a smooth and stable experience any mouse, and particularly gaming mice such as the Plugable Performance Mouse. The cotton thread stitching around the border adds to the durability and premium looks of the pad.

The pad is also water-resistant and machine washable to add to the life of the pad.

For more news on gaming-related products, be sure to sign up for our newsletter and social media accounts at http://performance.plugable.com/

As a thanks for following our efforts here at Plugable, we’re offering a limited number of 20% off discount codes, available below. Let us know what email address to send the Amazon.com discount code to, then just click button once and an email will be sent with your unique one-time-use coupon code. Thanks for your interest in Plugable products!

Get Your 20% Off Discount Code

Plugable Performance Mouse Pad

MSRP $14.99

The post The New Plugable Performance Mouse Pad appeared first on Plugable.

Plugable Introduces USB-C Mini Docking Station with 85W Power Delivery/Charging

2018-01-10T22:22:07Z

Meet the Plugable UD-CAM, the newest addition to our award winning, best selling lineup of USB-C Docking Stations with Power Delivery. With a size under 4″x3.5″x1.25″ and the ability to provide 85W of charging power to compatible USB-C and Thunderbolt 3 host systems, it’s the smallest, most powerful USB 3.1 Type-C docking station available.

Power up your productivity with the ability to add a single HDMI display up to 4K (4K@30Hz, lower resolutions at 60Hz) while simultaneously providing up to 85W of power to charge your system and expanding your connectivity with gigabit Ethernet, headphone/mic jack, and four USB 3.0 ports to connect your peripherals. All through a single USB-C cable!

The Plugable UD-CAM dramatically increases the functionality, usability, and flexibility of supported USB-C systems like the 2015 and later 12″ MacBook Retina with USB-C, Late 2016/2017 MacBook Pro with Thunderbolt 3, Dell XPS 13″ & 15″, Precision, and Latitude systems with Thunderbolt 3, the Microsoft Surface Book 2, Lenovo Yoga 720 13″, Google Pixelbook, and more.

The functionality of the UD-CAM Mini Dock is powered by two of USB 3.1’s most exciting new features: support for Alternate Modes and Power Delivery. Alternate Mode allows certain non-USB data and protocols (such as native video) to be sent over a USB-C cable, while Power Delivery enables you to power and charge a supported system without the need for a traditional proprietary OEM charger. Support for these features must also be built-in to the system being used, so please see the important additional compatibility details on the UD-CAM product page.

The UD-CAM is available immediately in the U.S. at the link below, with availability in other geographies due in the months ahead.

If you have any questions at all, we’re happy to help. Comment below or email support@plugable.com anytime.

Where to Buy

Plugable USB-C Mini Docking Station with 85W Power Delivery

MSRP $164.99

The post Plugable Introduces USB-C Mini Docking Station with 85W Power Delivery/Charging appeared first on Plugable.

Plugable Introduces Upgraded USB-C Triple Display Docking Station With 4K Support On All Three Outputs

2018-03-30T22:53:51Z

Mac users please note: This docking station is only compatible with macOS High Sierra 10.13.3 and earlier versions (10.11.x – 10.13.3). The upcoming update to macOS 10.13.4 will permanently disable the dual DisplayPort outputs.

After the great response to our original award winning UD-ULTCDL Triple Display Dock in May of 2016, we listened to power-users’ feedback and feature requests and are excited to announce a second Triple Display Docking Station with 4K support on all three outputs and a new port configuration with the addition of two DisplayPort++ 1.2 ports alongside the single HDMI 1.4 port.

The new Plugable UD-ULTC4K 4K Triple Display Docking Station provides up to three additional 4K display outputs via a combination of USB-C DisplayPort Alternate Mode (“Alt Mode”) converted internally to HDMI 1.4 with support for HDMI displays up to 4K@30Hz, and the DisplayLink DL-6950 USB graphics chip powering the dual DisplayPort++ ports and supporting resolutions up to 4K@60Hz. The dock also provides compatibility systems up to 60W of power via USB-C Power Delivery (“PD”) standard to charge your laptop or tablet while adding Gigabit Ethernet, wired headphone and mic input/output, and expanded USB device connectivity with 4 USB 3.0 Type-A ports and a single USB 3.0 USB-C port. All through a single USB-C cable.

The UD-ULTC4K is the first device of its kind to combine these three powerful, unique, and complementary technologies to unleash the potential of your computer while offering three 4K capable outputs simultaneously. The Plugable USB-C 4K Triple Display Docking Station is available for purchase in the USA and shipping now.

Designed for laptops and tablets with USB-C or Thunderbolt 3 the dock utilizes cutting edge USB 3.1 technologies in conjunction with the latest features of our UD-6950 dual display 4K docking station. Because USB-C features are optional and not supported by every USB-C laptop, before buying please check our compatibility tables on the product page to make sure your Mac, PC, or Chromebook is compatible. Compatible systems include the current versions of the Dell XPS 13 & 15, HP Spectre x360 13 & 15, Lenovo Yoga 720 13″; 920, Apple MacBook 12” with USB-C, MacBook Pro 13″ and 15″ with Thunderbolt 3, and many more. Note that older systems with only familiar USB “Type A” ports will not work, even with a converter cable. You must have one of the new generation USB Type-C or Thunderbolt 3 systems to take advantage of this docks features. Please note that while the DisplayPort outputs of the dock can be converted to other connectors (HDMI, DVI, VGA), adapters are sold separately.

Also we’re excited to announce that Mac users running the latest macOS 10.13.x High Sierra can now enjoy vastly improved performance over DisplayLink USB graphics than in the past. For more information on performance on Mac systems see here.

Please see our detailed product page here for more detailed information and important compatibility information, and please let us know if you have any questions in the comments below or reach out to us directly at support@plugable.com and we will be happy to help, thanks!

The post Plugable Introduces Upgraded USB-C Triple Display Docking Station With 4K Support On All Three Outputs appeared first on Plugable.

PLUGABLE’S NEW THUNDERBOLT 3™ DOCKING STATION WITH HOST CHARGING (TBT3-UDV) NOW SHIPPING

2017-10-30T16:35:20Z

Today Plugable is proud to announce the availability of the latest addition to our growing line of Thunderbolt™3 products, our flagship Thunderbolt 3 Docking Station with Host Charging (TBT3-UDV) for Apple Thunderbolt 3 and Dell Thunderbolt 3 Systems.

The second in our series of Thunderbolt 3 docking stations, when connected to a compatible macOS or Windows Thunderbolt 3 system the TBT3-UDV provides the ability to connect a single 4K display via its DisplayPort output (active DisplayPort to HDMI adapter included for HDMI displays) while also providing up to 60W of power to charge the host. This connection functions as a direct line to the host system’s internal graphics adapter and provides for the same level of performance as a direct connection.

The TBT3-UDV also provides a wired Intel gigabit Ethernet connection using an i210 chipset, a combination analog audio input/output jack (TRRS), five USB 3.0 Type-A ports, and one ‘downstream’ Thunderbolt 3 port that can be used to daisy chain up to five additional Thunderbolt 3 devices or provide for a 10Gbps network connection to another Thunderbolt 3 host using an additional Thunderbolt 3 cable (purchased separately).

The downstream Thunderbolt 3 port can alternatively be used to attach a second 4K display using a USB-C video adapter, such as our USBC-DP cable, USBC-HDMI adapter (purchased separately and if supported by the host, see below).

TBT3-UDV Rear Ports

A few important notes:

All manufacturers can design their Thunderbolt 3 systems differently, and certain design decisions can affect compatibility with our dock and/or its ability to support two external displays. We have found that all Apple systems with Thunderbolt 3 and all Dell Windows Thunderbolt 3 systems work well with our dock and can support two displays, and we will be maintaining a compatibility list for other host system manufacturers on our product page.

Dell systems will require the most up to date system BIOS and Thunderbolt 3 NVM firmware to ensure things work as expected (the required NVM version number can vary depending on the host system) while Apple systems perform these updates automatically.

Plugable was founded on the concept of turning the PC ‘inside out’ by providing USB docking stations to add functionality, and we are proud to offer our first docking station product that takes full advantage of the 40Gps bandwidth provided by Intel’s Thunderbolt 3 technology. Please let us know if you have any questions in the comments below.

Where to Buy

For USA buyers, visit the Plugable store on Amazon.com
and search for “Thunderbolt 3 docking station”

For buyers outside the USA, supply will be available in coming weeks and months, please check the Plugable TBT3-UDV product page for the latest updates.

Note that we expect to have trouble keeping up with demand, and Amazon may show the product going in and out of stock as we rush units in. Thanks for your patience!

The post PLUGABLE’S NEW THUNDERBOLT 3™ DOCKING STATION WITH HOST CHARGING (TBT3-UDV) NOW SHIPPING appeared first on Plugable.

How to Fix Extensions Blocked by Gatekeeper in macOS 10.13 High Sierra

2018-01-28T05:19:43Z

In our recent post titled macOS 10.13 High Sierra Significantly Improves DisplayLink Performance & Stability we talked about how the latest update to macOS improved behavior when using a DisplayLink product (such as the Plugable UD-ULTCDL docking station). To go with that, we wanted to take a moment to discuss the Gatekeeper security feature introduced back in OS X 10.7 which has gone through some changes in High Sierra that may affect installation of some 3rd party device drivers used in devices from Plugable and other device manufacturers. For Plugable, the issue will only impact our products which don’t have drivers already built-in to macOS, such as our USB Docking Stations, USB Graphics Adapters, and USB Ethernet Adapters. Essentially this issue can affect any extensions not developed by Apple. Thankfully if you encounter this, there’s a simple process to fix. Keep reading for additional information and instructions.

In macOS 10.13 High Sierra, when installing new software and extensions, Gatekeeper now requires users to manually approve any new third-party extension before the computer can load and make use of the extension that was installed. This is important as many devices rely on extensions to function properly, and in some circumstances it can look like the software to power a device was installed but the device still doesn’t work. When this happens, users will see the below message:

If you suspect Gatekeeper is preventing an extension from loading, follow the below steps:

Open System Preferences and navigate to the Security & Privacy section.
In the General tab, look for a message at the bottom of the window stating “System software from developer DEVELOPER NAME was blocked from loading”, like in the screenshot below:

For Plugable products, the developer listed in the message should be “DisplayLink Corp” for DisplayLink powered products (such as docking stations that do not use Thunderbolt 3 technology) and “WEI LU SU” for Plugable ethernet adapters that use ASIX chipsets (as of the time of writing this, all Plugable USB network adapters use ASIX chipsets).
Click Allow, and from there macOS should now be able to properly load and use the extensions and software that were installed.
Test things out! In some instances, you may need to restart the computer for the extension to properly load. So if it doesn’t work immediately, reboot the computer and the extension should load correctly.

Once an extension from a developer has been allowed, this makes the developer a ‘trusted’ source. Meaning that future extensions that are installed from the same developer should not be prevented by Gatekeeper from loading and should not need to have these steps repeated. However, software and extensions from other developers will encounter this same issue and you will need to follow these same steps.

For additional information on Gatekeeper and the behavior described in this post, check out the below Apple and DisplayLink support documents!

Feel free to share your experiences with High Sierra in the comments below, and if you’re having issues installing driver extensions for any of your Plugable products, please email support@plugable.com and we’ll be happy to help!

OS X: About Gatekeeper

Technical Note TN2459: User Approved Kernel Extension Loading

macOS High Sierra: Video Functionality Not Enabled

The post How to Fix Extensions Blocked by Gatekeeper in macOS 10.13 High Sierra appeared first on Plugable.

Plugable Introduces New 7-Port USB 3.0 Hub with 2 Smart-Charging Ports

2017-10-25T19:00:35Z

Today we’d like to introduce the newest member of Plugable’s lineup of best-selling USB hubs, the USB3-HUB7C. The Plugable USB 3.0 7 Port hub with two BC 1.2 Fast Charging ports and 36W power works on PC, Mac, and Linux systems to enable connection of up to 7 additional USB 3.0, 2.0, and 1.1 devices. Designed with performance and flexibility in mind, the 36W UL-listed power adapter ensures there’s plenty of juice for power users’ setups, allowing you to fast-charge two BC 1.2 phones or tablets while also connecting several other USB 3.0 devices.

In addition to the higher-wattage power adapter, the USB3-HUB7C also includes several new features and improvements we’ve gathered from customer feedback on our best-selling USB3-HUB7-81X hub: a matte finish, rubber feet to help keep things in place, smaller footprint, subtler port status LEDs, and a physical power switch to manually turn off the hub without unplugging its power.

The two outermost ports (1 & 7) on the USB3-HUB7C support the BC 1.2 standard which provide more charging power (up to 1.5A) for smartphones, tablets, and other mobile devices, while also enabling these devices to simultaneously charge and sync via “Charging Downstream Port” (CDP) mode. These smart-charging ports can also provide a charge when the hub is only connected to it’s power adapter and no active connection to a host PC via “Dedicated Charging Port” (DCP) functionality.

The USB3-HUB7C is powered by the the VIA VL813 USB 3.0 hub chipset with firmware version 9015 for maximum compatibility with the vast majority of USB 3.0 hosts. It Supports Microsoft Windows 10 through XP, macOS/OS X, and Linux kernels 3.0 and later. There are a few unsupported devices and scenarios to be aware of which are common to virtually all hubs: Apple SuperDrive units and older Mac Pros with USB 3.0 PCI Express add-on cards are not compatible, and there may be compatibility issues with some early USB 3.0 host controller chipsets or firmware versions. And 2.4GHz wireless devices such as keyboard/mouse receivers, Bluetooth and WiFi adapters operate on the same frequency as USB 3.0 signals, so these dongles are not suggested for use in USB 3.0 ports. Additional information regarding these and other edge-case compatibility issues can be found on the USB3-HUB7C product page.

If you have any questions at all, we’re happy to help. Comment below or email support@plugable.com anytime. Thank you!

As a thanks for following all our efforts here at Plugable, we’re offering a limited number of 20% off discount codes, available below. This limited discount will never be lower. Let us know what email address to send the Amazon.com discount code to, then just click button once and an email will be sent with your unique one-time-use coupon code. Thanks for your interest in Plugable products!

The post Plugable Introduces New 7-Port USB 3.0 Hub with 2 Smart-Charging Ports appeared first on Plugable.

WINDOWS 10 ‘FALL CREATORS’ UPDATE WITH PLUGABLE DOCKING STATIONS AND USB VIDEO ADAPTERS

2017-11-28T16:08:06Z

Continuing with their practice of providing frequent large updates to Windows 10, Microsoft is releasing the ‘Fall Creators Update’ for Windows 10 on October 17th, 2017 and with this update there are many fixes and enhancements to the operating system. More details about the update are here -> https://blogs.windows.com/windowsexperience/2017/09/01/create-and-play-this-holiday-with-the-windows-10-fall-creators-update-coming-oct-17 and the process for updating a system is described by Microsoft here -> https://blogs.windows.com/windowsexperience/2017/10/17/get-windows-10-fall-creators-update

Those who read our blog regularly will recall this has occurred before, most recently with the ‘Creators’ update in April of 2017 (https://plugable.com/2017/04/06/windows-10-creators-update-plugable-docking-stations-and-usb-video-adapters/) and previously with the ‘Anniversary Update’ in August of 2016 (https://plugable.com/2016/08/01/windows-10-anniversary-update-and-plugable-docking-stations-and-usb-video-adapters/)

As it pertains to Plugable’s USB video adapters and USB docking station’s based DisplayLink technology, our products should continue to ‘just work’ after the update has applied but as with any major update there is always possibility for problems. If after the update having been applied things are not working as expected, the best practice is as follows:

1. Disconnect your USB video adapter or USB docking station (if using a docking station please also disconnect the power adapter) from your system and keep it disconnected until the last step.
2. Uninstall any and all software with ‘DisplayLink’ in the title that is present from within the Control Panel -> Programs and Features. Don’t worry if these entries are not present or if the process does not work, just move onto the next step
3. Download and run the DisplayLink Installation Cleaner from here
4. Reboot the system, even if not prompted
5. Download and install the latest DisplayLink driver from here
6. Reconnect your docking station (after reconnecting the power) or USB video adapter and your displays should become active

In summation, while in most cases things should ‘just work’ as with any major update to an operating system things may not go as expected. If any of our customers apply the update and the above instructions don’t help, please contact us directly at support@plugable.com and we will be happy to assist.

The post WINDOWS 10 ‘FALL CREATORS’ UPDATE WITH PLUGABLE DOCKING STATIONS AND USB VIDEO ADAPTERS appeared first on Plugable.

macOS 10.13 High Sierra Significantly Improves DisplayLink Performance & Stability

2018-03-30T23:48:27Z

Installing macOS 10.13.4 will permanently disable DisplayLink based video outputs. More info here: macOS 10.13.4 Disables DisplayLink, Duet Display, and Other Devices

Here at Plugable, one of the most important aspects of our jobs is testing and documenting compatibility of our products with various individual laptop and desktop models and Operating Systems. This testing and documentation is even more critical when a new Operating System update arrives which impacts the behavior of our products (for better or worse). On Windows 10 systems, the Anniversary Update fundamentally changed what our DisplayLink-based USB Docks and Graphics adapters are capable of by adding native OS support for virtual graphics.

Summary: We’re happy to report with the release of 10.13 High Sierra, Apple has made changes which have resulted in significant performance and stability improvements when using our DisplayLink-based Docks and Graphics Adapters. The vast majority of these improvements are because for the first time, virtual graphics devices like ours can leverage the power of the system’s built-in graphics processor (“GPU”), via Apple’s new Metal 2 API, which is supported by most Late 2013 Macs and later. The result is performance that is rapidly approaching native-GPU attached displays for most applications, and a drastic reduction in bugs and workarounds.

Note: macOS 10.13.4 Beta 1 appears to have several display-related issues, and is not recommended. There are reports of problems using DisplayLink devices, USB-C “Alternate Mode” outputs, and Thunderbolt 3-attached displays. DisplayLink is tracking this issue in the following forum thread.

To use DisplayLink devices on High Sierra, you’ll need to make sure you’re running DisplayLink for Mac driver version 4.0 or later, and the improved performance requires a Metal 2-compatible Mac from 2012 or 2013 or later, depending on the model. The DisplayLink driver can be downloaded below where you’ll also find step-by-step instructions for uninstalling your previous version if needed:

DisplayLink Driver Download Page

For those interested in additional information and examples of how things have changed pre- and post-High Sierra, keep reading!

Background

We have been following a number of performance issues and undesirable behaviors related to macOS and DisplayLink devices/drivers starting with OS X 10.9, and we have been documenting this information, known issues, and information from DisplayLink over the years in the following posts:

Plugable suggests DisplayLink Users Wait on MacOS Sierra Upgrade

Multiple Monitor Issues with OS X 10.9/Mavericks

Plugable products on 10.10/Yosemite

Notes on DisplayLink’s previous Mac beta driver

Due to these performance and stability issues, we stopped recommending the majority of our DisplayLink-based products on Mac (with a few of specific exceptions). The bugs that were present were significant enough when attempting to use USB graphics as a primary display that they wouldn’t product acceptable results in many use-cases.

Issues Resolved in High Sierra

On September 25, 2017, Apple released the newest version of the macOS operating system, 10.13 High Sierra, that included a series of performance upgrades and fixes for bugs which were present in earlier versions of MacOS versions when utilizing DisplayLink-based devices. (For additional details see our “Mac OS Sierra Upgrade” blog, located here.)

Over the years since 10.9 was released, Apple has fixed some of the more impactful bugs, and DisplayLink has worked around others in their drivers when possible. Even still, there are several issues still present on macOS 10.9-10.12 when using our DisplayLink-based products (with Apple’s Bug ID noted where applicable):

Corrupted window title bar and widgets.
Screen corruption in Finder when “Displays have separate Spaces” is disabled in the Mission Control system preference. (29825934)
A few applications can show corruption and/or missing contents while updating windows contents. Examples are Maps, iBooks and the Dock (15319693, 19090583)
Corruption around window borders for Carbon applications, for example Microsoft Office 2011 (18552488)
Black menu bar on DisplayLink screens while mirroring (17703682)
Apple menu icon misplaced on DisplayLink screens

High Sierra “Known Issue” with DisplayLink

There is one new key issue to call attention to, which is a bug in macOS High Sierra that prevents ‘mirroring’ displays with a DisplayLink adapter. Attempting to mirror a virtual display will cause the Window Server to crash and logs the user out, so it’s an unpleasant bug which we hope will be fixed in an upcoming High Sierra patch. To increase its priority, DisplayLink recommends reporting the bug to Apple.

DisplayLink’s own bug is tracked under ID 33650324. Apple’s internal defect number for this issue is ID 26394372.

DisplayLink has additional detail about the issue in their knowledge base. It also speaks to instances where the OS will default to mirroring when a display is plugged in (rather then extending) causing a frustrating crash due to the bug mentioned above. DisplayLink has a utility available that can reset the layout persistence settings in the OS that can help workaround this behavior.
http://support.displaylink.com/knowledgebase/articles/1812676-macos-high-sierra-mirror-issues

New Drivers for a New Era

Please note that existing DisplayLink drivers (3.1 and below) are not compatible with High Sierra. DisplayLink version 4.0 or higher must be installed. If the older drivers are present on your system when upgrading from Sierra to High Sierra, the DisplayLink displays will not work, though the monitor LED that indicates a connection may still be lit, and the OS will not produce any error message or give any indication something is wrong. To resolve this issue, uninstall the previous DisplayLink drivers, reboot, and then install the latest 4.0 version of the driver.

For a step-by-step guide on removing and reinstalling the DisplayLink drivers, please visit our page below:

DisplayLink Mac driver removal and re-installation

Performance Testing with High Sierra and Plugable Docks

The Main products that we wanted to address when running through several testing scenarios were our UD-ULTCDL and UD-6950. We’ll be updating this post with screenshots and videos in an attempt to showcase the improved performance and general behavior of USB graphics in High Sierra.

The UD-ULTCDL (www.plugable.com/products/ud-ultcdl)Triple Display Docking Station provides up to three additional display outputs on USB-C Macs via a combination of USB-C DisplayPort Alternate Mode (“Alt Mode”) and DisplayLink USB graphics. The dock provides up to 60W of power via USB-C Power Delivery (“PD”) standard to charge your host computer while adding Gigabit Ethernet, audio input/output, and expanded USB device connectivity with 4 USB 3.0 Type-A ports and a single USB 3.0 USB-C port.

The UD-6950 (www.plugable.com/products/ud-6950)USB 3.0 Dual DisplayPort 4K Docking Station supports two DisplayPort displays at resolutions up to 4K@60Hz per display (3840×2160@60Hz) or one single 5K@60Hz display. Displays and cables must support the desired resolution. It has six USB 3.0 ports for peripherals, Audio input and output ports that allow connection of external speakers, headphones or a microphone. It also supports audio pass through via DisplayPort cable to a monitor or TV with built-in speakers. It has a Gigabit Ethernet port for hard-wired network connectivity, and is packaged with a USB 3.0 Type-B to Type-A cable and a USB 3.0 Type-B to Type-C cable to provide flexible host connectivity.

Testing Information

Inside of our testing department, we decided to run a couple of different scenarios to see how well the updated drivers and the newly released MacOs High Sierra were utilizing some of our popular DisplayLink based docking stations, and how well the performance is with displays that are connected via the DisplayLink chipset.

The first system we tested our products with was a Macbook 12” with these specifications:

Macbook Retina 12-inch, Early 2015

1.1 GHz Intel Core M
8GB 1600 MHz DDR3
Intel HD Graphics 5300 1536MB
250GB SSD

The second system we tested our products with was a Macbook Pro 13” without Touchbar with these specifications:

Macbook Pro 13-inch 2016 with Two Thunderbolt 3 ports

2 GHz Intel Core i5
8GB 1867 MHz LPDDR3
Intel Irs Graphics 540 1536 MB
250GB SSD

Performance

Earlier in the post, we laid out various performance related issues that we have been following closely, located here.With these individual issues in mind, we then decided to perform some basic interactions with 3 connected displays on our UD-ULTCDL Triple Display Docking Station. In our testing, we walked through individual clicking, dragging and opening of windows and applications on multiple displays. We connected 3 displays:

One connected to the 2K HDMI port on the UD-ULTCDL
One connected to the DVI port on the UD-ULTCDL
One connected to the 4K HDMI port on the UD-ULTCDL

As before, we encountered the same previous issues that were highlighted in our previous posts, as well as in our compatibility information for the UD-ULTCDL. The individual issues we experienced were:

Window corruption when moving a Safari or Application window from the main display to the connected 2K or DVI based displays
Application corruption, blurriness and black bars when attempting to mirror or utilize an external display as a primary display
Overall performance issues when attempting to utilize video content, or perform multiple window usage with multiple applications

Use of the 4K HDMI port went very well, as this specific port utilizes VESA Alt-Mode via USB-C/Thunderbolt 3 to output video to the connected display. Previously, we were advising customers that when utilizing the UD-ULTCDL on MacOs based systems, the 4K port would be the best available display output port for performance, and individual displays connected via the 2K HDMI and DVI port would run into various performance related issues.

With the more performance enhanced and higher specification system, the Macbook Pro, we experienced almost identical issues as the smaller, less hardware powerful Macbook 12″:

Window corruption when moving a Safari or Application window from the main display to the connected 2K or DVI based displays
Application corruption, blurriness and black bars when attempting to mirror or utilize an external display as a primary display
Overall performance issues when attempting to utilize video content, or perform multiple window usage with multiple applications

We did notice that the occurrence of the corruption, and the overall performance of dragging applications and playing videos, was slightly better, though still not optimal for a main display.

The Upgrade

We then removed the installed DisplayLink driver, and upgraded the system from 10.12.6 Sierra to 10.13 High Sierra and installed the latest available DisplayLink driver. We then replicated the same testing procedures to see if the performance issues were alleviated.

The first system we took a look at was the MacBook pro to see if utilizing the great features of the UD-6950, and output to two 4K displays at the same time resulted in reduced performance.

This was an important test, as the ability to utilize dual DisplayPort 4K displays over USB is something many of our Mac customers have been requesting. There were significant performance increases in this configuration, mostly as a result of the ability to leverage Apple’s Metal 2 API. The UD-6950 does not provide charging power to the system, but we were able to successfully handle multiple 4K displays, dragging and dropping, HD videos, and multiple applications with much better performance than we’d seen previously. This specific model of MacBook did not have the higher-end graphics chip, but the performance experience when utilizing the UD-6950 was still performing quite well.

Some of the main items that we noticed were:

The windows corruption was not occurring when dragging from external display to other external displays, or even to the main Macbook Pro screen
The “Apple Logo” disappearing act was no longer occurring, and was available on all connected displays
Scrolling, video and media usage showed a much better performance capability, and a noticeable system resource decline occurred, even with the higher resolution displays connected

We then tested our best-selling UD-ULTCDL with macOs High Sierra. The important features of this particular docking station are its ability to provide Power Delivery (charging) to the connected host system, as well as enable 3 connected displays — 1 via “DisplayPort Alternate Mode” at up to 4K@30Hz, and 2 1080P outputs via DisplayLink. To show some realtime utilization, here is a video outlining the performance of both the 12” MacBook and 13” MacBook pro when utilizing the docking station:

As always, the individual 4K port performed very well (since it utilizes the system’s graphics chip directly), but there was another hugely noticeable improvement multitasking. Viewing 4K trailers via VLC while at the same time performing automated key inputs inside of Pages and keynote helped demonstrate how well multitasking abilities were handled. We noticed the same improvements in speed, clarity, and reduced graphical corruption as we did on the UD-6950 with the monitors connected to the DisplayLink DVI and 2K HDMI ports.

With the information that we gathered with the higher performing MacBook Pro, we then reverted back to the MacBook 12” to see how each of the individual docking stations we were previously looking at performed in real time, with multiple displays connected.

First, we connected the UD-ULTCDL docking station, with 3 connected displays and recorded the performance to see if any of the previous errors popped up. Again, the performance of the DisplayLink based devices was greatly improved, with smooth scrolling, multi-monitor usage, and without the previous corruption when opening or utilizing applications.

Then we switched back over to the we connected two 4K based displays, and attempted to replicate any of the original issues we were experiencing with 10.12.6 and previous versions on the newly installed 10.13, Some of the main items that we noticed were:

The windows corruption was not occurring, and we were able to click and drag multiple images, applications and 4K videos without corruption
The “Apple Logo” disappearing act was no longer occurring, and was available on all connected displays, much like the Macbook Pro tests from earlier
Decreased resource usage, with system monitor showing a 17% decrease in usage when powering the 4K displays, and viewing 4K content

Conclusion

macOS 10.13 High Sierra shows great performance increases when utilizing two of our most popular DisplayLink-based docking stations, and is rapidly closing the performance gap with Windows systems. It’s now clear that a number of the key issues that we have been tracking were entirely resolved or minimized compared to earlier versions of OS X/macOS.

While there is still room for some improvement, if things continue to go well, we’ll consider revising our DisplayLink+Mac messaging to reflect the better experience.

Please note we will also be adding some real time videos and images to this post outlining the bug behavior of 10.12.6 Sierra, and the major improvements we have seen in 10.13 High Sierra.

If you have any additional questions or concerns, or feedback about how well things are working with your Plugable DisplayLink device in High Sierra, feel free to leave a comment or reach out to us directly at support@plugable.com!

The post macOS 10.13 High Sierra Significantly Improves DisplayLink Performance & Stability appeared first on Plugable.

Add Two HDMI 2.0 4K 60HZ Displays on Any Thunderbolt™ 3 Mac with Our New Plugable™ Adapter

2017-10-09T17:01:26Z

You can now connect two HDMI 2.0 4K 60z Displays to your 2016/2017 MacBook Pro

Thunderbolt™ 3 supports up to two displays which are directly routed from your PC’s graphics controller to drive monitors at full performance. However, in the Windows PC market, it’s been unevenly implemented with some PCs only supporting one display over Thunderbolt 3, others two. And that choice can vary per port on some Windows systems.

Apple has taken a cleaner approach with all the Thunderbolt 3 systems they’ve launched so far — all Thunderbolt 3 ports can support two displays with no qualifications.

Today Plugable is excited to announce the availability of our newest product, our Thunderbolt™ 3 Dual Display HDMI Adapter (TBT3-HDMI2X-83) for all of these Thunderbolt 3 Apple Mac and select Thunderbolt 3 Windows systems.

This new model is compatible with any Apple Mac systems that have Thunderbolt 3 ports, such as the MacBook Pro Late 2016/2017 models and the 2017 iMac. The adapter allows for the connection of up to two 4K HDMI displays, each with 60Hz refresh rate (4096×2160 and lower resolutions supported) using standard HDMI 2.0 cables. The ability to support 2 displays over Thunderbolt 3 on Windows systems varies greatly between models, so please check out the compatibility list on our product page and don’t hesitate to email us with any compatibility questions.

This adapter acts as a conduit to your system’s internal graphics processor providing for the best possible performance. As such, it’s a great solution for content creation, gaming, and other workloads which require every last ounce of graphics performance. Note the adapter isn’t for older Thunderbolt 2 or earlier systems, or for non-Thunderbolt USB-C systems (like the Macbook 2015/2016). Just make sure your Mac has Thunderbolt 3!

This model is for HDMI compatible monitors only, not DisplayPort. If you need the new Mac compatible DisplayPort version of our adapter launched last week, please see its product page here.

If you have any questions at all, we’re happy to help. Comment below or email support@plugable.com anytime. Thank you!

Where to Buy

The post Add Two HDMI 2.0 4K 60HZ Displays on Any Thunderbolt™ 3 Mac with Our New Plugable™ Adapter appeared first on Plugable.

Useful Windows Utilities

2017-10-06T20:01:04Z

At Plugable, we pride ourselves on providing the best technical support in the industry as a result of having those who help develop the products also provide the support. In the course of providing this support, we are always learning from our customers not only where we can improve, but also what third-party Windows utilities can be useful both when using our products and without. In an effort to share this knowledge, we present our first list of useful Windows utilities.

DesktopOK – http://www.softwareok.com/?seite=Freeware/DesktopOK

DesktopOK Main Interface

This handy free utility allows the state of the Windows desktop in terms of the icon position to be captured and restored. While that may not sound exciting in and of itself, it addresses a common problem inherent in Windows, which often will re-arrange desktop icons as additional monitors are added and removed from the system. With this utility restoring the desktop icon positions across one or multiple displays is a quick and painless process.

Image Resizer – http://www.bricelam.net/ImageResizer/

Image Resizer Main Application window

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This utility allows to you quickly resize images via a context menu entry, and provides simple and logical options. While there are certainly numerous options out there for resizing images, after using this utility you may wonder why the functionality is not built-in to Windows in the first place.

Greenshot – http://getgreenshot.org

There are many utilities that can take screenshots, including Window’s built-in Snipping Tool, but if you need more flexibility Greenshot is the answer. There are too many useful features to go through them all, but one of the most useful is the ability to automatically save screenshots to a file in rapid succession. This is very useful if you are documenting a process and want to just keep grabbing images from the screen and do not want to have to keep saving images from the clipboard. It also includes an excellent image editor for marking up images, which includes a handy obfuscate tool for blurring out sensitive information.

Path Copy Copy – https://pathcopycopy.github.io/

This utility provides the ability to copy a Windows network file share’s full UNC file path to the clipboard, as well as various customizable options. If you have ever tried to access a link to a network share that did not work because it made assumptions about what drive letters were mapped on the host system, this utility is for you.

Open Broadcaster Software – https://obsproject.com/

This utility is a screencasting Swiss Army knife that allows you to stream and/or record not only your internal system display but also pull in other video or audio sources like a webcam or capture card or USB microphone and mix them together ‘on the fly’. In fact I have used it to make several tutorial videos for our Plugable YouTube channel, examples of which can be seen here -> https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLmKV1bysy-PHbQ-J9rytO2n-Z87tIfMbb

Just about all NirSoft Utilities – http://www.nirsoft.net/

Most any IT support professional probably has used one of NirSoft’s many utilities, and if not they are missing out. Falling under the category, ‘Does anyone make a simple utility to do (insert function here)’, NirSoft’s offerings range from the ability to modify Outlook’s AutoComplete ‘Nickname’ files (http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/outlook_nk2_edit.html) to network monitoring utilities (http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/folder_changes_view.html)

Plugable’s PlugDebug – https://plugable.com/support/plugdebug/

Based on a combination of NirSoft’s utilities and our own custom development, PlugDebug is Plugable’s utility that allows for quick support of all of our products via email. Rather than having to ask a bunch of questions or ask for screenshots of system settings, PlugDebug gathers all this information into one file that can be sent via email.

While certainly not a comprehensive list of useful Windows utilities, we hope our small collection proves useful to our readers. Have any useful utilities to share? Please let us know in the comments below.

The post Useful Windows Utilities appeared first on Plugable.

Add Two 4K 60Hz Displays on Any Thunderbolt™ 3 Mac with this New Plugable™ Adapter

2017-10-02T18:22:25Z

You can now connect two 4K 60z Displays to your 2016/2017 MacBook Pro

Thunderbolt™ 3 supports up to two displays which are directly routed from your PC’s graphics controller to drive monitors at full performance. However, in the Windows PC market, it’s been unevenly implemented with some PCs only supporting one display over Thunderbolt 3, others two. And that choice can vary per port on some Windows systems.

Apple has taken a cleaner approach with all the Thunderbolt 3 systems they’ve launched so far — all Thunderbolt 3 ports support two displays with no qualifications.

Today Plugable is excited to announce the availability of our newest product, our Thunderbolt™ 3 Dual DisplayPort Display Adapter (TBT3-DP2X-83) for all of these Thunderbolt 3 Apple Mac systems.

This new model is compatible with Apple Mac systems that have Thunderbolt 3 ports, such as the MacBook Pro Late 2016/2017 models and the 2017 iMac. The adapter allows for the connection of up to two 4K DisplayPort displays (4096×2160 and lower resolutions supported) using standard DisplayPort 1.2 cables. And, if you’re on the 5K bleeding edge, this adapter is one of the few solutions available to drive a single 5K display from your MacBook Pro 2016/2017. 5K displays bind two DisplayPort connections together to achieve 5K throughput.

This model is for DisplayPort compatible monitors only. It is *not* for HDMI monitors. In the coming weeks, we will be launching a separate HDMI version.

If you have any questions at all, we’re happy to help. Comment below or email support@plugable.com anytime. Thank you!

The post Add Two 4K 60Hz Displays on Any Thunderbolt™ 3 Mac with this New Plugable™ Adapter appeared first on Plugable.

Dual 4K Displays Now Possible on Existing USB 3.0 Ports

2017-09-25T19:35:50Z

The world’s first adapter to provide two additional 4K displays and a gigabit wired network connection over USB 3.0.

It’s now possible to connect not just one but two 4K monitors (total combined resolution 5120×2280!) via your existing USB 3.0 ports.

We recently announced the release of the first USB-C adapters to be based off of the latest DisplayLink DL-6950 chipset and mentioned that a solution for customers with standard USB 3.0 Type-A ports was on the way.

The wait is over and today we are excited to announce the arrival of the Plugable USB 3.0 Dual 4K DisplayPort and HDMI with Gigabit Ethernet adapters, a.k.a. the USB3-6950-DP and USB3-6950-HDMI adapters.

Similar to their recently released USB-C siblings (the USBC-6950-DP and USBC-6950-HDMI), our USB 3.0 Dual Graphics adapter can support two external displays up to 3840×2160@60Hz (4K@60Hz) each as well as a Gigabit Ethernet port to connect your system to a wired network.

DisplayLink’s technology send only the pixels that are changing over the USB bus. This solution can be indistinguishable from a main display for normal web and application use. Motion video and gaming, however, should be done on a main display which is directly connected to the system GPU. We would recommend checking the system requirements on the product pages for the version you’re interested in for best performance results: DisplayPort or HDMI. The adapter is powered completely by the USB port (no extra power adapter or cabling needed). If using a USB hub, make sure it has its own AC power.

This is an Amazing solution that makes the most of the USB 3.0 ports you already have.

If you ever have any questions please comment below or reach out to our support team directly at support@plugable.com and we will be happy to help!

Where to Buy

Plugable USB 3.0 Dual 4K DisplayPort and Gigabit Ethernet Adapter

MSRP $119.99

Plugable USB 3.0 Dual 4K HDMI 2.0 and Gigabit Ethernet Adapter

MSRP $119.99

The post Dual 4K Displays Now Possible on Existing USB 3.0 Ports appeared first on Plugable.

Dual 4K Displays on any PC – Plugable’s New Docking Station

2017-09-14T19:48:33Z

New Plugable Dock supports 5120 × 2880 Resolution

Recently we introduced our Dual 4K DisplayPort and HDMI adapters that enable you to connect two 4K@60Hz displays to your system. Today, we are excited to introduce a docking solution based on of the same DisplayLink DL-6950 cutting edge technology, the Plugable USB 3.0 Dual 4K Monitor Docking station, also known as the UD-6950.

The UD-6950 dock harnesses the powerful DL-6950 chipset in order to support two displays up to 4K (3840×2160@60Hz) or a single 5K (5120×2880@60Hz) display. Accompanying the high resolution display support, our dock offers six USB 3.0 ports for USB peripheral connectivity, an audio input and output port to connect external speakers, headphones or a microphone and a Gigabit Ethernet port to connect to your local network via Ethernet cable. All of this from a single USB connection.

If your monitors do not have DisplayPort inputs, you may use DisplayPort to VGA, Single-Link DVI, or HDMI adapter like these (not included with dock):

DisplayPort output to HDMI: Plugable DPM-HDMIF Passive Adapter (maximum resolution of 4K@30Hz refresh)
DisplayPort output to DVI: Plugable DPM-DVIF Passive Adapter
DisplayPort output to VGA: Plugable DPM-VGAF Passive Adapter

Our dock includes both an USB 3.0 Type-B to Type-A cable and a USB 3.0 Type-B to Type-C cable. This allows for flexible host connectivity on modern and popular Windows systems with a traditional USB 3.0 port, or the new USB 3.0 Type-C port.

System Requirements:
For optimal performance the below system specifications are recommended:
Operating System: Windows 10, 8.1 or 7
CPU: Intel SkyLake i3 or Intel Core i7, AMD A10 at 2.0GHz or better
Graphics Processor: Intel HD 4000, AMD Radeon HD 8650, NVidia GeForce 7xxM or better
Memory: 8GB RAM
Host connection: USB 3.0 Type-A or Type-C port

For more information, please see the Plugable UD-6950 product page or contact our support team directly at support@plugable.com and we’ll be happy to help!

Where to Buy

Plugable UD-6950 USB 3.0 Dual DisplayPort 4K Docking Station

MSRP $209.99

The post Dual 4K Displays on any PC – Plugable’s New Docking Station appeared first on Plugable.

Plugable’s USB-C Mini Dock with HDMI, USB 3.0 and Pass-Through Charging

2017-08-28T20:53:18Z

As more systems are released with only Thunderbolt 3 and USB-C ports, we are left asking ourselves, “how do we connect all of our peripherals to our laptops if we only have USB-C ports?!” Existing solutions have either been expensive or had spotty compatibility.

Plugable’s newest product is designed to solve this vexing problem: our new Plugable USB-C Mini Dock, also known as the USBC-MD101. The Plugable USB-C Mini Dock enables you to connect an external HDMI display, one USB 3.0 peripheral and external USB-C power adapter to charge a compatible system via a single device. Popular systems that are compatible with our Mini Dock include the 2015/2016 MacBook, the 2016/2017 MacBook Pro lineup, the HP Spectre x360, Lenovo Yoga 720, and many other systems that support USB-C DisplayPort Alternate Mode via a USB-C or Thunderbolt 3 port.

Our USBC-MD101 Mini Dock is equipped with an HDMI 1.4 video output and can support resolutions on an external monitor up to 3840×2160 at 30Hz refresh rate (4K) or 60Hz or better for 2560×1440 and lower modes (please note: the monitor and host system must support this resolution as well). As traditional USB Type-A ports are becoming increasingly less common, our Multiport Adapter provides a USB 3.0 Type-A port in order to connect both USB 3.0 and 2.0 peripherals.

Finally, for host systems which support charging over USB-C via the USB-IF Power Delivery specification, our Mini Dock can provide a conduit to power and charge a laptop’s battery (5-20V at 3A) when connected with a compatible USB-C power adapter that is compatible with the host system. Measuring at mere 6 inches in length and weighing less than a pound, the size of our adapter offers convenient portability in order to take your workstation on the go!

If you have any questions please comment below or reach out to our support team directly at support@plugable.com and we will be happy to help!

We love the fans and followers who get excited about our newest products. And to say thanks we’re offering a limited number of 20% off discount codes (on top of our existing discounts), available below. Let us know what email address to send the Amazon.com discount code to, then just click button once and an email will be sent with your unique one-time-use coupon code.

Where to Buy

Plugable USB Type-C Mini Dock with HDMI, USB 3.0 and Pass-Through Charging

MSRP $39.99

The post Plugable’s USB-C Mini Dock with HDMI, USB 3.0 and Pass-Through Charging appeared first on Plugable.

Plugable Launches First DisplayLink DL-6950 USB-C Adapters Supporting Dual 4K@60 Displays

2017-08-04T21:39:26Z

Today Plugable is launching the world’s first USB-C adapters which add two 4K 60Hz displays and Gigabit Ethernet to their USB-C or Thunderbolt 3 Windows systems without the need for a full-fledged docking station.

Some of the most common questions we receive as Plugable support engineers are “How can I connect two 4K displays to my system?” or “What’s the best way to add two HDMI or DisplayPort monitors to my system?” and “Many solutions are limited to 4K 30Hz. How can I get a 60Hz solution?”. These can be difficult question to answer as there lots of solutions that get part-way there or only work on a limited number of Windows systems.

These two new additions to Plugable’s line of DisplayLink-enabled adapters are a complete solution to all of those questions, as they are the first to support dual 4K monitors at 60Hz refresh rates from a single USB Type-C connector along with a wired gigabit Ethernet connection at the same time.

An important note, DisplayLink is both a separate and different technology from Thunderbolt 3, so these adapters will work fully on all Thunderbolt 3 ports. They will also work on any downstream USB-C port provided by a Thunderbolt 3&trade dock, or via a USB-C docking station or hub. Other types of adapters that rely on different technologies (DisplayPort over USB-C for example) can be limited those types of scenarios, but our adapters have no such restrictions.

The compact design of the adapter lends itself to be stowed while traveling or for use at a permanent workstation without occupying valuable desk space.

Due to the increasing popularity of the DisplayPort interface, we’re launching two models: one for DisplayPort displays, and another for HDMI. Note that HDMI 1.4 is limited to 4K 30Hz, so while this new adapter will work with an HDMI 1.4 display, an HDMI 2.0 display is required to achieve 60Hz.

For those of you with traditional USB 3.0/”USB-A” systems (rather than Type-C), we’re working on adapters for you as well — but they’re not quite ready.

Powering dual displays at up to 4K@60Hz takes a fair amount of computational horsepower, so please make sure to check the system requirements on the product pages for the version you’re interested in: DisplayPort or HDMI

If you have any questions please comment below or reach out to our support team directly at support@plugable.com and we will be happy to help!

Where to Buy

Plugable USB Type-C Dual 4K DisplayPort and Gigabit Ethernet Adapter

MSRP $144.99

Plugable USB Type-C Dual 4K HDMI 2.0 and Gigabit Ethernet Adapter

MSRP $124.99

The post Plugable Launches First DisplayLink DL-6950 USB-C Adapters Supporting Dual 4K@60 Displays appeared first on Plugable.

Plugable Introduces Universal 60W USB Type-C Power Delivery 2.0 Charger

2017-07-14T18:44:49Z

Finally, a standard laptop power adapter.

With the introduction of USB 3.1 Type-C (“USB-C”) a few years ago there were high expectations for this exciting new standard. The flexibility to carry power, data, and video over a single cable was certainly an exciting prospect. Unfortunately many first-generation USB-C products resulted in frustrating compatibility issues, with some systems and devices being incompatible with each other for seemingly no reason. Especially when it came to dedicated USB-C chargers.

We set out to try and solve this problem by releasing a USB Type-C Power Delivery (PD) charger with the best possible set of features to enable it to be compatible with nearly all USB-C systems and devices. Armed with the latest PD 2.0 standard, this charger supports all standard voltage ranges of 5, 9, 12, 15, and 20 volts at up to 3 amps (60W maximum) and is backwards compatible with older PD revisions. The Plugable USBC-PS-60W can charge many new laptops, tablets, and phones from leading manufacturers such as Apple, Dell, HP, Samsung, and many more that are equipped with USB-C for charging.

Our new charger is great as a replacement or spare charger for most devices that accept a charge over USB-C, including, but not limited to: Apple MacBook (2015 & 2016 12″ MacBook Retina) and Late 2016 & 2017 MacBook Pro, HP Spectre x360, Dell XPS 13 & 15 (9350, 9360, 9550, 9560) Lenovo Yoga 720 & 910, USB-C Chromebooks, Samsung Galaxy S8 & S8+, Google Pixel & Pixel XL, and many more.

The charger is compact and has a classic look. With its diminutive size, the USB-C PD brick easily stows in any laptop bag, carry-on, or backpack while on the go. The built-in USB-C cable measures in at 6ft, and the detachable AC cable extends 4ft, with a combined span of 10ft length.

We love the fans and followers who get excited about our newest products. We’re offering a huge 25% additional discount (on top of our existing discounts) to the first 200 of our fans. Let us know what email address to send the Amazon.com discount code to, then just click button once and an email will be sent with your unique one-time-use coupon code.

Where to Buy

Plugable USB Type-C Power Delivery 60W Power Supply

MSRP $49.99

The post Plugable Introduces Universal 60W USB Type-C Power Delivery 2.0 Charger appeared first on Plugable.

Turning The Inverted Microscope Market Upside-Down

2017-06-28T17:48:35Z

Traditional high-powered compound microscopes are great for viewing prepared slides, but they aren’t able to fit larger subjects. The objective lens on a compound microscope is positioned slightly above the stage, and samples have to squeeze into this narrow gap. This limitation was overcome when John Lawrence Smith invented the inverted microscope in 1850. True to its name, the objective lens on an inverted microscope is positioned underneath the stage. With plenty of space above the stage, it was suddenly possible to observe larger subjects such as rock samples and cultures in a petri dish.

Despite the 167 years or so since its inception, the market for inverted microscopes has not shared the same reduction in cost enjoyed by compound microscopes. With even low-end models of inverted microscopes selling for $1,000 or more, their practicality has been confined to laboratory use. After the success of our popular USB2-MICRO-250X microscope, we at Plugable felt it was our Promethean duty to pluck inverted microscope technology from the exclusive mountaintop of professional laboratories and make it accessible to the masses. With this vision in mind, we set out to develop a quality inverted microscope with 800x optical magnification at a price well within the reach of science-hungry kids and hobbyists, without sacrificing functionality.

We are very excited to announce the success of this mission by unveiling the latest addition to our microscope lineup: the USB2-MICRO-800X Inverted Digital/Optical USB Microscope.

We managed to pack a lot of features into this microscope, and despite being suitable for professional use, its straightforward design ensures a complete novice can become a master of the microscopic in a matter of minutes.

Trying to get a microscopic sample positioned in just the right spot can be frustrating, as attempts to reposition objects smaller than a millimeter by hand often results in overcorrection. The adjustment knobs on the USB2-MICRO-800X allow precise changes to the lateral and longitudinal position of the stage, so even the most unsteady-handed individual can bring their subject into view. Following this theme, the large focus knobs on either side of the microscope provide precise control over the position of the focal point, allowing a clear view of the individual layers of a sample.

To take full advantage of the inverted design, there are built-in LEDs above and below the stage. Transmit light through translucent samples using the top LED with single lens condenser, or reflect light off opaque subjects with the bottom LEDs. Press the light switch in to toggle between the top and bottom LEDs, or flip it left or right to quickly adjust the brightness level.

The stage features slide holder clips that can be rotated out of the way to provide more space for other types of samples. With slightly more than 5 cm (about 2 inches) of space between the stage and the top LED, this microscope provides plenty of room for creativity.

Connect the included USB cable to a host system to view subjects on a display with companion software. This makes it easy to take photos, record video, or capture time-lapse images. This microscope uses a USB Video Class (UVC) chipset that makes it compatible with any standard webcam viewer, and is supported with the following Operating Systems:

Windows XP+
macOS / OS X 10.4+
Linux kernels 2.6.26+
All Chrome OS devices
Select Android devices

For a more traditional approach, extending the 800x optical eyepiece enables a direct view of the subject without the need for software. Installing 3 AA batteries (not included) allows you to unplug the detachable USB cable and leave your computer behind.

A versatile accessory kit is included complete with ready-to-view prepared slides, blank slides, cover slips, a dropper, tweezers, a petri dish, and a case. This provides everything needed to prepare smears, dry mount, wet mount, and culture samples.

With all of the possibilities allowed by this microscope set, it’s sure to magnify your passion for science and show you the world through a new lens. We’d love to hear about how you’ve used your microscope; please feel free to share your discoveries by posting a comment below. If you have any questions, please contact us at support@plugable.com, we’re glad to help!

Also, as a thank you to our customers, we’re offering a limited number of 20% off discount codes for the microscope. Click here to receive your discount code via email before they’re all gone!

Plugable 800x Inverted Digital/Optical USB Microscope

MSRP $124.99

The post Turning The Inverted Microscope Market Upside-Down appeared first on Plugable.

The New Plugable Travel Power Station (It’s a great charger at home, too!)

2017-06-26T22:38:07Z

Have you ever forgotten your phone charger at a hotel? I know I have. It’s awfully frustrating to get home, unpack, and realize I have no way to charge my phone. All because the wall outlet in my hotel room was back behind the nightstand, tough to reach and easy to forget about. Combine a week excursion at my favorite Washington beach, my forgetful self, and an inaccessible outlet, and my phone charger is almost guaranteed to get lost.

In comes the new Travel Power Station. No more inaccessible outlets or chargers attached to an outlet you can’t see. No more packing multiple chargers for multiple devices. The Travel Power Station gives easy access to outlets and charging ports exactly where you need it, when you need it. No more fumbling behind a night stand or accidentally leaving your charger in the hotel room; The Power Station is always in sight and accessible.

The three built-in smart charging USB ports can provide up to 20W of power to devices, and the two 3-prong AC power outlets enable easy access to plug in your laptop charger or any other device which requires an AC adapter. The USB charging ports automatically select the best charging signal for the device, so you can always be sure that your device is charging at the maximum rate available. With 20W of total power available, this means that two smartphones and a tablet can be charged simultaneously after a day of adventures.

With all of these features combined in a compact form-factor, the versatile Travel Power Station is a great device to pack in your travel bag, and great fit for many home or offices uses as well. Feel free to comment below or email support@plugable.com with any questions — we’re here to help!

Plugable 2-Outlet Travel Power Station with USB Smart Charging

The post The New Plugable Travel Power Station (It’s a great charger at home, too!) appeared first on Plugable.

From Gamers With Love – The Plugable Pro Mouse

2017-08-22T14:33:17Z

If it wasn’t clear by now, behind the veneer of best selling business-oriented Docking Stations, there’s a group of gamers and peripheral enthusiasts here at Plugable. In the vein that our mechanical keyboards are a love letter to price-conscious typing enthusiasts, the USB-PM3360 mouse is a love letter to price-conscious PC gamers, and those who appreciate the dexterity and comfort of a high-quality mouse when being productive too.

Introducing the Plugable Performance Mouse (USB-PM3360)

We’re proud to introduce our first gaming and productivity mouse, packed with high-end features at a reasonable price. Releasing initially at $39.95, the mouse includes must-have features found in products that cost nearly twice as much, without cutting corners on quality, and avoiding some of the more gimmicky features of other gaming mice.

Whether you’re considering your first gaming mouse, or if you are an experienced mouse enthusiast looking for what we offer compared to the competition, here’s a quick overview of the PM3360’s features.

Plug and play with no control software needed to adjust settings.
On-the-fly DPI adjustment to 400/800/1200/1600/3200 indicated by lighting color.
Three-stage LED controls that can turn lighting off, lighting color that matches DPI level, and option for lighting at the base to use a ‘breathing’ effect.
Ergonomic design for multiple grip styles.
Smooth and durable PTFE mouse feet which work well on both hard and soft surfaces.
Flexible braided cable for minimal resistance.

6/23/2017 — Note: The click latency and polling rate have been improved with a new firmware release. Click here to download. Instructions are included with the files.

If you want to know more about the advantages of these features, and why we opted for them, keep reading to learn more. Also, feel free to leave a comment with any questions and we’ll be happy to answer!

Making a mouse we want ourselves

There are countless options these days when it comes to the venerable computer mouse. Like a prospector sifting for gold, there’s a lot to filter through before finding the right one.

When making our first mouse, we sought to make a device we’d be proud of. We sought function and form over gimmicks, and keeping the cost affordable and competitive while still having top-notch build quality. When you look at the market for gaming mice there are whole range of options. From mice with crazy angles, blinding light patterns, wireless, wired, and force feedback, to dozens of buttons, insane DPI stats, and prices that help prop up the marketing for the mouse. We felt we could do better.

Form

While we hope to offer other ergonomic options in the future, we focused on right-handed grip styles to start with.

We opted for a medium-to-large body and a medium weight. While the size of the mouse is uncontroversial, it can be hard to keep the weight down while still feeling high in quality. The body of the mouse feels very solid, but offers a soft rubberized texture that adds a nice tactile feel that gives the whole mouse a nice premium feeling. Braiding the cable adds durability, has a nice texture to it that gives a more interesting look than plain black rubber while still being understated.

Function

While there are some obvious targets from a technical standpoint, such as the oft-advertised sensor used in the mouse, there were a lot of other functional concerns that went into the mouse.

For one, we wanted the mouse to be totally plug and play, including adjusting mouse settings. We wanted no need to install drivers or added software to control mouse functions. Computer taskbars are cluttered enough if you’re an avid gamer, between all the different publisher storefronts, voice chat applications, controls for other system components, and other applications. Including configuration options directly on the mouse also meant providing access to those settings would be exactly the same regardless of what system you used the mouse with.

The onboard controls are a single switch and the DPI button. The switch controls the lighting modes, including turning them off. However, when active the color of the lighting indicates the current DPI level which ranges from 400 to 3200.

The usual fare of a five-button mouse is present, and each click is supported by the industry-standard Omron Mechanical mouse switch. These are found in nearly every mouse on the market and we saw no reason to deviate from that after testing other options that were available. Their build quality is exceptional, they offer a consistent light click, and are rated for long-term use.

Performance

There are a lot of preferences when it comes to moving a cursor across a screen, or centering crosshairs on an opponent in a multiplayer match. Two highly-respected sensor manufacturers include Avago and PixArt, and for our mouse we selected the latest PixArt PMW3360.

While Avago used to be the sensor king, PixArt has acquired much of Avago’s top sensor technology. This sensor is capable of a detection resolution up to 12000 DPI, and won’t skip a beat even with movement up to 250 inches per second (ips) and acceleration up to 50g. This is far and above what almost any gamer will ever do with the mouse, but going above and beyond with the performance of the sensor felt like the right choice to satisfy any play style.

Price

One of our goals was to keep the mouse accessible on a wide range of budgets. It is a tough enough proposition for most people to make the leap from a mouse that was bundled with a prebuilt system, let alone take a chance on a new offering in the mouse arena. We avoided gimmicks and fringe features, and have opted for community engagement over expensive marketing through publications that have helped keep the price reasonable. With a a retail price of $39.95, we feel we’re offering a mouse that easily outclasses other products at its price point and still packs high end features offered by much pricier and more well-known mice on the market.

How do others feel about the mouse?

Reddit review by u/BigRedKiwi — “I like the shape of the mouse as I use a claw grip. The scroll wheel is one of the best I’ve ever used.”

Reddit review by u/EndingShadows — “It’s billed as a competitive e-sports mouse that can hang with the likes of Logitech and Razer for a fraction of the price. And honestly, I think it can.”

How do we feel about the mouse?

Click the green name button to show more

Grip Type — Palm
Handedness — Right
Hand Size — Medium
DPI Preference With Another Mouse — 6,000 to 8,000
MSRP of Previous Mouse — $79.99

What’s your background in PC gaming?

It’s an odd feeling that my Steam account is 12 years old, and that it doesn’t even mark when I started out as a PC gamer. Some titles and series I’ve sunk more time than I care to admit into include Doom, Unreal Tournament, Halo PC, Battlefield, Civilization, RollerCoaster Tycoon/Planet Coaster, SimCity, and Call of Duty. There are a lot of titles in other genres that I’ve played through with less of a time commitment, some with a controller, but mostly I game with a mouse and keyboard when practical.

What aspects of a mouse are most and least important to you?

I want to say that the way the mouse looks is likely the least important thing to me, and it is, but I can’t say I’d want a gaudy ‘extreme gamer’ aesthetic if something more understated is available with the same features. Ultimately the way the mouse feels in my hand and the accuracy of it are the most important features. I tend to make very small and precise movements and that makes it important that I have a good grip on it, that the sensor is very accurate, and that the feet of the mouse aren’t too slippery that I can’t stop exactly where I intend to. Ideally, the mouse becomes something that I forget about because of how natural the interface with the computer feels during use.

What’s something that really bothered you from a previous mouse you’ve used?

One of the worst experiences I can think of that I had with a mouse I’ve used, and this is something that happened with two mice I’ve owned, was that something with the sensor and optics were slightly loose, and this caused the cursor position to vibrate a couple pixels at the end of a movement. It took a while to figure out what the issue was because of how tiny the vibration was, but really made it a challenge to click precisely in an image editor, or hit even a mid-distance target in a game.

What did you appreciate about the PM3360?

One of the first things I appreciated about the mouse was the texture, it just felt really great to touch it. It also did two things a lot more quickly than I thought it would. One is that I forgot about it fairly quickly, and the other is that I never felt the mouse hindered my performance in any way despite switching away from a mouse I’ve used for the last year.

What would you change about the PM3360?

The only thing that I found myself wanting was the mouse shape I’ve become so accustomed to over the years. The difference was subtle, but the way my hand wanted to rest on the mouse wasn’t quite in tune with the shape of the PM3360. I still acclimated to it quickly, but in a perfect world that’s the change I would want.

Grip Type — Hybrid (Palm/Claw)
Handedness — Right
Hand Size — Large
DPI Preference With Another Mouse — 1,600
MSRP of Previous Mouse — $79.99

What’s your background in PC gaming?

Well if we talk about Steam libraries I have a bit of an unfair advantage. While working my first “real” job at a computer parts and repair shop in Seattle I had a great interaction with a Valve employee. I kick myself for forgetting his name, but he was one of the facial animators for Half-life 2. I was ringing him up at the register when he noticed an Intel poster behind me that actually had the actress (Jamil Giovanni Mullen) that modeled Alyx Vance. He was so excited to notice it that he asked for it and promised to bring back something in return. A day or two later he came back to the store and handed me a code to put into Steam and I have not needed to purchase another Valve title since!

I also used to be part of the largest community of West Coast CS and TF2 Servers, shout out to the now defunct [-Q-] Clan!

What aspects of a mouse are most and least important to you?

Least is easy, I am not a fan of the generic ‘gamer’ style of sharp angles and LED raves. Most? I am not sure… a lot. When I’m asked about mouse recommendations I always start with things like use case, grip style, and hand size. Today’s mouse sensors are so overkill for their purpose that there really is not much difference between the various mice with different top sensors. Having a comfortable and sure grip will have more appreciable results then switching for sensor or buttons alone.

What’s something that really bothered you from a previous mouse you’ve used?

Not much from the mice I have owned because I get quite obsessed with research before making a purchase decision. I have evaluated many mice through the course of my work and there are some real stinkers out there. Any mouse with a crap sensor marketed as a tournament quality e-sports mouse drives me batty. That is why I am so happy to bring out a budget option that does not sacrifice sensor quality.

What did you appreciate about the PM3360?

I was incredibly pleased at how the buttons turned out. There was a concerted effort to find a switch that matched well with the tooling to give that satisfying crisp click. Some mice have a mushy feel especially with the side buttons so that was a clear focus for us to get right.

What would you change about the PM3360?

I would say the coating. It feels nice but I think we can do better. Materials are one of the most time intensive and hard-to-test aspects. I am excited not just to rework some of the aspects of this mouse but to get started on our next mouse which will be quite different!

Conclusion

The new Plugable PM3360 optical mouse packs top-tier features in an inexpensive package. Forget gimmicks, forget gaudy over-the-top ‘gamer’ flare. This mouse is designed to be practical, functional, and offer excellent bang-for-the-buck features. Check it out on Amazon in the where to buy box below.

Plugable PM3360 Performance Mouse for Gaming and Precision Applications

MSRP $39.99

The post From Gamers With Love – The Plugable Pro Mouse appeared first on Plugable.

Plugable’s New Thunderbolt 3™ Docking Station Now Shipping

2017-05-11T23:20:14Z

Today Plugable is proud to announce the availability of the latest addition to our growing line of Thunderbolt™ 3 products, our Thunderbolt 3 Docking Station for Apple Macbook Pro 2016 and Dell Thunderbolt 3 Systems.

The dock supports a single DisplayPort or HDMI Display (with included adapter). The dock does not charge the host computer. It does power itself and attached downstream USB devices.

The first in our series of Thunderbolt 3 docking stations, when connected to a compatible macOS or Windows Thunderbolt 3 system the TBT3-UD1-83 provides the ability to connect a single 4K display via its DisplayPort++ output (passive DisplayPort to HDMI adapter included for HDMI displays). This connection functions as a direct line to the host system’s internal graphics adapter and provides for the same level of performance as a direct connection.

The TBT3-UD1-83 also provides a wired Intel gigabit Ethernet connection using an i210 chipset, analog audio input and outputs, two USB 3.0 Type-A ports, one USB 3.1 Type-C port and one ‘downstream’ Thunderbolt 3 port that can be used to daisy chain up to five additional Thunderbolt 3 devices or provide for a 10Gbps network connection to another Thunderbolt 3 host using an additional Thunderbolt 3 cable (purchased separately).

The downstream Thunderbolt 3 port can alternatively be used to attach a second 4K display using a USB-C video adapter, such as our USBC-DP cable, USBC-HDMI adapter (purchased separately).

Plugable TBT3-UD1-83 Thunderbolt 3 Docking Station

Watch Our Video Demo

A few important notes: Our TBT3-UD1-83 docking station does not provide the ability to charge the host system. Those who require the ability to charge should wait for our upcoming TBT3-UDV docking station (more information on that upcoming product here) which does allow up to 60W of power to charge the host system.

All manufacturers can design their Thunderbolt 3 systems differently, and certain design decisions can affect compatibility with our dock and/or its ability to support two external displays. We have found that the Apple MacBook Pro late 2016 systems with Thunderbolt 3 and all Dell Windows Thunderbolt 3 systems work well with our dock and can support two displays, and we will be maintaining a compatibility list for other host system manufacturers on our product page.

In certain cases 4K monitors connected to the dock may be limited to 4K@30Hz refresh rates, please see the FAQ section of our product page for more information.

And just for those that have subscribed to our new posts (subscription form in sidebar) or come to plugable.com to check us out, we have a limited number of docks available at 20% off (savings of almost $40 USD). Request your code here.

Plugable TBT3-UD1-83 Thunderbolt™ 3 Docking Station (Single HDMI or DisplayPort Display, No Ho...

MSRP $264.99

The post Plugable’s New Thunderbolt 3™ Docking Station Now Shipping appeared first on Plugable.

Expand Your Screen Real Estate with Plugable’s New USB-C to HDMI and VGA Cables

2017-05-08T17:01:57Z

As more USB-C and Thunderbolt 3 computers hit the market, we receive frequent questions about how to best connect these systems to monitors, TVs, and projectors. For owners of DisplayPort-enabled displays, a great option has been our best selling “Amazon’s Choice” Plugable USB-C to DisplayPort cable.

Today we are pleased to announce the latest expansion to our USB-C cable product line with the launch of Plugable’s USB-C to HDMI 2.0 and USB-C to VGA cables, to directly connect all your existing monitors and projectors to your Thunderbolt 3 or USB-C systems, like the MacBook Pro 2016 (which can support two attached cables and monitors). These 6 foot/1.8m cables allow for a clean, cable-managed installation without the need to keep track of additional USB-C dongles.

The USB 3.1 “Type-C” standard has introduced several new features not present in previous generations of USB. One of these capabilities that’s most interesting is the ability to negotiate “Alternate Modes” which — if both sides of the connection support the same mode and agree — can dedicate some of the physical wires in the USB-C cable for transmission of non-USB signals like video.

One of the most widely adopted Alternate Modes is one for transmitting video, using DisplayPort signaling. This enables the ability to carry a native video signal over USB, allowing an additional display to be connected by adding a simple, inexpensive adapter cable to the USB-C port on compatible systems. And because of DisplayPort’s flexibility, the signaling can be converted to other popular connection types such as HDMI and VGA.

USB-C DisplayPort Alternate Mode provides a direct pipeline to the system’s graphics processor, and our adapter allows the attached display to function optimally, with no additional software or drivers to install – just plug and play.

Our USB-C to HDMI cable is one of the first available with an HDMI 2.0 port, which is capable of supporting resolutions up to 3840×2160@60Hz (4K@60Hz) on supported host systems and HDMI 2.0 capable monitors and TVs and is backwards compatible with the millions of existing HDMI 1.4 displays.

Our USB-C to VGA cable harnesses the USB-C port on the system and converts the DisplayPort digital signal to an analog VGA signal in order to connect your legacy monitors, TVs and projectors to your new USB-C Alt Mode or Thunderbolt 3 system. The maximum resolution supported is 1920×1080@60Hz while connected to a VGA-equipped display.

Popular systems that support USB-C DisplayPort Alternate Mode and work with our new cables include the MacBook Pro 13″ & 15″ Late 2016, MacBook Retina 12″ 2015/2016, the Chromebook Pixel 2015, Dell Thunderbolt 3 systems like the XPS 13 & 15 (9350, 9360, 9550, 9560), Lenovo Yoga 900/910, and many more. We recommend checking with your system’s manufacturer regarding Alternate Mode capability via USB Type-C or on our USBC-HDMI-CABLE and USBC-VGA-CABLE product pages as we update compatibility information as more systems are coming out and tested.

If you have additional comments or questions, please do not hesitate to comment below or reach out to us directly at support@plugable.com. We’re always happy to help!

The post Expand Your Screen Real Estate with Plugable’s New USB-C to HDMI and VGA Cables appeared first on Plugable.

Plugable Products (Unofficially) Compatible With Nintendo Switch

2017-11-24T16:55:09Z

Last Updated 11/24/2017

When it comes to game consoles and handhelds, Nintendo has a history of using unusual and proprietary connections and storage for their products. For the Nintendo Switch, there is a rather refreshing use of widely-adopted standards. The Switch utilizes MicroSD cards for added storage, a venerable 3.5mm audio jack, the docking and charging port is a USB Type-C connection, and the dock makes use of USB Type-A as well as HDMI. Not a single proprietary port in sight!

As a Switch owner myself, I was pretty excited to poke and prod at what the device could and couldn’t do. Especially here at Plugable where we’ve released a few products that seem perfect for the Switch.

There’s still some unusual and proprietary systems in place that I’ll get into in this article. For example, as of this writing there have been no third-party solutions to get direct HDMI output from the Switch’s USB-C port. The dock is ultimately required for this. With all the USB-C docking solutions and adapters we have, it was disappointing to find they wouldn’t work, but the reasons for this are at least interesting, which I’ll delve into later.

The good news is that there are plenty of Plugable products that will work when attached to the Nintendo Switch. A couple of network adapters and USB Type-C to Type-A adapters can help to get your Switch connected inexpensively to a wired network with or without the dock.

Click A Button Below To Read More

Image Source: nintendo.co.uk

The Nintendo Switch’s dock is one of the aspects of the Switch that seems standard and simple from the outside, but there’s a bit more going on here than meets the eye. At the front of the dock you’ll find two USB 2.0 Type-A ports which are pretty much exactly as they seem.

Image Source: nintendo.co.uk

Inside the dock, you’ll find a USB-C power connector, a USB 3.0 (or USB 3.1 Gen 1) port, and the HDMI output. In our testing the dock won’t provide HDMI output unless you’re using the official charger for the Switch.

Here’s where things might be a little deceiving initially. The USB 3.0 port in the dock currently only operates functionally as a USB 2.0 port. Nintendo notes that this will be changed at a later date to provide USB 3.0 capability. So until this update happens, the Switch’s dock only operates functionally as a charging station with a USB 2.0 hub and HDMI output.

Image Source: nintendo.co.uk

For TV Mode Plugable USB hubs may become more useful for connecting accessories later on as more accessories are released. For now the most important accessories in this mode are the ones that provide reliable wired network connectivity for upcoming multiplayer games like Mario Kart 8 Deluxe and Arms.

Plugable USB3-E1000 Network Adapter

This is easily the most popular accessory customers have been buying for their Switch. While the adapter is somewhat limited by all the ports on the Switch dock being USB 2.0, this still provides a steady wired connection with more potential throughput than most Internet connections can provide.

Plugable USB2-E100 Network Adapter

While the USB2-E100 cannot provide the same level of performance as the USB3-E1000, even with the USB ports limited to USB 2.0 performance currently, most home internet connections are rarely much faster than this adapter is capable of. If you’re using older wired network equipment, this can be a good option.

Plugable USB3-HUB3ME USB 3.1 Gen 1 (USB 3.0) Hub with Gigabit Ethernet

Currently it is unknown if the USB 3.0 ports on the USB3-HUB3ME are functional with the Switch due to the lack of available USB accessories that would use data in addition to power. We have confirmed that the gigabit network adapter does work on the Switch. While the hub is bus-powered, it can still be a good option for giving you just enough ports to charge four pro controllers from the dock and have one USB port left over for potential future use.

Plugable USB Sound Card for 3.5mm Headsets

While the Switch has a built-in 3.5mm TRRS jack for headsets, using the USB-AUDIO adapter would allow the use of headsets that have separate TRS jacks for headphone output and microphone input. With some games having voice options built-in, this can be a great choice for using a non-USB PC headset with the Switch. Just be sure to evaluate whether your headset is using the proper implementation of TRS connections as noted on the USB-AUDIO’s product page.

Image Source: nintendo.co.uk

Plugable USBC-HUB3P 3-port USB 3.1 Gen 1 (USB 3.0) Hub with Pass-Through Charging

This device was originally designed with Mac users in mind, but has proven to be quite capable for use with the Switch as well. Using the charger that came with the Switch, it is possible to add wired network connectivity with a USB3-E1000 while also charging the Switch! This is great when using the TV in docked mode isn’t an option but you still want to play some multiplayer games without the worry of ever running out of juice.

Note: This does not work properly if connecting to the USB-C connection inside the Nintendo Switch’s Dock. Use it only in handheld mode. Using the USBC-VAMETER we verified that the same amount of power is delivered to the Nintendo Switch using the official Nintendo Switch power adapter by itself, as well as when supplied through the USBC-HUB3P with the official power adapter.

Plugable USBC-E1000 Network Adapter

If you don’t mind using the Switch’s battery but would still like an inexpensive way to get a wired connection in handheld mode, the USBC-E1000 can get you connected quickly and easily.

USB 3.1 Gen 1 Type-C to Type-A Adapter

Instead of using a dedicated Type-C network adapter, combine this adapter with the USB3-E1000, USB2-E100, or USB3-HUB3ME you use in TV Mode with this adapter to gain wired network connectivity in Handheld Mode without charging.

Nintendo, known for being quirky, sometimes makes technical decisions that leave us scratching our heads wondering what was the rationale. On the Wii U, and now the Nintendo Switch, Nintendo has elected to leave the default MTU value for network connections at 1400 while most networks are configured to utilize a 1500 MTU value.

The Switch’s built-in network test leaves a lot to be desired. From what we can tell, during the performance test the Switch only makes network connections to the following:

Amazon Web Services in the USA
Amazon Web Services in Japan
Akamai Content Distribution Services in the USA
Akamai Content Distribution Services in Japan
Nintendo of America
Nintendo Co. Ltd. (Japan)

Since there are no configuration options for the network test on the Switch console, and it clearly doesn’t use a standard service like Ookla (who developed speedtest.net), it means you could end up testing against a server in Japan or the USA using an unknown testing methodology. This can cause the network test to vary wildly from one test to the next. Any internet connection test can’t be totally reliable as there are too many factors that can impact the speed, but the unknowns and inability to control which test server is used makes the Switch’s test even more inconsistent.

Note the download performance change between the two tests.

Generally it has been observed that setting the MTU value up to the standard 1500 value helps the network connection test be a little more consistent, but you may occasionally see drops in measured performance.

Here at Plugable we also sell our own Bluetooth adapter, the USB-BT4LE. Generally we discourage the use of Nintendo controllers with the adapter as not all features of the controller will work (for example, rumble and gyroscope functions), and they are not explicitly designed to work with devices other than the console they were made for. Wireless accessories for the Switch communicate over Bluetooth, and they will connect to a PC as a DirectInput device. However, there are some caveats to this. DirectInput is considered a deprecated standard in Windows in favor of Xinput. This means that many games won’t work correctly with Switch accessories unless additional software is used. Because of this, we can’t explicitly recommend using these accessories with our Bluetooth adapter, but if you’re willing to tinker a bit, they can work a treat.

Nintendo Switch Pro Controller

This has become a personal favorite of mine for use with RetroArch. After configuring the input mapping for the controller it works fantastically for retro gaming fun. In terms of in-hand feel, the large A, B, X, and Y buttons, along with a satisfying D-Pad, really make this a much better option for RetroArch than the Xbox 360 and Xbox One controllers.

JoyCon

Each individual JoyCon can be paired via Bluetooth, but there isn’t a good method of using both JoyCon controllers together as a single control input in the same way the Switch uses them. As long as you can make do with basic input from a single JoyCon (preferably with a grip attachment to make it more comfortable), it can work fairly well.

Bluetooth Audio

Bluetooth has become more and more ubiquitous the last few years. New activity trackers, headphones, and game controllers are adopting the standard all the time. Even the Nintendo Switch uses Bluetooth for connections to input devices like the JoyCon controllers and the Nintendo Switch Pro Controller.

Unfortunately, for whatever reason, Nintendo has chosen not to support Bluetooth audio profiles with their Bluetooth implementation. Instead, they’ve announced that things like voice communication will be handled through an app designed to run on a phone or a tablet (sorry, what?). Since the audio is from two separate devices, how users are expected to hear the game and their voice communication at the same time is nothing short of a mystery.

I would like to say that there’s a good solution to add Bluetooth audio to the Switch, but that is unfortunately not the case. You could argue that plugging an unwieldy Bluetooth Audio Transmitter into the 3.5mm audio jack might work, but this is inconvenient at best.

TV Output Without The Official Dock

Nintendo has elected to use a video output implementation on the console itself that doesn’t work with any device currently on the market other than their dock, but has strangely made only limited quantities of additional docks available for purchase. Meanwhile, USB-C supports video output directly through the use of Alternate Mode functions including DisplayPort and HDMI. Instead of using one of these standards, Nintendo is using an uncommon sub-specification of DisplayPort called “MyDP”. Additionally, from flowcharts included in their patent filings it would appear that the Switch communicates with the Dock to validate it is present before switching (heh) from the built-in display to the MyDP output. Because of this, it seems unlikely that third-party solutions will arrive any time soon, if they arrive at all. This is really unfortunate because it would be great to have a more compact option for connecting the Switch to a TV on-the-go.

Update: Some third-party solutions for docking have emerged since this article was originally written. While some users report success with these docks, there are also reports of third-party solutions damaging the Nintendo Switch console. USB Type-C technology is still difficult to implement properly in the industry, and with Nintendo’s specialized usage for the Nintendo Switch dock, it adds yet another layer of complexity to creating a high-quality product.

Charging Options

The location of the USB-C port on the Switch is fantastic for the dock, but terrible for handheld mode. Why can’t we charge it while it is using the kickstand on a table, or with the bottom of the device flush against your leg while sitting? Being able to charge it from the top side of the device would have made things a lot more functional. Given that USB Type-C can be configured for charging a device from multiple ports, this seems like an oversight.

See it in Action

Conclusion

There’s a lot of potential in the hardware Nintendo has selected for use with the Switch. It will be exciting to see over the coming months and years what Nintendo has in store for accessories and features, as well as the continued evolution of our own line of products that may be compatible with it. We’ll be sure to update this article periodically to share new findings about the Switch and info that may be of use for owners of Plugable products! Stay tuned!

If yes, please share an Amazon review of your Plugable product. If no, please contact us so we can help!

The post Plugable Products (Unofficially) Compatible With Nintendo Switch appeared first on Plugable.

The New Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8+ with Plugable USB-C Products

2017-10-31T23:31:43Z

One of the necessities for working at Plugable is having a passion for technology. So imagine the excitement when we hear about an upcoming device that breaks the mold, and the subsequent crowd that gathers around such devices when they arrive in our office. This is especially true with the Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8+, which are among the first phones to support exciting new USB-C functionality such as Alternate Mode video output (“Alt Modes”) and USB Power Delivery (“PD”). (Though at this time it is not well understood if Samsung is indeed using the USB PD standard for charging or another method.)

Our new Galaxy S8 arrived yesterday and we immediately dove into testing with our USB-C products. My personal Galaxy S8+ arrived the same day at home, so I brought it in today to put it through the same battery of tests with our products, and found that both handsets behave identically. We’ll continue to provide updates regarding compatibility in this post, on the relevant product pages on our site, and on our Amazon listings. (YouTube overview of the Samsung S8/S8+ and Plugable USB-C products coming soon as well!)

We’ve learned a fair bit about how this device reacts to different peripherals, so feel free to comment below if you have any particular questions and we’ll do our best to answer.

Test Results as of 4/21/2017

USB-C Docking Stations
Our USB-C docks work well with these devices overall, with one disappointing caveat: USB-C connected displays didn’t perform as expected. We were hoping that we would see a similar experience to what the Samsung “DeX” dock offers, but it looks like the handsets detect whether the connected dock is the DeX Station and then make a decision to launch the DeX software suite (while keeping the feature disabled on non-Samsung docks and video output devices). We haven’t found any work-around for this, but we are attempting to work with Samsung to see if this can be resolved.

Charging was limited to 5V for everything except the charger that came with the handsets. Even with the included charger, The phones only negotiates the higher 9V charging mode if the screen is locked, either in always-on display mode or with the display off.

USB-C Single Display Docking Station with Charging (UD-CA1): Alt Mode” HDMI Output is Compatible, charges at 5V
USB-C Triple Display Docking Station with Charging (UD-ULTCDL): “Alt Mode” HDMI Output is Compatible, charges at 5V (DisplayLink displays through the Triple Display dock also work using the Android DisplayLink Presenter app. This still only mirrors the phone display, so no real added value over using the USB-C Alt Mode output.)

USB-C Alt Mode Display Adapters
These behave the same as our docking station display outputs, mirroring the screen only. Screen rotation to portrait or landscape mode behaves as expected, rotating the image on the attached display.

USB-C to DisplayPort Cable (USBC-DP): Compatible
USB-C to HDMI Cable (Coming soon! USBC-HDMI-CABLE): Compatible
USB-C to VGA Cable (Coming soon! USBC-VGA-CABLE): Compatible
USB-C to DVI Dongle (USBC-DVI): Compatible
USB-C to HDMI Dongle (USBC-HDMI): Compatible
USB-C to VGA Dongle (USBC-VGA): Not Compatible

USB-C Hubs and Accessories

USB-C Flash Card Reader (USBC-FLASH3): Compatible
USB-C Gigabit Ethernet Adapter (USBC-E1000): Compatible
USB-C 3 Port Hub (USBC-HUB3P): Not Compatible
USB-C Voltage and Amperage Meter (USBC-VAMETER): Compatible

USB Ethernet Adapters
This is a break from the expected behavior with Samsung phones. In previous generation devices, none of our Ethernet adapters have worked, which seemed to be an intentional choice considering the drivers should be built-in to the kernel. The obvious change here is support for the Dex dock, which has an Ethernet adapter built-in. Adapters that aren’t natively USB-C will require a USB-C adapter, such as the USBC-AF3.

USB-C Gigabit Ethernet Adapter (USBC-E1000): Compatible
USB-A 3.0 and 2.0 Ethernet Adapters (Compatible with USB-A to C adapter such as USBC-AF3 below) (Though the native USBC-E1000 adapter above will be the best choice for most.)

USB-C Cables and Test Equipment

USB-C to USB-A Adapter Cable (USBC-AF3): Compatible
USB-C to USB-C USB 3.1 Gen2 USB-IF Certified Cable (USBC-C100): Compatible
Thunderbolt 3 USB-C Cables (40Gb .5m; 20Gb 1m; 20Gb 2m): Compatible
USB-C Voltage and Amperage Meter (USB-VAMETER): Compatible

Please comment below to share any additional compatibility information or with questions — thanks!

The post The New Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8+ with Plugable USB-C Products appeared first on Plugable.

Bluetooth® Changes In Windows 10 Creators Update

2017-07-05T21:05:31Z

This month Microsoft released the Creators Update to Windows 10. Among its many changes, it offers a few updates to how Bluetooth functions in Windows, as well as two new Bluetooth features. In this article, we’ll quickly go over the highlights so you can make the most of your Plugable Bluetooth adapter.

New Bluetooth Interface

One of the biggest changes is that Bluetooth devices are now grouped with other devices in the Settings > Devices options instead of appearing separately in their own Bluetooth management window. Because of this, adding new Bluetooth devices has become more complicated, requiring a couple more clicks than in previous Windows 10 versions.

In previous Windows 10 versions, some devices, such as headphones that used both Bluetooth Classic and Bluetooth Low Energy, were listed twice in the settings window. This made it easy to connect to the wrong service by mistake. In the Creators Update, they are now listed as a single device.

New Features

Audio Improvements

While some remaining issues with audio profile selection still cause Windows to use low-quality audio, there are some new improvements in this release. The biggest changes are the inclusion of Wideband speech support for Bluetooth devices that have this capability. This means Cortana, which previously disallowed the use of Bluetooth headsets, can now use them! Lastly, Windows applications are also able to use more of the buttons and controls on devices, such as pick-up, hang-up, hold, call waiting, and others if applications choose to use them.

Proximity-based System Lock

Monitoring the proximity of Bluetooth-enabled devices like smartphones and fitness trackers can be a great way for your computer to know if you’ve stepped away from it. Windows 10 Creators Update takes advantage of this ability by offering a proximity-based locking feature.

Just navigate to Settings > Accounts > Sign-in Options to find the options shown above.

Changes Under The Hood

For now, most changes under the hood apply primarily to developers, but they will likely become useful to end-users as well as developers integrate the new functionality into their apps. The biggest improvements are the inclusion of a GATT server that allows Windows to expose data to other devices through Bluetooth Low Energy, and the ability to communicate with Bluetooth Low Energy devices that aren’t explicitly paired to the PC.

You learn more about these under the hood changes in Microsoft’s blog article posted earlier this year in anticipation of the Creators Update release.

Conclusion

That’s all there is to Bluetooth changes in the Creators Update. On the whole, this is good news as it shows that Microsoft is continuing to support development of Bluetooth capabilities in Windows, while lessening the need for third-party Bluetooth software stacks that can result in large downloads for users. With Bluetooth 5 around the corner, it’s great to see Bluetooth 4.0 features finally being embraced in mainstream PCs.

If yes, please share an Amazon review of your Plugable product. If no, please contact us so we can help!

The post Bluetooth® Changes In Windows 10 Creators Update appeared first on Plugable.

Connect your VGA Computer to an HDMI Display with Plugable’s Newest Graphics Adapter

2017-04-14T17:21:42Z

For those who prefer to live on the cutting edge of technology, USB Type C and Thunderbolt 3 devices and host systems are all the rage. Still, there are millions of computers with VGA outputs which have served us well in our homes and offices for many years. If these computers continue to work well for their preferred use, why spend hundreds or thousands of dollars on an upgrade? When you enjoy living at the more tried and true end of the technology timeline, most will only invest in upgrading their PC when the necessary accessory devices, like monitors and televisions, are no longer offering the same connectors that many older computers have built into them. The new Plugable VGA to HDMI Active Adapter provides a link between the older, established technology of analog VGA output to a monitor, television, or projector with a digital HDMI input. VGA outputs aren’t capable of supplying power, so the adapter’s attached USB 2.0 cable also supplies power and transmits audio from your computer to an HDMI display with built-in speakers.

Our new VGA to HDMI Active Adapter will breathe new life into your VGA-based computers by supporting a maximum resolution and refresh rate of 1920×1080@60Hz for your newer HDMI display or projector (assuming of course the PC’s graphics output and HDMI display also support this resolution). The adapter also supports lower resolutions such as 1600×900 and 1366×768 (720p).

As with all “active” adapters which covert to a different signaling format, this is a uni-directional cable. So the VGAM-HDMIF only works in one direction: from a VGA capable computer to a monitor or television that provides an HDMI input. If you are in need of an adapter or cable that converts in the opposite direction (from an HDMI computer to a VGA display), our uni-directional HDMI to VGA Converter Cable is best for that type of setup.

The Plugable VGAM-HDMIF adapter is available immediately in USA, Canada, most of Europe, and Japan. See the product page for buying options. If you have any questions at all, please just email support@plugable.com – we’re happy to help!

The post Connect your VGA Computer to an HDMI Display with Plugable’s Newest Graphics Adapter appeared first on Plugable.

Best of Both Worlds with Plugable Portable Drive Enclosure

2017-04-10T15:49:47Z

The USBC-SATA-E is an affordable way to convert an internal 2.5″ SSD into a blazing fast, portable, and durable external drive. This enclosure has the best compatibility on the market via included cables for both newer USB Type-C computers and the ubiquitous USB Type-A connector.

Today we round out Plugable’s popular USB SATA storage line with the Plugable USB 3.1 Gen 2 SATA 2.5″ Portable Drive Enclosure (USBC-SATA-E).

The USBC-SATA-E is an aluminum enclosure designed to protect your 2.5″ internal SATA SSDs and HDDs while providing USB 3.1 Gen 2 transfer speeds in a convenient portable form factor. This enclosure shares the same ASMedia 1351 chipset as our popular USBC-SATA-V dock and USBC-SATA24 adapter cable, and draws power from any USB port. No additional power supply required!

Thanks to USB 3.1 Gen 2’s 10Gbps theoretical max speeds, SATA hard drives are no longer throttled by USB 3.0’s 5Gbps connection speeds. Now your SATA drive is the bottleneck with SATA III theoretical max at 6Gbps. In other words, your SSDs can now perform just as fast from the outside of your computer as from the inside.

This means that your 2.5″ drives can unlock USB 3.1 Gen 2 transfer speeds over both USB-C and USB-A ports with compatible devices. We include a USB-C cable for new USB-C and Thunderbolt 3 ports, as well as a USB-A cable for legacy USB 3.0 and below ports. Both cables fully support the latest USB 3.1 Gen 2 standard.

The USBC-SATA-E is an affordable way to convert an internal 2.5″ SSD into a blazing fast, portable, and durable external USB drive. It can also give new life to unused internal laptop hard drives as a portable backup solution. We love pairing this enclosure with our Samsung 850 Pro SSDs, because we can achieve read/write speeds in our labs that are BEYOND Samsung’s published max speeds!

The USBC-SATA-E is plug-and-play ready for Windows, Mac, and Linux. It supports all 2.5″ SATA SSD drives and most 2.5″ HDD drives with 5V power draw and up to 11mm thick.

We recommend the Plugable USBC-SATA-V for drives that are 3.5″, thicker than 11mm, or that require 12V power draw.

For more information, please visit our Plugable USBC-SATA-E product page.

We would love to share notes about your Plugable performance speeds. How fast can you go? Leave your comments below!

The Drive has a USB-C connector, and we include both USB-C to USB-C cable and USB-C to USB-A cable, so this enclosure works with any computer, new or old, with USB.

The Plugable USBC-SATA-E cable is available in USA, Canada, most of Europe, and Japan. See the product page for buying options. If you have any questions at all, please just email support@plugable.com – we’re happy to help!

The post Best of Both Worlds with Plugable Portable Drive Enclosure appeared first on Plugable.

Windows 10 Creators Update Plugable Docking Stations and USB Video Adapters

2017-06-21T22:06:46Z

Continuing with their practice of providing frequent large updates to Windows 10, Microsoft is releasing the ‘Creators Update’ for Windows 10 on April 11th, 2017 and with this update there are many fixes and enhancements to the operating system (more details here -> https://blogs.windows.com/windowsexperience/2017/03/29/windows-10-creators-update-coming-april-11-surface-expands-markets )

Those who read our blog regularly will recall this has occurred before, most recently with the ‘Anniversary Update’ in August of 2016 (more information here -> https://plugable.com/2016/08/01/windows-10-anniversary-update-and-plugable-docking-stations-and-usb-video-adapters/)

The post Windows 10 Creators Update Plugable Docking Stations and USB Video Adapters appeared first on Plugable.

Chromebook Compatibility with Plugable USB Docking Stations and Video Adapters, 2017

2017-08-03T16:44:21Z

Synopsis

Plugable USB video adapters and USB docking stations can work well with many Chromebooks. In this post we go over the evolution of this support and provide important details broken out in the following categories:

Introduction
Types of DisplayLink chips in our USB docking stations and video adapters
Compatible USB 2.0 devices
Performance Considerations
Compatible USB 3.0 devices
Chrome OS Behavior
Known Issues
Summary
Useful Chromebook tips

Introduction

At Plugable we make extensive use of Google’s cloud-based software services like Gmail and Google Docs so it seems only natural that we are also big fans of Google’s Chrome OS line of Chromebooks and Chromeboxes. Since these devices are designed to be integrated with Google’s services they provide for great value and simplicity.

Not surprisingly, due to their inexpensive and easy to use nature Chromebook use has exploded and in fact many schools now rely on Chromebook solutions rather than a traditional PC or tablet (https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/02/technology/apple-products-schools-education.html).

As a result, a common question we receive is, do our USB video adapters or docking stations based on DisplayLink technology work well with Chromebooks? We have written in the past about this (https://plugable.com/2015/10/21/chrome-os-usb-docking-stations-displaylink/) but wanted to provide an update with the latest information.

The short answer is that in many cases, yes our USB video adapters and USB docks based on DisplayLink technology can work well with Chromebooks built in 2015 or later but there are important details to consider.

The long answer for those that do what all the details is that the level of support and performance can depend on a few variables, so let’s break those down.

Types of DisplayLink chips in our USB docking stations and video adapters

Our DisplayLink-based products fall into two distinct categories, those that require a USB 2.0 connection and those that require USB 3.0. The key difference here is the type of DisplayLink chip inside the product.

Our USB 2.0 adapters and docks are based on DisplayLink chips that have had drivers written by the open source community for the Linux operating system (in fact our founder Bernie Thompson wrote one version of them himself -> http://git.plugable.com/gitphp/index.php?p=udlfb&a=summary). Chrome OS is based on and in many ways very similar to Linux, so Google was able to integrate these open source drivers into Chrome OS some time ago -> https://bugs.chromium.org/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=238785 This support is available for all Chromebooks which have Intel or ARM processors inside, but not ones with an Nvidia Tegra processor (https://bugs.chromium.org/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=379448#c29)

Compatible USB 2.0 devices

This means that our USB 2.0 video adapters like our UGA-165 (https://plugable.com/products/uga-165/) and our USB 2.0 docking station the UD-PRO8 (https://plugable.com/products/ud-pro8/) should work with just about any Chromebook device. Why do we say ‘should’? Because given the huge number of Chromebooks available (Google has a good reference for most models here -> https://www.chromium.org/chromium-os/developer-information-for-chrome-os-devices) we do not have the ability to test with each and every model (more information on that later on in this post).

Performance Considerations

Beyond just plugging in a device and having it work, another important element to consider is the level of performance. DisplayLink devices are ‘virtual’ graphics adapters in that they rely on a system’s internal CPU and graphics adapter to do the work behind the scenes to drive the attached displays.

As Chrome OS is quite efficient it does not generally require a powerful CPU in order to work well, and as a result many Chromebooks have lower powered processors than their Windows and Mac counterparts. This is a boon in that they can be made cheaper and get exceptional battery life, but when it comes to our adapters some lower powered processors may not provide the same level of performance compared to a system with a more powerful CPU. This drives our recommendation that only Chromebooks made in 2015 or later be used with DisplayLink devices.

Compatible USB 3.0 devices

Moving on to our USB 3.0 DisplayLink products, at this time DisplayLink has released a driver that supports USB 3.0 devices for Linux that is partially open source (http://support.displaylink.com/knowledgebase/articles/1104056-why-has-displaylink-not-released-source-code-for-t) and it has been integrated into Chrome OS (https://bugs.chromium.org/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=572763)

This support is only for Chromebooks based on an Intel or ARM CPU (Nvidia CPU models not supported), and the support again should be universal for all Chromebook devices. Just as before, because given the huge number of Chromebooks available we do not have the ability to test with each and every model.

This means that products based on USB 3.0 DisplayLink chips like our UD-3900 (https://plugable.com/products/ud-3900/) and UGA-3000 (https://plugable.com/products/uga-3000/) should all work on a supported Chromebook. We say ‘should’ again as the same performance considerations mentioned earlier still need to be taken into account, especially for our UD-3900 dock that can add two additional displays. With each additional display more system resources are required, so both the number and resolution of the attached displays can affect the overall performance.

Chrome OS Behavior

In addition to performance considerations, another important thing to consider is how Chromebooks behave when multiple displays are attached. With Windows and Apple Mac systems there are granular settings that control how things behave in terms of waking from sleep, monitor arrangement and what happens with entering docked mode (lid closed with external display, keyboard and mouse attached). .

In Chrome OS, there are very limited options of terms of changing these behaviors so you have to work they way that Google intends. For example, Chromebooks only gained the ability to operate in the so-called ‘dock mode’ in mid to late 2013 (inital announcement here -> https://plus.google.com/u/0/+FrancoisBeaufort/posts/EuJ3ttYSzvp and Issue tracker here -> https://bugs.chromium.org/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=218387 ) which allows for closing the Chromebook lid, disabling the internal display and still allows the externally attached displays to continue to work properly.

Known Issues

In addition to the limited configuration options, there are some unique individual known issues with regard to how our products behave in Chrome OS compared to a Windows system. We pride ourselves on doing our best to provide detail like this up front to help prevent frustration later on, so we have tested our products with a number of Chromebooks and have found the following ‘quirky’ behavior:

On certain model Chromebooks (like the Dell Chromebook 13), the ability to ‘Duplicate’ the internal display to the DisplayLink display does not work. ‘Extending’ the internal display to the external DisplayLink display works as expected. UPDATE 8/3/2017 – this has been fixed in the latest development build of Chrome OS, version 61.0.3163.20
USB 3.0 DisplayLink devices in most cases will not work after the Chromebook is shut down completely and then started (also known as a ‘cold boot’). The workaround is to unplug the USB 3.0 device and then reconnect it (also known as a ‘hot-plug’). USB 2.0 DisplayLink devices in most cases work as expected in this scenario.
In most cases, when closing a Chromebook laptop lid while a DisplayLink device is connected the system will enter ‘Docked mode’. In some instances this message is not displayed when closing the lid.
When a DisplayLink device is connected that adds more than one additional display, Chrome OS will indicate that the desktop is being extended but will only provide the name of the first display it recognizes. Both displays still work as expected, this is only a cosmetic omission
When waking a Chromebook from sleep, monitors attached to a USB 3.0 DisplayLink device may not always resume as expected. The workaround is to hot-plug the device. USB 2.0 DisplayLink devices in most cases work as expected in this scenario.
Another sleep related item, the most reliable trigger to wake a Chrome OS device from sleep when in docked mode is by clicking a button on an external mouse. In many cases pressing a key on an external keyboard will not wake the system from sleep
While our devices work well with basic usage applications such as the Chrome browser, video playback performance can vary from excellent to less than ideal depending on the system’s specifications. This is due to the aforementioned reliance of DisplayLink devices on the Chromebook’s internal CPU and graphics adapter, and also drives our recommendation of Chrome OS devices made in 2015 or newer
In some instances, a DisplayLink device will not work properly with a Chromebook. It is necessary to ensure that the latest version of Chrome OS is installed (version 56 of this writing) via the directions Google provides here -> https://support.google.com/chromebook/answer/177889?hl=en
If things are still not working, after backing up any local data try resetting the Chromebook (also known as a PowerWash) -> https://support.google.com/chromebook/answer/183084?hl=en
If a DisplayLink device does not work with a Chromebook after having reset the system, test the unit temporarily with a Windows system (after installing the necessary driver -> https://plugable.com/drivers/displaylink/ ) to confirm that the DisplayLink device itself is working properly

Summary

In summation, our USB 2.0 and USB 3.0 DisplayLink based graphics adapters can work on most (but not all) Chromebooks released from 2015 onward with the few known quirks mentioned above. Google maintains control over Chrome OS which is a benefit in terms of not having to load any drivers, but also limits Plugable’s ability to make changes. Chrome OS itself is still evolving in terms of the level of configurability of such devices and the consistency of their performance across all the various models of Chromebooks, and we are optimistic things will continue to improve over time. We look forward to your feedback in the comments below, and as always we are here to help should you need direct assistance -> https://plugable.com/support/email/

Useful Chromebook Tips

Chromebooks do not have a way to change the time interval before the system will go to sleep. A Chromebook can be forced to go to sleep immediately (even with the lid open) by using the keyboard shortcut -> Search key (the magnifying glass) + Shift key + ‘L’
Alternatively, the Search key + ‘L’ key will lock the device, and it will sleep after a few minutes (https://support.google.com/chromebook/answer/2587994)
The magnification level of the content shown within the Chrome web browser can be changed using the keyboard shortcut of ‘CTRL’ and the ‘+’ or ‘-’ key
The effective screen resolution on an internal Chromebook display can be changed using the keyboard shortcut ‘CTRL’ and ‘SHIFT’ and the ‘+’ or ‘-’ key This only affects the internal Chromebook display and does not affect an external display directly connected to a Chromebook’s built-in secondary video output or a DisplayLink attached display (even when such a display is the only display connected to the system) when the system is running in Docked mode
A Chromebook with its lid open and internal display active and an external display connected (either via an internal built-in video output or a DisplayLink device) can be forced to enter ‘Docked Mode’ by holding down the Brightness Down key for a few seconds. This will disable the internal display and leave only the external display, even if the Chromebook lid remains open. To re-enable the internal display, press the Brightness Up key for a few seconds.
Chrome OS has many useful keyboard shortcuts, and a quick way to see many of the options available is by pressing ‘CTRL’ and ‘ALT’ and the ‘?’ key. This will display an on-screen representation of the keyboard and the available shortcuts

The post Chromebook Compatibility with Plugable USB Docking Stations and Video Adapters, 2017 appeared first on Plugable.

Troubleshooting Wi-Fi performance and wireless keyboard & mouse issues on USB docking stations

2017-03-17T22:18:33Z

I have spoken in the past about the interesting things I encounter while helping our customers in that we not only see a wide variety of creative uses of our products, but sometimes we also get to find the true root of problems that are more general in nature. Today I would like to speak about USB 3.0 devices and the potential for them to cause interference with Wi-Fi.

In one particular case, a customer had let us know that when she plugged her new UD-3900 docking station into her system everything with the dock worked well, but her connection to the Wi-Fi network stopped working. Unplugging the dock allowed the Wi-Fi to start working again.

This type of behavior can occur any time a USB 3.0 device is connected to a system (not just our dock), because the speed of the data flowing over the connection can emit a similar frequency to many Wi-Fi connections (2.4Ghz). Intel has actually written a detailed technical White Paper on the issue for those who are curious.

So now that we know that this can happen with any type of USB 3.0 connection, how do we solve the problem? Every person’s setup can be a little different so there will never be one definitive solution, but a few simple approaches can solve the problem in most cases.

Option One – move the device as far as away from the system as the USB cable will allow. This will try and ‘move’ the signals from both the USB connection and the Wi-Fi physically further apart. As a corollary to this, if the dock is located very close to the Wi-Fi router itself placing more distance between the two can help.

Option Two – switch to a different USB port on the system, preferably one on the opposite side of the laptop. This employs the same approach as option one, in that physically separating the two signals (in this case the physical proximity of the USB connection and the internal Wi-Fi antennas in your system) can help. If your system has both USB 3.0 and USB 2.0 ports, try using the USB 2.0 port first.

Option Three – use a USB 2.0 cable, like one used connect to a USB printer, instead of a USB 3.0 cable. All USB 3.0 devices should be backward compatible with a USB 2.0 cable, and when a device is connected at USB 2.0 speeds there is no possibility for the interference.

Option Four – switch to using a 5Ghz Wi-Fi connection. As the name implies, there are two common sets of frequencies used by most Wi-Fi networks (2.4GHz and 5GHz). If both your wireless router and the wireless network adapter in your system support a 5GHz connection (they both need to, one is not enough), connecting to your Wi-Fi in that manner will prevent the interference from happening due to the two very different frequencies in use.

Option Five – if using a 5GHz connection is not possible, changing the ‘channel’ of a 2.4 GHz connection can help. Within the 2.4Ghz band used for Wi-Fi, there are eleven different channels each using a slightly different frequency. The three most commonly used ones in the United States are channel 1, 6 and 11. Using the manual for your wireless router as a guide, switching channels can potentially help. Ideally you would want to switch the channel to the opposite end of the spectrum for the best results, for example if you are on channel one already try switching to channel eleven or vice-versa

My wireless mouse or keyboard is not working properly – RF interference

While those items can help with Wi-Fi interference, there is another type of interference that can cause problems which we refer to as RF interference. Recently, another customer emailed us for help with their UD-3900 docking station. They mentioned that their Logitech wireless keyboard and mouse were not working as expected when connected to the dock, and described the behavior as inconsistent mouse movement (almost like the batteries were dying) and inconsistent or sporadic keystrokes.

RF Option One – After it was determined that the customer had connected the small USB wireless receiver for both the keyboard and mouse to one of the front USB 3.0 ports of the docking station, I asked him to remove the USB wireless receiver from the front USB 3.0 port and place the receiver in one of the top-most USB 2.0 ports on the back of the dock. After doing so, both the mouse and keyboard worked properly.

What was happening originally and why did moving the receiver fix it? It comes back to what we learned earlier about the potential for USB 3.0 connections to cause interference on certain radio frequencies. Most USB wireless receivers use the same 2.4GHz RF band used by many Wi-Fi networks, so as a result are susceptible to the same types of interference. In most cases moving the USB receiver to a USB 2.0 port prevents this interference and solves the problem.

RF Option Two – In rarer cases when moving the receiver is not enough or if the device in question does not have a USB 2.0 port (like our UD-5900 docking station), adding a short USB 2.0 extension cable can also help mitigate the behavior. In many cases wireless mice or keyboards include such a cable for this very reason, but if one is not available our USB2-2PORT is a good solution.

In most cases using one or combination of these solutions can help mitigate or completely resolve the Wi-Fi interference/RF interference behavior with our products and potentially with others. We hope you find this information useful and encourage your feedback in the comments below.

The post Troubleshooting Wi-Fi performance and wireless keyboard & mouse issues on USB docking stations appeared first on Plugable.

Bluetooth® Profile Compatibility With The Plugable USB-BT4LE

2017-07-05T21:27:26Z

In an era of devices that offer so much simplicity, Bluetooth wireless technology blurs the line between complexity and simplicity in ways that many users don’t expect.

Bluetooth once served a singular purpose of providing the functionality of a serial cable over a wireless connection, but has since evolved into so much more. How can the same technology that wirelessly communicates audio also be the technology that turns a lamp on and off? The answer is Bluetooth profiles.

To oversimplify a Bluetooth profile, it can be described as an accepted way of using Bluetooth technology to communicate data of a particular type. There are profiles for audio communication, profiles to transmit certain types of information like heart rate and blood pressure, as well as profiles to share images and video.

The Bluetooth Special Interest Group’s (Bluetooth SIG) official explanation of Bluetooth Profiles is (in all its confusing glory):

Profiles are definitions of possible applications and specify general behaviors that Bluetooth® enabled devices use to communicate with other Bluetooth devices. Profiles build on the Bluetooth standard to more clearly define what kind of data a Bluetooth module is transmitting. The device’s application determines which profiles it must support, from hands-free capabilities to heart rate sensors to alerts and more.

For two Bluetooth devices to be compatible, they must support the same profiles. And while profiles generally describe the same use case behaviors, they are different for Bluetooth BR/EDR and LE implementations. Compatibility between BR/EDR and LE implementations requires a dual-mode controller on at least one device for interoperability. For BR/EDR, a wide range of adopted Bluetooth profiles describe many different common types of applications or use cases for devices. For Bluetooth LE, developers have the option of using a comprehensive set of adopted profiles, or use the Generic Attribute Profile (GATT) to create new profiles. This helps support innovative new applications that maintain interoperability with other Bluetooth devices.

Bluetooth profiles typically contain information such as dependencies on other profiles and suggested user interface formats. For BR/EDR, the profile will also specify the particular options and parameters at each layer of the Bluetooth protocol stack used to perform its task. This may include, if appropriate, an outline of the required service record.

There are clearly a lot of details behind a Bluetooth profile, but for users trying to make use of a particular device, the most important thing is whether or not a profile is supported, and whether or not their device is going to work how they want it to.

In this article we will explore the profiles that are supported by the Plugable USB-BT4LE Bluetooth adapter based on Windows’ built-in support, support added by Broadcom’s WIDCOMM software, and the BlueZ software used in Linux. In addition to this, we’ll offer some explanation about Bluetooth errors such as “Driver Not Found”, and what potential issues you might encounter with profiles.

Profile Compatibility Sheet

In an effort to provide more information regarding Bluetooth profiles, we’ve created an in-depth spreadsheet to better detail which profiles are supported in which operating systems.

The data in this sheet is not based on testing conducted by Plugable, but is instead based on software documentation from various organizations, profile definitions that are visible in source code and driver files, as well as Bluetooth SIG qualification summaries.

Color key for spreadsheet data

Compatibility with the Latest Profile Version

Compatibility with a Version of the Profile

Conflicting Information, Known Issues, or Uncertainty

Not Compatible

Deprecated and/or Unused

Click here to open the sheet in a new tab

As you can see from this chart, compatibility with certain Bluetooth profiles varies wildly from one Windows version to the next, as well as between Windows and Linux.

These discrepancies can prove especially challenging in situations where a device is using a profile that depends on other profiles to function. A partial lack of profile support can make the difference between a device working, or not working.

What You May See If A Profile Is Missing

On Windows, if a profile is missing, usually the device will still complete the pairing process. Once pairing is completed, Windows will attempt to assign driver functions to the profile identifiers that it detects. Errors like “Driver Not Found” or “Error Installing Driver” are a typical behavior from Windows when profiles are missing.

It is important to note though, that this is not the whole story with driver errors with regards to Bluetooth. A very common issue with Bluetooth profile driver install errors, is the presence of other Bluetooth drivers for a different adapter. Since Bluetooth relies on multiple software components, the driver for a profile may not install if it is already registered to operate with another set of Bluetooth drivers. If you need help with this on your Plugable Bluetooth adapter, please feel free to contact us at support@plugable.com for assistance. We’re happy to help!

If Profiles Are Missing, Can They Be Installed?

The answer to this is almost always no. Profiles have to be created with a particular software set in mind, and are usually only made available as a complete “Bluetooth Stack“. There are some rare instances where drivers or other software for a particular Bluetooth device may be provided by the manufacturer, but this typically only happens with input devices like game controllers, or with devices that are using non-standard Bluetooth implementations. Manufacturers are free to create their own unique profiles for their particular device that are not standardized as part of Bluetooth specifications.

If you are using the Plugable Bluetooth adapter (USB-BT4LE) and are encountering issues installing a particular device. Please feel free to contact us at support@plugable.com so that we can help identify and resolve the issue. Usually we can help get things working as intended.

Other Aspects Of Bluetooth Profiles To Be Mindful Of

When it comes to audio, there are usually a lot of profiles involved to make everything work. Usually these devices have broad support from a profile perspective, but may also include some specialized technology like aptX support (which is now included as part of Windows 10), which is not a profile but rather a coding method to send higher quality audio to devices that support it. You can learn more in-depth information about Bluetooth profiles and codecs for Bluetooth in our article “Understanding Bluetooth® Wireless Audio“.

With some profiles, like those used for audio, only one device can use the profile at a time. For example, you wouldn’t be able to have two pairs of headphones use the A2DP profile to listen to music from the same device. Manufacturers like Bose that have a proprietary Bluetooth ‘Music Share’ feature allowing two sets of headphones to listen to the same source aren’t technically both connected to the same source. Instead, one of the headphones acts as a relay to pass the audio to the next pair of headphones. This is also the case with pairs of wireless Bluetooth speakers designed to operate in stereo. One of the speakers connects via Bluetooth while the other connects directly to the other speaker.

For Bluetooth Low Energy, use cases are typically more specialized and don’t operate in the same generalized way that Bluetooth Classic profiles do currently. For example, FitBit requires using a specialized Windows 10 (UWP) application to make use of data from their devices, rather than Windows having a default interface to display information provided by FitBit devices

Where To Learn More About Bluetooth Profiles And What They Do

Wikipedia has a great entry on Bluetooth profiles and a general synopsis of what they do. The Bluetooth Special Interest Group’s webpage on adopted Bluetooth profiles includes more in-depth technical information on profiles as well.

As always, we’re here to help with Bluetooth questions related to your Plugable products. We’re happy to answer customer questions through our support@plugable.com e-mail address.

If yes, please share an Amazon review of your Plugable product. If no, please contact us so we can help!

The post Bluetooth® Profile Compatibility With The Plugable USB-BT4LE appeared first on Plugable.

Successfully Pairing and Connecting Your Bluetooth Audio Device in Windows

2018-03-22T22:14:59Z

Connecting Bluetooth devices can be a pain! While resolving thousands of Bluetooth issues here at Plugable, we’ve learned that the problem is often something going wrong in the pairing process. As we’ve helped customers with these issues, we’ve developed a step-by-step procedure that should work in any situation where a device isn’t pairing properly. We’ve also put together a database of pairing instructions for a wide range of Bluetooth audio devices.

There are two sets of instructions below, one for Windows 8/8.1/10 and one for Windows 7. If you are having troubles connecting, try the instructions. If it fails at any point, contact us at support@plugable.com and tell us which step it failed on, and we’ll already have a good start on the troubleshooting process!

Windows 8/8.1/10

1. If you have previously connected your Bluetooth audio device to any phone, tablet, or to a different computer, turn that device’s Bluetooth off and “Unpair” or “Forget” the connection in that device’s Bluetooth settings. This is very important to make sure your audio device doesn’t automatically connect to one of them instead of to the computer.

2. On the computer, click the Bluetooth icon in the system tray (click the upward pointing arrow near the clock) and select Add a Bluetooth Device. The Bluetooth and & Other Devices window (Manage Bluetooth devices window in Windows 8/8.1) will open.

Windows 10

Windows 8

3. If a listing for your audio device appears in this window, click it and select Remove Device, if that option is available, then confirm in the next screen. If no listing appears, proceed to the next step.

4. Put your audio device in pairing mode, following the instructions in the owner’s manual or the instructions in our database below. The procedure typically involves holding a button or moving a switch until an LED starts flashing, showing you are in pairing mode. If your device has already been paired to a different Bluetooth device, like a phone or tablet, you may need to follow a different procedure for the second time you pair. If you don’t find your device in the database, contact us at support@plugable.com, and we can help.

Click the first letter of the brand of your Bluetooth audio device

Click on the brand name

Click on the brand name

Click on the brand name

Click on the brand name

Click on the brand name

Click on the brand name

Click on the brand name

Click on the brand name

808 Audio

Model	Type	Instructions
CANZ XL	Speaker	Press and hold the Pair button on the speaker until the speaker beeps. The Pair light should start flashing.

Aftershokz

Model	Type	Instructions
Trekz Titanium	Headphones	Turn your headphones off. Enter pairing mode by pressing and holding the volume+ button. Your headphones will turn on and Audrey will say, "Welcome to Trekz Titanium." Continue holding the volume+ button down. Audrey will say, "Pairing" and the LED light will flash red and blue, indicating that the headphones are in pairing mode.

AirMod

Model	Type	Instructions
Bluetooth adapter for Bose QC15, QC25	Adapter	On the adapter, press and hold the Power button and wait for the LED light to flash BLUE. When it does, your adapter is in pairing mode.

Alpatronix

Model	Type	Instructions
HX100	Headphones	Make sure the HX110 is turned OFF. If your headphone is ON (LED light blinking), turn it off by pressing and holding the Multifunction Button for 3-4 seconds. Place the HX110 in pairing mode by pressing and holding the Multifunction Button for 8 seconds. After 3-4 seconds, the headphone will turn on and the LED will flash blue. It is important to continue to hold down the button until the LED flashes blue and red rapidly. At this time, the headphone is in pairing mode.

Altec Lansing

Model	Type	Instructions
IM210	Speaker	When you are turning ON the speaker for the first time it automatically tries to connect to the last paired device, if it cannot find the last paired device and you have paired multiple devices it will try to establish connection with the previously paired devices. If none of the paired devices are available to connect it will turn to a discoverable mode and this can take anywhere from 5 to 90 seconds. If you are trying to establish a connection during this time you will receive an error. Kindly wait for approximately 90 seconds, then scan for Bluetooth devices again.
Mini LifeJacket 3	Speaker	Press and hold the + and – (plus and minus) buttons on the speaker at same time until you hear a beep. The Mini LifeJacket 3 will enter pairing mode.

Amazon

Model	Type	Instructions
Amazon Basics Bluetooth Audio Receiver	Audio receiver	Press Pair on your receiver. The LED quickly blinks blue.
BT1	Speaker	Press and hold the Function button (the center of the five buttons) for 1 to 3 seconds. A tone sounds, the LED blinks quickly, and your speaker enters pairing mode.
Echo	Speaker	1. Register the Echo to your Amazon account, or make sure it is still registered if you have already registered it. 2. In the Alexa app, tap the menu icon, select Settings, then select your Echo under Devices

Anker

Model	Type	Instructions
SoundCore	Speaker	On the speaker, press the Bluetooth symbol on the top of the speaker to enter pairing mode. There will be a rapidly flashing blue light.
SoundCore Sport XL	Speaker	The speaker will automatically enter pairing mode if no devices have previously been paired. To pair a new device, first disable Bluetooth on the connected device or press the Bluetooth button to re-enter pairing mode. A steady flashing blue light will indicate pairing mode. A solid blue light means the speaker has connected to a previous device.

Apekx

Model	Type	Instructions
BE1002	Earphones	Press and hold the power button on the earphones until the LED flashes blue and red.

Apple

Model	Type	Instructions
AirPods	Earphones	Put your Airpods in the case. Open the lid. Press and hold the setup button on the back of the case until you see the status light flash white.

AR

Model	Type	Instructions
ARS120	Speaker	Turn on your speaker, then press and hold down the Pair button for 3 seconds. A blue light will begin flashing rapidly indicating the speaker is in pairing mode.

AUSDOM

Model	Type	Instructions
AH2S	Headphones	Press the Power button on the headphones for 5 seconds.

Auvio

Model	Type	Instructions
4000437	Speaker	Disconnect the power from your speaker for about 20 seconds, then plug it back in again. You can just remove the round power wire from the back. Switch ON your speaker. The Bluetooth/AUX IN indicator red and blue indicating that the speaker is in pairing mode.

Aventree

Model	Type	Instructions
Audition (BTHS-AS9)	Headphones	Turn Audition off (press and hold MFB button for 4s). Press and hold MFB button for 7-10s until LED indicator flashes blue and red alternately.

Bass Egg

Model	Type	Instructions
Verb	Speaker	Turn switch to Bluetooth symbol.

Beats

Model	Type	Instructions
Beats X	Earphones	Press and hold the power button on your earphones for 5 seconds to put them in pairing mode.
PILL+	Speaker	Press and hold the "b" button for at least 3 seconds. The Bluetooth LED on the back of the Pill will blink WHITE rapidly indicating device is in pairing mode.
Powerbeats2	Earphones	Press and hold the power/connect button (located on the left earpiece) for 4 seconds to enter pairing mode. The LED next to the button will blink white while in paring mode, and turn solid white when successfully paired.
Powerbeats3	Earphones	Press the power button for 5 seconds. When the indicator light flashes, your earphones are discoverable.
Solo3	Headphones	Press the power button for 5 seconds. When the Fuel Gauge flashes, your headphones are discoverable.

BEM

Model	Type	Instructions
HL2022C	Speaker	Power on the speaker and it will automatically go into pairing mode. A tone should sound and the Bluetooth light will come on.
HL2750	Speaker	Turn the speaker on. The Bluetooth indicator should light and tone should sound confirming that the unit is currently in Bluetooth pairing mode.

Blackweb

Model	Type	Instructions
Bolt	Speaker	On the speaker, press and hold the power button. The Bluetooth PAIR indicator light will start blinking rapidly.

BlueAnt

Model	Type	Instructions
BlueAnt Pump Zone over-ear	Headphones	Make sure the headphones are powered off. Press and hold the multifunctional button for 5 seconds.

Bluedio

Model	Type	Instructions
T3	Headphones	Press and hold the multi-function button for 5 seconds. The surrounding LED will light up blue.

BOAS

Model	Type	Instructions
LC-8600	Heaphones	With the headphones turned off, press the Pause/Play button on the headphones for at least six seconds to enter pairing mode. The Blue and Red LEDs will flash alternatively and there will be a double beep tone.

BOHM

Model	Type	Instructions
B-66	Headphones	To begin, make sure your headphones are powered off. Keep the headphones and the device within 3 feet of each other when pairing. Put the headphones into pairing mode by pushing the Bluetooth (big multifunction) button for up to 10 seconds until the LED light begins flashing red and blue.

Bose

Model	Type	Instructions
Color II SoundLink	Speaker	On your SoundLink speaker, press and briefly hold the Bluetooth button until the Bluetooth light starts flashing blue slowly. In Windows 8 and 10, two icons for the speaker may show up in the Bluetooth Devices list on the computer. Click the one that shows headphones, then select Pair. Contact us at support@plugable.com for Windows 7.
QuietComfort 35	Headphones	On the headphones, slide and hold the power switch to the Bluetooth symbol until you hear "Ready to Pair" or the Bluetooth indicator blinks blue. In Windows 8 and 10, two icons for the headphones may show up in the Manage Bluetooth Devices list on the computer. Click the one that shows headphones, then select Pair. Contact us at support@plugable.com for Windows 7.
QuietControl 30	Earphones	With the earphones powered on, press and hold the Power/Bluetooth button until you hear "Ready to pair" or you see the Bluetooth indicator blinking blue. If you see two entries for your earphones, be sure to click on the one that has a headphones icon. Don’t click the one with a picture of a computer monitor and a phone. Contact us at support@plugable.com for Windows 7.
SoundLink		With the Soundlink turned on, press and the "Bluetooth" button. The Bluetooth indicator will blink Blue indicating device is in pairing mode.
SoundLink AE II	Headphones	On the headphones, slide and hold the power switch to the Bluetooth symbol until you hear "Ready to Pair" or the Bluetooth indicator blinks blue. In Windows 8 and 10, two icons for the headphones may show up in the Manage Bluetooth Devices list on the computer. Click the one that shows headphones, then select Pair. Contact us at support@plugable.com for Windows 7.
SoundLink III	Speaker	Press the Bluetooth button on the speaker, so the Bluetooth status indicator blinks blue
SoundLink Mini	Speaker	With your Bose SoundLink Mini speaker turned on, press and hold the Bluetooth button on the speaker for 10 seconds until you hear a tone. The Bluetooth indicator on the Bose SoundLink Mini speaker blinks blue to show that the speaker is discoverable.
SoundLink Mini II	Speaker	On the speaker, press and hold the Bluetooth button until the Bluetooth indicator blinks blue and you hear, "Ready to pair another device."
Soundlink OE	Headphones	Slide the power button all the way up to the Bluetooth symbol and hold until you hear, "Ready to pair new device" or you see the Bluetooth indicator blinking blue.
SoundSport	Earbuds	With your headphones powered on, press and hold the Power/Bluetooth button until you hear ‘Ready to pair’ or the Bluetooth indicator blinks blue
SoundTouch	Speaker	On your speaker or remote, press and hold down the Bluetooth/AUX button for 2 seconds. Make sure the Bluetooth indicator is blinking blue before you pair your device.

Boytone

Model	Type	Instructions
BT210FD	Speaker	Turn the speaker ON using the master power switch on its side. Then press the red "ON" button on the remote. Next scroll through the sources available using the SOURCE button on the remote until you get to "bL". The speaker will emit two beeps and go into pairing mode.

Brookstone

Model	Type	Instructions
Big Blue Live2	Speaker	With your speaker turned off, press and hold the Power Button until the Power/Pairing LED turns on and the power on tone sounds. Next, press and hold the Power Button until the Power/Pairing LED starts flashing to put the speaker in pairing mode

CANZ

Model	Type	Instructions
SP808	Speaker	On your speaker, press and hold the Pair button until the speaker beeps. The Pair light on the front of the speaker should blink rapidly.

Corwin

Model	Type	Instructions
E7	Headphones	Activate pairing mode on headphone by moving the switch to "BT." The LED will flash blue.

Creative

Model	Type	Instructions
Sound Blaster Jam	Headphones	Hold the Multifunction button until the LED Indicator flashes green, then release the button. Hold the Multifunction button again until the LED Indicator flashes blue.
T12	Speaker	Power on the speaker by turning the knob in the clockwise direction. The LED status indicator will show green. This indicates that when powered up, the speaker is not connected to any devices. Press and Hold the Connect button for 3 seconds, then release when the LED status indicator is flashing in blue.
WP-450	Headphones	Press and hold the Multifunction button on the right earcup for at least 5 seconds until the indicator light flashes blue.

Dylan

Model	Type	Instructions
991	Earphones	Turn on the headset. It should prompt with "pairing" after 5 seconds, and the LED will flash red and blue alternatively.

Energy

Model	Type	Instructions
BTS 2.1	Soundbar	Press and hold the Source button on the BTS 2.1 control panel for 3 seconds. The status light should flash blue quickly.

ETEKCITY

Model	Type	Instructions
T3 RoverBeats	Speaker	Turn the speaker on. The indicator light on the speaker will be flashing green and blue indicating pairing mode. The speaker will automatically connect with the last paired device if turned off and back on, provided it is within range. To connect to a new device, turn off Bluetooth on the previous device.

F-HeeBin

Model	Type	Instructions
UVOKS Bluetooth V4.1	Earphones	Press the power button on the headset for at least five seconds. The LED should flash red and blue, indicating the headset is in pairing mode.

FRiEQ

Model	Type	Instructions
BTA03	Headset	Press and hold the power button on the headset for about 5 seconds. The indicator light will flash red and blue intermittently, showing the device is in pairing mode.

Grace Digital

Model	Type	Instructions
GDI-BTAR512N	Receiver	Press Bluetooth button once to select Bluetooth as your audio source. Press and hold approximately 2 seconds to enter into Bluetooth pairing mode. The BT light will start flashing when ready to pair with your Bluetooth device and solid blue when the pairing is ready and music can be played

Harman Kardon

Model	Type	Instructions
ONYX STUDIO 3	Speaker	Press and hold the Bluetooth button for at least 2.5 seconds.

Hesh

Model	Type	Instructions
Hesh 2	Headphones	Power ON the Hesh BT and while in "device search mode" hold the Volume (+) and the Volume (-) buttons simultaneously for up to 5 seconds until you hear a long double tone. This action will clear all paired devices that were previously paired to the HeshBT, and it will then enter directly into pairing mode.

House of Marley

Model	Type	Instructions
Chant mini model EM-JA007	Speaker	Press the power button on the speaker for three seconds to enter pairing mode.

Hussar

Model	Type	Instructions
Magicbuds II	Earbuds	Make sure the earbuds are off. Press and hold the Multi-function button for approximately 2 seconds, then release. The LED indicator should flash blue quickly. This means the earbuds are in pairing mode.

iHome

Model	Type	Instructions
iBN16	Speaker	Move the switch on the back of the speaker to the center position so it is under the Bluetooth logo. The speaker will attempt to connect to previously paired devices for 10 seconds, and the LED on the back will flash blue. If a previously paired device is found, it will pair and the LED will become solid blue. If a previously paired device is not found, the speaker goes into aÂ standard pairing mode and the LED will flash blue and red. If prompted to enter a pairing password enter 1234. The LED becomes solid blue if it pairs successfully. The speaker exits pairing mode after 2 minutes if no device connects.

iLIVE

Model	Type	Instructions
IHB23B	Speaker	Power on the speaker by pressing the Power button. The Pairing Indicator will flash blue quickly. When pairing, remain within 3 feet of the Bluetooth adapter. This speaker will retain the pairing as long as it is retained in the currently paired device, so be sure to turn off Bluetooth in that device before pairing your speaker with the Plugable Bluetooth adapter.

Insignia

Model	Type	Instructions
NS-CAHBT02	Headphones	With the headphones turned off, press and hold PLAY/PAUSE for four seconds.The LED blinks blue and red alternately. Pairing mode is activated.
NS-CSPBTHOL	Speaker	On your speaker, press the Source button. Your speaker enters pairing mode, and the LED blinks. Note: Press and hold the Source button to return to pairing mode

Ion

Model	Type	Instructions
Explorer BT	Speaker	Power on the Explorer Bluetooth. Press the Disconnect button to remove any previous connections and reset the Bluetooth module. The speaker should go into pairing mode.
Plunge	Speaker	Power on Plunge and it will automatically go into pairing mode to search for Bluetooth devices. You will know you are in pairing mode when the Bluetooth icon is slowly flashing.

Jabra

Model	Type	Instructions
Halo Free	Headset	Start with the headset off. Press and hold the multi-function button on the headset until the LED flashes blue. Wear the headset and follow the audio instructions.
Solemate	Speaker	On the Solemate, hold the On/off switch in the Up position for 3 seconds. Pairing mode will be announced and the Bluetooth light will flash.

Jam

Model	Type	Instructions
Double Down	Speaker	On your speaker, press and hold the + and – (Plus and Minus) buttons for five seconds to activate pairing mode. The Bluetooth light should blink indicating the speaker is ready to pair.
Jam 2	Speaker	To disable pairing of existing device and pair a new device press and hold the + and – (Plus and Minus) button for 5 seconds to activate pairing mode.
Jam+	Speaker	On your speaker, press and hold down the power button for 5 seconds. The Bluetooth indicator will begin to quickly flash in blue.
Transit HX-HP420A	Headphones	On your headphones, press and hold the +/- (Plus/Minus) button for 5 seconds to activate pairing mode. A blue light should blink fast.
Transit Lite HX-HP400GY	Headphones

Jarv

Model	Type	Instructions
NMotion	Earbuds	Ensure that the headset is turned off (very important). Press the Pairing button (multi-function button) for approximately 8-9 seconds until the red and blue light flash alternately which indicates that you are in Pairing Mode. (Note: A blue light will turn on at first but keep pressing down the pairing button until it changes to a flashing blue/ red light which indicates that you are in pairing mode).

Jawbone

Model	Type	Instructions
Jambox	Speaker	Hold the on/off switch on the Jambox in the upmost position for approximately 3 – 5 seconds, until the LED light begins flashing red and white and the JAMBOX announces that it’s entered pairing mode. Release the switch to the middle/on position. The JAMBOX will remain in pairing mode.
Big Jambox	Speaker	On the speaker, hold the pairing button until the LED flashes red and white.

Jaybird

Model	Type	Instructions
X2	Earphones	With headphones turned off and within 1 meter (3 feet) of the music device, press and hold the center key for at least 4 seconds until the status indicator flashes red and green and a voice prompt says "Searching for your music device."

JBL

Model	Type	Instructions
Charge 2	Speaker	On the speaker, press and hold the "Volume +" and "Play/Pause" buttons at the same time for 2-3 seconds until the speaker switches itself off. Then power on and press the Bluetooth button to enter pairing mode.
Charge 3	Speaker	On your speaker, press the Bluetooth button.
E55BT	Headphones	Press the Bluetooth button for 5 seconds.
Flip 3	Speaker	Hold down the Bluetooth button for at least 3 seconds, until the light flashes blue. You are now in pairing mode. When the devices connect, you will hear a tone from the FLIP3 indicating it is successful.
Flip 4	Speaker	Turn the FLIP 4 on by pressing the power button. To put it in pairing mode, hold down the Bluetooth button for at least 3 seconds, until the light flashes blue. You are now in pairing mode. You will hear a tone from the FLIP indicating when pairing is successful.
Pulse 2	Speaker	On your speaker, press and hold down the Bluetooth button until blue lights go up and down the speaker.

Kinivo

Model	Type	Instructions
BTH 240	Headphones	Ensure the headphones are powered off, then enter the pairing mode on the headphones by pressing and holding the multifunction button for 7 to 10 seconds until the blue and red lights start flashing alternatively (Note – do not release when you see only the blue light)

Koss

Model	Type	Instructions
BT540i	Headphones	Start with the headphones OFF. Move the power switch to the center position to turn the headphones ON. The LED will flash blue. Next, move the switch all the way to the left and hold for four seconds to enter pairing mode. The LED will flash blue and red.

LG

Model	Type	Instructions
HBS-700 (Tone)	Headphones	With the Power off, press the CALL button and move the power switch to the "ON" position at the same time for 4 seconds. When the headset enters Pairing Mode, the LED indicator will show a solid blue light.
HBS-750	Headset	With the power off, press the CALL button and slide the power switch to the ‘ON" position at the same time for 2 seconds. When the headset enters Pairing Mode, the LED indicator will show a solid blue light.
HBS-760	Headset	With the power off on your headset, press the CALL button and slide the Power switch to the ON position at the same time for 2 seconds. When the headset enters Pairing Mode, the LED indicator will show a solid blue light.
HBS-780	Headphones	Press and hold the Call button and slide the Power switch to the ON position to turn it on. The blue Indicator lamp turns on, and the HBS-780 enters pairing mode.
HBS-810	Headset	With the power off on the headset, press the CALL button and slide the Power switch to the ON position at the same time for 2 seconds. When the headset enters Pairing mode, the LED indicator will show a solid blue light.
HBS-900	Headset	With the power off, press the CALL button and slide the Power switch to the ON position at the same time for 2 seconds. When the headset enters Pairing Mode, the LED indicator will show a solid blue light.
LAB550H	Sound Plate	Use the FUNCTION button to select the Bluetooth(r) function. "BT READY" will appear in the display window.
LAS350B	Soundbar	On your LG soundbar, select the Bluetooth function by using the Bluetooth button on the remote control or F on the unit until the function is selected. "BT" and then "BT READY" will appear in the display window.

Logitech

Model	Type	Instructions
H800	Headset	Slide the Device Selection switch on the right ear cup to the Bluetooth (middle) position.
Z600	Speaker	Press the Bluetooth button. The status light blinks rapidly to indicate the speakers are ready for pairing

Marley

Model	Type	Instructions
Get Together	Speaker	Turn the speaker on. You can pair a new device to Get Together by holding the Bluetooth button for 3 seconds. Then press and hold the PAUSE/PLAY button for at least 5 seconds to activate pairing mode. The LED will blink blue indicating device is in pairing mode.

Marshall

Model	Type	Instructions
Stanmore	Speaker	Ensure that the Stanmore Bluetooth is powered on. Push the pair button. The red bluetooth indicator starts to flash rapidly.

Master and Dynamic

Model	Type	Instructions
MW60	Headphones	Hold the sliding switch in the Bluetooth position for 2 seconds. The light will pulse when headphone is in pairing mode.

Merkury Innovations

Model	Type	Instructions
MI-BTH22	Headphones	On your headphones, press and hold the center button for 7 secs until the blue light blinks

Miccus

Model	Type	Instructions
SR-71	Headphones	With the SR-71 Stealth powered off and fully charged, press and hold the MFB (multi-function button) for roughly 3 seconds until the SR-71 Stealth powers on and the LED indicator flashes red and blue alternately, then release the MFB.

Mpow

Model	Type	Instructions
059	Headphones	Starting with the headphones turned off, press the center Multifunction button (with the phone symbol) until you hear that it is in pairing mode, and the LED flash red and blue.
H1	Headphones	Long press the Power button on the headphones for four seconds until the LED light flashes red and blue alternatively.
Jaws	Headset	Turn Off the headset. Toggle the power On/Off button to On until the red and green indicator lights start flashing alternatively. You will also hear a voice prompt.
Pro Truck Driver	Headset	With the headset power off, long press the Power On button for about 3 seconds until the LED flash red and blue alternatively.
Thor	Headset	With your headphones completely turned off, press the power button for five seconds. The LED should flash, indicating the headphones are in pairing mode.

OontZ

Model	Type	Instructions
Angle 3	Speaker	On your speaker, press and hold down the Bluetooth button for 3 seconds. The blue light will begin flashing and the OontZ Angle 3 is ready to pair and connect.

Otium

Model	Type	Instructions
IPX4	Earbuds	Press the "power on" button for 5 seconds until blue and red LEDs flash alternatively and a voice prompt says "pairing." Don’t stop pressing when only the blue light comes on. Wait until both red and blue light up.

Ovleng

Model	Type	Instructions
MX666	Headphones	While the headphones are off, hold the power button for 5 seconds. The LED on the side will alternatively flash red and blue. A voice will say the device is ready to pair. After pairing completes, the voice will say the device has been paired successfully.

Parasom

Model	Type	Instructions
A1 Magnetic	Earphones	Press and hold the middle button and you will hear a "Power On" message. Continue holding until you hear "Pairing."

Philips

Model	Type	Instructions
SHB5250 Freshtones	Earphones	Make sure that the headphones are fully charged and turned off. Press and hold the on/off button until the blue and white LED flashes alternately.
SHB5500BK/27	Headphones	Press and hold the Call/Music button (with telephone and play/pause symbols) until the blue and white LED flashes alternately, indicating the headphones are in pairing mode.
SHB8750NC	Headphones	Press and hold the ON/OFF button to turn the headphones on. Press and hold the Bluetooth button until the blue and white LED flashes alternatively.

Pioneer

Model	Type	Instructions
SE-MJ553BT	Headphones	Enter pairing mode on the headphones. To do this, turn off power to the headphones, then hold down the power button until the LED indicator alternatively flashes blue and red.

Plantronics

Model	Type	Instructions
Backbeat Fit	Earphones	Power on the headphones by pressing the power button until you hear "pair mode" and the LED light flashes red and blue.
Backbeat Pro	Headphones	Press and hold the Call button until the LEDs flash red and blue
Backbeat Sense	Headphones	Slide and hold the power button towards the Bluetooth icon until you hear "pairing" and the LED flash red and blue.
Explorer 10	Headset	Press the Call button until the indicator light flashes red and blue and you hear "pairing."
Explorer 50	Headset	Press the Call button until the indicator light flashes red and blue and you hear "pairing."
Marque 2 M165	Headset	Press and hold the call control button on the headset for about 5-6 seconds until the light on the headset starts flashing red-white. Release the button and set the headset aside.
Voyager Legend	Headset	Press and hold Call button until you hear "pairing" and the headset LEDs flash red and blue.
Voyager V5200	Headset	With the headset powered on, press and hold the Call button until you hear "Pairing." The headset LEDs will flash blue and red.

Plugable

Model	Type	Instructions
BT-ARC1A	Audio receiver	Unplug the BT-ARC1A from AC power and plug it back in. The Plugable ARC1A will go into pairing mode.
BT-BOX4S	Speaker	Press and hold the INPUT button until you hear a pairing sound. LED will blink blue to indicate pairing mode
BT-HSFLEX	Headset	Turn on the headset using the power switch. Press the Phone Button (MFB) for 3 seconds, until you hear ‘Pairing’ through the earbuds. Pairing mode will last 30 seconds.
BT-STAND	Speaker	Turn on the BT-Stand. If it isn’t already connected to another device, it will go into pairing mode.
BTHS40B	Headset	Press the Multi-Function Button (MFB) for 3 seconds, until the LED alternately flashes red and blue. Pairing mode will last 3 minutes.

Polaroid

Model	Type	Instructions
P3B0T0R1CBK	Speaker	Turn on the speaker. A beep will be heard and the LED light indicator will blick RED and BLUE, indicating the unit is in pairing mode.

Proxelle

Model	Type	Instructions
Solo	Earphones

Razer

Model	Type	Instructions
Hammerhead BT	Earbuds	From a powered-off state, hold the multi-function button for at least 5 seconds until the in-ear headset enters pairing mode. While in pairing mode, the LED indicator will blink green and a pairing tone can be heard.

RCA

Model	Type	Instructions
RTS7010B	Soundbar	On your soundbar, press the Source button on the unit or button on the remote control to select BT (Bluetooth) mode. The Bluetooth indicator light on the soundbase will blink

Realistic by Radio Shack

Model	Type	Instructions
BT ANC 3301750 & 3301751	Headphones	If the headphones are off, press and hold the power button for 2 seconds. If the headphones are already on, press and hold the Bluetooth button for 2 seconds. The LED will alternately flash red and blue.

Samsung

Model	Type	Instructions
EO-BG935 (Level U Pro)	Headphones	Slide the Power switch to the right and hold it for approximately three seconds to enter Bluetooth pairing mode.
K450	Soundbar	Press the (Source) button on the side panel of the soundbar’s main unit, or the SOURCE button on the remote control to select the BT mode. You will see BT READY on the front display of the Soundbar.
Level U Pro	Headphones	On the headphones, slide the Power switch to the right and hold it for approximately three seconds to enter Bluetooth pairing mode.

Samtomi

Model	Type	Instructions
Hoop	Headphones	With the headset off, press and hold the power button until the blue and red indicator lights on the left ear cup flash alternately

Senbowe

Model	Type	Instructions
SX-990	Headphones	Switch to "On." The headphones will prompt "Ready to pair" after 5 Seconds. The red and blue lights flash alternately when headset is ready for pairing.

Sennheiser

Model	Type	Instructions
mb 660		Switch On the headset. If it doesn’t automatically enter pairing mode, press the Sound Effect Mode button for 4 seconds or until you hear tones and a voice prompts "Pairing." The LEDs will flash white in sequence.
Momentum 2.0	Headphones	Switch the headphones off. Press the power button and keep it pressed until you hear the voice prompts "Power On" and "Pairing" and the LED flashes red and blue.
PX 210 BT	Headphones	When switched on for the first time, the headphones automatically go into pairing mode. To add another device, press the "Master" button and keep it pressed until the LED alternately flashes blue and red.
PXC 550	Headphones	Turn the headphones on. Press the Effect Mode Control Button for 4 seconds or until you hear tones and the voice prompt "Pairing." The LEDs will flash in sequence on the headphones. Two icons for the headphones should show up in the Manage Bluetooth Devices list on the computer. Click the one that shows headphones, then select Pair. Contact us at support@plugable.com for Windows 7.

Sharkk

Model	Type	Instructions
Boombox	Speaker	To connect your speaker to a Bluetooth enabled device, hold your phone or other device within 3 feet of your speaker, press and hold the Play/Pause button for 3 seconds, and the system will then enter pairing mode and you should see the indicator light flashing blue and red.

Skullcandy

Model	Type	Instructions
Ink’d wireless headset	Earphones	Hold down the middle button on the earbuds until the light flashes blue and red.
Method	Earphones	Hold the main function button down for 5 seconds. The LED will flash red and blue to indicate pairing with a Bluetooth device
Smoking Buds 2 Wireless	Earphones	Press and hold the skull symbol on the earphone’s volume controller for five seconds until the LED flashes. The earphones will enter pairing mode.

Sony

Model	Type	Instructions
DR-BTN200	Headphones	Start with the headphones powered off. Press and hold the POWER button for more than 7 seconds while this unit is turned off. The indicator will start to flash blue and red alternately after releasing the button.
H.ear on MDR-100AAP	Headphones	Press and hold the power button on the headphones for at least 7 seconds, until the LED flashes blue and red.
MDR-1000x	Headphones	Turn off the headphones. After turning them off, press and hold the power button for 7 seconds. The LED indicator will flash red and blue and a voice will say "Bluetooth Pairing."
MDR-XB650-BT	Headphones	Press and hold the POWER button for about 7 seconds. Make sure that the indicator flashes blue and red alternately after you release the button.
MDR-XB950BT	Headphones	Press and hold the POWER button for about 7 seconds. Make sure that the indicator flashes blue and red alternately after you release the button.
MDR-XB950N1	Headphones	On your headphones, press and hold the power button for about 7 seconds. Make sure the indicator light flashes blue and red after you release the button. A voice will say "Bluetooth Pairing."
MDR-ZX220BT	Headphones	Enter pairing mode on the Sony headphones. To do this, press and hold the POWER button for about 7 seconds. Make sure that the indicator flashes blue and red alternately after you release the button.
MDR-ZX750DC	Headphones	Place your Sony headphones within 1 meter (3 feet) of the Plugable adapter. Enter pairing mode on the headphones as follows: 1. Press and hold the Power button for more than 7 seconds. 2. Make sure that the indicator flashes blue and red alternately after you release the button.
MDR-ZX770BN	Headphones	Enter pairing mode on the Sony headphones. To do this, press and hold the POWER button for about 7 seconds. Make sure that the indicator flashes blue and red alternately after you release the button.
MHC-V11	Speaker	On your speaker, press BLUETOOTH to select the BLUETOOTH function. "BT AUDIO" appears on the display. Hold down BLUETOOTH on the unit for more than 3 seconds. "PAIRING" flashes on the display.
SBH70	Earphones	Press and hold down the Power key until a blue notification light starts flashing rapidly.
SRS-X55	Speaker	Tap and hold the (BLUETOOTH) PAIRING button until beeps are heard and the (BLUETOOTH) indicator begins to flash quickly in white.
SRS-X7	Speaker	Tap and hold the (BLUETOOTH) PAIRING button until beeps are heard. The (BLUETOOTH) indicator begins to flash quickly in white, and the speaker enters pairing mode.
SRS-XB10	Speaker	On your speaker, press and hold the speaker’s Power/Pairing until you hear beeps and the Bluetooth indicator begins to flash quickly in white.
SRS-XB2	Speaker	Turn the speaker on, then press and hold the Bluetooth button to activate pairing mode. The light on the button will blink indicating the speaker is in pairing mode.
STR-DR1040	Receiver	1. Place the computer near the receiver. 2. Press BLUETOOTH on the Receiver. You can also select "Bluetooth" from "Listen" in the Home menu. 3. Press OPTIONS. The options menu appears. 4. Select "Pairing", then press "+" (Plus). 5. Press "+" to start the pairing. "Pairing. Make the Bluetooth device ready to be detected by the receiver." appears on the TV screen.
WH-1000XM2	Headphones	Press and hold the POWER button for about 7 seconds. Make sure that the indicator flashes blue and red alternately after you release the button.
XAV-AX100	Receiver	On your receiver, press HOME, then touch Settings. Touch (General Settings). Touch Bluetooth Connection, then set the signal to ON. The Bluetooth signal will be turned on (the receiver will go into pairing mode) and a Bluetooth icon will appear on the status bar of the unit.
ZSRS60BT	Boombox	Press BLUETOOTH to turn on the Bluetooth function. If no devices have been paired, such as when you press BLUETOOTH for the first time, the unit automatically enters pairing mode, and the Bluetooth indicator and the word "PAIRING" flash on the display. To pair to a second Bluetooth device, hold down BLUETOOTH until two beeps are heard.

SoundPal

Model	Type	Instructions
Cube F1	Speaker	Press and hold the Call/Music button (with telephone and play/pause symbols). Then turn it off and back on again. You will see the LED flash blue.

Syllable

Model	Type	Instructions
D900	Earbuds	With the earbuds powered off or while the blue LED is flashing, hold the button on one of the earbuds for 3 to 4 seconds, until the LEDs alternate rapidly between red and blue

Symphonized

Model	Type	Instructions
NGR Bluetoth wood in-ear headphones	Earphones	Hold the middle circle button on the earphones for 3 seconds until the light flashes red and blue, showing they are in pairing mode.

TaoTronics

Model	Type	Instructions
TT-BH07	Earphones	Press and hold the Multifunction Button (between the volume buttons) for approximately 5 seconds until the LED indicator flashes red and blue alternately.
TT-BH10	Earphones	Press and hold the Multifunction button for 5 seconds to bring the headphone into pairing mode. The LED indicator will flash red and blue.
TT-BR05	Receiver	On the receiver, press and hold the power button for 2 seconds until the LED flashes red and blue alternately.
TT-SK05	Speaker	Turn on the speaker by switching the power button to On. The speaker will automatically go into pairing mode as indicated by a flashing green or blue LED. To connect the speaker to a second device, turn off Bluetooth in the first device.

Tivoli

Model	Type	Instructions
PAL BT	Speaker	Turn The PAL BT to the Off postion. Next, turn the PAL BT switch to the "BT" position. This will power on the Bluetooth. Turn the volume up about 1/4 to start. Depending on your device, you may need to make multiple attempts at Pairing and/or Connecting to the PAL BT, but please give your device adequate time to Pair or Connect before repeating the process.

Ultimate Ears

Model	Type	Instructions
Boom 2	Speaker	On your speaker, press the UE BOOM’s Bluetooth button for 3 seconds. The UE BOOM will enter pairing mode, make a sound, and flash its Bluetooth LED while searching for another device. If you see two entries for your speaker, be sure to click on the one that has a headphones icon. Don’t click the one with a picture of a computer monitor and a phone. For Windows 7, please contact us at support@plugable.com
Megaboom	Speaker	On the Megaboom, hold down the Bluetooth button (above the power button) until you hear a tone. The Bluetooth connection button will blink rapidly, meaning the speaker is ready for pairing.
Mini Boom	Speaker	Press UE MINI BOOM’s Bluetooth button for 3 seconds. UE MINI BOOM will enter pairing mode, make a sound, and flash its Bluetooth LED while searching for another device.
Roll 2	Speaker	On the UE Roll, press and hold the Bluetooth button until you have the tone.
WONDERBOOM	Speaker	On the speaker, press and hold the Bluetooth button on top until you hear a tone.

UVOKS

Model	Type	Instructions
Bluetoooth V4.1	Earphones	Press the power button on the headset for at least five seconds. The LED should flash red and blue, indicating the headset is in pairing mode.

Victrola

Model	Type	Instructions
6-in-1 Music Center	Music Center	On the music center, select FM/Bluetooth mode with the selection knob. Slide the slide switch to the Bluetooth symbol. The ST/BT indicator will flash blue.

Vizio

Model	Type	Instructions
S4251w-B4	Soundbar	Press and hold the Bluetooth button on the Sound Bar for five (5) seconds or use the BT Pair menu option from the remote. When the Sound Bar is in Bluetooth Pairing Mode, the LED Indicators on the Display Panel on the front of the Sound Bar will light sequentially from left to right and back again.
SB2920	Soundbar	Press and hold the Bluetooth button on the Sound Bar or the Bluetooth button on the remote for five (5) seconds. When the Sound Bar is in Bluetooth Pairing Mode, the LED indicators on the Display Panel on the front of the Sound Bar will light sequentially from bottom to top and back again.

VXI

Model	Type	Instructions
Blueparrott B250-XT, B350XT, B450-XT	Headset	With the headset powered off, press the MFB until the light rapidly flashes blue and you hear the audio prompt "Power on." Keep holding the MFB for approximately 10 seconds until you hear "Discovering" (B350-XT), "Pairing Mode" (BT450-XT), or two rising tones followed by four more tones (BT250-XT).

Xiaomi

Model	Type	Instructions
Mi	Speaker	On your speaker, press and hold the Start/Stop button for two seconds, until you hear a beep.

Yamaha

Model	Type	Instructions
R-S202BL	Receiver	Press the Bluetooth source button on the remote for more then 3 seconds to enter pairing mode. Pairing mode lasts for 5 minutes. In pairing mode, the front panel display of this unit will indicate "PAIRING," and the Bluetooth indicator will blink.

Yamay

Model	Type	Instructions
BH-M20 (Generic Chinese made. Others have similar name)	Headphones	Press and hold the multi-function button (the big one at the base of the mic) for about 8 seconds, until the light alternates between blue and red, indicating that it is in pairing mode.

Unfortunately, we don’t have any pairing information for brands starting with the letter you’ve selected. Please follow the pairing instructions in the manual that came with your device.

5. Skip this step in Windows 8 or 8.1. Click the plus (+) sign next to “Add Bluetooth or other device.” The Add a Device window will open. Click Bluetooth.

6. Now a new listing for the audio device should show up in the Manage Bluetooth Devices list on the computer. Click it, then select Pair.

Windows 10

Windows 8

7. The audio device should connect. Try playing audio through it. If it doesn’t work, continue with step 8.

8. Right click the speaker icon on in the system tray at lower right.

9. Select Playback devices. The audio device should be on the list as “Headphones” or “Speaker.” Right-click the listing and click Set as Default device. If the device has a microphone, you can click “Set as Default Communications Device” to use its microphone in Skype or other applications that require two-way communication. For some devices this setting may be available under a separate “Headset” icon. Please note when the Headset profile is being used, the device will be limited to mono, telephone quality sound. This is a Bluetooth limitation.

10. Your audio device should now be working. If not, contact us at support@plugable.com and let us know at which step the process failed. We are happy to help!

Windows 7

Note: Some recent Bluetooth audio devices use a non-standard connection method and require special treatment in Windows 7. These include the Bose QuietComfort 35, SoundLink AE2, SoundLink Color II, SoundSport Wireless, Sennheiser PXC 550, UE Boom 2, Bang & Olufsen BeoPlay S3, and others. If you have one of these, or if following the instructions below doesn’t work for you, see this blog post or contact us at support@plugable.com.

1. If you have previously connected your Bluetooth audio device to any phone, tablet or a different computer, turn that device’s Bluetooth off and “Unpair” or “Forget” the connection in that device’s Bluetooth settings. This is very important to make sure your audio device doesn’t automatically connect to one of them instead of to the computer.

2. On the computer, click the Start button, then select Devices and Printers.

3. In the Devices and Printers window, if you see an entry for your device, right-click it and select Remove Device, then select Yes in the next window.

4. Put your audio device in pairing mode, following the instructions in the owner’s manual or look up the instructions in our database above. The procedure typically involves holding a button or moving a switch until an LED starts flashing showing you are in pairing mode. If your device has already been paired to a different Bluetooth device, like a phone or tablet, you may need to follow a different procedure for the second time you pair. If you don’t find your device in the database, contact us at support@plugable.com, and we can help.

5. In the Devices and Printers window, select Add a device.

6. An icon for your earphones should show up in the Add a Device window. Click it, then select Next.

7. The audio device should connect. Try playing audio through it. If it doesn’t work, continue with step 8.

8. Right click the speaker icon on in the system tray at lower right.

10. Your audio device should now be working. If not, contact us at support@plugable.com and let us know at which step the process failed. We are happy to help!

Comments, questions, or suggestions on improving this post? Let us know by commenting here or contacting us at support@plugable.com. Please note we can offer only limited help with non-Plugable Bluetooth adapters.

If yes, please share an Amazon review of your Plugable product. If no, please contact us so we can help!

The post Successfully Pairing and Connecting Your Bluetooth Audio Device in Windows appeared first on Plugable.

Addressing Power Safety with the New 25′ Cable Surge Suppressor

2017-02-10T17:48:35Z

Last summer, we had an exciting intern project that involved building and learning how to use a 3-axis CNC machine. We had the machine delivered in parts on a couple of pallets, and built it part-by-part from the ground up. One of the many things we had to figure out along the way was actually powering the various electronics of the machine, which put us in a bit of a difficult situation.

Our warehouse is loaded with 208V and 480V outlets because it had been used for manufacturing by the previous tenant, but it had a lack of standard 120V grounded outlets. This was great for hooking up the more powerful components of the machine, but for running the lower voltage electronics and the controlling computer, we were pretty much out of luck without running extension cords. From a fire safety perspective, using an extension cord is absolutely disallowed. The fire chief views this as a fire hazard, for good reason, and we wouldn’t have been able to pass annual inspection with these in place. So while we did use extension cords for initial set-up and testing, we couldn’t move forward to production level testing without solving this safety issue.

In the end, instead of running a dedicated circuit to the middle of the warehouse (very expensive), we just used our new PS12-USB25. This is actually the same basic device as the PS12-USB2, with all of the great surge suppression and safety features, except it’s built around an extra-long, heavy-gauge 25′ power cable. The cable is gauged properly for the length of run and wattage rating of the suppressor, so you never have to worry about overloading the circuit, which is one of the main fire safety concerns when using common extension cables.

We were able to use this single surge protector to power all of the necessary components of the CNC machine, and the cable had plenty of length to run from the wall outlet all the way to the machine, while having the cable run under cable protector ramps on the floor for safety. The surge suppressor is now mounted exactly where we need it and addresses all of the safety concerns we had (fire, tripping, etc) with just one device.

Can you think of any problems that this surge suppressor would solve for you? Feel free to comment below, or of course contact us at support@plugable.com if you have any questions!

Where to Buy

Plugable 12-Outlet Power Strip with 2-Port USB Charger

MSRP $64.99

The post Addressing Power Safety with the New 25′ Cable Surge Suppressor appeared first on Plugable.

Bluetooth Audio Problems? Can’t Get Your Bose QuietComfort 35 Connected? Check Here First!

2017-07-05T21:43:30Z

**Updated 2/22/2017**

A growing number of Windows users are struggling to connect their PCs to Bose QuietComfort 35 headphones and other recently introduced high-end Bluetooth audio devices, due to enhancements designed to facilitate connectivity with phones and tablets. This blog post will examine the reasons behind these problems and offer step-by-step instructions for overcoming them in recent Windows versions.

A New Class of Bluetooth Audio Device

Newer Bluetooth audio devices are being designed with a mobile-first mentality, taking advantage of the standard inclusion of Bluetooth in virtually every smartphone and tablet, while adopting recent innovations like Bluetooth Low Energy (also referred to as Bluetooth Smart or Bluetooth LE) and NFC. However, this focus on mobile convenience seems go hand in hand with a lack of consideration for non-smartphone platforms like Windows and Linux, as evidenced by compatibility issues with them. This situation reflects an aggressive push starting in 2016 to get wireless audio devices in the hands of consumers. Various phone manufacturers, following Apple’s lead, are forsaking the venerable 3.5mm headphone jack in favor of wireless audio solutions like Bluetooth. This movement has accompanied across-the-board advancements in technology for wireless audio devices, such as new battery technology that has brought longer battery life for wireless audio solutions while providing additional power to the headphones, making enhancements like active noise cancellation easier to include.

What Are Some of the Known Issues and Fixes in Windows?

For versions of Windows prior to Windows 8, we have been keeping track of issues with audio devices that appear to be related to Bluetooth Low Energy (Bluetooth LE) services. Unfortunately, Microsoft did not develop Bluetooth Low Energy support until Windows 8.

We have a couple solutions to this issue. For a few months we have been recommending a complicated workaround that can be used to get the adapter working in Windows 7. After conducting quite a bit of research and testing different driver variations in Windows 7, a version of the WIDCOMM software has been identified that addresses pairing issues and the Bose QuietComfort 35, but we have not recieved feedback regarding other devices.

If you are trying to pair a device, but Windows reports that it cannot connect after reporting pairing was sucessful, first recommendation is to uninstall the WIDCOMM Bluetooth Software if you have already installed it, then proceed with installing the driver version below.

Click here to download the 6.5.0.2000 driver for Windows Vista and Windows 7. (x86 and x64 are included)

If the driver above does not work, and you are using a device that the workaround status is “unknown” for, this means that a customer contacted us with an issue that appeared likely to involve Bluetooth LE issues but we did not hear back from them after supplying the workaround. For Windows 7 users, we have developed a workaround that tends to get Bluetooth LE-capable devices working well. This workaround guide is written specifically for the Bose QuietComfort 35, but applies to other devices with this issue as well.

We have been in contact with our chipset maker, Broadcom, to potentially resolve these issues. However, as of yet they have not delivered a timeline for resolving these issues.

There are instances where devices are not having issues with Bluetooth LE capability, but may simply not work due to outdated drivers. If your device is not in the list of suspect devices above, or where the workaround status is unknown, and you do not recieve a message that pairing was successful, it is recommended to try the latest driver package first.

If all else fails, and you are using a Plugable Bluetooth adapter, please contact us at support@plugable.com so that we can help assist with the issue as there may be a driver conflict, or other issue that is causing problems.

It is recommended to use the latest version of the Bluetooth driver package for Windows in 8, 8.1, and 10 to resolve some basic compatibility issues with audio devices. These can be found on the product page for the USB-BT4LE Bluetooth adapter.

For devices that are offering Bluetooth Low Energy (Bluetooth LE) connections, they should work without issue, but it is important to pair to the actual audio device rather than the Bluetooth LE service. If pairing to the wrong Bluetooth device, audio services will not function. In most cases when a device is listed multiple times, the connection will have an icon with headphones in Windows to indicate it is the proper connection for the audio service.

Sometimes Windows will not offer the appropriate icon for the audio service. In this case, you may want to try pairing through the Devices and Printers menu (‘Start Menu’ > ‘Settings’ (cog-shaped icon) > ‘Devices’ > ‘Printers & scanners’ > Click the link for ‘Devices and printers’ > Click the ‘Add a device’ button) which may provide an icon. If neither method provides an icon for the audio device then you may need to randomly select one. If the incorrect device is selected, remove the pairing and try pairing again.

For the Bose QuietComfort 35 and some other Bose audio devices, firmware updates are available that help to clarify which connection is the “LE” connection that should not be paired with, and which one is the correct audio device (without LE in the name) as depicted in the screenshot below.

To update your Bose audio device, go to http://btu.bose.com/ and follow the prompts. Be sure that you have a Micro USB data cable on hand for the update process.

What Are Some of the Known Issues and Fixes in Linux?

Bluetooth Low Energy (Bluetooth LE) issues can frequently be attributed to BlueZ, which is the core Bluetooth handler in Linux.

Arch Linux has done a great job of maintaining a Wiki page with issues relating to audio devices in Linux, as well as possible workarounds, which can be found here.

To manaully compile and install BlueZ 5.43, the instructions below should help in Ubuntu-based Linux distributions such as Linux Mint, but as with most things in Linux, there will always be exceptions where it does not work. Please use Terminal to run these commands.

1. Download and extract BlueZ 5.43:

wget http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/bluetooth/bluez-5.43.tar.xz && tar xf bluez-5.43.tar.xz

2. Change to the BlueZ directory:

cd bluez-5.43

3. Install the libraries necessary to successfully build and install BlueZ, as well as additional audio profile support:

sudo apt-get install pulseaudio-module-bluetooth libusb-dev libdbus-1-dev libglib2.0-dev libudev-dev libical-dev libreadline-dev

4. Stop Bluetooth services:

sudo /etc/init.d/bluetooth stop

5. Then in the BlueZ directory you should still be in; configure, make, and make install:

sudo ./configure && sudo make && sudo make install

6. Once the install process is complete, restart the PC.

sudo reboot

7. Try pairing and using your Bluetooth audio device again.

Another improvement from using BlueZ 5.43 is that Bluetooth LE HID devices like mice and keyboards are supported through the HID over GATT profile (HoG). We have found that the Microsoft Designer Mouse and Keyboard work in Linux after updating BlueZ.

If you are not using an Ubuntu-based Linux distribution, these steps may or may not work. You can still try some of the solutions in the Arch Linux wiki such as setting Bluetooth to only use BR/EDR (bredr) mode.

Of course, as noted in the product listing for the adapter, it is important to use a Linux kernel that is recent enough to include the drivers for the adapter. It is also recommended that you keep your kernel version up-to-date. Bluetooth is one reason to use variants of Linux that use newer software revisions as opposed to long-term service/support versions of Linux, there is still a lot of software development occurring with both Pulseaudio and BlueZ.

Some users may notice that there are issues relating to missing firmware for the Bluetooth adapter in the system logs on Linux. This is normal, and the error can be ignored as it has no impact on the actual functionality of the adapter.

The Heart of the Issue With Modern Bluetooth Audio Compatibility

So why is it that these newer smartphone-focused devices are having problems in PC operating systems? The evidence we have collected suggests that the primary factor in most issues with Bluetooth audio devices is the inclusion of Bluetooth Low Energy (Bluetooth LE), which was first introduced as part of Bluetooth 4.0 specifications in 2010.

Bluetooth Low Energy operates very differently from Bluetooth Classic in a few key ways. As the name suggests, it is heavily focused on energy efficiency.

Bluetooth LE accomplishes much of its power savings by reducing the frequency that a Bluetooth host (source) and a Bluetooth device (sink) need to communicate, but it also does this by limiting the size of data and messages that need to be communicated. For example, the heartrate monitor in many smartwatches communicate heartrate measurements over Bluetooth LE every few seconds. The heartrate can simply be conveyed as two or three digit numbers, and this information does not need to be sent immediately to the device the smartwatch is connected to, so Bluetooth LE is ideal for this data given the power savings it provides.

Even in new devices, audio data is sent using Bluetooth Classic, which has been the case for a number of years. However, in an effort to simplify the pairing process of audio devices for smartphones and communicate additional data such as battery life, device makers have turned to Bluetooth LE. It is important to note, that a device being labeled as “Bluetooth 4.0” or “Bluetooth 4.1” does not instantly mean that Bluetooth LE is being used on the audio device. Many times, the manufacturer is trying to capitalize on consumers being unaware of Bluetooth technology and drawn to a version number that is higher than the competition. For many devices indicating Bluetooth 4.0 or 4.1 support, they are using a Bluetooth chip in their device that is capable of supporting features specific to 4.0 or 4.1, but in reality they are only using the Bluetooth 2.1 or 3.0 features of the chip.

When Bluetooth 5 is introduced, this will likely change. Indications are that audio features are coming that will be specific to Bluetooth 5 in particular.

So what is it about Bluetooth Low Energy that is causing problems for PC users?

Though we are now in 2017, applications of Bluetooth Low Energy have been sparse until more recently due to the lack of available devices supporting it. It made much more sense for manufacturers to make devices that used Bluetooth Classic, or that were simply connected through a wired connection, since there was a much larger userbase that the devices would work with.

This was a classic chicken-and-egg problem. Why support Bluetooth LE if there are no devices that use it, and why create devices for Bluetooth LE if no platforms can use it?

By the time Bluetooth Low Energy became a standard, Microsoft had already completed and released Windows 7. Eventually, Microsoft did add compatibility with Bluetooth LE with the release of Windows 8, but the effort was never made to add it to Windows 7, or earlier versions of Windows. This has left Windows 7 unable to understand Bluetooth LE communications.

For Linux, Bluetooth LE support has been slow going. For the most part, Bluetooth interactions on Linux distributions are handled by a software set called BlueZ. However, most Linux distributions will use older versions of BlueZ rather than the latest version. For example, at the time of writing Ubuntu 16.10 uses BlueZ 5.21, but the latest version of BlueZ is 5.23. This may not seem like a huge difference, but many Bluetooth LE services were not implemented until 5.22. Bluetooth LE input devices like a Bluetooth LE mouse could not be used prior to 5.22, and many audio devices had issues as well. Though 5.23 has many improvements, Bluetooth audio devices still aren’t totally compatible.

Conclusion

As with most technologies, innovations will sometimes bring compatibility issues along with them. The future looks bright for Bluetooth audio, and Bluetooth LE (BLE) stands to make the pairing process easier for newer devices as customers have wanted. As we move forward unto uncharted waters of new Bluetooth audio solutions, the team here at Plugable will be here to help identify, explain, and hopefully resolve any issues that happen along the way.

As always, if you need our assistance with your Plugable product, please contact us at support@plugable.com with your Order ID number and we’ll be happy to help.

If yes, please share an Amazon review of your Plugable product. If no, please contact us so we can help!

The post Bluetooth Audio Problems? Can’t Get Your Bose QuietComfort 35 Connected? Check Here First! appeared first on Plugable.

New USB-C Charging Meter from Plugable

2017-02-02T22:15:14Z

USB-C charging demystified.

One of USB-C’s great potential features is the ability to charge in either direction, with much higher power levels than was previously possible with USB (up to 100 Watts). But USB-C is still maturing, and there are many combinations of chargers and devices which either don’t charge, or charge at a lower rate. And if you’re a hardware designer or tester you need to be on the lookout for unexpected results or problems. Plugable’s new USB-C power meter is an inexpensive solution.

The USBC-VAMETER is a compact USB-C multimeter designed to quickly show how your USB-C devices are behaving under a variety of scenarios.

The Plugable USBC-VAMETER is roughly the size of the average USB flash drive and was designed with portability and ease of use in mind, only showing essential information that users of all skill levels can understand. With three major points of information the VAMETER can quickly show how fast a device is charging by indicating voltage, amperage, and in addition the direction in which the electrical current is flowing. Users can calculate how much power a device using this simple formula: The power P in watts (W) is equal to the voltage V in volts (V) times the current I in amps (A), P = V × I.

Here you can see that the voltage is reported as 14.5V and the amperage is 1.77A which calculates to 25.66 watts. This would indicate that the system is charging at almost the maximum rate (29W for the model system the USBC-VAMETER is attached to).

The VAMETER is bidirectional and can be connected in any direction and it will indicate in what direction power is flowing. This is useful when you’re not sure if a device is drawing power, or pulling power. We took special care when designing this product to ensure that it acts as a transparent interposer – which means it should not interfere with the USB data (1.1 through 3.1 Gen 2), USB-C Alternate Mode video, or USB-C charging. It can be used inline with USB-C docking stations, chargers, USB-C accessories, etc. The meter is able to achieve this without interfering with normal USB-C operation as it only taps into the power (VBUS) and ground connections to measure their values and leaves all of the data lines untouched.

Common use scenarios would include the following:

Connecting between a USB-C host system like a laptop, tablet, or cell phone and a charger to monitor charge information.
Connecting between a USB-C host and docking station to monitor charge information.
Connecting between a USB-C host system and a USB-C bus powered accessory like an external hard drive, flash drive, etc to measure power draw of a device.
Testing for USB-C port spec compliance such as a VBUS hot condition, voltage drop under load, etc.

Where to Buy

Plugable USB-C Voltage and Amperage Meter

MSRP $29.99

The post New USB-C Charging Meter from Plugable appeared first on Plugable.

Power Your Raspberry Pi Adventures with Plugable’s New Power Adapter

2017-01-13T00:41:36Z

Plugable already has a comprehensive USB charger lineup but we wanted to introduce an inexpensive, yet high quality and compact solution for our Pi customers. Today we’re happy to introduce our USB-C1M, 5V, 2.4A USB power adapter with an included 2 meter 20AWG USB-A to USB Micro-B cable that is perfect for the Pi.
The USB-C1M has had its internal voltage boosted to 5.25V which is required to keep the new Pi models happy when running under heavy load. In addition we’ve included a thicker 20AWG cable to prevent voltage drop from charger to Pi. The C1m is compatible with the Raspberry Pi, Pi2, Pi3, and Pi Zero along with any sub-models (A, A+, B, B+) of the aforementioned models.

Aside from the Raspberry Pi series, this charger can be used for numerous other tasks, anything that requires a small USB power supply. Some examples include USB LED Christmas lights, Television LED bias lighting, charging e-cigarettes, phones or tablets that don’t require special signalling on the data lines (D+, D-), and more Other small IOT (Internet of Things) devices can be powered as well.

The post Power Your Raspberry Pi Adventures with Plugable’s New Power Adapter appeared first on Plugable.

Plugable’s New Cutting Edge Bluetooth Headset

2016-12-12T17:41:09Z

At Plugable, our goal is to release products that solve a problem or make an experience better. This philosophy has made the Bluetooth headset market a tough one to break into for us because there hasn’t been a lot of room for innovation. Though there are a literal ton of options out there for different Bluetooth headset styles, in essence they all do the same thing: wirelessly stream audio from a source device to your ears.

With our new headset, we’re bringing to market the first collar headset powered by the CSR8645™ Bluetooth audio chip. This chip is the first high-volume solution with built-in audio equalization, dynamic bass boost, audible battery notifications, and aptX technology, enabling a markedly improved listening experience over other headsets. Audio equalization in particular is a first for headsets in this segment, with the touch of a button you can change between 5 different audio profiles to tweak the experience to your preference. This is further enhanced when using aptX technology with compatible devices, which delivers CD-like quality audio over a Bluetooth connection.

Other standard features include a full set of controls for almost all audio tasks, USB charging of the built-in lithium-ion battery, and a nearly indestructible flexible neckband. The control set allows you to interact with your device to manage music and calls, change audio profiles and volume, interact with your voice assistant, and of course power the device off to further conserve the battery when not in use. The internal lithium-ion battery can also be charged directly from any standard USB port or charger, providing maximum convenience after a day of audio indulgence. All of this is supported around the neck by a soft, flexible, yet strong neckband which is constructed of pliable silicone with a spring steel core.

We don’t think you’ll find another headset that’s even close at this price. All of these features combined make a truly remarkable listening experience, and we hope your ears will agree! Have any questions or comments? We’re always happy to help! Just comment below or email support@plugable.com.

Where to Buy

Bluetooth® Wireless Flexible Neckband Headset

MSRP $29.99

The post Plugable’s New Cutting Edge Bluetooth Headset appeared first on Plugable.

Thin, Rotating USB Hub is a Perfect Fit

2016-12-09T13:35:04Z

You don’t have enough USB Ports. You can add a USB hub to get more, but they’re big and ugly. Not anymore. We’ve introduced travel hubs before, but nothing quite this small. Our new Plugable USB3-HUB4R 4-port USB 3.0 hub is only 3 inches long, 1.5 inches wide, and just half an inch tall. It has an integrated USB plug to connect to the host computer which means there is no cable clutter. Because not all computers have their USB ports located in the same place, we’ve made it so that the USB plug can rotate 180 degrees so that the hub can be positioned to fit almost any scenario.

The hub is powered solely from USB and requires no external power adapters making it extremely portable.

And as a thank you to our customers this holiday season, this new rotating USB hub is available for just $9.95 for a limited time! Any questions? Just comment below or email support@plugable.com. We’re happy to help!

Where to Buy

Plugable Rotating 4-Port USB 3.0 Portable Bus Powered Hub

MSRP $19.99

The post Thin, Rotating USB Hub is a Perfect Fit appeared first on Plugable.

Plugable’s Award Winning USB-C Triple Display Docking Station is Now Available in Europe

2016-11-22T07:39:41Z

The wait for our European customers is finally over! The Plugable USB-C Triple Display Docking Station – first revealed as a Kickstarter last year and winner of a Laptop Magazine’s Editors’ Choice Award – is now available for purchase through Amazon’s European distribution network.

For compatible USB-C laptops supporting USB-C’s new optional Power Delivery and Alternate Mode graphics features, this dock maximizes what you can do with one USB-C cable: charge up to 60W, add up to 3 additional monitors, connect to a wired network, support wired headphones, and connect all your USB devices.

Power cables for both EU and UK are included.

Because USB-C features are optional and not supported by every USB-C laptop, before buying please check our compatibility tables on the product page to make sure your Mac or PC is compatible. Compatible systems include the USB-C versions of the Dell XPS, the 2015/2016 Apple MacBook 12″, Late 2016 Apple 13″ MacBook Pro, and many more. Note that older systems with only familiar USB “Type A” ports will not work, even with a converter cable. You must have one of the new generation of USB Type-C systems. Also please note that currently there are some issues on Apple systems running macOS Sierra 10.12.1, please see our blog post for more information.

The UD-ULTCDL has a wide array of ports for connectivity.

Combining the best of both the DisplayLink technology used in our top selling UD-3900 docking station and the DisplayPort Alternate mode technology available via USB Type-C, the UD-ULTCDL docking station provides two additional HDMI outputs and one DVI output as well as providing up to 60W of power via USB-C Power Delivery (“PD”) standard to charge your host computer while adding Gigabit Ethernet, audio input/output, and expanded USB device connectivity with 4 USB 3.0 Type-A ports and a single USB 3.0 USB-C port. All through a single USB-C cable.

Where to Buy

Plugable USB-C Triple Display Docking Station with DisplayLink USB Graphics, Alt Mode Video Output, ...

MSRP $249.99

The post Plugable’s Award Winning USB-C Triple Display Docking Station is Now Available in Europe appeared first on Plugable.

PC Gamers Rejoice — Bluetooth Added to Xbox One S Controller for Windows 10

2017-12-19T16:38:05Z

When Microsoft recently released the new Xbox One S, their slimmed-down version of the Xbox One, there were a couple important updates for PC gamers as well. The biggest change from a Plugable point-of-view was the addition of Bluetooth connectivity to the Xbox One S controller!

For quite some time Xbox 360 and Xbox One controllers have been essentially the standard for PC gamepads. By default, most native PC games and emulators include button and control mapping specific to the Xbox 360/Xbox One controller layout. However, connecting these controllers meant you either needed a wired USB connection to the controller or you used an official Microsoft wireless adapter to connect wirelessly. This was because previous models of the controllers used proprietary radio signals.

By adding Bluetooth, Microsoft has embraced a widely-adopted standard that enables the controller to work on more platforms with ease and removes the need for the pricey propriety adapter. This means the controllers not only work on computers with Bluetooth adapters, such as Plugable’s USB-BT4LE Bluetooth adapter, but they can connect to mobile phones as well.

However, not all is perfect with Bluetooth and the Xbox One S controller in Windows. In this article we’ll cover some common issues and how to resolve them.

How can I tell if my controller can connect via Bluetooth?

Microsoft launched the Xbox One S controller in August 2016. If your controller was purchased before August 2016, it will not have Bluetooth. The white controller, controllers bundled with Xbox One S consoles, and controllers customized on the Xbox Design Lab website will have built-in Bluetooth. There are also some exterior changes such as a new shoulder button shape and locating the Micro USB port much closer to the pairing button on the controller. These changes are described on Microsoft’s website.

On Bluetooth-supported controllers, the plastic around the Xbox button is part of the face of the controller. On controllers without Bluetooth, the plastic around the Xbox button is part of the top, where the bumpers are.

Note: Bluetooth does not support any attachments, such as headsets, chatpads, or the Xbox Stereo Adapter.

Besides having Bluetooth, is there anything else my computer needs?

Yes, your computer must be running at least the Anniversary Update version of Windows 10. Windows 10 installations without the Anniversary update applied do not have support for the Xbox One S controller. The easiest way to check is to open a Command Prompt window and examine the version number. You will want at least version 10.0.14393.

Command Prompt can be accessed by right-clicking the Start Menu button, then choosing the “Command Prompt” option. Alternatively, you can search in the Start Menu for it.

I know my controller has Bluetooth and my computer supports the Xbox One S controller. Now what?

First, be sure to update the controller’s firmware through a USB connection to your computer. You’ll need the Xbox Accessories app from the Windows Store. See Microsoft’s Xbox support page on how to update the Xbox One S Controller firmware.

Can I actually use my controller and play games now?

Almost. The last step is to pair the controller to your computer via Bluetooth. First, you’ll need to turn on the controller by pressing the Xbox button in the center of the controller. After that, hold the pairing button (wireless enrollment button) on the shoulder of the controller for 3 seconds, then release. The controller should now be discoverable for Bluetooth pairing.

More details regarding the pairing process and limitations of the Xbox One S Controller can be found on Microsoft’s support pages.

Once the controller has been paired to your system, it should be ready to go in all your favorite games that take advantage of the Xbox 360/Xbox One controller layout. If you do encounter any issues such as latency or connectivity problems when using the Xbox One S Controller with the Plugable Bluetooth adapter, please contact us at support@plugable.com for assistance. We’re happy to help!

If yes, please share an Amazon review of your Plugable product. If no, please contact us so we can help!

The post PC Gamers Rejoice — Bluetooth Added to Xbox One S Controller for Windows 10 appeared first on Plugable.

Plugable’s New Mechanical Keyboards for Typing Enthusiasts and Gamers

2017-06-19T22:04:47Z

At Plugable many of our engineers, myself included, are keyboard enthusiasts. What does that mean exactly? I’ll touch on that below… but first I’d like to introduce our two new mechanical keyboards, the Plugable USB-MECH87BW compact “tenkeyless” (no number pad) and USB-MECH104BW full size mechanical keyboards.

Traditionally a high quality mechanical keyboard retails at $100 or more. Because of this high cost of entry to the mechanical keyboard experience, many people choose to settle with an inexpensive standard generic mushy and lifeless rubber dome keyboard. There have been a few budget mechanical keyboards released over the past few years, but all of these contain at least one glaring compromise or omission that we as keyboard enthusiasts didn’t find acceptable. So we embarked on a mission to create a keyboard that was the best of both worlds, offering what we consider must-have features and build-quality with affordable pricing — a truly outstanding feature-to-price ratio.

Our keyboards come in two different form factors: full size and compact tenkeyless. Affordably priced at $44.95 for the compact model and $54.95 for the full size, they offer an impressive array of features: Cherry MX style Outemu Blue “clicky” feel switches, sturdy steel switch mounting plate to reduce flex while typing, ABS double-shot keycaps for extra durability, full n-key rollover and anti-ghosting for gaming, pure white LED backlighting with adjustable brightness control plus “breathing” mode, numerous ergonomic features, swappable function WASD and arrow keys, and of course multimedia shortcuts all packed into a nearly frameless design.

Both keyboards are available for purchase immediately in North America and we recommend them without hesitation in any environment where the “clicky” switch noise won’t be a distraction to others. Keyboards can be purchased via the “Where to Buy” links on our product pages for the compact USB-MECH87BW and full-size USB-MECH104BW.

For those interested in our quest to develop the best possible budget mechanical keyboard including exciting information about switches, actuations, newtons, and attempting to define “keyboard enthusiast”, keep reading.

Click to enlarge: USB-MECH87BW Full Size Mechanical Keyboard

Click to enlarge: USB-MECH104BW Full Size Mechanical Keyboard

Now you’re probably still wondering what a keyboard enthusiast is, and to explain we have to rewind a bit. As a child growing up in the early 90s, my elementary school had just gotten in what seemed like hundreds of new Apple computers and they were giving out old systems to students whose parents couldn’t afford them. I started out with a Macintosh Plus for my first computer thanks to their generosity, and little did I know at the time, it came with a mechanical keyboard, an Apple M0110A. Ever since I have been interested in computers and technology and I’ve been working professionally in IT my entire adult life.

When I started working at Plugable three years ago I was handed down some equipment to get me started, and I distinctly remember hating the keyboard I was given to start with. It wasn’t that it typed any worse than your average keyboard, but it had an ISO layout for the UK that I just couldn’t get used to, I would always miss the vertical enter key and hit backslash instead. I went into the back storage room and rooted through some boxes and found a Solidtek ASK-6600C keyboard. It too didn’t have a standard layout, rather it had what is known as a “big-ass” enter key which is some blend of ISO and ANSI (US) layouts, but I figured I’d give it a try. I quickly found out that this was a mechanical keyboard with its heavy keys and intensely loud clicking but I didn’t know much more than that. What I did know is that I really, really liked typing on it, gigantic enter key and all.

After finding that Solidtek board I began to obsess over the history and technology behind keyboards. To me, mechanical keyboards are a fascinating subject, one that opens up an almost never-ending rabbit hole of obscure trivia. Most notably in 1985 IBM released their iconic Model M buckling spring mechanical keyboard. For the next 10 years mechanical keyboards were the standard coming in all sorts of varieties. Then the race to the bottom began when personal computers started to become increasingly common in homes across the globe with manufacturers trying to release less expensive keyboards for consumers. For typing enthusiasts this was a dark time, mushy and lifeless rubber dome keyboards became the new standard to this day. While mechanical keyboards never fully disappeared, they really didn’t begin to make a comeback until 2007 when Cherry, a famous mechanical switch and keyboard manufacturer based in Germany released* one of the most popular mechanical switch designs to date. The Cherry MX Blue “clicky” switch. From this new switch a plethora of mechanical keyboards began to hit the market. Fast forward nearly 10 years later back to 2016. (*Vintage versions of the switch may date back into the late 1980s but the switch was made popular again in 2007.)

So what is a keyboard enthusiast? It’s hard to say, but I think that a keyboard enthusiast is someone who of course enjoys typing, but also appreciates the technology and design of the keyboard as well. Someone that feels a keyboard is not just a tool, but rather an extension of oneself into the cyber world, someone who is on the perpetual search for the mythical end game, perfect keyboard for them.

In my search for that perfect keyboard I have amassed a rather large collection. Between myself and my colleagues we’ve tried many different keyboards. Here are just some of the models we have on hand:

BTC 5100C with conductive domes over PCB with Cherry MX mount sliders (tactile feel, non-mechanical)
Chicony KB-5181 with SMK Monterey Blue (clicky feel, rare vintage 1992)
Corsair Vengeance K70 with Cherry MX Brown (tactile feel)
Das Keyboard 4 Professional with Cherry MX Blue (clicky feel)
HHKB Lite 2 (PD-KB200B/U) with rubber dome over membrane (tactile feel, non-mechanical)
Razer BlackWidow Ultimate Battlefield 3 Edition with Cherry MX Blue (clicky feel)
Razer BlackWidow X Chroma with Cherry MX style Razer Green (clicky feel)
Modified Solidtek ASK-6600C with SKBM White Alps (clicky feel, where my journey started)
Modified Topre Type Heaven with electrostatic capacitive dome and spring with sliders (tactile feel, semi-mechanical)
Unicomp Classic (UB4044A) with buckling spring (clicky feel, similar to the IBM Model M)
Modified Varmilo VB87M Bluetooth with Cherry MX Black (linear feel)

Click to enlarge: A collection of keyboards brought into the office

I’ve also assembled a few keyboards by hand from the ground up, running a fully customizable open source firmware called TMK. Below is a picture of the insides of my most elaborate build and lacking a PCB it gets quite interesting to wire everything without total chaos:

Click to enlarge: 87 switches and diodes, 89 green LEDs, some resistors, wire, and Teensy 2.0 controller all hand soldered

My latest build took a different approach using magnet wire. This board is much simpler without any LEDs, but is using vintage SMK Monterey Blue switches from 1992 that are sadly no longer manufactured:

Click to enlarge: The use of magnet wire is not as clean looking, but it is far easier to work with.

Having such a diverse selection of keyboards to evaluate and having built keyboards from scratch, it gave us a great idea of what we wanted in our own Plugable brand keyboards. During our design phase, with so many new Cherry MX style mechanical switches saturating the market in 2016 from manufacturers such as Gateron, Greetech, ET9, Kailh, and many others, we evaluated a large variety to decide what switch we felt had the best combination of tactility and pleasing sound.

Gaote, a relatively well known switch manufacturer provided us with their Outemu Blue switch, a high quality clone of the now classic Cherry MX Blue clicky switch that can be found at the heart of our two new products. While these switches may not be for everyone, especially those in a quiet office environment, our blind testing showed these switches were favored over the other samples we had evaluated. Diving into the technical specifications, the Gaote PG150 Series Outemu Blue switches used in these two models provide a slightly more pronounced tactile “bump” and crisper audible click than original Cherry MX Blue switches and are rated for 50 million actuations and require 60±15 cN of force* with 4.0±0.2mm of keystroke travel.

*60 cN average (1 centinewton equals roughly 1.02 grams of force)

In addition to the switches and how they feel, we focused heavily on the ergonomic aspects of the keyboards. Inexpensive rubber dome switch keyboards often have a flat profile where all of the keys are the same height and shape, which is great for keeping a thin and low profile, but is not very comfortable to type on for long sessions. Our keyboards feature keycaps with an ergonomic sculpted OEM (standard) profile to provide a gentle sloped arc preventing hand fatigue and offer a more natural typing position. Flip out rear feet can elevate the keyboard about 1/2 inch for a more relaxed typing position and the feet also have rubber pads to prevent the keyboard from slipping.

By now you can tell that we’ve obsessed over nearly every detail. We hope that whether you are already a mechanical keyboard enthusiast looking for an additional keyboard, or curious about purchasing a mechanical keyboard for the first time that you will consider ours. As enthusiasts we feel that our new keyboards are a fantastic blend of features at a price where nearly anyone can afford try one out!

For even more information about the keyboards see their product pages, USB-MECH87BW and USB-MECH104BW and let us know what you think by commenting below!

Where to Buy

Plugable Compact 87-Key Mechanical Keyboard

MSRP $59.99

Plugable Full Size 104-Key Mechanical Keyboard

MSRP $69.99

The post Plugable’s New Mechanical Keyboards for Typing Enthusiasts and Gamers appeared first on Plugable.

Plugable’s Powerful New Speakers

2016-10-31T20:29:41Z

Flat Panel TV with Plugable Speakers

Bluetooth wireless technology has slowly taken over the audio world. You’re now far more likely to use your smartphone as a music source than any other device. This is great in theory, but unfortunately most Bluetooth speakers are small portable units that, while convenient, don’t put out the best quality audio. It’s not their fault, they fall victim to their size: audio simply can’t be miniaturized without losing quality and depth.

We aim to bring high quality audio to your home with the new Plugable Bluetooth 2-Channel Monitor Speakers. You can enjoy streaming your favorite music wirelessly using Bluetooth technology, or attach the speakers directly to any audio source via the speakers’ analog RCA or optical/TOSLINK inputs. We’ve even included 3.5mm to RCA and optical cables as well as a remote to help get things setup up and playing your favorite music immediately.

When using Bluetooth as a source, the speakers are capable of receiving audio compressed with the Qualcomm aptX codec, which allows CD-like quality music to be streamed over a Bluetooth connection. The speakers also include NFC technology which lets you pair the speakers and your phone by simply tapping the two devices together.

The speakers feature an audio crossover and Class D, 2-channel amplifier delivering up to 55W output power to the drivers. Each ported enclosure contains 2 high-quality drivers: one 4″ glass fiber cone woofer and one 1″ silk dome tweeter, together capable of faithfully reproducing a wide frequency range of 55Hz – 20Khz. The enclosure, cross-over, and amplifier maintain a nearly flat reproduction of audio frequencies across that spectrum.

If you’re tired of low quality music, give these a try and fill your room with exceptional audio. And for a limited time we’re providing Plugable fans a discount code to provide you Black Friday pricing in advance. Simply enter A8M8FLM6 during the Amazon.com checkout (USA only), and receive 20% off. But hurry, this code is only good through Friday, Nov 25th. The product page has “where to buy” links:
https://plugable.com/products/bt-box4s

Have any questions at all? We’re happy to help! Just comment below or email support@plugable.com. Thanks for going out of your way for Plugable products!

The post Plugable’s Powerful New Speakers appeared first on Plugable.

The New 2016 MacBook Pros & Plugable’s Thunderbolt 3 and USB-C Products [Updated]

2017-03-28T22:38:09Z

Everyone at Plugable has been excited to see the release of Apple’s new MacBook lineup, with the MacBook Pro making the leap to USB-C and Thunderbolt™ 3. All of the new 2016 MacBook Pros will offer between 2 and 4 Thunderbolt 3-enabled USB-C ports including support for host charging.

Our new 2016 MacBook Pro arrived Monday 10/31 at which point we dived into testing with our USB-C and Thunderbolt 3 products. We’ll continue to provide updates regarding compatibility in this post, on the relevant product pages on our site, and on our Amazon listings.

Feel free to comment below if you have any particular questions that are unclear from Apple’s announcement, and we’ll do our best to get answers.

Ongoing Compatibility Test Results as of 3/28/17

USB-C Docking Stations
USB-C Single Display Docking Station with Charging (UD-CA1): Some MacBook Pro owners are reporting video sync issues when outputting video and charging simultaneously through this dock, and we are disclaiming compatibility until issues are better understood. Please see product page at the above link for additional details. (If you’re an owner of the UD-CA1 and experiencing compatibility issues with your MBP, please contact support@plugable.com and we’ll be glad to help.)

USB-C Triple Display Docking Station with Charging (UD-ULTCDL): Some MacBook Pro owners are reporting video sync issues when outputting video and charging simultaneously through this dock, and we are disclaiming compatibility until issues are better understood. Please see product page at the above link for additional details.

Additionally, there are issues with macOS Sierra and DisplayLink functionality which might result in a sub-optimal user experience. Please read our blog post on the topic and contact us with any questions prior to purchase.

USB-C Alt Mode Display Adapters
USB-C to DisplayPort (USBC-DP): Compatible
USB-C to DVI (USBC-DVI): Compatible (note: macOS requires HDCP-compliant DVI monitor, even when not viewing copy-protected content)
USB-C to VGA (USBC-VGA): Compatible
USB-C to HDMI (USBC-HDMI): Compatible

USB-C Hubs and Accessories
USB-C Flash Card Reader (USBC-FLASH3): Compatible
USB-C Gigabit Ethernet Adapter (USBC-E1000): Compatible
USB-C 3 Port Hub (USBC-HUB3P): Not Compatible

USB-C Cables
USB-C to USB-A Adapter Cable (USBC-AF3): Compatible
USB-C to USB-C USB 3.1 Gen2 USB-IF Certified Cable (USBC-C100): Compatible
Thunderbolt 3 USB-C Cables (40Gb .5m; 20Gb 1m; 20Gb 2m): Compatible

Thunderbolt 3 Devices
TBT3-DP2X: Incompatible
TBT3-HDMI2X: Incompatible

The post The New 2016 MacBook Pros & Plugable’s Thunderbolt 3 and USB-C Products [Updated] appeared first on Plugable.

Hardware Update for Plugable UD-ULTCDL (Triple Display Docks) purchased before July 18, 2016

2016-10-25T23:01:30Z

We have some important updates, and are offering purchasers of our first few hundred units — many from the original Kickstarter campaign — a free update.

Plugable UD-ULTCDL Triple Display Docking Stations purchased between May 31, 2016 and July 18, 2016 are eligible for an updated replacement docking station, at no cost, under warranty. All units purchased after that date already have these updates.

Our first batch of docking stations shipped with an early firmware version from Texas Instruments on the dock’s USB-C controller and they also included a non e-marker (“passive”) USB-C to USB-C cable. The early TI firmware damaged some docks during USB-C Power Delivery negotiation. Newer TI firmware which is on all units shipping after July 18, 2016 resolves this issue. Also, the e-marker (“active”) cables help insure that the capabilities of the cable are not exceeded. The updated replacement docks will ship with the latest firmware from Texas Instruments, the ability to update to future firmware versions if needed, a circuit board update, and an e-marked (“active”) USB-C to USB-C cable.

To claim your replacement updated docking station, please email support@plugable.com

1) Your Amazon Order ID sent via email by Amazon when you ordered the UD-ULTCDL (will be a number like 123-1234567-1234567). We’ll confirm your unit is from the affected time-period.
2) Serial number located on the bottom of the docking station.
3) What make and model of host system(s) you’re using the dock with.
4) Preferred shipping address (including name)

Once the replacement dock arrives, we will then provide you with a prepaid US Postal Service return shipping label to send the original dock back to us.

Unfortunately at this time we cannot replace docks for Chromebook Pixel users, pending compatibility fixes for newer firmware. Chromebook users should contact us for further details.

Thank you to our original Kickstarter backers and early purchasers for making the Plugable UD-ULTCDL the most popular triple display docking station for USB-C! Let us know if we can answer any questions, we’re happy to help.

Bernie Thompson
Founder, Plugable Technologies

The post Hardware Update for Plugable UD-ULTCDL (Triple Display Docks) purchased before July 18, 2016 appeared first on Plugable.

Plugable suggests DisplayLink users wait on macOS Sierra Upgrade [Updated]

2018-03-30T23:47:18Z

Update 3/30/18: The post below relates primarily to macOS Sierra (10.12). Performance and stability on macOS High Sierra (10.13.3 and earlier only) with DisplayLink Mac driver version 4.1 is much improved.

For additional details please see the following post: macOS 10.13 High Sierra Significantly Improves DisplayLink Performance & Stability

Please note: High Sierra (10.13) is not compatible with previous DisplayLink Mac driver versions (3.x and 2.x). Please remove any previous DisplayLink driver versions via the DisplayLink uninstaller in your Applications folder prior to installing version 4.0.

DisplayLink Mac Driver Version 4.0

On September 20, 2016, Apple released a new operating system, macOS Sierra (10.12), and as with all other operating system upgrades while there can be exciting new features, there is also the potential for new issues with existing hardware and software.

Update 3/29/17: With the release of Sierra 10.12.4, behavior continues to improve; the blank internal screen at logon bug appears to be fixed or minimized.

The remaining issues being tracked by DisplayLink are (with Apple’s Bug ID noted where applicable):

Corrupted window title bar and widgets. To work around, select System Preferences -> Accessibility -> Display -> Reduce transparency (27244226)
Screen corruption in Finder when “Displays have separate Spaces” is disabled in the Mission Control system preference. (29825934)
The window server can crash logging our the user when minimizing applications, for example iTunes (23182216)
A few applications can show corruption and/or missing contents while updating windows contents. Examples are Maps, iBooks and the Dock (15319693, 19090583)
Corruption around window borders for Carbon applications, for example Microsoft Office 2011 (18552488)
Black menu bar on DisplayLink screens while mirroring (17703682)
Apple menu icon misplaced on DisplayLink screens

DisplayLink is still requesting that users file bug reports with Apple to aid in prioritizing these issues. We’re continuing to track the remaining issues and hope Apple chooses to resolve them quickly.

If you’re a Plugable user experiencing issues with Sierra and wish to be contacted when we have additional information, please send an email to support@plugable.com and we’ll be glad to provide updates as things develop.

Update 12/22/16: With the final release of Sierra 10.12.2, two key fixes from the Beta releases have now carried over to full release: Mission Control and other full-screen transitions should no longer trigger a Window Server crash/spontaneous log-out, and windows should no longer appear black when moved to a DisplayLink-attached display.

Update 11/21/16: The second Beta of 10.12.2 (build 16C41b) improves behavior even further and appears to fix two key outstanding bugs: Mission Control no longer crashes when DisplayLink is present, and the temporary corruption of window contents (“black window”) on DisplayLink-attached displays is significantly reduced.

Update 11/11/16: The first Beta of macOS 10.12.2 appears to offer improved behavior. Early results indicate spontaneous logouts during full-screen transitions have been eliminated or drastically reduced. We are hopeful this improved behavior will persist as new Beta versions are released in the coming weeks. The key remaining issue observed in 10.12.2 Beta 1 is some windows turn black when dragged to a DisplayLink-attached displays. Clicking or interacting with the window or application generally resolves the behavior.

Update 10/26/16: The final release of 10.12.1 appears to have fixed many of the performance-related regressions and graphical glitches found in earlier versions of Sierra. Issues are still present, however, involving full-screen transitions used by various applications such as Mission Control, Itunes, hot corners, and others.

~~Update 10/21/16: After Beta 2, things regressed again. In Beta 5, there are reports of DisplayLink displays not working at all. See DisplayLink’s Mac Forum for more details.~~

Update 9/30/16: Apple’s pre-release update to Sierra (“10.12.1 Beta 2”) improves many of the problematic Sierra behavior outlined below. Please see Workarounds at the bottom of the page for instructions on how to enroll in Apple’s Beta Software Program.

Background

With regard to Plugable’s DisplayLink-based USB video adapters and docking stations there’s been a long history of Mac OS upgrades starting with OS X 10.9 causing undesirable behavior, and we have written extensively about these issues over the years:
Multiple Monitor Issues with OS X 10.9/Mavericks
Plugable products on 10.10/Yosemite
Notes on DisplayLink’s previous Mac beta driver

Due to these issues, from OS X 10.9 onward we actually stopped recommending our DisplayLink-based products on Mac for most users. (Though with a few very specific exceptions for certain products such as the UD-ULTCDL Triple Display Docking Station where the lower performance of the second and third displays is less impactful given the uncompromised native-GPU performance of the primary/Alt Mode HDMI output.)

Even still, many Mac users felt the benefits of multiple monitors outweighed the various issues related to USB graphics on OS X, and subsequent DisplayLink driver updates had resolved most of the key outstanding bugs while continuing to improve performance. All told, the state of DisplayLink on Mac had improved dramatically over the past year.

Sierra Regressions

With the latest macOS Sierra (10.12) and the accompanying Sierra-compatible release of DisplayLink’s driver version 3.0 for Mac we are sad to say that the trend of new macOS versions posing challenges for DisplayLink users continues unabated, and unfortunately there appear to be significant regressions as many bugs previously fixed by DisplayLink have returned.

DisplayLink has detailed release notes with the current known issues and limitations and have also provided a knowledgebase article with more information here. Some of the most significant known issues documented by DisplayLink:

Incomplete rendering of window contents in some applications, for example Safari and App Store

~~Black contents in applications windows when moved to a DisplayLink screen~~

~~Blank internal screen at login with password when USB screens are connected~~

Graphical corruption and/or missing windows contents in some applications and window borders

~~The window server can crash logging our the user when minimizing applications, for example iTunes or Mission Control~~

DisplayLink has stated that in order to help improve things bringing these issues to Apple’s attention is required and is actively encouraging any users affected by these issues to open bug reports with Apple (details are in the knowledge-base article above) so Apple can appropriately prioritize the resolution of these issues.

Until such time as the above key issues can be addressed, we suggest Plugable customers using DisplayLink-based products to not upgrade to macOS Sierra at this time if possible. Please feel free to comment below or email us at support@plugable.com with any additional questions or feedback.

Workarounds

Option 1, rolling back to 10.11: For those who have already installed Sierra and wish to roll-back to El Capitan, imore has published a guide covering the (unfortunately somewhat lengthy and complex) process.

To work around corrupted window title bar and widgets: select System Preferences -> Accessibility -> Display -> Reduce transparency.

To work around screen corruption in Finder: Enable “Displays have separate Spaces” in the Mission Control system preference.

The post Plugable suggests DisplayLink users wait on macOS Sierra Upgrade [Updated] appeared first on Plugable.