General use for USB-C docking bar

[lsitongia]

I've been trying to figure out how much I can use the docking bar which came with the Mobian CE Convergence edition. It worked under Mobian (I think) and pmOS (pretty sure - I'm spinning through distros to find what works). Doesn't work under Manjaro Plasma beta2.

I'm trying it out on my Manjaro Plasma laptop. syslog shows the components being recognized in it. Mostly works, but there's some oddities, like when I plug in the HDMI the ethernet shuts down. Is that something intentional in Manjaro Plasma? For example, I see when a second display is connected, Notification automatically switches to the do-not-disturb setting. Maybe it's shutting off the ethernet for some similar assumption about how it's being used?

It doesn't work very well at all on Windows 10 (same laptop - dual boot). Does it need a driver?

Is this docking bar a known device that has been labeled by Pine64? Does someone have the model of it so that I can search for drivers?

I also have a little GPD Pocket 1 mini-laptop. Docking bar doesn't work under Windows 10. I booted Manjaro Plasma on it and the docking bar doesn't work there.

In all cases, I power the docking bar with the power supply suitable to that computer.

Thanks for your insights.

[zimano]

Here is what my /var/log/messages shows when I plug it in on Debian:

[257326.913062] cdc_ether 5-1.1.2.4.2:2.0 enx00000000119e: unregister 'cdc_ether' usb-0000:2d:00.3-1.1.2.4.2, CDC Ethernet Device
[257338.497532] usb 5-1.1.2.4: new high-speed USB device number 14 using xhci_hcd
[257338.698598] usb 5-1.1.2.4: New USB device found, idVendor=1a40, idProduct=0101, bcdDevice= 1.00
[257338.698600] usb 5-1.1.2.4: New USB device strings: Mfr=0, Product=1, SerialNumber=0
[257338.698601] usb 5-1.1.2.4: Product: USB2.0 HUB
[257338.752165] hub 5-1.1.2.4:1.0: USB hub found
[257338.752352] hub 5-1.1.2.4:1.0: 4 ports detected
[257339.137525] usb 5-1.1.2.4.1: new full-speed USB device number 15 using xhci_hcd
[257339.349118] usb 5-1.1.2.4.1: New USB device found, idVendor=0639, idProduct=7210, bcdDevice=68.4d
[257339.349120] usb 5-1.1.2.4.1: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=4, SerialNumber=2
[257339.349121] usb 5-1.1.2.4.1: Product: Billboard
[257339.349122] usb 5-1.1.2.4.1: Manufacturer: Chrontel
[257339.349122] usb 5-1.1.2.4.1: SerialNumber: CH7210
[257341.833522] usb 5-1.1.2.4.2: new high-speed USB device number 16 using xhci_hcd
[257342.036263] usb 5-1.1.2.4.2: New USB device found, idVendor=0fe6, idProduct=9900, bcdDevice=20.00
[257342.036265] usb 5-1.1.2.4.2: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=3
[257342.036266] usb 5-1.1.2.4.2: Product: 10/100M LAN
[257342.036266] usb 5-1.1.2.4.2: Manufacturer: CoreChips
[257342.036267] usb 5-1.1.2.4.2: SerialNumber: 00000000119E
[257342.081302] cdc_ether 5-1.1.2.4.2:2.0 eth0: register 'cdc_ether' at usb-0000:2d:00.3-1.1.2.4.2, CDC Ethernet Device, 00:00:00:00:11:9e


Sorry if this is equivalent to saying that water is wet