USB hubs & port adapters

hi folks!

im looking for adapters/hubs for the pocket reform; id need a way to be able to connect full size hdmi and ethernet cables as well as to have additional usb ports for peripherals.

i see many options for micro hdmi adapters and usb hubs.
as for industrial ethernet adapters i dont see many, other than the one in the mnt shop.

one solution could be a multiport usb c hub, possibly with both hdmi and ethernet, and preferably usb pd passthrough.

im not sure what to expect on the pocket reform tho as my linux experience is limited to x64 systems and simple old usb hubs.

does anyone have any advice on this please?
be it actual experience with a given device or just theories on what is likely or unlikely to work.

thank you in advance!

I think it will strong depend on which CPU module you have, and what the various ports (and kernel modules) support.

What I mean: I have an SBC with an RK3588 processor. The board is capable of doing dp alt mode on it’s USB C port (ie, video out). The board is supported by Armbian, So, I can use a stock off the shelf USB C hub with ethernet and full sized HDMI on it just fine, using what Armbian calls the “vendor kernel”.

Using a “mainline upstream kernel” (ie, a kernel built off the linux mainline) the rk3588 USB C DP alt mode is not yet supported. So while that hub would still work, the full sized HDMI port on it won’t work.

I don’t have my pocket reform yet, so I can’t say anything more definitive, I’m afraid!

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I have used a slim Anker PD hub without any issues but have not tested video out. But charging while using it as a hub works fine.

I have two Anker usb-c hubs, and with the standard iMx… cpu, there is no passthrough for the video. Ethernet, USB, SD card, and power all work great though.

thank you everyone for your answers.

i ended up getting a uni 8-in-1 pro usb-c hub and can confirm that:

  • power delivery pass-through works
  • usb-a ports work
  • ethernet works, altho it often didnt by simply plugging things together, but restarting network manager seemed to resolve that
  • hdmi doesnt work (as expected, and i havent done anything to try to resolve that either)

oh also, for the record, i have an rk3588 pocket.

kind regards!

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