USB3.1 type-c passthrough to VM - advice before i buy

[Aran]

Goal: Linux VM with single docking hub over usb-c 3.1 gen2 to hook up:

• mouse
• keyboard
• full HD (no 4K) monitor
• speakers (single jack)
• card reader

 

Motherboard: asrock Z170A-X1/3.

 

I know:

1. the differences between usb 3.0, 3.1 gen1 (5gb/s), 3.1 gen2 (10gb/s), thunderbold 3.
2. my motherboard does indeed have a true usb3.1 type-c gen2 chip with 10g/s speed. (NOT thunderbolt 3)
3. i can pass through the asmedia 'asm1142' usb3.1 chip to the linux VM. USB storage works, detects sticks/drives.
4. that the usb3.1 chip or motherboard or bios or OS or dock or cable or all of them must support 'ALT MODE' in order to carry video and sound signal and not just data.

 

 

Questions before i buy:

 

1. ALT MODE: I cannot find any indication the 'alternate mode' is supported by the motherboard or bios. In fact, i still don't know where to look. Is this a motherboard, chip, bios, OS, dock or cable option? Or is this part of the 'GEN2' standard functions? If i cannot get this figured out then all of the other questions don't matter.
2. GPU PASSTHROUGH: i assume i have to pass through a gpu as well?
3. CABLE: i can't seem to find a 10m usb-c gen2 cable. Also, almost all dock's or hub's have a fixed cable attached to the dock so i will need an extension (male-female) rather then just a long cable (male-male).
4. OTHER: Are there other things i must look into?

 

What i need:

 

1. DOCK: currently i have my eye on this Juiced ChockDOCK v2.
2. CABLE: haven't looked into it yet.

 

The initial idea was to upgrade to 10gb network between the server and pc so i could have faster transfer speeds. But then i realized that i still have plenty of resources (cpu/ram/ssd) left to setup a VM and use it as a replacement for our home-pc. This way i dont have to worry about transfer speeds.

 

Anyone who thinks this might work?

 

 

 

 

 

[untraceablez]

On 8/2/2020 at 8:44 AM, Aran said:

Questions before i buy:

 

1. ALT MODE: I cannot find any indication the 'alternate mode' is supported by the motherboard or bios. In fact, i still don't know where to look. Is this a motherboard, chip, bios, OS, dock or cable option? Or is this part of the 'GEN2' standard functions? If i cannot get this figured out then all of the other questions don't matter.
2. GPU PASSTHROUGH: i assume i have to pass through a gpu as well?
3. CABLE: i can't seem to find a 10m usb-c gen2 cable. Also, almost all dock's or hub's have a fixed cable attached to the dock so i will need an extension (male-female) rather then just a long cable (male-male).
4. OTHER: Are there other things i must look into.

I'll suggest answers in order.

 

1) ALT MODE will almost certainly be in the manual for your motherboard, and is probably flipped on deep in BIOS. Regarding the other devices, you'll most likely need to edit the XML of the VM itself,  I don't know what XML changes you'd need, but I'm sure others would have an idea or two. With the devices, I'd honestly just check with the manufacturer(s) of both your preferred dock and cable in regards to their support. 

 

2) GPU passthrough doesn't hurt, but I'd also research GPU support for the distro you're using. I wouldn't say it's strictly necessary for a 1080p VM but again, extra horsepower isn't detrimental. 

 

3) Didn't see any cables of that length, but a good Newegg search came up with this extension cable that fits your needs, if you can find a smaller (1-2m) cable you'll be in business, and have some slack to play with. 

 

4a) I think I covered it above in #2, but I'd research GPU support on your particular distro before buying a GPU.

 

4b) In general, get prepared for a lot of tinkering as historically more 'bleeding-edge' hardware such as USB 3.1 Gen2 is harder to get going with Linux than it is on a standard Windows/macOS machine, let alone in a VM running on top of another Linux hypervisor, in this case, UNRAID. You may even need to find/create driver patches yourself if your distro is having a particularly hard time with interacting with your hardware.

 

4c) If you don't already have it installed, make sure to have both VFIO-PC CONFIG and the Unassigned Devices Plus plugins installed. NerdTools also doesn't hurt to get more advanced readouts from UNRAID's native console. All of the plugins are available in Community Applications.

 

I know my answer wasn't exactly a step-by-step guide but I hope it was somewhat helpful.

 

 

Edited August 3, 2020 by untraceablez
Separation of points, clarifying my answer to #4 in particular.

[Aran]

Hi there and thank you for taking the time answering my questions.

 

22 hours ago, untraceablez said:

1) ALT MODE will almost certainly be in the manual for your motherboard, and is probably flipped on deep in BIOS. Regarding the other devices, you'll most likely need to edit the XML of the VM itself,  I don't know what XML changes you'd need, but I'm sure others would have an idea or two. With the devices, I'd honestly just check with the manufacturer(s) of both your preferred dock and cable in regards to their support.

Well, i have the manual on paper that came with the box and there is definitely nothing mentioned about alt mode. The downloaded version is the same with minor changes but nothing about alt mode either. Asrock could be using another another commercial name for it in the bios. I haven't rebooted my server yet to find out but the manual covers all the bios menu's. I emailed to asrock support hoping for an answer.

 

22 hours ago, untraceablez said:

2) GPU passthrough doesn't hurt, but I'd also research GPU support for the distro you're using. I wouldn't say it's strictly necessary for a 1080p VM but again, extra horsepower isn't detrimental.

A VM with Pop OS! distro is up and running. It runs fine without any problems. I'm going to passthrough the iGPU today. I have plenty of other gpu's (green and red) to try if the iGPU doesn't work. But i don't expect much problems here.

 

UPDATE: iGPU didn't work but i got a nVidia GT610 in the primary pci-e slot that worked from the first time booting the vm.

 

22 hours ago, untraceablez said:

3) Didn't see any cables of that length, but a good Newegg search came up with this extension cable that fits your needs, if you can find a smaller (1-2m) cable you'll be in business, and have some slack to play with.

Thank you. I appreciate your effort but Amazon, Newegg, e-Bay, etc... are not an option as i am from Belgium . Therefore this is something i have to find out for myself.

 

22 hours ago, untraceablez said:

4b) In general, get prepared for a lot of tinkering as historically more 'bleeding-edge' hardware such as USB 3.1 Gen2 is harder to get going with Linux than it is on a standard Windows/macOS machine, let alone in a VM running on top of another Linux hypervisor, in this case, UNRAID. You may even need to find/create driver patches yourself if your distro is having a particularly hard time with interacting with your hardware.

I do expect some problems and don't think this will work 'out of the box' but that's why i do it. This is how i learn to know unraid. I've purchased an unraid license only to play with

 

22 hours ago, untraceablez said:

I know my answer wasn't exactly a step-by-step guide but I hope it was somewhat helpful.

I don't think there is a step-by-step guide (yet) for this.

 

I will update this post when i made some progress (or not).

Edited August 4, 2020 by Aran

[Aran]

UPDATE: this is not going to work. The usb3.1 gen2 chip on the motherboard from asmedia does not support DP port or HDMI alt mode so ineed to find another way.

Another option is to buy a Thunderbolt 3 add in card but this too is not just plug and play. The motherboard must have a TB3 header of some sort??

 

I found 2 add in cards for pci-e x1 slot that support DP alt mode. 

 

• Delock 89582
• Sunix UPD2018

 

This is a valid option. Now i just have to find a long cable but this seems very difficult in europe.

Edited August 8, 2020 by Aran