You can attach up to 4 additional displays on any Intel Mac OS X system with DisplayLink-based USB virtual graphics adapters. Whenever images are redrawn, the CPU is heavily involved, so it may not be as snappy as your main monitor — but it’s the easiest way to build an amazing, plug and play multiple monitor setup on the Mac.
If you’ve never installed DisplayLink’s Mac drivers, here’s a walk-through of the steps (using OS X 10.6.7 and DisplayLink’s v1.6 Mac driver):
Navigate to your Downloads folder and double-click on the DisplayLink driver download. The disk image of the driver will mount, and automatically open the DisplayLink Installer main landing page. Double-click on the ‘DisplayLink Software Installer.pkg’ file. The Install DisplayLink Driver page will open. Click ‘Continue’ 6. 2 Click the icon for your operating system: Microsoft Windows or Mac OS X. 3 Under Latest DisplayLink Software Releases, click the link for the latest driver that is compatible with your operating system. 4 On the software license agreement page, click Accept. The driver file downloads. 5 Open the downloaded.EXE (Windows) or.DMG (Mac OSX). How to configure DisplayLink displays on Mac OS X. When attaching a display that the software has not seen before, the display will default to being extended to the right of the main display. To configure the settings for each of your USB attached displays, select ‘Displays’ from the ‘System Preferences’ menu. 3rd party USB graphics solutions are not compatible with DisplayLink software. It is not possible to use USB graphics from different vendors with DisplayLink software and devices. This problem can occur if 3rd party USB graphics drivers are installed, before installing DisplayLink software. Mac OS X DisplayLink software can be downloaded and installed from the DisplayLink website following the steps below. Select the 'DisplayLink Software Installer' to begin installation of the DisplayLink driver on your Mac. This will run a standard Mac installer. DisplayLink USB Graphics Software for Mac OS X (2.5.1) The terms of the software license agreement included with any software you download will control your use of the software. Please read and accept the following Software License Agreement: DISPLAYLINK SOFTWARE – END USER LICENSE AGREEMENT. DisplayLink macOS Software. From this page you can download a driver for your DisplayLink® enabled USB graphics device that is incorporated in your dock, adapter or monitor. This software provides support for the DisplayLink enabled video outputs. The audio and Ethernet support is provided by native macOS drivers from OS version 10.11.
1. Fire up Safari, go to this page to download the Mac driver : http://www.displaylink.com/support/mac_downloads.php
You’ll want to download the latest driver, because DisplayLink’s Mac drivers are still improving, and because new Apple OS updates often require updated drivers from 3rd parties.
2. Once there, make sure you tick the ‘I agree to the terms of the DisplayLink End User License Agreement (EULA)’ and then click on ‘Download Driver’.
3. Safari will instantly start downloading the driver and automatically mount it on your desktop. Once the download is done you should see a ‘DisplayLink installer’ icon on your desktop. Double click on the ‘DisplayLink Installer’ on your Desktop.
4. The ‘DisplayLink Installer’ will pop up. Double click on ‘DisplayLink Software Installer.pkg’
5. You may get a warning: “This package will run a program to determine if the software can be installed”. Click ‘Continue’.
6. On the ‘Install DisplayLink Software’ window click ‘Continue’ to proceed.
7. The ‘Software License Agreement’ will be presented. Proceed by clicking ‘Continue’ again.
8. Click ‘Agree’ to agree with the software license agreement.
9. You’ll get the ‘Select a Destination’ screen. Click on the disk where you want to install the DisplayLink Software, and click ‘Continue’ to proceed.
10. Install to the standard location – just click ‘Install’.
11. You should get a pop up for your password to alow the installer to make changes. Type in your password and click ‘OK’.
12. You’ll get a warning that the computer will need to restart. This is normal, click ‘Continue Installation’.
13. The installation will finish. You should get a message that ‘The installation was successful’. Click ‘Restart’ to finish installing.
14. When the computer finishes restarting, log in and plug in the USB-VGA-165. As soon as you plug it in, the secondary monitor should be autodetected and ready for use.
15. To further configure your monitors, do the following: Click on ‘System Preferences’->
Under ‘Hardware’ click on ‘Displays’
Click on ‘Arrangement’ to re-arrange your displays.
Finally to change your primary monitor, all you have to do is go to ‘Arrangement’. Click on the white bar and drag it to the other screen. As soon as you release the mouse the primary monitor will change.
Notes:
DisplayLink’s virtual USB graphics don’t support OpenGL or Quartz Extreme, so apps that do high-end 3D or video should stay on your main monitor.
DisplayLink adapters can support VGA, DVI, and HDMI as outputs (below is a high end one that supports all three, and a less expensive one that’s VGA only). They don’t support DisplayPort or any of the earlier Apple proprietary connectors, so watch out with Apple Cinema displays.
