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|
LCDproc User's Guide
The Ultimate Guide to LCDproc 0.4.3
Rene Wagner
reenoo@gmx.de
Copyright 2002 by Rene Wagner
Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under
the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.1 or any later
version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no Invariant
Sections, with no Front-Cover texts, and with no Back-Cover Texts. A copy
of the license is included in the section entitled "GNU Free Documentation
License".
0.0.1
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Table of Contents
Introduction
About this Document
What is LCDproc?
The LCDproc Server - LCDd
The LCDproc "Main" Client - lcdproc
Other LCDproc Clients
How to Obtain LCDproc
Versioning
Download Last Day's CVS Version of LCDproc as a Tarball
Download The Latest Version of LCDproc from CVS
apt-get
Installation
Build LCDproc
Install LCDproc Directly From The Sources
Generate And Install Packages of LCDproc
LCDproc Configuration
Configure LCDd
LCDd.conf: The [server] Section
LCDd.conf: The Drivers Section
The LCDproc Init Scripts
init-LCDd
init-lcdproc
LCDproc Drivers
The HD44780 Driver
Connections
Compiling
Running
Miscellania
The Matrix Orbital Driver (MtxOrb)
Matrix Orbital LCD Modules
Matrix Orbital Hardware Installation
Copyright
Running LCDproc
Running LCDd
Running LCDd from the command line
The Command Line Options of LCDd
Running lcdproc
The Command Line Options of lcdproc
Contact Us
Errata
The LCDproc Mailing List
Reporting Bugs
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Introduction
About this Document
This document was meant as a tutorial for LCDproc users. It tries to
introduce you into the world of LCDproc giving you an overview of the
project. After reading this document you will be able to set up your own
LCDproc'ed system.
Note Please note that this document is still "under construction". We hope
to finish it until the final release of LCDproc, which will probably
take place in May or June 2002. If you run into any trouble feel free
to write to the LCDproc mailing list. See http://
lcdproc.omnipotent.net/mail.php3 for details on how to subscribe to
the list.
This document was written for LCDproc 0.4.3. At the time of writing there
had already been the "LCDproc User's Guide" written by William W. Ferrel in
1998. William's stuff is copyright 1998, William W. Ferrel. His version
covered an early version of LCDproc and therefore concentrated on Matrix
Orbital displays.
William's document was "recycled" for the description of the Matrix Orbital
display driver and for other parts of this document.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
What is LCDproc?
LCDproc is a client/server suite including drivers for all kinds of nifty
LCD displays.
The server 'LCDd' makes it possible to display text and other data on an
LCD display. As well LCDd can handle certain input devices.
Support for devices is added by drivers. We distinguish between output and
input drivers. LCDd currently supports only one single output driver, which
may at the same time handle input. Nevertheless several input (only)
drivers are supported.
Currently there are drivers for several serial devices: Matrix Orbital,
Crystal Fontz, Bayrad, LB216, LCDM001 (kernelconcepts.de), Wirz-SLI and
PIC-an-LCD; and some devices connected to the LPT port: HD44780, STV5730,
T6963, SED1520 and SED1330. There are input (only) drivers for LIRC and
joysticks.
Clients can connect to LCDd through common sockets.
Various clients are available. The "main" client lcdproc, which is shipped
with the LCDproc distribution, can display things like CPU load, system
load, memory usage, uptime, and a lot more.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
The LCDproc Server - LCDd
LCDd is one of those well known *NIX daemons. BUT it's not just *one*
daemon. It's the one that is supposed to drive your LCD ;)
LCDd can either be run from the command line or automatically by the init
scripts shipped with the distribution.
As other daemons, LCDd has to be configured. In this respect a lot has
changed since LCDproc 0.4.1. While LCDd retrieved all its configuration
settings from the command line in 0.4.1, it now has a configuration file,
which is normally /etc/LCDd.conf.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
The LCDproc "Main" Client - lcdproc
While LCDd only offer the functionality of displaying text on a display,
lcdproc actually retrieves data worth displaying.
lcdproc gets its information from the /proc filesystem.
lcdproc can connect to an LCDproc server either on the local system or on a
remote system as long as it is reachable. It extracts the same statistics
regardless of where it sends this information. The statistics it gathers
include CPU utilization, memory utilization, disk utilization, network
utilization, system uptime, time, and date, and so on. It displays this
information in assorted ways, and can be tailored to taste.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Other LCDproc Clients
As it is rather simple to write an LCDproc client, you can find various
clients on the Internet.
Unfortunately we cannot provide a list of LCDproc clients (yet). So, have
fun searching google or freshmeat. Simply type 'lcdproc' for the keyword.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
How to Obtain LCDproc
Versioning
At the time of writing there were four versions of LCDproc floating around
on the Internet.
LCDproc 0.4.1
LCDproc 0.4.1 was the last "stable" release of LCDproc. It still uses
the old command line configuration.
Warning There are known security problems with LCDproc 0.4.1. A remote
exploit is possible. An attacker can make use of some
buffer-overflows in the client communication code of LCDd, in
order to get root access to your system. Therefore running
LCDproc 0.4.1 is NOT RECOMMENDED!
LCDproc 0.4.2
LCDproc 0.4.2 was meant to be the next stable release of LCDproc. As
0.4.1 it uses the old command line configuration.
Note The known issues about 0.4.1 had been fixed. Unfortunately the guy
who had the last pending patches on his box kind of "vanished"
from the LCDproc mailing list. Of course you can get 0.4.2 from
CVS. BUT its current state is unknown.
LCDproc 0.4.3
LCDproc 0.4.3 will definitely be the next stable release of LCDproc. It
no longer uses the old command line configuration, but introduces the
configuration file /etc/LCDd.conf. As well the driver API has slightly
changed, which should not make older drivers incompatible, but might
cause some trouble. As well the way LCDd reports messages (including
error messages) has changed.
Note Even though LCDproc 0.4.3 is the most stable version we can offer,
it is still under developement. There has been a "feature freeze"
long time ago, but from time to time bugs are reported on the
mailing list, which are of course fixed. We also work on porting
drivers from 0.4.1 to 0.4.3 on demand. We do not have all the
hardware LCDd supports. So, we only work on drivers that can be
tested by YOU.
LCDproc 0.5
LCDproc 0.5 is the developement version of LCDproc. Everything is
possible ;) Drivers can already be loaded at runtime. We will also work
on client supplied menus and other nifty stuff.
Warning From time to time LCDproc 0.5 might not even compile due to
drastic changes. You have been warned!
Furthermore older drivers will NOT work with LCDproc 0.5 AT
ALL! Feel free to port a driver that has not been ported to 0.5
yet ;)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Download Last Day's CVS Version of LCDproc as a Tarball
There are nightly distributions of the CVS branches of LCDproc. You can
download them from http://lcdproc.sourceforge.net/nightly/
To extract the files run either
$ tar xvfz lcdproc-CVS-*.tar.gz
or
$ bunzip2 -c lcdproc-CVS-*.tar.bz2 | tar xv
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Download The Latest Version of LCDproc from CVS
Of course you can download the latest stuff from CVS via anonymous login.
Create a "cvs" directory somewhere on your machine (not really neccessary
but useful):
$ mkdir ~/cvs
$ cd ~/cvs
Login to CVS:
$ cvs -d:pserver:anonymous@cvs.lcdproc.sourceforge.net:/cvsroot/lcdproc login
(Hit enter when prompted for a password.)
Get the files from CVS:
$ cvs -d:pserver:anonymous@cvs.lcdproc.sourceforge.net:/cvsroot/lcdproc checkout -r stable-0-4-3 lcdproc
Once you've done that and want to update the downloaded files to the latest
stuff you can use the "update" command of CVS (Make sure you have logged in
to CVS first.):
$ cvs -d:pserver:anonymous@cvs.lcdproc.sourceforge.net:/cvsroot/lcdproc update -r stable-0-4-3 lcdproc
Now that you have downloaded the files you can prepare them for compiling,
but first you should (you don't have to) copy them to another place on your
machine:
$ mkdir ~/lcdproc-cvs
$ cp -f -R ~/cvs/lcdproc ~/lcdproc-cvs/`date +%Y%m%d`
$ cd ~/lcdproc-cvs/`date +%Y%m%d`
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
apt-get
Debian GNU/Linux users can get the debian package of LCDproc, which is in
the unstable and testing distributions.
Provided apt-get is configured properly. You should be able to install the
package running:
$ su
Password: top secret
# apt-get install lcdproc
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Installation
Build LCDproc
Now that you have downloaded the LCDproc distribution you can start
building it.
Note If you have installed the debian package with apt-get (or another
debian tool), you can skip this this chapter.
If you're building this version from CVS, you'll need autoconf, automake,
aclocal & autoheader installed.
If you have autoconf and friends, run:
$ sh autogen.sh
This produces the configure script and supporting files. It has allready
been run if you using the tarball distribution.
Once the above command has run, the rest is pretty standard:
$ ./configure --help
Read about the options, figure out what to use.
$ ./configure --prefix=/usr/local --enable-drivers=ncurses,cfontz
Be sure to replace /usr/local with the prefixdir you want (e.g. /usr for
RedHat) and ncurses,cfontz with comma-separated list of drivers you want.
$ make
Congratulations: You have just compiled your version of LCDproc ;)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Install LCDproc Directly From The Sources
If you want to install LCDproc more or less permanently you can run:
$ su
Password: top secret
# make install
Note make install is absolutely OPTIONAL You can also run LCDproc directly
from the source directory. See below for details.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Generate And Install Packages of LCDproc
As an alternative (which is actually better ;) to installing directly from
the sources you can generate packages using the packaging tool EPM.
First of all you may need to download EPM from http://www.easysw.com/epm/
and install it according to the instructions that are included in its
source distribution.
Note There are of course other and maybe better ways to generate packages
for your system. The reason for us to choose EPM was that it provide
the developers with a tool that makes it possible to write one list
file for all platforms defining what the resulting package is meant to
look like. This way we do not have to learn all the package managing
tools of the different platforms that are supported by LCDproc.
To generate an LCDproc package follow these instructions:
Tip It is of certain importance that you have run ./configure with the
correct pathname settings for your system. Otherwise the resulting
package will install the files in the wrong directories.
$ epm -v -f native LCDproc
Note Generating an RPM package as a non-root user will fail, RPM wants to
generate the files from the tree under /usr/src/RPM, which you do not
have write access to as a non-root user. If you want to generate the
package as a non-root user anyway, you may want to follow these
instructions.
A workaround for the described problem is creating a file named ~
/.rpmmacros which contains:
%_topdir ~/rpm
Important ~/rpm must contain the same tree usually found under /usr/src/RPM
Unfortunately epm does not read ~/.rpmmacros and of course returns
warnings. Don't worry! That's OK ;)
In order to actually install the generated package follow the instructions
in your system's manual.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
LCDproc Configuration
Configure LCDd
As mentioned in the introduction LCDd, the LCDproc server, now (with
version 0.4.3 of LCDproc) has its own configuration file, which is normally
/etc/LCDd.conf.
Note If you have not installed LCDproc from the sources the configuration
file might have a different location. You should find it when making
your system's package manager list all the files in the LCDproc
package.
The format of the /etc/LCDd.conf is ini-file-like.
It is divided into sections that start at markers that look like [section].
Comments are all line-based comments, and are lines that start with '#' or
';'.
The server has a 'central' section named [server]. Further each driver has
a section which defines how the driver acts. Those sections start with
[drivername].
The drivers are activated by specifiying them in a driver= line in the
server section, like:
Example 1. LCDd.conf: Specify which driver to use
Driver=curses
This tells LCDd to use the curses driver. The first driver specified here
must be 'the' output driver. Currently LCDd will exit when several output
drivers have been specified here. All extra drivers can only serve as
input. The default driver to use is curses.
Warning If LCDd is started automatically by an init-script using the curses
drivers will lock /dev/tty1! So, be careful about what you are
doing here.
The drivers can read their own options from the config file, but most of
them don't do this yet. They expect 'command-line'-format parameters that
were previously placed on the command line. These parameters can be given
to the driver in the following way:
Example 2. LCDd.conf: Compatibility mode for drivers written for 0.4.1
Arguments="place arguments here"
The arguments between the quotes are passed to the driver. As said before
these are the same arguments that the driver would have been passed under
the old command line format of
LCDd -d driver "driverargs"
Note The -d option still works, but does not allow driverargs any more.
If -d is specified on the command line, the Driver= options in the
config file are ignored.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
LCDd.conf: The [server] Section
The [server] section of the LCDd.conf contains the settings for the LCDproc
server LCDd.
Driver=
Tells the server which driver(s) to use. See above for details
Note The default setting is Driver=none which makes the server exit
right after the start. This is neccessary to avoid trouble with
package installations.
Bind=
Tells the server to bind to the given interface. Default to Bind=
127.0.0.1 which is actually the safest variant.
Port=
Tells the server to listen to this specified port; defaults to 13666.
ReportLevel=
Sets the reporting level; defaults to 2 (warnings and errors only).
ReportToSyslog=
Should we report to syslog instead of stderr ? Defaults to no.
WaitTime=
Sets the default time in seconds to display a screen.
User=
User to run as. LCDd will drop its root privileges, if any, and run as
this user instead. Defaults to User=nobody.
Note If you want to use the server menu, to shutdown or reboot your
system, you will have to set this to root. Otherwise LCDd does not
have the privileges to run commands like init 6.
ServerScreen=
Enables the server screen even when other screens are active. Defaults
to no.
Foreground=
The server will stay in the foreground if set to true. Otherwise the
server will fork to background and report to syslog. Defaults to yes.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
LCDd.conf: The Drivers Section
As mentioned earlier, each driver has its own section in the LCDd.conf.
The settings are more or less self-explanatory. So, read through the
section of your driver and change everything neccessary.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
The LCDproc Init Scripts
The LCDproc distribution contains init scripts for RedHat- and Debian-based
GNU/Linux distributions. You can find them in the docs/ directory of the
LCDproc sources.
Note The init scripts are generated using autoconf. So, again it is
important that you have run ./configure with the correct options for
your system.
Refer to your system's manual on how to install the scripts.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
init-LCDd
The file scripts/init-LCDd.* is the init script for the LCDproc server
LCDd. It does not require modification.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
init-lcdproc
The file scripts/init-lcdproc.* is the init script for the LCDproc "main"
client lcdproc. As lcdproc does not (yet) have a configuration file you may
want to modify the options that are passed to lcdproc.
Note You can retrieve a listing of all options of lcdproc running lcdproc
--help.
Example 3. init-lcdproc.debian: Modify the option passed to lcdproc
(Debian)
start-stop-daemon --start --quiet --background --exec ${lcdproc} -- C
In this example lcdproc will only send information on the CPU usage to the
server.
Example 4. init-lcdproc.rpm: Modify the option passed to lcdproc (RedHat)
daemon ${lcdproc} C X &
In this example lcdproc will only send information on the CPU usage [C] and
system load [X] to the server.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
LCDproc Drivers
This chapter contains the documentation of each LCDproc driver, which may
include the installation process of the hardware as well as the
configuration of LCDd.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
The HD44780 Driver
There are several ways of wiring up the HD44780 devices. Your choice will
probably be governed largely by your ability to wire up each one and/or a
desire to use the device with other programs.
The LCDproc HD44780 driver supports the following connections on a parallel
port:
* 4-bit
* 8-bit (winamp style)
* extended 8-bit (LCD + LED bargraph)
* serial LPT
And supports a PIC-an-LCD connected to a serial port.
The driver also lets you use multiple displays as a single virtual display.
For example, a 4, 2 and 1 line display can be used to form a 7 line
display. The number of displays is limited by the individual HD44780
driver.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Connections
Common connections for all connectiontypes
No matter what connectiontype you choose, you will always need some
connections. They are explaned here.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Power
All variants use the same method of obtaining power. i.e., for each LCD:
Table 1. HD44780: Power Connections
+------------+------+-----------------------------------------------------+
| | | |
+------------+------+-----------------------------------------------------+
| LCD | pin | signal |
+------------+------+-----------------------------------------------------+
| | | |
+------------+------+-----------------------------------------------------+
| 1 | GND | (connect to any of pins 18 - 25 of you parallel |
| | | port) |
+------------+------+-----------------------------------------------------+
| 2 | +5V | |
+------------+------+-----------------------------------------------------+
| 3 | Vadj | (contrast) |
+------------+------+-----------------------------------------------------+
| | | |
+------------+------+-----------------------------------------------------+
Warning Always double check your power connection, your display will
probably NOT survive a reversely connected supply !
There are several ways to get 5V:
* Connect to a 5V line intented for disk drives (the red wire is 5V,
black is GND).
* Get it from a joystick port (pin 1 and 9 are 5V, 4, 5 and 12 are GND).
It seems that some soundcards can use these lines for communication, so
if you want to use this first check wether it really gives a 'clean'
5V.
* If you don't have a backlight, you can sometimes get the needed mA's
from the LPT port itself. Connect a few diodes from the data pins to a
capacitor and you have the 5V. If it's strong enough is another
question...
* Get it from the keyboard connector. I do not recommend to use this with
a backlight, as the keyboard connector is often protected with a fuse
of 100mA or 200mA.
(variable resistor)
.------.
Vcc ---| 10k |--- GND
`---^--'
/|\
|
Vadj.
Figure 1. HD44780: Connecting the contrast adjusting pin (Vadj.)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Keypad
You can connect a keypad with all connection types. The maximum supported
number of keys differs per type. There are several ways to connect the keys
to the input pins.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Direct Keys
If you connect a key like sketched below, then you can only connect one key
per input pin. It is a simple solution if you need only few keys.
O 5V
|
|
-
| | 10k
| |
-
|
+-----------o input (X)
|
|
o
\
o
|
|
=== GND
Figure 2. HD44780: Direct Keys
By default, the following keystrokes are generated by the different keys:
Table 2. HD44780: Default Keystrokes
+-------+-----+
| | |
+-------+-----+
| X0 | A |
+-------+-----+
| X1 | B |
+-------+-----+
| X2 | C |
+-------+-----+
| X3 | D |
+-------+-----+
| | |
+-------+-----+
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Matrix Keys
Using a matrix, we can connect much more keys. To simplify the drawing
here, we replace all switches with an @ symbol:
X line
|
|
Y line ---+---------
| | |
o | = --@--
\ | |
o |
| |
+---+
|
|
Figure 3. HD44780: Single Matrix Key
We connect the matrix of keys like this:
Y0 o---|<---@--@--@
| | |
Y1 o---|<---@--@--@
| | |
Y2 o---|<---@--@--@
| | |
Y3 o---|<---@--@--@ O 5V
| | | |
diodes | | | ___ |
1N4148 +----------|___|---+
| | | ___ |
| +-------|___|---+
| | | ___ |
| | +----|___|---+ resistors 22k
| | |
o o o
X0 X1 X2
Figure 4. HD44780: Complete Key Matrix
As you can see, you need 1 resistor per X line, and 1 diode per Y line.
Lcdproc will presume that you have a keypad with a layout like a telephone
connected, with X and Y lines connected as show. To be more precise, it
assumes this:
X0 X1 X2 X3
Y0 1 2 3 A
Y1 4 5 6 B
Y2 7 8 9 C
Y3 * 0 # D
Figure 5. HD44780: Keypad Layout
If you only need 10 keys, leave the rest away. However, the lcdproc menu is
controlled by the keystrokes A to D. You should modify and recompile the
driver to get an other keypad layout.
You can buy arrays of keys that are connected like this in the electronics
shop. They usually call it a matrix keypad. To hook it to lcdproc, you
would only need to add the resistors and diodes.
If you want to use just one return line, for example with the serialLpt
wiring, it looks (completely drawn) like this:
O 5V
|
.-.
| | 4k7 or 22k
diodes | |
1N4148 '-'
___ |
Y0 o---|<---o o---+
___ |
Y1 o---|<---o o---+
___ |
Y2 o---|<---o o---+
___ |
Y3 o---|<---o o---+----o return line
Figure 6. HD44780: One Return Line
Tip If the driver generates keypresses without that you actually press a
key, it might be that the unconnected input lines are picking up
electromagnetic waves from the air. In that case connect the
unconnected input lines (pin 10, 11, 12, 13 and 15 of the LPT) to VCC =
5V.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Backlight
A small extension allows you to switch the backlight of the display on and
off. At the moment only the 4bit and winamp connection types support this.
The extension uses one output pin, you cannot use that pin for other
functions anymore. The wiring looks like this:
O 5V
___ |
+---|___|---+
LPT Sub-D connector | 4k7 |
| |e
___ | b |/
BL pin o------------|___|---+---------|
1k |\
bc327 |c
| LCD connector
|
+--------o 15 backlight
+--------o 16 GND backlight
|
=== GND
Note: 4k7 means 4,7 kohm.
The BC327 transistor has the following connections:
_____
| |
|bc327|
|_____|
| | |
| | |
| | |
c b e
Figure 7. HD44780: Backlight Wiring
Caution Sometimes the backlight connections are not on the 'main'
connector, but on the side. If that is the case, there is usually
NO RESISTOR present to limit the current through the LEDs. Therefor
you should then add a resistor after the transistor of about 10 ohm
(see display documentation).
Tip If you want the backlight to light a bit while it's switched 'off', you
can add a resistor bypassing the transistor from e to c, with a value
of, say 47ohm or 22ohm. (My 4x20 has an internal resistor of 6ohm, so
with 47 ohm extra it lights at only 1/9th. I like this. Joris.)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
4-bit
This is originally based on "lcdtext" (by Matthias Prinke).
Table 3. HD44780: 4-bit Pinouts (1)
+---------------------------+---------------------------------------------+
| | |
+---------------------------+---------------------------------------------+
| printer port | LCD |
+---------------------------+---------------------------------------------+
| | |
+---------------------------+---------------------------------------------+
| D0 (2) | D4 (11) |
+---------------------------+---------------------------------------------+
| D1 (3) | D5 (12) |
+---------------------------+---------------------------------------------+
| D2 (4) | D6 (13) |
+---------------------------+---------------------------------------------+
| D3 (5) | D7 (14) |
+---------------------------+---------------------------------------------+
| D4 (6) | RS (4) |
+---------------------------+---------------------------------------------+
| D5 (7) | RW (5) (LCD3 - 6) (optional - pull all LCD |
| | RW low) |
+---------------------------+---------------------------------------------+
| D6 (8) | EN (6) |
+---------------------------+---------------------------------------------+
| D7 (9) | EN2 (LCD2 - 6) (optional) |
+---------------------------+---------------------------------------------+
| | |
+---------------------------+---------------------------------------------+
If you want to connect more than two displays to the parallel port then
wire D5 (pin 7) to the enable line (pin 6) of the third LCD. Then for
displays four to seven use:
Table 4. HD44780: 4-bit Pinouts (2)
+----------------+-------+
| | |
+----------------+-------+
| printer port | LCD |
+----------------+-------+
| | |
+----------------+-------+
| STR (1) | EN4 |
+----------------+-------+
| LF (14) | EN5 |
+----------------+-------+
| INIT (16) | EN6 |
+----------------+-------+
| SEL (17) | EN7 |
+----------------+-------+
| | |
+----------------+-------+
The optional keypad can be connected as follows:
Table 5. HD44780: 4-bit Keypad Pinouts
+-----------------+-------+
| | |
+-----------------+-------+
| printer port | LCD |
+-----------------+-------+
| | |
+-----------------+-------+
| D0 (2) | Y0 |
+-----------------+-------+
| D1 (3) | Y1 |
+-----------------+-------+
| D2 (4) | Y2 |
+-----------------+-------+
| D3 (5) | Y3 |
+-----------------+-------+
| D4 (6) | Y4 |
+-----------------+-------+
| D5 (7) | Y5 |
+-----------------+-------+
| nSTRB (1) | Y6 |
+-----------------+-------+
| nLF (14) | Y7 |
+-----------------+-------+
| INIT (16) | Y8 |
+-----------------+-------+
| nSEL (17) | Y9 |
+-----------------+-------+
| | |
+-----------------+-------+
| nACK (10) | X0 |
+-----------------+-------+
| BUSY (11) | X1 |
+-----------------+-------+
| PAPEREND (12) | X2 |
+-----------------+-------+
| SELIN (13) | X3 |
+-----------------+-------+
| nFAULT (15) | X4 |
+-----------------+-------+
| | |
+-----------------+-------+
The optional backlight wiring should be connected to D5, pin 7.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
8-bit "Winamp"
This type of connection should work with winamp.
printer port LCD
D0 (2) D0 (7)
D1 (3) D1 (8)
D2 (4) D2 (9)
D3 (5) D3 (10)
D4 (6) D4 (11)
D5 (7) D5 (12)
D6 (8) D6 (13)
D7 (9) D7 (14)
nSTRB (1) EN (6)
nLF (14) nRW (5) (EN3 6 - LCD 3) (optional)
INIT (16) RS (4)
nSEL (17) EN2 (6 - LCD 2) (optional)
Figure 8. HD44780: "Winamp" wiring
If you want the display to work with the Winamp plugin, wire nLF (pin 14)
to nRW of your LCD. You can then use the plugin in bidirectional mode (wich
is much faster). With 3 connected LCDs this is not possible. Note from
Benjamin: I haven't tried using winamp while having the third LCD connected
to this line.
The optional keypad can be connected as follows:
printer port keypad
D0 (2) Y0
D1 (3) Y1
D2 (4) Y2
D3 (5) Y3
D4 (6) Y4
D5 (7) Y5
D6 (8) Y6
D7 (9) Y7
nLF (14) Y8
INIT (16) Y9
nACK (10) X0
BUSY (11) X1
PAPEREND (12) X2
SELIN (13) X3
nFAULT (15) X4
Figure 9. HD44780: "Winamp" wiring - Keypad
The optional backlight wiring should be connected to nSEL, pin 17.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
8-bit "lcdtime"
This is originally based on "lcdtime" (by Benjamin Tse <blt@ComPorts.com>)
and allows you to combine the LCD with a LED bargraph. The LCD is driven by
LCDproc and the LEDs by another program such as portato. Further details
can be obtained from:
http://metalab.unc.edu/pub/linux/system/status/lcdtime-0.2.tar.gz http://
metalab.unc.edu/pub/linux/system/status/meter-0.2.tar.gz http://
metalab.unc.edu/pub/linux/system/status/portato-1.2.tar.gz
Note Theoretically this wiring sends the data over twice as slow as the
winamp or ext8bit wirings, because it only sends 4 bits at a time.
The LCD connections are:
printer port LCD
D0 (2) D0 (7)
D1 (3) D1 (8)
D2 (4) D2 (9)
D3 (5) D3 (10)
D4 (6) D4 (11)
D5 (7) D5 (12)
D6 (8) D6 (13)
D7 (9) D7 (14)
nSEL (17) -
nSTRB (1) RS (4)
nLF (14) RW (5) (LCD2 - 6) (optional - pull all LCD RW low)
INIT (16) EN (6)
Figure 10. HD44780: "lcdtime" wiring
See the lcdtime tar-ball (above) for full details of the bargraph
connections.
The optional keypad can be connected as follows:
printer port keypad
D0 (2) Y0
D1 (3) Y1
D2 (4) Y2
D3 (5) Y3
D4 (6) Y4
D5 (7) Y5
D6 (8) Y6
D7 (9) Y7
nSTRB (1) Y8
nSEL (17) Y9
nACK (10) X0
BUSY (11) X1
PAPEREND (12) X2
SELIN (13) X3
nFAULT (15) X4
Figure 11. HD44780: "lcdtime" wiring - keypad
The backlight wiring should be attached to nSEL, pin 17. Because the
portato program (mentioned above) also uses this pin to control the
bargraph, you cannot use the backlight control together with the bargraph.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Serial LPT
This interface uses a handful of wires to interface to the HD44780.
Suitable for high noise, long connections. Designed by Andrew McMeikan <
andrewm@engineer.com>. The original wiring and driver can be found at:
http://members.xoom.com/andrewmuck
I (Joris) have extended this driver and the wiring a bit. It now supports
keys again (it had earlier supported keys, but some time did not).
Further I have extended the driver and the wiring to be able to run using 2
instead of 3 output pins. That's even one less pin ! :)
Of course the use of fewer lines than the other wirings can not stay
without drawbacks. In this case the simplicity of the long feeding wires is
compensated by some intelligence in the decoding of the data. If you have
no experience with the soldering iron, I do not recommend to build this
wiring.
OK, so here is the wiring. First of the 'simple' 3 wires version. IC1 is
the shift register, a 4094. Do not forget to connect the 5V to pin 16 and
GND to pin 8 of the IC.
IC1
-----------
| 4094 |
5V | shift reg | display
O | | /keys
| 1| |3
+----|STR Q0|---------------------o 7 D0
| | |4 /Y0
Data | 2| Q1|---------------------o 8 D1
D3 5 o---------------------------|D |5 /Y1
| | Q2|---------------------o 9 D2
| 3|CK |6 /Y2
D4 6 o---------------------------| Q3|---------------------o 10 D3
| | |10 /Y3
| 15| Q4|---------------------o Y4
+----|OE |11
| Q5|---------------------o 4 RS
| |12 /Y5
| Q6|---------------------o Y6
| |13
| Q7|---------------------o Y7
| |9
| QS|-- +--o 5 RW
| __|10 |
| QS|-- ===
| |
-----------
D2 4 o-------------------------------------------------------------o 6 EN
D7 9 o-------------------------------------------------------------o 6 EN2
(2nd LCD)
5V O-----+--------+----------------------------------+-----o 2 VCC
| | |
| | |
|100n O 16 .-.
--- IC1 | |<---o 3 Vlcd
--- O 8 | |10k
| | '-'
GND | | |
18..25 o-----------+--------+--------------------------+-------+-----o 1 GND
|
=== GND
Figure 12. HD44780: Serial LPT wiring ('simple')
The second possible wiring is with 2 output lines. This one is a bit more
complex. If you do not understand the schematic, do not build it.
IC2
-----------
| 74HCT164 |
| shift reg | display
| | /keys
Data 1| |3
D3 5 o-----------------------+---|D Q0|---------------------o 7 D0
| | |4 /Y0
| 2| Q1|---------------------o 8 D1
+---|D |5 /Y1
| Q2|---------------------o 9 D2
| |6 /Y2
| Q3|---------------------o 10 D3
| |10 /Y3
Clock 8| Q4|---------------------o Y4
D4 6 o---------------------------|CK |11
| Q5|---------------------o 4 RS
___ 9|\ 8 9|_ |12 /Y5
+--|___|--+----| >o----|R Q6|---------------------o Y6
| 22k | |/ | |13
| --- IC1 | Q7|---+ +--o 5 RW
| --- | | | 5V |
| |100p ----------- | O ===
| | | |
| === | .-.
| | | |22k
+--------------------------------------+ | |
| '-'
| ___ 11|\ 10 | 5|\ 6
+--|___|--+----| >o-------------------||----+-----| >o---o 6 EN
22k | |/ 22p |/
--- IC1 IC1
---
|22p
| IC1=74HCT14 (6x Schmitt trigger inverter)
===
5V O--+-------+------+------+------------------------+-----o 2 VCC
| | | | 13|\ 12 |
| | | +---| >o- |
|100n O 14 O 14 |/ .-.
--- IC1 IC2 | |<---o 3 Vlcd
--- O 7 O 7 1|\ 2 3|\ 4 | |10k
| | | +--| >o- +--| >o- '-'
GND | | | | |/ | |/ |
18..25 o--------+-------+------+-------+----------+-----+------+-----o 1 GND
|
=== GND
Figure 13. HD44780: Serial LPT wiring ('complex')
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Serial LPT Keypad
Note To understand this part of the serialLpt documentation, you also need
to read the keypad section in this document.
serialLpt wiring supports a keypad. The 3 wires version supports 8 keys, or
if you use multiple return lines up to 8 x 5 = 40 lines. The 2 wires
version supports 7 keys, or with multiple return lines 7 x 5 = 35 keys.
nACK (10) X0
BUSY (11) X1
PAPEREND (12) X2
SELIN (13) X3
nFAULT (15) X4
Figure 14. HD44780: Serial LPT - Keypad return lines
On lines longer than, say a meter, you should buffer the return line(s). If
you only have 1 return line, you can buffer it with two remaining buffers
from the 74HCT14:
1|\ 2 13|\ 12 ___
keypad o-----| >o------| >o---|___|---+---o input pin on LPT port
return |/ |/ 220E |
IC1 IC1 ---
--- 1nF
|
===
Figure 15. HD44780: Serial LPT - Keypad return lines buffered
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Serial LPT Backlight
Also a backlight is suported. You will also need a port from the 74HCT14
for that. The BL output below should be connected to the BL input in the
backlight section
___ 3|\ 4
Data o-----|___|--+----| >o----o BL output
LPT-D3 470k | |/
--- IC1
---
|100nF
|
===
Figure 16. HD44780: Serial LPT - Backlight extra circuit
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
PIC-an-LCD serial device "picanlcd"
The PIC-an-LCD module is also supported. It is not connected to the LPT
port but to a serial port, which saves you from a lot of potential
problems. To use it, specify the device to which you have connected the
module in the config file with the Device= setting. The default is /dev/
lcd. It does not support a keypad nor backlight switching.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Compiling
Make sure that the HD44780 files are built when you run configure. This can
be done by specifying "--enable-drivers=all" or by "--enable-drivers=
hd44780".
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Running
Modify the LCDd.conf file before you run LCDd. In this config file are
detailed instructions on how to configure the HD44780 driver.
Then as usual, start LCDd with the correct config file:
E.g. LCDd -c ./LCDd.conf
If you want to override the driver selection in LCDd.conf then use:
LCDd -c ./LCDd.conf -d HD44780
If you use this, the HD44780 driver will read the options from the config
file anyway.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Miscellania
This text has originally been taken from a message by Bill Farrow <
bfarrow@arrow.bsee.swin.edu.au>.
Updated February 2000, Benjamin Tse <blt@ComPorts.com>
Updated October 2001, Joris Robijn <joris@robijn.net>
Converted to docbook March 2002, Rene Wagner <reenoo@gmx.de>
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Matrix Orbital Driver (MtxOrb)
This section covers the installation process for the Matrix Orbital LCD
module intended for use with LCDproc.
We will examine the installation process of the hardware in small steps, as
it is vitally important to pay close attention to detail during hardware
installation to avoid damaging equipment.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Matrix Orbital LCD Modules
LCDproc was born out of original tinkering by William Ferrell with one of
these LCD modules. Their ease of installation and use (as well as the
amazing amount of patience demonstrated by the folks at Matrix Orbital
whilst William figured things out) meant one less thing to worry about
during the early stages of LCDproc's life.
These 20x4 alphanumeric modules are connected via standard DB-9 cabling and
connectors. They draw either 5V or 12V, depending on the module purchased,
and are attached with a standard floppy cable connector (with a slightly
modified wire configuration).
Once connected, using them is a breeze. They can operate at any number of
different baud rates and serial configurations, but normally they run at
19,200 baud, 8-N-1, making them quite quick. Sending ASCII to the module
will make it simply display that text at its current cursor position. The
module has a built-in BIOS that recognizes commands (sent by transmitting a
single-byte "marker" signifying that a command is on the way, followed by
the single-byte command character itself along with any parameters, if
needed) allowing the programmer to clear the screen, position the cursor
anywhere, define custom characters (up to 8 at a time), draw bar graphs and
large numbers, change the LCD's contrast, and so on.
The BIOS included also implements line-wrapping (i.e. writing past the
twentieth character on the first row will automatically move the cursor to
the first character on the second row), and screen scrolling (i.e. writing
past the twentieth character on the fourth row causes the whole screen to
scroll up one row, clearing the fourth line and positioning the cursor at
the first character on that line).
These modules are fast. Using the auto-line-wrap feature and disabling the
auto-scrolling feature, the screen can be updated thirty times per second
if *every* character on the screen is changed. If updating less than the
whole screen, the LCD can update faster than can be seen by the human eye.
This, of course, more than meets LCDproc's needs.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Matrix Orbital Hardware Installation
Regardless of what specific type of hardware you intend to use with
LCDproc, installation is usually straightforward, and requires only a few
steps. Regardless, you must use caution while working inside your computer
system or with any hardware attachments.
Warning Installing new hardware inside a computer system can be dangerous
to both system components and the installer. Use caution whenever
adding a component to the inside of your system, altering a power
cable, or physically mounting a device inside a computer system.
When installing hardware inside a computer, make sure it's turned
off and that its power is disconnected. This is especially
important when making changes to power cables (as some LCD modules
require).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Matrix Orbital LCD/VFD Module Installation
The LCD and VFD modules from Matrix Orbital are relatively straightforward
to install. With a small, regular (flat-head) screwdriver, a spare floppy
drive power cable, and a bit of luck, installation will take less than an
hour.
These installation instructions assume that you are installing the module
into a PC or PC-style system (one with AT- or ATX-compliant power cabling)
and that you have some idea of where you intend to permanently mount the
module. For mounting ideas and tips, refer to the section "Mounting" below.
Tip Before you start
Your Matrix Orbital LCD or VFD module should be clearly marked with an
indication of the module's power requirements. It should be either a 5
volt or 12 volt unit. You should have this information available before
proceeding.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Power Cable Modification
The first step in installing the module is making the necessary
modifications to a floppy drive power cable in order to provide power to
the module. The modifications must be made based on the module's power
requirements -- either 5V or 12V -- depending on which module you
purchased.
A standard floppy drive power cable has a smaller connection than a
"normal" PC power connector. However, like a "normal" power connector, it
has four wires: one yellow, one red, and two black. The red wire provides
+5V power, and is "hot" or live when the system is powered up. The yellow
wire provides +12V power, and is also hot when the system is powered up.
Both black wires are ground. [TODO: INCLUDE A FIGURE HERE SHOWING A
"STANDARD" FLOPPY CONNECTOR]
One of the hot wires and one of the black wires will not be needed for your
module's power connection; they will be completely removed when the power
cable modification is complete.
Warning Do NOT make this modification to a power cable attached to a
running system! Electrocution resulting in personal injury and/or
damage to the system can result.
Using a regular screwdriver, press down the small metal locking flap of one
of the two black wires on the small end of the cable, and pull the black
wire from the connector. Using a pair of needle-nose pliers, squeeze the
other end of the same black wire, and pull it out of the large end of the
cable. This black wire can be set aside; it will not be used for the
module's power connection. Either wire can be safely removed; you may
safely remove either wire. [TODO: INCLUDE A FIGURE HERE SHOWING THIS
PROCESS]
Next, using the same procedure, remove the unneeded hot wire. If your
module is 5V, you do not need the yellow (+12V) wire. Conversely, if your
module is 12V, you do not need the red (+5V) wire. The removed wire can be
set aside; it will not be used for the module's power connection. [TODO:
INCLUDE A FIGURE HERE]
The floppy power connector should now have only two wires attached to it.
Leave the larger end alone from now on; these connections are correct (the
larger end connects to your system's power mains). Move the two remaining
wires to the outside connectors on the small end of the cable. Orientation
does not particularly matter here; the connector will fit on the module's
receptacle in either orientation. [TODO: A FIGURE HERE]
You should now have a properly modified power connector. When physically
attaching this connector to the module, the black (ground) lead should be
connected to the pin labelled GND, while the colored (+5V/+12V) lead should
be connected to the pin labelled +5V/+12V.
Test the power connection before connecting the data line or mounting the
module. Connect the module to the power connector, and the connector to
your system's power mains. Turn the system on.
Caution If the module does not immediately display its initial BIOS screen
and light up its backlight (or light up the screen if a VFD module
is being used), immediately power down the system, disconnect the
module and connector, and double-check the modification before
trying again. Do NOT leave the system on if the module does not
immediately respond; module or system damage could result.
When the LCD powers up and displays its initial BIOS screen, you've gotten
the power connection wired properly and can now properly mount the module
and make its final connections. Matrix Orbital Corporation sells a PC bay
insert mount for the 20x4 and 20x2 modules (LCDproc, however, only supports
the 20x4 at present). The inserts provide an easy means of mounting the LCD
modules inside a PC using one (for the 20x2) or two (for the 20x4) 5 1/4"
bays.
Note Describing how to physically mount the module in a PC case is beyond
the scope of this document; LCDproc's website contains more detailed
mounting information and examples.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Serial Connection
The LCD module uses a standard DB9 serial connector. You can attach the
module to your system using a direct cable to the motherboard, or by
removing one of your system's serial ports from the back of the case, then
connecting it to a standard serial cable to the module.
While connecting the serial cable to the module, be sure to configure the
module's serial interface settings. Typically, setting the module to its
fastest setting (19,200 baud, 8-N-1) is recommended. The speed settings can
be configured from the config file /etc/LCDd.conf. If not specified in the
config file, the Matrix Orbital module driver in LCDproc default to use
these settings.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright
This section was originally part of the lcdproc.sgml file by William W.
Ferrell <wwf@splatwerks.org>
Slightly modified in order to include it in this document March 2002, Rene
Wagner <reenoo@gmx.de>
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Running LCDproc
Running LCDd
If you have installed the init-scripts you can simply start, stop and
restart LCDd with the init-script.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Running LCDd from the command line
There are several reasons for running LCDd from the command line
* You don't want to install LCDd but run it from the source directory.
* You want to do some debugging.
* You want to get the output directly on stderr.
* ...
Note If you run LCDd as a "normal" user, it will not change to the user
specified in the config file. For parallel port devices you will need
root privileges anyway ;)
The simplest command that will run LCDd is the following. It is useful for
running LCDd from the source directory, e.g. after building.
$ server/LCDd -c LCDd.conf
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Command Line Options of LCDd
Running LCDd -h gives you an overview of the currently available command
line options, including a list of the compiled in drivers.
Example 1. LCDd -h
LCDd Server Daemon (part of lcdproc), 0.4.3dev
Copyright (c) 1999 Scott Scriven, William Ferrell, and misc contributors
This program is freely redistributable under the terms of the GNU Public License
Usage: LCDd [ -hfiws ] [ -c <config> ] [ -d <driver> ] [ -a <addr> ] \
[ -p <port> ] [ -u <user> ] [ -w <time> ] [ -r <level> ]
Available options are:
-h Display this help screen
-c <config> Use a configuration file other than /etc/LCDd.conf
-d <driver> Add a driver to use (output only to first)
-f Run in the foreground
-i Disable showing of the main LCDproc server screen
-w <waittime> Time to pause at each screen (in seconds)
-a <addr> Network (IP) address to bind to
-p <port> Network port to listen for connections on
-u <user> User to run as
-s Output messages to syslog
-r <level> Report level (default=2)
Currently available drivers:
lcdm001, LCDM001, MtxOrb, MatrixOrbital, CFontz, CrystalFontz, LB216, text,
curses, ncurses, BayRAD, glk, glc
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Running lcdproc
You will probably more often run lcdproc from the command line than you
will run LCDd.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Command Line Options of lcdproc
Running lcdproc -h gives you an overview of the currently available command
line options.
Example 2. lcdproc -h
LCDproc, 0.4.3dev
Usage: lcdproc [-s server] [-p port] [modelist]
Options in []'s are optional.
modelist is "mode [mode mode ...]"
Mode letters: [C]pu [G]raph [T]ime [M]emory [X]load [D]isk [B]attery
proc_[S]izes [O]ld_time big_cloc[K] [U]ptime CPU_SM[P]
[A]bout
Use "man lcdproc" for more info.
Example:
lcdproc -s my.lcdproc.server.com C M X -p 13666
Note You will not be able to connect to a remote server, unless it listens
to the correct interface and port! See LCDd.conf: The [server] Section
for details on the server setup.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Contact Us
Errata
Of course LCDproc is not perfect (yet). We do our very best to improve it,
but in some cases we are very much restricted in our efforts.
The main reason for that is the fact that we do NOT have all the hardware
people have writte. drivers for. Unfortunately some developers have kind of
vanished and don't react to mails from the mailing list any more.
So, as far as drivers are concerned we rely on YOU as testers. We have
developed elaborate "coding in the dark" skills over the time. E.g. the
CFontz driver has been updated and ported to 0.4.3 without the developers
having the hardware.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
The LCDproc Mailing List
We are a bit lazy about the bug-tracking and whatever stuff on SourceForge.
So, please contact us directly through the mailing list.
For details on how to subscribe to the list see http://
lcdproc.omnipotent.net/mail.php3.
We like people to subscribe to the list with their real names. Of course we
cannot and do not want to force you to do so. Anyway, we need to know your
name, if you want to contribute code to LCDproc (legal issues of
copyrights).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Reporting Bugs
Possibly you will find a bug in the LCDproc distribution. Before reporting
this to the mailing list, please respect the following:
* Your system should be more or less up to date. This does not mean that
you have to update from GNU/Linux kernel 2.0.x to 2.2.x or from 2.2.x
to 2.4.x. But we would like to make sure that your problem is not
related to a known bug in the kernel or maybe your compiler.
* Especially LCDd might need certain privileges to execute a command.
Make sure LCDd HAS the rights to do so.
* When experiencing problems with LCDd, make sure that your hardware is
OK. E.g. you should make sure that the wireing for your (in this case
most likely parallel) device is correct.
* Make sure that you use the correct speed settings for your device.
Incorrect speed settings (baud rate) are most likely to produce garbage
scrolling on your display. Refer to the specifications of your device.
If your device needs a speed setting that is not supported by LCDd send
us a mail.
* Make sure that you have modified the configuration file according to
your needs and that LCDd actually uses the configuration file. I.e. you
might have to run LCDd with the -c option
Anyway, no question is too stupid to ask ;) Feel free to ask whatever you
want. Unfortunately replying to mails takes time as well (a damn lot of
time). So, if you want LCDproc to develop faster, please try to solve a
problem yourself first.
BUT if you have actually FOUND A BUG we will be quite happy if you let us
know. We NEED YOU as testers and appreciate any feedback.
|
