[indy5]

I was looking for some direction in getting my external display functioning in XBMC. For starters, here is some basic information about my setup.

Ubuntu 8.04
XBMC Atlantis Beta1
HiperMedia HMC-2K53A-A0 Case - (Uses Futaba dm-140gink Demo LCD)

I followed the directions from the following link to get the display working within Ubuntu

http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/index.php/Futaba

I can successfully launch LCDd from a terminal and the display will come on and show:
## LCDproc Server ##
Cli:0 Scr: 0

However, when I launch XBMC, the display turns dark and nothing shows.

Is there a particular log file that I need to look at to determine why XBMC seems to be killing the lcdproc process? Or do you think something else is happening here?

Thanks for any help.

[sjonnie33]

Have you got the file LCD.xml in /home/your user name/.xbmc/userdata?

If not you can copy this from /usr/share/xbmc/userdata

[mkortstiege]

debug log please ..

[indy5]

I was able to correct this problem by building from SVN.

Maybe this is the bug fix that helped my situation:
http://trac.xbmc.org/ticket/4923

I do now have a followup question. Is there a way to slow down the scroll speed of text that is larger than the width of the LCD screen? It's a little dizzying watching large movie titles scroll across over and over again at such a high rate.

[mkortstiege]

I do now have a followup question. Is there a way to slow down the scroll speed of text that is larger than the width of the LCD screen? It's a little dizzying watching large movie titles scroll across over and over again at such a high rate.

No, speed isn't adjustable. Please post a feature request so we don't forget about it while in feature freeze.

[DrErling]

As mentioned in the title, I have a crystalfontz 634 (20x4) lcd that I want to use (if possible).

Could someone guide me a bit?

EDIT:
Found out that XBMC expects me to use lcdproc, so I installed 0.5.2-0buntu2 (available in ubuntu 8.04 Synaptic Package Manager). Not sure what is the next step though...

[sjonnie33]

First you must setup LCDproc.
Open a terminal en type:

Code:

sudo nano /etc/LCDd.conf

search for the line:

Code:

Driver=curses

And make it look like

Code:

Driver=CFontz

Quit and save with crtl+X

Now you must see some lines on your display (after reboot)

Setup xbmc
Copy the file LCD.xml to your userdata dir.
Open a terminal and type:

Code:

cp /usr/share/xbmc/userdata/LCD.xml /home/[b]username[/b]/.xbmc/userdata/

(for username you must set your ubuntu username)

Start xbmc and go to Settings/system/LCD and set lcdtype to lcdproc.

[DrErling]

I tried the steps you mentioned, but I did not see any lines during boot and no text after opening XBMC and setting lcdproc as LCD display.

I checked that the LCD.xml got copied to /home/htpc/.xbmc/userdata

I went into BIOS checking that the serial port was enabled (it was).

Then I typed "sudo dmesg | grep tty" and got the following output:

Code:

htpc@htpc-xbmc:~$ sudo dmesg | grep tty
[sudo] password for htpc:
[   14.853756] console [tty0] enabled
[   16.678964] serial8250: ttyS0 at I/O 0x3f8 (irq = 4) is a 16550A
[   16.679464] 00:05: ttyS0 at I/O 0x3f8 (irq = 4) is a 16550A
[   34.742884] audit(1224366635.064:2): type=1503 operation="inode_permission" requested_mask="a::" denied_mask="a::" name="/dev/tty" pid=5044 profile="/usr/sbin/cupsd" namespace="default"

This is the same as I can see in BIOS (0x3F8/IRQ4).

Yet, no info on the screen...

[DrErling]

Asside from setting "Driver=CFontz", this is what I tried:

Code:

## CrystalFontz driver (for CF632 & CF634) ##
[CFontz]

# Select the output device to use [default: /dev/lcd]
Device=/dev/ttyS0
# Select the LCD size [default: 20x4]
Size=20x4
# Set the initial contrast [default: 560; legal: 0 - 1000]
Contrast=350
# Set the initial brightness [default: 1000; legal: 0 - 1000]
Brightness=800
# Set the initial off-brightness [default: 0; legal: 0 - 1000]
# This value is used when the display is normally
# switched off in case LCDd is inactive
OffBrightness=0
# Set the communication speed [default: 9600; legal: 1200, 2400, 9600, 19200 or 115200]
Speed=19200
# Set the firmware version (New means >= 2.0) [default: no; legal: yes, no]
NewFirmware=yes
# Reinitialize the LCD's BIOS [default: no; legal: yes, no]
# normally you shouldn't need this
Reboot=no

I edited the communication speed both to 9600 and 19200 and rebooted between each setting. I edited the NewFirmware to "yes" because my CrystalFontz634 says V2.0. (the 19200 setting I remember using in windows xp, therefore trying it here as well)

When I last used this screen with windows XP I saved "foobar player" as boot-up text (because that was what the pc did.. it played foobar2000). This boot-up text was present when I connected it to my ubuntu-machine as well. This text is now gone so "there is some contact" between pc and screen.

DrE

[indy5]

No, speed isn't adjustable. Please post a feature request so we don't forget about it while in feature freeze.

Before I request a feature for future releases, would the lcd display speed be a function of XBMC, or would it be a driver feature? I'm just wondering if I am barking up the wrong tree here.

thanks for any thoughts...

[mkortstiege]

Scrolling is done by the client, in our case XBMC.

[ilkz0r]

Hi!

I suppose im at the wrong place now, but i really dont find anything usefull when im trying search for info on how to make my VFD display work.

I noticed this LCDproc supports my computer... a shuttle SG33G5M.

Thing is im using Vista32.

Anyone who has an idea how i can my VFD display work in XBMC running on Vista?


Thanks in advance

[gzusrawx]

I have noticed an issue lately, If I leave XBMC on, after a while the lcdproc doesn't show any client connected anymore. I don't have a log right this moment but has anyone else experienced this? I can re-enable the client by disabling and re-enabling the lcdproc setting in xbmc.

[gzusrawx]

I forgot to mention I'm running Ubuntu Intrepid 8.10 and XBMC Atlantis 8.10 Final

[shagworthy_uk]

Sorry if this is the wrong place but here goes....

I have my lcd display working correctly with XBMC. My problem is: If i leave LCDproc enabled in XBMC and leave it idle for a long period of time (say 6 hours while i sleep) at some point LCDd spikes to 100% cpu usage. So i just dont use the LCD part of XBMC as it warms my living room up to much :-)

Anyone seen this?

I have a crappy imon VFD built in to my case which for the first few hours is fine.

Again sorry if this is the wrong place.