Netgate Discussion Forum
    • Categories
    • Recent
    • Tags
    • Popular
    • Users
    • Search
    • Register
    • Login

    PfSense on a Celestix S-X MSA 4000

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved Hardware
    61 Posts 17 Posters 21.1k Views
    Loading More Posts
    • Oldest to Newest
    • Newest to Oldest
    • Most Votes
    Reply
    • Reply as topic
    Log in to reply
    This topic has been deleted. Only users with topic management privileges can see it.
    • R
      rudelerius
      last edited by

      I have one of these boxes as well as 2 x RSA Securid boxes (Celestix Scorpio) with the same LCD/jog wheel combo.  It would be nice to have it all working nicely with lcdproc/pfsense.  Nice work so far.  : )

      Following.

      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • R
        rudelerius
        last edited by

        Of any help: https://www.astaro.org/19475-post1.html ?

        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • stephenw10S
          stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
          last edited by

          Looks like a binary Linux driver they're using. Not much use in pfSense/FreeBSD.

          Steve

          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • R
            rudelerius
            last edited by

            Ok.  I feel like I've seen a (possibly Windows) driver for this before in searching around the web when I first got the box.

            I think that I still have an in-tact system drive from the original appliance ,and I was able to find the driver details for the display/wheel in Windows, then research it online to find more information.  I didn't know what to do with it once I found it, so I think I've long since deleted whatever it was I found.  But if I found it once, I might possibly be able to find it again.

            I'll have to dig up the drive that has the original Win2K3 install on it and see if I can find the driver info.  If I can find the .inf file would that be of any help?

            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
            • R
              rudelerius
              last edited by

              The device is listed in Win2K3 as a Jungo lcd.  The driver is windrvr6.sys.  Googlefu: http://www.jungo.com/st/products/windriver/

              Not sure if that helps or not.  Let me know if I can provide anything else.

              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
              • R
                rudelerius
                last edited by

                Oops/

                Celestix S-X MSA 4000 Windows LCD driver info:


                …
                Manufacturer: Varitronix
                Model: MDLS-40263-LV-B-LED
                Product: LCD Character Display Modules
                Character Count x Line: 40 x 2

                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                • Y
                  yeyus
                  last edited by

                  I been doing some research on the same hardware that seems to be used by celestix all across it's product line.

                  For now I've been able to fetch some characteristics about the device:

                  • It's a composite USB HID device (Keyboard + Alphanumeric LCD pages)
                  • It will output 8 fields (1 bit each) when a keyboard event occurs.
                  • The input for the LCD is a 88 byte array probably some 8 byte control preamble followed to up to 80 characters (40x2 chars)

                  HID table for those interested:

                  
                  USAGE_PAGE (Generic Desktop Controls)
                  USAGE (Keyboard)
                  COLLECTION (Application)
                    REPORT_ID(1)
                    USAGE_PAGE (Keyboard)
                    USAGE_MINIMUM(Control Left)
                    USAGE_MAXIMUM(GUI Right)
                    LOGICAL_MINIMUM(0)
                    LOGICAL_MAXIMUM(1)
                    REPORT_SIZE(1)
                    REPORT_COUNT(8)
                    INPUT(Data, Var, Absolute, No Wrap, Linear, Preferred_State, No_Null_Position,Non_Volatile, Bitfield)
                    REPORT_SIZE(8)
                    REPORT_COUNT(1)
                    LOGICAL_MINIMUM(0)
                    LOGICAL_MAXIMUM(104)
                    USAGE_PAGE (Keyboard)
                    USAGE_MINIMUM(0)
                    USAGE_MAXIMUM(104)
                    INPUT(Data, Array, Absolute, No Wrap, Linear, Preferred_State, No_Null_Position,Non_Volatile, Bitfield)
                  END COLLECTION
                  USAGE_PAGE (Alphanumeric Display)
                  USAGE (Alphanumeric Display)
                  COLLECTION (Application)
                    REPORT_ID(2)
                    USAGE(Display Data)
                    LOGICAL_MINIMUM(128)
                    LOGICAL_MAXIMUM(127)
                    REPORT_SIZE(8)
                    REPORT_COUNT(88)
                    OUTPUT(Data, Var, Absolute, No Wrap, Linear, Preferred_State, No_Null_Position,Non_Volatile, Bitfield)
                  END COLLECTION
                  
                  

                  If any of you have access to binaries (either windows or linux) please let me know because they can be very helpful in decoding the command schema for the LCD operation.

                  1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                  • Y
                    yeyus
                    last edited by

                    Got it working!


                    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                    • T
                      twisted2k3
                      last edited by

                      The alert LED is GPIO. Here's the linux source. Please share back if anyone can get it to work on FreeBSD.

                      #include <stdio.h>#include <stdlib.h>#include <sys io.h="">/* for outb() and inb() */

                      #define IOADDR 0x50e

                      void usage()
                      {
                          printf("ngled [0|1|2]\n");
                          printf("            0 : off  \n");
                          printf("            1 : on  \n");
                          printf("            2 : blink  \n");
                          printf("\nShows status if no command is passed.\n");
                          exit(1);
                      }

                      int main(int argc, char **argv)
                      {
                        if (iopl(3) < 0) {
                              printf("iopl fail\n");
                              return;
                      }

                      if (argc < 2)
                      {
                        if ( inb(0x51a) == 0x84 ) printf("2\n");
                        else if ( inb(IOADDR) == 0x7b ) printf("0\n");
                        else printf("1\n");
                        return;
                      } else if ( argc > 2 ) usage();

                      switch (*argv[1])
                      {
                        case '0':
                      /fprintf(stderr, "OFF!!");/
                      outb(inb(0x50e)&0x7f,IOADDR);
                      outb(0x4,0x51a);
                        break;

                      case '1':
                      /fprintf(stderr, "ON!!");/
                      outb(inb(0x51a)&0x7f,0x51a);
                      outb(inb(0x50e)|0x80,IOADDR);
                      break;
                        case '2':
                      outb(inb(0x50e)&0x7f,IOADDR);
                      outb(inb(0x51a)|0x80,0x51a);
                      break;
                        default:
                      usage();
                      }

                      return 0;
                      }</sys></stdlib.h></stdio.h>

                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                      • P
                        pkirkovsky
                        last edited by

                        @HammyHavoc:

                        @pkirkovsky:

                        I have a couple of Celestix boxes with intact stock software. Will be posting USB captures soon, stay tuned…

                        How's this going? I received my MSA 4000 today, put pfSense on it, would like to get the front panel running and help where possible. ;- )

                        Sorry this took so long!

                        Here is a ZIP file containing captures of LCD and jogdial activity:
                        https://kirkovsky.com/junkbin/celestix.zip

                        This activity was captured on the stock Windows system that comes with these boxes. Included in the ZIP is USBLyzer (Windows only AFAIK) format, HTML & CSV export from USBLyzer, and standard pcap USB capture format (should be Wireshark compatible). Hope this helps!

                        @HammyHavoc:

                        Also noticed a red LED flashes above the exclamation symbol, does this happen on yours too?

                        Yes, this happens on mine too. It looks like there's some kind of watchdog function that allows the OS to tell the LCD module not to flash that LED, but if no signal is being sent it flashes constantly.

                        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                        • P
                          pkirkovsky
                          last edited by

                          @yeyus:

                          If any of you have access to binaries (either windows or linux) please let me know because they can be very helpful in decoding the command schema for the LCD operation.

                          I have default/stock system images for both Windows and Linux (recovery partition) of the ScorpioX machines (the Celestix MSA/WSA/etc and certain RSA-branded boxes all share the same base platform).

                          The Linux recovery partition has some control binaries and kernel modules (a module for the LCD + jogdial and a module for the alert LED). The Windows side has basically the same setup, but the display/jogdial/LED are all rolled into one driver binary.

                          I don't want to widely distribute these due to copyright concerns. PM me for further details.

                          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                          • B
                            brmiller
                            last edited by

                            @yeyus:

                            Got it working!

                            Was this Linux or FreeBSD?

                            EDIT: Must be Linux; hidtest-hidraw appears to be a https://github.com/signal11/hidapi utility.  I'm curious what the equivalent FreeBSD approach is - when I looked at LCDProc, the [pfSense] config asked a lot of questions I didn't know!

                            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                            • R
                              rudelerius
                              last edited by

                              @twisted2k3:

                              The alert LED is GPIO. Here's the linux source….

                              @stephenw10 - your WGXepc program set GPIO values for the arm/disarm LED on the WG FB boxes, didn't it?  (I don't know much about this….)  Could the program be used in similar way to probe the GPIO for the LCD/Keyboard controls of this device?

                              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                              • P
                                pkirkovsky
                                last edited by

                                Here are the kernel modules and utility scripts for the LCD and warning LED from the Linux restore partition on my Celestix device. Running strings suggests that these are under GPL, so I'm putting them here:

                                https://kirkovsky.com/junkbin/MSA2000i_ScorpioX.zip

                                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                • N
                                  NightShaman
                                  last edited by

                                  Any progress on this? I would love to see it working. Just picked up a wsa-4200, and all that is left is the LCD :)

                                  1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                  • H
                                    HammyHavoc
                                    last edited by

                                    Waiting on this too, would be great if we could get it working.

                                    Also, anybody know how to make this thing any more quiet? Different fans? Mulling over swapping out the motherboard, just not sure how the daughter board of NICs connects.

                                    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                    • R
                                      Rhinofart
                                      last edited by

                                      Has anybody gotten the screens to work under pfSense? I just picked one up, got it installed, and would love for the LCD / Jog to do something other than –------------ SYSTEM READY -------------

                                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                      • C
                                        cii
                                        last edited by

                                        @yeyus:

                                        Got it working!

                                        Hi yeyus,

                                        Would it be possible to post the code you used to get the display working please?

                                        Thanks!

                                        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                        • C
                                          cii
                                          last edited by

                                          @twisted2k3:

                                          The alert LED is GPIO. Here's the linux source. Please share back if anyone can get it to work on FreeBSD.

                                          Hi twisted2k3,

                                          How did you determine the IOADDR (base address?) of the GPIO controller?  I am trying to recompile for Linux with an WSA-4200 which has a different motherboard to the MSA…

                                          Thanks!

                                          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                          • K
                                            kendalja
                                            last edited by

                                            Sorry to bring back an older thread but did you guys ever get this working?

                                            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                            • First post
                                              Last post
                                            Copyright 2025 Rubicon Communications LLC (Netgate). All rights reserved.