LCD4LINUX - PicoLCD

mhswa

Has anyone had the picolcd 256X64 work with the current version of pfsense?

http://www.mini-box.com/picoLCD-256x64-OEM

stephenw10

Looks like it should be supported in lcdproc via the glcd driver:

glcd:
generic driver for graphical LCDs with FreeType rendering support. This driver supports the following sub-drivers (a.k.a. connection types):

picolcdgfx
picoLCD 256x64 Sideshow graphic LCD (Mini-Box.com)

It's not in the gui package though so you would have to invoke it manually to use that driver.

I've never tried though.

Steve

mhswa

@stephenw10 thank you! So will I need to remove the lcd4linux package? Not ever had to call anything from the CLI is there a guide for that and make it run on boot etc...?

stephenw10

You definitely don't want to have both daemons running so if you installed lcd4linux somehow then disable it at least.

You can start the lcddproc client and server from Shellcmds:
https://www.netgate.com/docs/pfsense/development/executing-commands-at-boot-time.html#shellcmd-option

If you install the lcdproc package you will need to leave it disabled to prevent it trying to run automatically.

Then call the sever pointing to your custom lcdd.conf file with the driver configured. And call the client with whatever options you want. There are not as many available as via the php client in the package but it will get you up and running.

Steve

mhswa

@stephenw10

Okay i have added the glcd driver name in LCDd.conf (see below) But do i need to change the dimensions? and in shellcmd what is the command i need to add to call the server and make it start up?

i tried to manually run LCDd.conf with ./LCDd.conf but i get premission denied then i tried to sudo and its not installed or freebsd doesnt have sudo....?

[server]
DriverPath=/usr/local/lib/lcdproc/
Driver=glcd
Bind=127.0.0.1
Port=13666
ReportLevel=3
ReportToSyslog=yes
User=nobody
Foreground=no
ServerScreen=no
GoodBye="Thanks for using"
GoodBye="    pfSense     "
WaitTime=1
ToggleRotateKey=Enter
PrevScreenKey=Left
NextScreenKey=Right
ScrollUpKey=Up
ScrollDownKey=Down
[menu]
MenuKey=Escape
EnterKey=Enter
UpKey=Up
DownKey=Down
[picolcd]
driverpath=/usr/local/lib/lcdproc/
Device=/dev/ugen0.2
Size=20x4
KeyTimeout=500
Contrast=1000
Brightness=1000
OffBrightness=0
Blacklight_Timer=60
Keylights=on
Key0Light=on
Key1Light=off
Key2Light=off
Key3Light=off
Key4Light=off
Key5Light=off

mhswa

just tried /usr/local/etc/rc.d/lcdproc.sh restart

didnt work, i know the LCD is sitting on /dev/ugen0.2

mhswa

@mhswa said in LCD4LINUX - PicoLCD:

/usr/local/etc/rc.d/lcdproc.sh

Looks like this is in the logs


Aug 28 09:11:46	php		lcdproc: Start client procedure. Error counter: (0)
Aug 28 09:11:45	LCDd		Critical error while initializing, abort.
Aug 28 09:11:45	LCDd		There is no output driver
Aug 28 09:11:45	LCDd		Could not load driver glcd
Aug 28 09:11:45	LCDd		Driver [glcd] init failed, return code -1
Aug 28 09:11:45	LCDd		glcd: normal_font missing in configuration
Aug 28 09:11:45	LCDd		Listening for queries on 127.0.0.1:13666
Aug 28 09:11:45	LCDd		Waittime should be at least 2 (seconds). Set to 2 seconds.
Aug 28 09:11:45	LCDd		Using Configuration File: /usr/local/etc/LCDd.conf
Aug 28 09:11:45	LCDd		LCDd version 0.5.7 starting

mhswa

This is my new Config still not working, i took the glcd from the sample and added them

[server]
DriverPath=/usr/local/lib/lcdproc/
Driver=glcd
Bind=127.0.0.1
Port=13666
ReportLevel=3
ReportToSyslog=yes
User=nobody
Foreground=no
ServerScreen=no
GoodBye="Thanks for using"
GoodBye="    pfSense     "
WaitTime=1
ToggleRotateKey=Enter
PrevScreenKey=Left
NextScreenKey=Right
ScrollUpKey=Up
ScrollDownKey=Down
[menu]
MenuKey=Escape
EnterKey=Enter
UpKey=Up
DownKey=Down
## glcd generic graphical display driver
[glcd]
# Select what type of connection. See documentation for types.
ConnectionType=t6963

# Width and height of the display in pixel. The supported sizes may depend on
# the ConnectionType. [default: 128x64; legal: 1x1 - 640x480]
Size=128x64

# Width and height of a character cell in pixels. This value is only used if
# the driver has been compiled with FreeType and it is enabled. Otherwise the
# default 6x8 cell is used.
CellSize=12x16

# If LCDproc has been compiled with FreeType 2 support this option can be used
# to turn if off intentionally. [default: yes; legal: yes, no]
useFT2=no

# Path to font file to use for FreeType rendering. This font must be monospace
# and should contain some special Unicode characters like arrows (Andale Mono
# is recommended and can be fetched at http://corefonts.sf.net).
#normal_font=/usr/local/lib/X11/fonts/TTF/andalemo.ttf

# Some fonts miss the Unicode characters used to represent icons. In this case
# the built-in 5x8 font can used if this option is turned off. [default: yes;
# legal: yes, no]
fontHasIcons=no

# Set the initial contrast if supported by connection type.
# [default: 600; legal: 0 - 1000]
Contrast=600

# Set brightness of the backlight if the backlight is switched 'on'.
# [default: 800; legal: 0 - 1000]
Brightness=1000

# Set brightness of the backlight if the backlight is switched 'off'. Set this
# to zero to completely turn off the backlight. [default: 100; legal: 0 - 1000]
OffBrightness=0

# Time (ms) from first key report to first repeat. Set to 0 to disable repeated
# key reports. [default: 500; legal: 0 - 3000]
KeyRepeatDelay=500

# Time (ms) between repeated key reports. Ignored if KeyRepeatDelay is disabled
# (set to zero). [default: 300; legal: 0 - 3000]
KeyRepeatInterval=300

# Assign key strings to keys. There may be up to 16 keys numbered 'A' to 'Z'.
# By default keys 'A' to 'F' are assigned Up, Down, Left, Right, Enter, Escape.
KeyMap_A=Up
KeyMap_B=Down
KeyMap_C=Enter
KeyMap_D=Escape

mhswa

Looks like the issue is the normal_font location since pfsense remove all of that

glcd: Creation of font '/usr/local/lib/X11/fonts/TTF/andalemo.ttf' failed

stephenw10

Ok, you want to copy the generated LCDd.conf file to somewhere permanent like /root. Then you can edit it without it being overwritten accidentally.

Then you can start LCDd referencing it:
/usr/local/sbin/LCDd -c /root/LCDd.conf

You can put that in a Shellcmd to make it run at boot. Somewhat like I described here.

The conf file needs to be configured correctly so looking at this:
http://lcdproc.sourceforge.net/docs/lcdproc-0-5-7-user.html#glcd-config

You need to set the connection type to picolcdgfx
The size to 256x64

If you have useFT2 set to no I don't expect it to require a font path. But some fonts are available in /usr/local/www/css/fonts/
I've never tried using that though.

Running from the command line should give more useful errors. Setting the report level setting differently might give better output.

Steve

mhswa

Setting any settings like size and wait time in LCDd.con doesnt work or change things but im starting it manually without a lcd.conf file which may be why the text is small with not many screens. but the hello and goodbye screens work when i change them in lcdd.conf

mhswa

it seems that even starting it with the -c option running it like this /usr/local/etc/rc.d/lcdproc.sh -c /root/LCDd.conf it doesnt use the .conf file and reverts back to the original in /usr/local/etc/LCDd.conf and it ignores the wait time and size, and useFT2 doesnt work the LCD will only work with that option set to no

Isnt there a lcd.conf somewhere that needs to have some settings? i did find a lcd-sample.conf or lcdproc-sample

mhswa

Okay so after testing a few things I found out

When starting lcdproc via /usr/local/etc/rc.d/lcdproc.sh start it ignores most if LCDd.conf variables like wait time and most of the screens dont show.

When I run

/usr/local/sbin/ LCDd
/usr/local/sbin/ lcdproc

Those commands sepretly it uses the variables in the LCDd.conf and shows way more screens. I just need to figure out the best text and icon size as it looks horrible and unreadable at the moment.

I will have to add those into shellcmd this seems like the way you need to start it manually.

stephenw10

Yes, exactly you can't use the shell script to start it as that just calls the standard files created by the package. You need to call the binary directly as I wrote above.

Be sure to check the post I linked above too. The actual commands you want to use in the shellcmd are:

/usr/bin/nice -20 /usr/local/sbin/LCDd -c /root/LCDd.conf > /dev/null &

and

/usr/bin/nice -20 /usr/local/bin/lcdproc C T U &

Assuming your customised LCDd.conf file is in /root.

Steve