Crystal Fontz 635 help!

mikeisfly

I have been trying to get the Crystal Fontz 635 LCD to work and I'm affraid that I have reached the end of my FreeBSD knowldege which is very little. I have built a custom box and this is the only piece that I can not get to work. I am able to turn the device on and off from the command line but that is about it. I have found some interesting threads on devices similar to mine but have not found one specific to my device. Here is what I have and what I have done. The device's usb port was not showing up on the Lcdproc menu so I edit the lcdproc.xml and lcdproc.inc and lCDd.conf files per the guide located here http://forum.pfsense.org/index.php/topic,23919.0.html the usb port is showing up now but the device is still not working, not sure what else to do. I belive it may be a driver issue. I'm willing to pay money to anyone who spends the time to make this work seamlessly or if you would like for me to buy you this screen and get it working I can do that too. I know that I can probably buy another screen but I would like to try to get this one to work. I don't want to waist more money and time. I would also like the ability to add custom text to the LCDproc package. If the driver for this device is not available I would like to have it made available to the package and have the package detect more usb ports. This would be my contribution to this wonderful project. I don't think that this would take a lot of time and willing to pay $100.

stephenw10

When you say not working what exactly do you mean?
Are you seeing anything at all on the display?
Have you selected the CFontzPacket driver?
What are you seeing in the logs?

What is the rest of your hardware? Any other useful information?

Steve

Cino

make sure your selecting the the crystal fontz packact driver. i know this driver works with the current LCDproc package on the i386 platform.

stephenw10

The pfSense package uses lcdproc version 0.5.3.1, not the most recent. However the Crystal Fontz Packet driver has included support for the 635 since well before that so it should work.

What is the output from usbconfig?

Steve

mikeisfly

Here is how I have the package setup.

here is the following for the output of usbconfig:

ugen0.1: <ohci root="" hub="" ati="">at usbus0, cfg=0 md=HOST spd=FULL (12Mbps) pwr=ON
ugen1.1: <ohci root="" hub="" ati="">at usbus1, cfg=0 md=HOST spd=FULL (12Mbps) pwr=ON
ugen2.1: <ohci root="" hub="" ati="">at usbus2, cfg=0 md=HOST spd=FULL (12Mbps) pwr=ON
ugen3.1: <ohci root="" hub="" ati="">at usbus3, cfg=0 md=HOST spd=FULL (12Mbps) pwr=ON
ugen4.1: <ohci root="" hub="" ati="">at usbus4, cfg=0 md=HOST spd=FULL (12Mbps) pwr=ON
ugen5.1: <ehci root="" hub="" ati="">at usbus5, cfg=0 md=HOST spd=HIGH (480Mbps) pwr=ON
ugen1.2: <generic usb="" hub="" alcor="">at usbus1, cfg=0 md=HOST spd=FULL (12Mbps) pwr=SAVE
ugen3.2: <crystalfontz cfa635-usb="" lcd="" crystalfontz="">at usbus3, cfg=0 md=HOST spd=FULL (12Mbps) pwr=ON
ugen1.3: <usb trackball="" logitech="">at usbus1, cfg=0 md=HOST spd=LOW (1.5Mbps) pwr=ON
ugen1.4: <hp usb="" multimedia="" keyboard="" novatek="">at usbus1, cfg=0 md=HOST spd=LOW (1.5Mbps) pwr=ON
ugen1.5: <4 Port KVMSwicther No brand> at usbus1, cfg=0 md=HOST spd=LOW (1.5Mbps) pwr=ON

and I add the following lines to the /usr/local/pkg/lcdproc.xml:

I also edited the /usr/local/pkg/lcdproc.inc as follows:

case "ugen3.2":
continue;
break;

and

case "ugen3.2":
$realport = "/dev/ugen3.2";
break;

The full lcdproc.xml can be found here sewellnj.dyndns-free.com/public_images/proclcd.xml.doc

The full lcdproc.inc can be found here sewellnj.dyndns-free.com/public_images/proclcd.inc.doc

The content of my logs show this:

I have stopped the service and restarted it.

The lcdproc.conf file is here sewellnj.dyndns-free.com/public_images/lcdproc.conf.doc
Here is the output of dmesg sewellnj.dyndns-free.com/public_images/dmesg.doc

Hardware that I'm running is the following:

Motherboard: MSI FUZZY RS690T AMD ATI AM2+ MINI ITX HDMI MOTHERBOARD
Processor : AMD Athlon X2 Dual Core Processor BE-2350
Memory : 2GB DDR2
NIC : dual gigabit motherboard NICs + Dual Gigabit Intel PCI NIC
LCD Screen: CrystalFontz 635
Case : NORCO RPC-230 2U Rackmount Server Case - OEM
pfsense version: 2.0-RC3 (amd64)
built on Wed Jul 27 13:16:07 EDT 2011

My screen at the moment always looks like this:
This is what my pfsense box looks like just in case others are interested:

Thanks for any help you guys / gals can provide.</hp></usb></crystalfontz></generic></ehci></ohci></ohci></ohci></ohci></ohci>

mikeisfly

Sorry for large Pic I resized them on my website but they are still showing large pics in IE.

stephenw10

Hmm, OK.
So it looks like it's starting twice and then having a problem because it's using the same conf file.
What does your lcdproc.sh file look like in /usr/local/etc/rc.d?

Is either lcdd or lcdproc running? Use 'top' to view running processes.

Steve

Cino

I have the same issue with LCDproc double starting. I posted this a couple of weeks ago. Something change on how packages are started. I believe the package itself needs to be looked at to fix the issue. I was able to make it work on my box. If you dont mind editing files, i've put the steps below. It may not be the right way but it works for me.

Make sure everything is correct in your LCDproc settings, the screens you and such. 'Enable LCDproc' it and Save. Go back and uncheck 'Enable LCDproc'
the above step makes sure settings are saved but by unchecking Enable, it wont start up..

You can change folder locations if you want but this is what i did:

create a folder called 'custom' under your root directory.
put this file there with 755 permissions
lcdclient.sh


#!/bin/sh

# script starts a lcd client and always keeps it active.
counter=1
while [ "$counter" -ne 0 ]
do
	# loop the client to drive the display
	/usr/local/bin/php -f /usr/local/pkg/lcdproc_client.php
	sleep 1
done

create a file under /usr/local/etc/rc.d called 'lcddisplay.sh' with 755 permissions


#!/bin/sh
# This file was automatically generated
# by the pfSense service handler.

rc_start() {

if [ `ps auxw |awk '/LCD[d]/ {print $2}'| wc -l` != 0  ]; then
	ps auxw |awk '/LCD[d]/ {print $2}'|xargs kill 
	sleep 1	
fi
if [ `ps auxw |awk '/lcdclient.s[h]/ {print $2}'| wc -l` != 0  ]; then
	ps auxw |awk '/lcdclient.s[h]/ {print $2}'|xargs kill
	sleep 1	
fi
if [ `ps auxw |awk 'lcdproc {print $2}'| wc -l` != 0  ]; then
	ps auxw |awk 'lcdproc {print $2}'|xargs kill
	sleep 1	
fi

	/usr/local/sbin/LCDd -c /usr/local/etc/LCDd.conf
	/root/custom/lcdclient.sh &
	sleep 5
	lcdproc

}

rc_stop() {

if [ `ps auxw |awk '/LCD[d]/ {print $2}'| wc -l` != 0  ]; then
	ps auxw |awk '/LCD[d]/ {print $2}'|xargs kill 
	sleep 1	
fi
if [ `ps auxw |awk '/lcdclient.s[h]/ {print $2}'| wc -l` != 0  ]; then
	ps auxw |awk '/lcdclient.s[h]/ {print $2}'|xargs kill
	sleep 1	
fi
if [ `ps auxw |awk 'lcdproc {print $2}'| wc -l` != 0  ]; then
	ps auxw |awk 'lcdproc {print $2}'|xargs kill
	sleep 1	
fi

}

case $1 in
	start)
		rc_start
		;;
	stop)
		rc_stop
		;;
	restart)
		rc_stop
		rc_start
		;;
esac

Then you can maunally start it by typeing '/usr/local/etc/rc.d/lcddisplay.sh start' from the cmd line. When you reboot your box, LCDproc should also start byself since the lcddisplay.sh will be executed on startup

Hope this helps!

mikeisfly

This is my lcdproc.sh:

#!/bin/sh
# This file was automatically generated
# by the pfSense service handler.

rc_start() {

if [ `ps auxw |awk '/LCD[d]/ {print $2}'| wc -l` != 0  ]; then
	ps auxw |awk '/LCD[d]/ {print $2}'|xargs kill 
	sleep 1	
fi
if [ `ps auxw |awk '/lcdclient.s[h]/ {print $2}'| wc -l` != 0  ]; then
	ps auxw |awk '/lcdclient.s[h]/ {print $2}'|xargs kill
	sleep 1	
fi

	/usr/local/sbin/LCDd -c /usr/local/etc/LCDd.conf
	/tmp/lcdclient.sh &

}

rc_stop() {

if [ `ps auxw |awk '/LCD[d]/ {print $2}'| wc -l` != 0  ]; then
	ps auxw |awk '/LCD[d]/ {print $2}'|xargs kill 
	sleep 1	
fi
if [ `ps auxw |awk '/lcdclient.s[h]/ {print $2}'| wc -l` != 0  ]; then
	ps auxw |awk '/lcdclient.s[h]/ {print $2}'|xargs kill
	sleep 1	
fi

}

case $1 in
	start)
		rc_start
		;;
	stop)
		rc_stop
		;;
	restart)
		rc_stop
		rc_start
		;;
esac

And this is the output of top:

  PID USERNAME  THR PRI NICE   SIZE    RES STATE   C   TIME   WCPU COMMAND
41285 nobody      1  54    0  7936K  1648K nanslp  0 151:16 17.09% LCDd
41650 root        1  66    0  8292K  1668K wait    0   0:33  0.00% sh
58696 root        1  67    0  8292K  1668K wait    0   0:31  0.00% sh
36313 root        1  64   20  5836K  1468K select  1   0:17  0.00% apinger
12176 root        1  76   20  8292K  1720K wait    1   0:13  0.00% sh
 2748 root        1  44    0 19152K  4772K select  0   0:06  0.00% racoon
46700 dhcpd       1  44    0 13056K  7668K select  0   0:04  0.00% dhcpd
39941 root        1  44    0   104M 29624K accept  0   0:04  0.00% php
17548 root        1  44    0 14772K  2796K select  1   0:03  0.00% syslogd
40227 root        1  76    0   104M 24436K accept  1   0:03  0.00% php
36983 root        1  44    0 25764K  5364K kqread  0   0:02  0.00% lighttpd
18570 root        1  44    0 11768K  3972K bpf     1   0:02  0.00% tcpdump
18810 root        1  44    0  5832K  1016K piperd  1   0:02  0.00% logger
53890 root        3  64   20  7216K  1652K nanslp  0   0:01  0.00% filterdns
47579 nobody      1  44    0 10144K  2936K select  0   0:01  0.00% dnsmasq
14608 _dhcp       1  44    0  5832K  1572K select  0   0:01  0.00% dhclient
39886 _ntp        1  44    0  5832K  1456K select  0   0:00  0.00% ntpd
38682 root        1  45    0   104M 22472K accept  0   0:00  0.00% php
15207 root        1  44    0  7980K  1556K nanslp  0   0:00  0.00% cron
39687 root        1  76    0   100M 12312K wait    0   0:00  0.00% php
37349 root        1  76    0   100M 12308K wait    0   0:00  0.00% php

I see that LCDd is running but I don't see that lcdproc is running and I'm assuming that you need both?
Cino I have not tried your work around yet, taking a look at it now. Thanks for the quick responses.

stephenw10

The LCDproc package runs differently to the way I have it installed on my firebox so I could be wrong.
Looking at lcdproc.sh it appears the two processes you should see are lcdd and lcdclient.sh. You don't so it's not working.
However with lcdd running but no client I expect the display to show some lcdd server info as in this post.
The fact that is doesn't could indicate a driver problem. However I think you need to try Cino's fix above to make sure it's starting correctly. Or start the server manually at some point.

Steve

mikeisfly

No luck guys, still seems that it doesn't work. Even with Cino's work around.

Here is my syslog information:

At this point I'm not even sure the screen works since I have never seen anything other then the demo text on it.
I am going to install windows on the box and see if I can get it to work that way. I still don't have a clear understanding on how the package works so let me take a try and you guys can tell me if I'm right.

In the FreeBSD there is a folder called /usr/local/etc/rc.d and anything that you put in there will autorun when the computer starts. Now the package LCDproc takes advantage of a demon called LCDd which gets its configuration information from LCDd.conf. LCDproc also uses LCDproc.inc and LCDproc.xml to get it's configuration information for such things as what text to display on the screen and also what driver to use and port, speed ect. Now the drivers are located in /usr/local/lib/lcdproc folder and have an extention of *.so. But the LCDd.conf addresses the driver without the extension, does this mean anyting? Also how is the LCDd.conf generated? I suspect it is generated from the lcdproc package. Below is my LCDd.conf

[server]
Driver=CFontzPacket
Bind=127.0.0.1
Port=13666
ReportLevel=3
ReportToSyslog=yes
WaitTime=5
User=nobody
ServerScreen=no
Foreground=no
DriverPath=/usr/local/lib/lcdproc/
GoodBye="Thanks for using"
GoodBye="    pfSense     "
ToggleRotateKey=Enter
PrevScreenKey=Left
NextScreenKey=Right
ScrollUpKey=Up
ScrollDownKey=Down
[menu]
MenuKey=Escape
EnterKey=Enter
UpKey=Up
DownKey=Down
[CFontzPacket]
Device=/dev/ugen3.2
Model=635
Size=20x4
Contrast=350
Brightness=1000
OffBrightness=50
Speed=115200
NewFirmware=yes
Reboot=yes

Also does my port speed seem kind of high, I know typically serial devices use a port speed of 9600. My device is USB however just trying to think of all possibilities. I may also try to update to the lates version of lcdproc. One last thing it seems like I'm trying to connect to the LCDd on a different port than it's listening on but all of the config files say port=13666.

Thanks for all your help in advance. If anything I'm learning a whole lot about Unix (FreeBSD).

stephenw10

The system log looks a lot better though. It shows lcdd starting and listening for a client and then the client successfully connecting to it. So why is it not actually updating the screen?
Is it stuck in demo mode? It is set to the wrong baud rate?
The option Reboot=yes is supposed to be so that the screen resets itself and comes up in a known state. This implies it may be possible for it to setup wrong.

Override the default communication speed known for the selected model.

[default: depending on model; legal: 19200, 115200]

#Speed=115200

So maybe try 19200.

The Newfirmware=yes option is a bit confusing. If you look at the code at the lcdproc site it seems to imply there isn't any new firmware so this does nothing. :-
In fact your display shows V1.6 and this option is V2.0 firmwares. Maybe try changing that to no.

Set the firmware version (New means >= 2.0) [default: no; legal: yes, no]

Currently this flag is not in use, there is no such thing as NewFirmware. ;=)

#NewFirmware=no

Edit: Actually 1.6 is the most recent. the above only applies to the 633.

Your explanation of how it works is mostly accurate. However this isn't a "normal" install of lcdproc.
In order to use the pfSense package system the lcdproc package does things a bit differently. For example it writes out the lcdproc.conf file when you setup the package. Usually you would just edit the file directly.
It doesn't use the standard lcdproc client instead using it's own client. Lcdproc is written as a client/server combination just to make it easy for people to write their own client software.

Steve

Cino

I know a 635 with scab works on my box as I tried it a few weeks ago as a test. I didn't change any settings other then add the usb port to the config files and selected the packet driver… I do have one extra driver that you may not have. In the http://forum.pfsense.org/index.php/topic,23919.msg123663.html#msg123663 thread, there are steps to add 'libusb.so.2' I needed this to get my piclcd driver to work but I wonder if its needed for any USB LCD device as it was already on my box when I tested with my 635. It also talked about 'libkvm.so.5' but I found I didn't need it.

mikeisfly

I installed the libkvm.5, libusb.so.2, picolcd.so and now I'm getting:

/libexec/ld-elf.so.1: /lib/libkvm.so.5: Shared object has no run-time symbol table
Error.
I have tried to erase the files now I am just getting this error on my terminal and I get this error when I try to run the top command and also if I try to execute the LCDd or lcdproc. I am finishing my basement so I will have to take the router off line for a couple of days also I am making some upgrades so I can switch from operating systems more efficiently and will try to update on my progress later on in the week. I have still not tried to get the LCD working in Windows just as a test. I am also going to try to see if I can get the LCD to work in PfSense 1.2.3. I will update on my progress.

Cino

you dont need the libkvm.5, libusb.so.2, picolcd.so files. They are needed if you have a picolcd display. A firmware update should overwrite the libkvm.5 file.

try it on a windows box to make sure its working.. download ccontrol and the window drivers to get it working on a windows box.

stephenw10

Are you sure you don't need libusb?
Just the fact that something changed when it was added to the box implies that it's being used?

Steve

Cino

i think your right… libusb wasn't there on a fresh install and its needed for picolcd because it uses the usb interface.. the 635 may need it also since its attach via usb. libkvm, at first i did use that driver but after a few fresh installs, i found i didn't need it only libusb. I end up not installing the libkvm

mikeisfly

Okay so I installed Windows 7 32 bit on my box and was able to get the 635 to work with little issues. I did notice that there were two drivers for this screen. There was a USB Driver (I'm guessing that is the CFontzPacket in FreeBSD) but there is also a serial port driver (Not sure which driver does this in FreeBSD) that gets installed even though this screen connects through my motherboard via USB. I remember reading somewhere that this device is a serial device with an USB controller attached to it. If that is the case is there another driver that I have to install before this screen will work? Also in Windows there is a separate program that is responsible for putting the information on the screen (lcdproc I'm guessing is what does that in FreeBSD). I did find out in Windows the screen will not function unless you have the serial port speed set to the Max 115200. I feel like I'm getting closer, I think the issue is the serial port driver. Any ideas?
I also notice that if I edit files with file manger a package I downloaded for PfSense I get all kind of errors trying to run LCDd but if I use the built in file editor then I don’t get the error. There may be a problem with File Manager. Not sure if anyone else has seen this.

Here is a read out of my system logs:

LCDd: LCDd version 0.5.3 starting
Aug 11 21:56:32 LCDd: Using Configuration File: /usr/local/etc/LCDd.conf
Aug 11 21:56:32 LCDd: Listening for queries on 127.0.0.1:13666
Aug 11 21:56:38 LCDd: Connect from host 127.0.0.1:11527 on socket 6
Aug 11 21:56:39 LCDd: error: huh? Too much data received… quiet down!
Aug 11 21:56:39 LCDd: Client on socket 6 disconnected

stephenw10

The USB-Serial port driver, uftdi, is in the FreeBSD kernel and is loading correctly as you can see from your system logs.

One thing that occurs to me is that you may have to point LCDd at the serial device rather than the usb port directly. E.g. at uftdi0

If you plug the screen in after pfSense has booted and you have the console up what messages do you get? Does it show an extra com port for example?

Steve

mikeisfly

The USB-Serial port driver, uftdi, is in the FreeBSD kernel and is loading correctly as you can see from your system logs.

One thing that occurs to me is that you may have to point LCDd at the serial device rather than the usb port directly. E.g. at uftdi0

If you plug the screen in after pfSense has booted and you have the console up what messages do you get? Does it show an extra com port for example?

Steve

I will try that, right now the system is down due to basement construction. I did forget to mention one thing. I was messing around with the LCDd.conf and I copied the LCDd.conf.sample to LCDd.conf without editing it. I then ran the LCDd and lcdproc and it put all the lcdproc information on my terminal window (I was sshed into the box at the time) So it seems that the lcdproc and LCDd are working and it is just a matter of getting the information to the screen. I will try what you said and report back soon.