Firebox LCD Driver for LCDProc

fmertz

Thanks to fmertz the driver now correctly supports the front panel buttons on the X-E boxes. ;D

In the spirit of facilitating getting folks involved in contributing to this driver, I decided it was time to put all this code in one place. The long term plan would certainly be to merge this driver with the upstream lcdproc project. For now, I gathered everyone's contributions and put them in public version controlled project on github.

The setup is as follows: The master branch contains the code from upstream lcdproc. It is the 0.5dev version, the current development area. I created the sdec branch to capture all the changes necessary for the Watchguard Firebox LCD driver. There are various commits on that branch, one for each contribution, attributed by author as best as I could. The branch captures changes to the sources, makefiles and documentation. The idea is that someone wanting to build this driver from source would be a few commands away from doing so by using this repo.

The github repository for the sdeclcd is at https://github.com/fmertz/sdeclcd

To build this driver from source:


to be updated...
git clone ...
cd ...
./autogen.sh --enable-drivers=sdeclcd
make

Feedback welcome.

stephenw10

I'm not sure you can do that in one step, I certainly didn't.


./autogen.sh
./configure --enable-drivers=sdeclcd
make

The requirements for getting the code into lcdproc upstream seemed tough to meet to me.

Steve

fmertz

@stephenw10:

I'm not sure you can do that in one step

Commands:


git clone -b sdec git://github.com/fmertz/sdeclcd.git
cd sdeclcd/
./autogen.sh
./configure --enable-drivers=sdeclcd
make

In FreeBSD:


[fcm@BSDDev /usr/home/fcm]$ uname -a
FreeBSD BSDDev.localdomain 8.2-RELEASE FreeBSD 8.2-RELEASE #0: Fri Feb 18 02:24:46 UTC 2011     root@almeida.cse.buffalo.edu:/usr/obj/usr/src/sys/GENERIC  i386
[fcm@BSDDev /usr/home/fcm]$ git clone -b sdec git://github.com/fmertz/sdeclcd.git
Cloning into sdeclcd...
remote: Counting objects: 628, done.
remote: Compressing objects: 100% (499/499), done.
remote: Total 628 (delta 90), reused 627 (delta 89)
Receiving objects: 100% (628/628), 992.04 KiB | 191 KiB/s, done.
Resolving deltas: 100% (90/90), done.
[fcm@BSDDev /usr/home/fcm]$ cd sdeclcd/
[fcm@BSDDev /usr/home/fcm/sdeclcd]$ ./autogen.sh 
Running aclocal ...
Running autoheader...
Running automake  ...
configure.in:75: installing `./compile'
configure.in:10: installing `./config.guess'
configure.in:10: installing `./config.sub'
configure.in:6: installing `./install-sh'
configure.in:6: installing `./missing'
clients/lcdexec/Makefile.am: installing `./depcomp'
Running autoconf ...
[fcm@BSDDev /usr/home/fcm/sdeclcd]$ ./configure --enable-drivers=sdeclcd
checking for a BSD-compatible install... /usr/bin/install -c
checking whether build environment is sane... yes
checking for a thread-safe mkdir -p... ./install-sh -c -d
checking for gawk... no
checking for mawk... no
checking for nawk... nawk
checking whether make sets $(MAKE)... yes
checking build system type... i386-unknown-freebsd8.2
checking host system type... i386-unknown-freebsd8.2
checking whether to enable debugging... no
checking for gcc... gcc
checking whether the C compiler works... yes
checking for C compiler default output file name... a.out
checking for suffix of executables... 
checking whether we are cross compiling... no
checking for suffix of object files... o
checking whether we are using the GNU C compiler... yes
checking whether gcc accepts -g... yes
checking for gcc option to accept ISO C89... none needed
checking for style of include used by make... GNU
checking dependency style of gcc... gcc3
checking how to run the C preprocessor... gcc -E
checking for ranlib... ranlib
checking whether gcc and cc understand -c and -o together... yes
checking for xmlto... no
checking CFLAGS for gcc -Wno-unused-function... -Wno-unused-function
checking CFLAGS for gcc -ftrampolines... no, unknown
checking for gethostbyname... yes
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checking if freetype support has been enabled... yes
checking for freetype-config... /usr/local/bin/freetype-config
checking for FreeType -- version >= 7.0.1... yes
checking if ethlcd support has been enabled... yes
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configure: checking which drivers to compile...
---------------------------------------
LCDd will be compiled with the drivers:
    -  sdeclcd
---------------------------------------
configure: creating ./config.status
config.status: creating Makefile
config.status: creating shared/Makefile
config.status: creating server/Makefile
config.status: creating server/commands/Makefile
config.status: creating server/drivers/Makefile
config.status: creating clients/Makefile
config.status: creating clients/lcdproc/Makefile
config.status: creating clients/lcdexec/Makefile
config.status: creating clients/lcdvc/Makefile
config.status: creating clients/examples/Makefile
config.status: creating clients/metar/Makefile
config.status: creating docs/Makefile
config.status: creating docs/Doxyfile
config.status: creating docs/lcdproc-dev/Makefile
config.status: creating docs/lcdproc-user/Makefile
config.status: creating docs/lcdproc-user/drivers/Makefile
config.status: creating scripts/Makefile
config.status: creating scripts/init-LCDd.LSB
config.status: creating scripts/init-lcdproc.LSB
config.status: creating scripts/init-lcdexec.LSB
config.status: creating scripts/init-lcdvc.LSB
config.status: creating scripts/init-LCDd.debian
config.status: creating scripts/init-lcdproc.debian
config.status: creating scripts/init-lcdexec.debian
config.status: creating scripts/init-lcdvc.debian
config.status: creating scripts/init-LCDd.rpm
config.status: creating scripts/init-lcdproc.rpm
config.status: creating config.h
config.status: executing depfiles commands
[fcm@BSDDev /usr/home/fcm/sdeclcd]$ make
make  all-recursive
Making all in shared
...
[fcm@BSDDev /usr/home/fcm/sdeclcd]$ ls -l server/drivers/sdeclcd.so
-rwxr-xr-x  1 fcm  fcm  13522 Dec  6 21:51 server/drivers/sdeclcd.so

mmiller

Does anyone have this in a package yet for pfsense? I would build it my self except I don't currently have a freebsd VM or test machine to test on.

fmertz

@fmertz:

The github repository for the sdeclcd is at https://github.com/fmertz/sdeclcd

The code was updated. Check the sdec branch of the project:

https://github.com/fmertz/sdeclcd/tree/sdec

The changes are:

Rewrite of driver code

Suppressed user parameter in configuration file to preserve back light

Added support for more icon codes
Restored heart beat
Fixed initialization
Updated documentation

This is based on the 0.5dev version of the lcdproc upstream project.

The primary purpose of this effort is to submit a working driver to the upstream project. This is why it is a branch off of the latest dev branch.

In parallel, mdima has packaged lcdproc-dev for pfSense. It is based off of lcdproc-0.5.4. This latest driver code is included in mdima's package (I compiled it separately). The discussion is here: http://forum.pfsense.org/index.php/topic,44034.0.html. Big thanks to Stephenw10 and Spy Alelo for live testing on actual hardware, and confirming that the driver works. Basically, if you install the lcdproc-dev package on your Firebox, you should have a working LCD. As simple as that. Feedback most welcome.

PS: The button mapping in the LCDd.conf file might need an adjustment, but should be fixed shortly.

fmertz

@fmertz:

The code was updated. Check the sdec branch of the project:

https://github.com/fmertz/sdeclcd/tree/sdec

The primary purpose of this effort is to submit a working driver to the upstream project.

The code was updated again: housekeeping and bug fix.

A little while back, I submitted this code for inclusion into the upstream lcdproc project. I am happy to report that the code was accepted. This means this SDEC driver for Fireboxes is now a part of the official lcdproc project!

fmertz

The code was updated again for supporting LEDs. Details here:

http://forum.pfsense.org/index.php/topic,44034.msg276249.html#msg276249

drdyno

So I installed with the new LCDproc-dev.. All I can get the lcd to do is say "Thanks for using pfSense".
I have different screens checked on the screens tab but can't get it to do anything… buttons don't work.

I had this working at one time.. now I am frustrated with it...

Dyno

stephenw10

There is a problem with the start sequence. Once your box is up if you go to Status: Services: and restart the lcdproc service it will run correctly.

Steve

Brak

I rewrote the startup script that lcdproc.inc outputs and fixed the boot issue on Fireboxes and my own units.

You guys will need to check my work and make sure nothing is getting messed up by my changes, but it appears start/stop/restart are working as intended. Something was wrong with the "if X running then kill X" statements. Not sure why the bug was inconsitent with different hardware, but I got it working.

I'll post it when I get home, stuck at work. I've been so busy I haven't even been able to test the xCore-e changes. :-\

drdyno

Steve,

Is there anyway to fix this other than having to do that each time it reboots? This is a firebox for my best friend that I am building to help conserve space in his office.

Dyno

** Nevermind on reboot it works properly now!

Now to find a better and quieter cpu cooler…

Brak

Here is the "fixed" lcdproc.inc

Not sure if this will work for everyone or if it isn't working right, but let me know how it could be improved.

lcdproc.inc.png

drdyno

Brak,

I stumbled upon your ebay listings again today looking for a X-E box ;D

you boxes look nice.

Brak

@drdyno:

Brak,

I stumbled upon your ebay listings again today looking for a X-E box ;D

you boxes look nice.

Thanks bud!

I'd probably sell my X-E boxes with pfsense on them, but I'm waiting for 2.1 so the driver is supported properly. So sad that 4 gigabit NICs are basically useless atm! I have 3 fully maxed upgraded ones just looking pretty in a rack :(

stephenw10

Try the patched driver. I've put a few 10s of Gigs through mine and hasn't crashed yet. Though I still haven't found a reliable way to crash it with the standard driver. ::)

Steve

flecom

how can I disable the backlight timer?

I have the backlight set to on, the brightness to 100% and the off-brightness to 100%… tried adding
BackLight=yes
Backlight_Timer=0

to the lcdd.conf and still turns off after 30 seconds or so ???

stephenw10

If you are using the most recent re-written driver there is a hard coded backlight timer which can't be disabled. Fmertz did it deliberately as the the backlight has a finite (and not that long) life and has already been run for many hours on most peoples boxes. We had a number of failure reports.

Steve

flecom

its an LED backlight… its lifetime would be about the same as the power LED?...

flecom

well anyway if anyone wants the backlight on all the time regardless of what the driver tells it to do all you have to do is put a bit of solder across J2 right next to the "K" (Cathode) land on the back of the LCD panel

it has a 100k hour MTBF (~11.5 years) so decide if you want to "risk" it

stephenw10

Which box do you have?
Some had a cold cathode style backlight with a far shorter life.

Steve