Firebox LCD Driver for LCDProc
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Just bumpin this up, anyone?
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I've been looking for a firewall to replace an aging netgear fsv box. Stumbled on pfSense, found it to be pretty amazing, got a decommisioned Firebox x700 and replaced the cf card with a 4g and lcdproc on the 1.2.3rc1 embedded image. Works like a champ. Had some troulble getting lcdproc to work but after finding this thread and adding symlinks, all is good. Was there any ever progress with controlling the lcd with the buttons on the firebox and a charmap that was discussed in this thread? Sorry to resurrect an old thread but thought those that originally started it might have more insight.
Thanks,
Eric -
I've not done any work with mine at all. I started troubleshooting a problem with no connectivity and turned out the old firebox bit the dust :(
So I won't have a test system any more to work with this specific LCD. BUT I did build a kick-ass system with a power efficient mini-itx board, 6 GIG E ports, 2 GIG of memory, fan less and quite all in a nice small metal case. Now I wonder how I can squeeze an LCD in there ::)
I did have fun writing the driver for this. I've never written one before but sounds like a lot of you were able to make some use of it.
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Hello,
I found where is the keyboard, :) i just wrote a scanning program which tracks changes on all ports… ;D
and if found the 4 pushbuttons are at address 0x379 !!
for the moment, i am not able to reach the front panel lights...
if it was easy to write a small test program, when i tried to modify sdeclcd to add the key_read routine, unfortunately, i encounter a lot of difficulties to compile it ???
If someone could support me for that, so all fireboxes X series could enable the keyboard !
Jean Jacques
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You have to download the source for lcdproc and modify the autoconfig scripts to find your sources. The best advice I have is to look at the lcdproc documentation on how to integrate a new driver and use the already established name of the files that I've posted. They have a whole
section on how to develop drivers and integrate the
with the autoconfig and autobuild scripts. Once you do that you can just type make :) after you run the configure script of course setting the parameter to include your driver. -
While you were writing, i found the developer documentation.
i was not able to ./configure –enable-driver=all ... there was an error in the documentation, the right switch is --enable-drivers...
unfortunately, i do not know why, the new driver i called sdeclcd2 becomes sdeclcd2SO in the makefile !!
i corrected that manually and i am able to compile it ! :)Now, i am proud ;D to tell that my driver is working fine, the 4 buttons returns "Left","Right","Up" and "Down" and i can change the screens.
For sure, the main part of the program is your, not mine !!
I will put in online in a few days because i prefer to test it before.
About the name, do you want to keep this name ?
Jean Jacques
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I'd prefer it say the same as it references the name of the LCD module that is being used in the fireboxes. I think we should also submit the source code to the project so people can just download it as part of the normal distribution of LCDProc. Then again i'm not sure if there is such of a "demand" to warrant a driver that is for something so specific.
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I agree, it's a so specific driver that it may not included in lcdproc.
Anyway, it can be added to pfsense, maybe in download area for those who got a nice red firebox box (i like the color!)
I have made some tests, it works fine, it's nice in addition with lcdexec.
I prefer to have more feedback before giving it. Additionnally, i need to understand my compilation troubles, i certainely did someting wrong in the *.am files, but i do not see what for the moment.
nota : I removed the #include "shared/str.h", because it was giving me a compile error (file not found). It compiles without. Have you some idea?
Jean Jacques
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Hello all,
I solved all my compile problems!
It was a mistake in Makefile.am …so i tested th driver yesterday and today, it works.
here is attached the file, jst change the name : remove the .txt
make a copy of previous sdeclcd.so file, in case of trouble, you can reinstall it
copy it instead of original sdeclcd.so
restart LCDdThen the 4 keys send messages "Up","Down","Left","Right"
So the standard LCDd.conf will work.
if you want to use my kbd setup, here it is :
PrevScreenKey=Down
NextScreenKey=Up[menu]
MenuKey=Left
EnterKey=Right
UpKey=Up
DownKey=DownEnjoy :D
Jean Jacques
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Hi all Fireboxes users!
Good news, I improved a little bit sdeclcd.so driver, by adding now a backlight timer.
here are instructions:
- backup your old sdeclcd.so to sdeclcd.so.bak, just in case of trouble, you can reinstall the previous one
- donwload sdeclcd.so.txt, rename it sdeclcd.so
- copy the new sdeclcd.so instead of the old
- edit the /usr/local/etc/LCDd.conf file and add in [sdeclcd] section:
================================
Backlight_Timer=60 if you want 60 seconds
================================
notice: if no entry is written in LCDd.conf, or if value is set to 0, the timer is disabled. - you need to restart your lcdproc driver :
- killall LCDd
- LCDd
- lcdproc
- lcdexec (if you use it)
or reboot your Firebox
=> after 60 seconds (or the time you decided), the backlight will turn off. any key will turn it on. ;D
keep me informed of your trials.
Enjoy it :)
Jean Jacques
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the contents of the tarball and linking the libs works fine for me but the *.so.txts you've posted don't work for me and I keep having to revert to the original. Tried downloading with different browsers and scpin' over differently but to no avail.
I'm using the 1.2.3-RC3 , as I said it works from the tar contents. Just wondering if the forum software or something has mangled the files.
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Mmm
I dont like this!
can you describe what appends ?
if you try to start LCDd from console, do you get a message ?
enter in console mode : option 8
type:killall LCCd
/usr/local/sbin/LCDdI will try the downlod, because i did not tried it.
I am also running 1.2.3-rc3, so it should be the same.
JJ
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I downloaded the file, size is not ok : 12098 bytes instead of 12022.
Here is the original file :
http://www.goessens.dyndns.org/public/sdeclcd.so
JJ
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Thanks so much , I'll test it today for you.
For the record what was happening was that when you started the daemon it would eventually say there was a timeout listening on the supplied port. It appeared as if the driver was damaged. Which it appears it was! I'll test today :D.
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Can confirm that this .so works with menu buttons and backlight , which is EXACTLY what i needed .
Thanks so much for the excellent work! Now to go slay some more firebox firmwares muhahhahahar :D.
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I am very happy that it works!
effectively, when i compared the file .so.txt with original, i discover that the web site replaced all 0x0a bytes by the sequence 0x0d 0x0a, this explains why it is longer, and why it did not work!
Windows compatibilty killed my program!
I think the backlight timer is a necessary option, because it can save some power…
I am working on another (and last ?) release with horizontal bars corrected and Vertical bars added.
unfortanetly, as there are only 8 user chars, heartbeat graphics will not work with this version, i need to replace by other standard chars.
I have also made some hardware improvement regarding fan control, in order to reduce the noise. I will describe that on my web site later...
JJ
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Awesome work being done. I'm wondering if there is any way you could get a guide up on how to install everything you are writing.
Thanks!
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Here is the last release:
- H bar correction : uses now the whole height of display, nicer.
- V bar addition, now can display cpu load vs time
- Big clock support, now you can use it as a clock !
unfortunately, as the number of user chars is very limited, the two latest adds makes the heartbeat unavailable.
this is the version 1.0.3
the original author is ridnhard19, who made the main part of the work.
here are the files : http://goessens.dyndns.org/public
for firebox users, just need to replace sdeclcd.so
I also included the sources, maybe to use them for converting a retired Firebox to a Freenas, or maybe also a linux box (web server, mail server, …)
maybe it is possible to place the files on the pfsense server ?
JJ :)
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Can someone please post a complete copy of there /usr/local/etc/LCDd.conf file as I think I may have badly damaged mine, and I was stupid enough not to make a backup.
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Here it is :
This is specific for sdeclcd 1.0.3 with keyboard & backlight timer.
# LCDd.conf -- configuration file for the LCDproc server daemon LCDd [server] Driver=sdeclcd Bind=127.0.0.1 Port=13666 #ReportLevel=3 #ReportToSyslog=yes WaitTime=10 User=nobody ServerScreen=no # The server will stay in the foreground if set to true. #Foreground=no DriverPath=/usr/local/lib/lcdproc/ # 12345678901234567890 Hello=" pfSense booting " Hello=" please wait " # GoodBye message: each entry represents a display line; default: builtin # 12345678901234567890 GoodBye=" Pfsense 1.2.3 rc3 " GoodBye=" is shutting down " TitleSpeed=0 HeartBeat=off PrevScreenKey=Down NextScreenKey=Up ##ToggleRotateKey=Enter ##PrevScreenKey=Left ##NextScreenKey=Right #ScrollUpKey=Up #ScrollDownKey=Down [menu] MenuKey=Left EnterKey=Right UpKey=Up DownKey=Down # The following works excellent with 4 keys or more. ##MenuKey=Escape ##EnterKey=Enter ##UpKey=Up ##DownKey=Down # If you have 6 keys you may define these as well #LeftKey=Left #RightKey=Right # If you have only 3 keys, you could use something like this: #MenuKey=Escape #EnterKey=Enter #DownKey=Down ## Firebox specific driver ## [sdeclcd] BackLight=yes Backlight_Timer=60 # EOF
Jean Jacques
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Hi,
:)Thanks to the pseron who worte this - it works greate :)
Followed the instruction to most part and got it working with the buttons ans options.
I have just on question.
the option that are set via the LCD display and button on the Firebox, - are they saved to the disk ( i use a 2.5" la hdd and not a flash card) any where, if not how can i set the option i wnat so next time pfsens starts they will be there.Also what other options are available for the LCDd.conf file that I can use.
Thanks in advance
George. -
Tnx to all here helping getting this to work for all of us.
But there is a small thing that has been nagging me sins i got pfsense on my two Fireboxes.
I might be posting this in the wrong thread but this is the closest i get to my question.
So here is my question:Is there ANY way to get the armed light to turn green when the system is fully active??
I know this just is the icing on the cake but i would love if anyone have any idea on how to solve this.
;D
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whem i wrote the keyboard driver, i made some investigations around fireboxes:
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the main circuit is a it8712f, which contains all peripherals.
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to discover wher is the keyboard, i wrote a little spy program which was scanning all ports in the range 0x000 .. 0x3FF to monitor activity, and i discovered that keyboard was using LPT port !
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to go further, i found in IT8712F datasheet all GPIO wich certainly control the led, oar maybe it is another bit in the LPT ports.
some tests needs to be done to determine how to access it uses ports 0x2e and 0x2f… for the moment, i have no more time and my firebox is running, so it is difficult to investigate anymore...
give me a free firebox to investigate ;)
there is a possibility to change the led status in the BIOS, you need to plug a pci video card, and a keyboard (i wrote the wiring to PS/2 in another topic) You will need a 90° PCI connector to plug the video card or a PCI spacer.
There is an option in the bios to control this led.
Notice that you can also configure your bios to dialog trough the com port, so after that you can enter the bios with a simple terminal.
JJ
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Hi,
This looks great got it to work.
I want to make some changes to the display - like remove the host name - so it only displays the function like CPU, MEM etc…
also want to add a new option toi display the host name on a seperate screen.Does any one have all the source code required (all modules lcd, lcdpoc wtc...)- or do i just need to modify the sdeclcd.c .h files.
Cause hen you run lcdproc -h you set the set of option - - whre i need to add a new one.:)
Thanks in advance
George -
LCDd is the display server, sdeclcd is the display driver for firebox display & kbd.
messages are generated by lcdproc which creates the screens.
if you want to customize displays, you may modify lcdproc and compile it on a freebsd machine.
you will find souces package and compiling instructions on lcdproc source forge page (ver 0.5.3) http://sourceforge.net/projects/lcdproc/, the web site is not fully updated.
i did compile it under freebsd to get the latest version, compiling is easy, if you do not make typing errors…
LCDd can accept simultaneous connections, so you can also use others programs to create dispalys, and you can use lcdexec to create menus.
lcdproc is flexible in the way you can select different screens which will be displayed one by one, and with lcdexec you can create menus with (limited) actions.
but screens are pre-programmed.another alternative is lcd4linux, which allows to customize your screen, but you can have only one screen.
another nice feature is the availability to display 2 graphs in one line, there is a complex routine to allow that with only 8 graphic chars, this is remarquable.http://ssl.bulix.org/projects/lcd4linux/
unfortunetely, it does not compile natively under freebsd, i did it, but it was extremely long to setup, and for installing it it on pfsense, you will have to add manually a lot of libraries.
JJ
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Hi
Thanks JJ - :)
One other question.
Do have the pin layout for the firbox x series by any chance?Thanks
George -
there's another thread about the x550e which is virtually the same as the x750e.
http://forum.pfsense.org/index.php/topic,20095.15.html
I've got the x700 and the x750e
problems with larger cards on the x750e, but yes it does work.
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Here are the directions w/ files! This only has support for the FireBox LCD compiled. I have also noticed the interface stats does not work w/ freeBSD. I've got a full install on my pc and it still doesn't pickup the traffic. I have not dug too much into it. At any rate here it is:
(Copy and paste from shell so you can see exactly how I set it up to install)
I should really wrap a cool GUI around this so it can all be configured from the web console. I do know PHP too, just need to find some time.
I'm using the EMBEDDED VERSION! the install script supports that only - if you are using a full install i'd try and comment out the 2 mount commands as you don't need to re-mount the file system as read-write then back to read-only.
Note: the /var/tmp filesystem resides in memory so you can 'play' here without wearing out your CF card.
This is from some PC to put the archive on the pfsense box.
MacWild:final jayson$ ls lcdd.tar.gz MacWild:final jayson$ gunzip lcdd.tar.gz MacWild:final jayson$ scp lcdd.tar root@***.***.***.***:/var/tmp Password: lcdd.tar 100% 124KB 124.0KB/s 00:00 MacWild:final jayson$
Now ssh into the box; make sure ya got it enabled first of course ;)
pfsense:/# cd /var/tmp pfsense:/var/tmp# ls -l total 126 -rw-r--r-- 1 root wheel 126976 Mar 6 22:30 lcdd.tar drwxr-xr-x 2 root wheel 512 Mar 6 22:28 vi.recover pfsense:/var/tmp# tar -xvf lcdd.tar x lcdd x lcdd/drivers x lcdd/lcdd x lcdd/LCDd.conf x lcdd/lcdd.sh x lcdd/lcdproc x lcdd/drivers/curses.so x lcdd/drivers/sdeclcd.so x install-embed.lcdd.sh pfsense:/var/tmp# chmod 700 install-embed.lcdd.sh pfsense:/var/tmp# ./install-embed.lcdd.sh pfsense:/var/tmp# mount /dev/ufs/pfSense on / (ufs, local, read-only) devfs on /dev (devfs, local) /dev/md0 on /tmp (ufs, local) /dev/md1 on /var (ufs, local) /dev/ufs/pfSenseCfg on /cf (ufs, local, read-only) devfs on /var/dhcpd/dev (devfs, local) pfsense:/var/tmp#
Now you can reboot or just 'cd' over to the run-scripts directory and start it up so you can keep that stellar 'up-time' figure
pfsense:/var/tmp# cd /usr/local/etc/rc.d pfsense:/usr/local/etc/rc.d# ls lcdd.sh lighttpd pfsense:/usr/local/etc/rc.d# ls -la total 5 drwxr-xr-x 2 root wheel 512 Mar 6 22:31 . drwxr-xr-x 4 root wheel 512 Feb 24 17:37 .. -r-xr-xr-x 1 root wheel 174 Mar 6 22:31 lcdd.sh -r-xr-xr-x 1 root wheel 1184 Sep 11 13:00 lighttpd pfsense:/usr/local/etc/rc.d# ls lcdd.sh lighttpd pfsense:/usr/local/etc/rc.d# ./lcdd.sh pfsense:/usr/local/etc/rc.d#
The driver currently does not have support for vertical filled histograms - its only a 2x20 LCD so I wrote the horizontal fill functions - I need to finish that but I really didn't need it so I pushed it to the back burner for now.
http://files.pfsense.org/misc/lcdd.tar.gz
(Can this file be put on one of the pfSense servers?) – Thanks! I've updated my url
i have tried the above and failed…. please can some one walk me through this ..... i also edited and copied the files so i could have the sdeclcd driver in the list on the lcdproc page but no luck...
here is the output from the system logs
Mar 1 22:06:14 LCDd: LCDd version 0.5.2 starting Mar 1 22:06:14 LCDd: Using Configuration File: /usr/local/etc/LCDd.conf Mar 1 22:06:14 LCDd: Listening for queries on 127.0.0.1:13666 Mar 1 22:06:14 LCDd: Could not open driver module /usr/local/lib/lcdproc/sdeclcd.so: Shared object "libkvm.so.3" not found, required by "sdeclcd.so" Mar 1 22:06:14 LCDd: Driver [sdeclcd] binding failed Mar 1 22:06:14 LCDd: Could not load driver sdeclcd Mar 1 22:06:14 LCDd: There is no output driver Mar 1 22:06:14 LCDd: Critical error while initializing, abort.
please can someone help…. it would be good if my firebox X700 could have the LCD working..... :)
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Here are the directions w/ files! This only has support for the FireBox LCD compiled. I have also noticed the interface stats does not work w/ freeBSD. I've got a full install on my pc and it still doesn't pickup the traffic. I have not dug too much into it. At any rate here it is:
(Copy and paste from shell so you can see exactly how I set it up to install)
I should really wrap a cool GUI around this so it can all be configured from the web console. I do know PHP too, just need to find some time.
I'm using the EMBEDDED VERSION! the install script supports that only - if you are using a full install i'd try and comment out the 2 mount commands as you don't need to re-mount the file system as read-write then back to read-only.
Note: the /var/tmp filesystem resides in memory so you can 'play' here without wearing out your CF card.
This is from some PC to put the archive on the pfsense box.
MacWild:final jayson$ ls lcdd.tar.gz MacWild:final jayson$ gunzip lcdd.tar.gz MacWild:final jayson$ scp lcdd.tar root@***.***.***.***:/var/tmp Password: lcdd.tar 100% 124KB 124.0KB/s 00:00 MacWild:final jayson$
Now ssh into the box; make sure ya got it enabled first of course ;)
pfsense:/# cd /var/tmp pfsense:/var/tmp# ls -l total 126 -rw-r--r-- 1 root wheel 126976 Mar 6 22:30 lcdd.tar drwxr-xr-x 2 root wheel 512 Mar 6 22:28 vi.recover pfsense:/var/tmp# tar -xvf lcdd.tar x lcdd x lcdd/drivers x lcdd/lcdd x lcdd/LCDd.conf x lcdd/lcdd.sh x lcdd/lcdproc x lcdd/drivers/curses.so x lcdd/drivers/sdeclcd.so x install-embed.lcdd.sh pfsense:/var/tmp# chmod 700 install-embed.lcdd.sh pfsense:/var/tmp# ./install-embed.lcdd.sh pfsense:/var/tmp# mount /dev/ufs/pfSense on / (ufs, local, read-only) devfs on /dev (devfs, local) /dev/md0 on /tmp (ufs, local) /dev/md1 on /var (ufs, local) /dev/ufs/pfSenseCfg on /cf (ufs, local, read-only) devfs on /var/dhcpd/dev (devfs, local) pfsense:/var/tmp#
Now you can reboot or just 'cd' over to the run-scripts directory and start it up so you can keep that stellar 'up-time' figure
pfsense:/var/tmp# cd /usr/local/etc/rc.d pfsense:/usr/local/etc/rc.d# ls lcdd.sh lighttpd pfsense:/usr/local/etc/rc.d# ls -la total 5 drwxr-xr-x 2 root wheel 512 Mar 6 22:31 . drwxr-xr-x 4 root wheel 512 Feb 24 17:37 .. -r-xr-xr-x 1 root wheel 174 Mar 6 22:31 lcdd.sh -r-xr-xr-x 1 root wheel 1184 Sep 11 13:00 lighttpd pfsense:/usr/local/etc/rc.d# ls lcdd.sh lighttpd pfsense:/usr/local/etc/rc.d# ./lcdd.sh pfsense:/usr/local/etc/rc.d#
The driver currently does not have support for vertical filled histograms - its only a 2x20 LCD so I wrote the horizontal fill functions - I need to finish that but I really didn't need it so I pushed it to the back burner for now.
http://files.pfsense.org/misc/lcdd.tar.gz
(Can this file be put on one of the pfSense servers?) – Thanks! I've updated my url
i have tried the above and failed…. please can some one walk me through this ..... i also edited and copied the files so i could have the sdeclcd driver in the list on the lcdproc page but no luck...
here is the output from the system logs
Mar 1 22:06:14 LCDd: LCDd version 0.5.2 starting Mar 1 22:06:14 LCDd: Using Configuration File: /usr/local/etc/LCDd.conf Mar 1 22:06:14 LCDd: Listening for queries on 127.0.0.1:13666 Mar 1 22:06:14 LCDd: Could not open driver module /usr/local/lib/lcdproc/sdeclcd.so: Shared object "libkvm.so.3" not found, required by "sdeclcd.so" Mar 1 22:06:14 LCDd: Driver [sdeclcd] binding failed Mar 1 22:06:14 LCDd: Could not load driver sdeclcd Mar 1 22:06:14 LCDd: There is no output driver Mar 1 22:06:14 LCDd: Critical error while initializing, abort.
please can someone help…. it would be good if my firebox X700 could have the LCD working..... :)
ok i got this working kinda… but the link for sdeclcd 1.0.3 is broken can any one else repost the file? many thanks
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I have a bit of a situation where the LCDProc service does not start and nothing shows in the logs in regards to this. I am using a Firebox 1000. Tried installing and uninstalling the package as well with no luck. Tried installing the program manually even by using the script in this thread, still not working. Using 1.2.3-RELEASE
Any ideas?
Update
All fixed, just permission problems.
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Anyone know about how to get the LCD on the x750e working? These instructions don't seem to work on it.
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I've done this on the X700 as well as the X5000 I can't imagine they changed things this dramatically in the newest lineup of hardware.
What part of the steps aren't working?
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No errors are given but the LCD never displays anything I tell it. I believe the LCD is different, and so the driver doesn't work. The x550e, x750e, etc have a completely different motherboard with different network ports, memory slots, PCIEX ports, etc. I bet the LCD is different because these have a yellow back-light instead of the white like the x500, x700, etc.
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The x5000 has a yellow backlight too, doesn't mean much.
Here are the step by step instructions I posted in the X700 thread, the links all refer back to this thread:
Don't install the LCDPROC package, but if you follow RidnHard19's instructions exactly from the first page of this forum: http://forum.pfsense.org/index.php/topic,7920.msg46356.html#msg46356 it will help until you get to the symlink part.
You'll want to replace the diver with Jean's updated version also in that thread: http://forum.pfsense.org/index.php/topic,7920.msg105179.html#msg105179
Then, to wrap it all up and make it work follow the instructions to create the symlinks to the updated libraries: ( in the same thread) http://forum.pfsense.org/index.php/topic,7920.msg69315.html#msg69315
You should then be able to start the LCDd script and view the results immediately on your LCD panel.
I just finished the install on my x700, a problem with a remote serial cable forwarded to a TCP socket(I was too lazy to bring it upstairs and use my known-good serial port/cable) made it harder than expected, but I managed, and was rewarded with CARP!
Hope this helps!
–James -
I know. I've got two x700 fireboxes that works just fine on. However it doesn't work on my x750e. I'm thinking that the lcd's port is different or it's a different LCD all together.
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The driver was written for the IT8712F chip.
Does the 750e have this or something compatible?Steve
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The LCD on the e-series seems to be a APEX 202001. You can see for yourself by looking on page 21 of http://www.watchguard.com/docs/corporate/wg_peak-eDe-MFR_instructions.pdf
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Yes I see but the chip I was refering to is the I/O chip that handles the parallel port that talks to the LCD. I think! :-
I'm a bit vague on this but if you read back this thread it explains most of it.
Anyway if watchguard (or whoever were making the boards) changed to a different I/O chip you'd probably need a different driver.Steve
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I just tried this process and it's hard. It did not work and I got the several errors, it was missing a file and I lost the log. I going to flash the 4GB card and try again. Can somebody break down some of the commands. I am having a real problem understanding the process.
I don't have a good hand on freebsd commands.
RC -
Have a look in the X peak thread.
I just had to re install it so I made some notes! ;D