LCDproc + Raspbmc (xbmc)

[secretreeve]

okay, time for a really noobish question.

how can i paste text into nano?

if im keeping you up we can always call it a night and pick up again tomorow?

also your driver location will need to be changed for my setup. thats okay right?

i think the cpu information and stuff came from one of these

everything will be installed in /usr/local/, so you'd need to make sure /usr/local/bin is in your $PATH

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echo $PATH

To run LCDd, you'd need to do:

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/usr/local/bin/LCDd -f -c /usr/local/etc/LCDd.conf

Then in another terminal, do:

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/usr/local/bin/lcdproc -f -c /usr/local/etc/LCDd.conf

If your LCD is wired up as per raspberrypi-spi.co.uk and the python script results in text being displayed, then the hardware is working just fine. No need to worry about using a pot in place of a fixed resistor (I have a 4k7 pot on my board).

[secretreeve]

root@raspbmc:/# find / -name LCDd.conf
/home/pi/lcdproc/LCDd.conf
/usr/local/etc/LCDd.conf

i assume one of these needs deleting. question is, which? lol

[secretreeve]

maybe you have more then one LCDd.conf? Try to run command 'find / -name LCDd.conf'

[edited]

but you started with command '/usr/local/bin/LCDd -c /usr/local/etc/LCDd.conf -d hd44780 -s true'?
so it doesn't matter... Just try to repleace LCDd.conf with mine ;]

2 LCDd.conf files as above. which one should i edit? does the other need deleting? and the rpi pin layout is in a different location to yours? little worried about this as in mine its under the device type
and your screen size is different to mine

also, what do i do after replacing the LCDd.conf file?

i modified the LCDd.conf file in /usr/local/etc.

i kept my original one and changed the device=/dev/tty0 to dev/=lcd0 otherwise (apart from your gpio pin list location and screen size) everything else looks the same. so i also tried a reboot and restarted LCDd with /usr/local/bin/LCDd -c /usr/local/etc/LCDd.conf -d hd44780 -s true but no difference.

[secretreeve]

to be honest, having your pi setup the same might prove insightful. but yeah, so far had no change in the behavior of it all. so not sure where to go next from here.

[podly]

When you run '/usr/local/bin/LCDd -c /usr/local/etc/LCDd.conf -d hd44780 -s true' you choose your config file using -c option. So lets focus on /usr/local/etc/LCDd.conf

[secretreeve]

okay, well thats the one i changed to match your device=/dev/lcd0 and had no effect on the output.

[secretreeve]

i lied a little, well didnt lie, didnt know.

when i reboot and use /usr/local/bin/LCDd -c /usr/local/etc/LCDd.conf -d hd44780 -s true it displays hd44780 on screen breifly then goes to whats shown in the video.

so there is a little change in the output but only during lcd startup

[podly]

any chance that you will give me ssh access to your RPi? I really would like to help you with this, but this way of communication has really big lag ;] -> PM -> if we find solution, we will post it here ;]

[secretreeve]

instructions on how to do so?

i will need to unplug the usb hdd though (partner will kill me if something happened to the video files lol)

failing remote ssh i do have skype lol (cba with msn messenger or that other *stuff* lol)

[secretreeve]

giving podly a torrent which contains a backup image of my SD card so he can look over everything

[Serac]

For your enjoyment, lcdproc packages with the hd44780-rpi driver built in. You'll need to download and install the lcdproc.deb and the extra-drivers.deb along with any dependencies from the main raspbian repository.

lcdproc.deb: https://www.box.com/s/c0aayfhen02keqibg3pf
extra-drivers.deb: https://www.box.com/s/s89h8graizjbuk2q9fmq
lcdproc orig.tar.gz: https://www.box.com/s/n2fnfy1g3vohpcy1edfp
lcdproc changes.tar.gz: https://www.box.com/s/jyqrcfhkoreqq7fcbdzr
lcdproc-dbg.deb: https://www.box.com/s/d3shg7b80ivpu7oe2mpi
lcdproc.dsc: https://www.box.com/s/oxhr6ueu23d1kg3iybd0
lcdproc-changes: https://www.box.com/s/6a191mvg3gmxu3mn6l8p

The other files are just there for completeness - You might want to download them as well. Don't know how long they will be there.....

If you install the first two packages, you might want to place them on hold so that they don't get upgraded during an apt-get upgrade. To place on hold, do:

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echo lcdproc hold | dpkg --set-selections
echo lcdproc-extra-drivers hold | dpkg --set-selections

[secretreeve]

thanks serac, i've downloaded them all to usb stick as im in the middle of changing computers over to a linux mint 13 maya cinnamon based i3 rig.

soooo much hastle lol

[Hansplast]

In OpenELEC there are additional settings in 'Programs -> OpenELEC settings' when you can enable LCD and choose driver. Unforunatly I am not familiar with Raspbmc, but in OpenELEC this script generates file /storage/.xbmc/userdata/addon_data/os.openelec.settings/settings.xml where is line:

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<settings>
    <setting id="LCD_DRIVER" value="hd44780" />

and this file is automaticly copied to /var/config/settings.conf

In fact, the only thing I did with xbmc was patch this add-on to add hd44780 driver.

I bought a hd44780 LCD (4x20 with LCD2USB board) on eBay and would love to use it with my Raspberry Pi + OpenElec XBMC setup.

I read on the OpenElec website that for the x86 version of OpenElec XBMC one only needs to add hd44780.so (link) - I'm a beginner when it comes to Linux, but it sounds like just adding a ARM compiled hd44780.so and setting LCD_DRIVER to hd44780 should work.

And that's where I get stuck ... does anyone have a ARM compiled hd44780.so available? Or could anyone point out how to compile it myself?

[Serac]

I bought a hd44780 LCD (4x20 with LCD2USB board) on eBay and would love to use it with my Raspberry Pi + OpenElec XBMC setup.
[snip]
And that's where I get stuck ... does anyone have a ARM compiled hd44780.so available? Or could anyone point out how to compile it myself?

The standard hd44780 driver can be found in the lcdproc-extra-drivers package - If you are running a Raspbian install, then a simple apt-get install lcdproc-extra-drivers will get all you need (it will automatically install lcdproc too). The standard Raspbian package works fine with i2c and USB connected LCDs (judging by reports I've seen elsewhere), so you do not need the packages mentioned earlier - Those are for LCDs connected directly to the gpio connector and not using the i2c pins.

[Hansplast]

I'm using OpenElec XBMC.

I did figure out how to use the display under Ubuntu on a regular PC, so I know (I hope) where and what to edit under normal circumstances. However the /etc/LDCd.conf is read only under OpenElec.

A rebuild of the source, with suggested settings by the very helpful people at OpenElec, didn't resolve the issue as the settings for LCDd.conf remain wrong.

[secretreeve]

any news podly?

[Serac]

I did figure out how to use the display under Ubuntu on a regular PC, so I know (I hope) where and what to edit under normal circumstances. However the /etc/LDCd.conf is read only under OpenElec.

All files in /etc are read-only by a regular login user. To edit them, you need to log in as root or fire up your editor with

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sudo nano /etc/LCDd.conf

Recompiling to change default settings is just plain silly.

[secretreeve]

serac can you throw in a manual on how to use these files please?

i can get them copied to my /home/pi directory fine but any attempt to install them returns arguements.

so a little manual on installation of these files would go along way,


thanks.

[secretreeve]

so a little manual on installation of these files would go along way, might also be worth assuming that your starting with absolutely no extra dependencies. (i.e no make, no gcc or anything else)


thanks.

[podly]

1. Edit /etc/rc.local and add there:

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ifconfig lo 127.0.0.1 up
mknod /dev/mem c 1 1
chgrp kmem /dev/mem
/usr/local/sbin/LCDd -c /etc/LCDd.conf -d hd44780 -s true

don't forget about check your paths to LCDd and LCDd.conf

2. Next change one line in:

/home/pi/.xbmc/userdata

in section:

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   <videoscreen>
        <guicalibration></guicalibration>
        <haslcd>false</haslcd>
        <resolution>0</resolution>
        <screenmode>DESKTOP</screenmode>
        <testpattern></testpattern>
        <vsync>3</vsync>
    </videoscreen>

change line:

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<haslcd>false</haslcd>

to

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<haslcd>true</haslcd>

3. Restart your RPi and voile! everything works OK!

PS.

LCDd generates some errors in /var/log/user.log, becouse of some bugs in xbmc. If you have everything running OK, replace:

/usr/local/sbin/LCDd -c /etc/LCDd.conf -d hd44780 -s true
to
/usr/local/sbin/LCDd -c /etc/LCDd.conf -d hd44780 -s false
in your rc.local or user.log will eat your SD card.

[podly]

And picture from working display under Raspbmc:


https://dl.dropbox.com/u/101429500/20120904_220315.jpg

[secretreeve]

so you didnt create an advancedsettings.xml either?