[Pending] - Display driver for vfd Futaba MDM166A in minidisplay plugin

Because of some requests mainly in the german forum, here comes a new minidisplay driver for the vfd Futaba MDM166A.

https://github.com/MediaPortal/MediaPortal-1/pull/8

Changes to minidiplay plugin:
- new driver FutabaMDM166A.cs
- new driver included in minidisplay project

The code has been tested with MediaPortal 1.2.2 on a windows XP machine with the mentionned Futaba display and the new display driver works fine since 2 weeks.

I would be glad if someone of the project team could review the code and if the new driver could be part of the next MediaPortal release.

Many thanks in advance
Datenschredder

Is it running on Win7 x64?

Not sure since I have no Win7 x64 for validation, just Windows XP.
But if you like to find it out, just download a modified minidisplay plugin DLL here:
http://forum.team-mediaportal.com/threads/futaba-mdm166a-treiber.105705/
Please post your feedback here.

Comment added April 14th 2012:
Meanwhile, this has been tested by another member and it works fine with Win7 64.


Thanks
Datenschredder

Hi Vasilich,
yes you are right. Eisgold seems to be the onliest seller for this display. The vfd once was provided as part of some Targa PCs
and there seem to be lots of displays to be left. Not sure if it is too expensive but it has a nice feature: you can activate
a big or little clock,showing the time when switching off the PC.
The reason why I programmed the driver is a stupid one: I bought the vfd without making sure it would work with MediaPortal :-(
Once built in mechanically, I had to do something to make it run....
You can find some interesting infos about the display here: http://www.muetze1.de/?page_id=568
It is also supported by the VDR project: http://www.vdr-portal.de/board18-vd...ds/95381-vfd-mit-usb-anschluß-futaba-mdm166a/

Great work Datenschredder - many thanks for your work on this. Was thinking about buying this Futaba model - what do you think about it? It looks like one of the better VFD's out there - can you give me a recommendation? Thanks

Hi ay129,

not really since this is the only display I own. Guess there are some guys in the forum who might
be more experienced with different displays. Sorry

Well, I bit the bullet and ordered one of these bad boys from Deutschland - and with Datenschredder's instructions, its working great. Funny thing is Datenschredder's setup makes the display use both lines as one combined line. Can this be changed?

Also there is no message sent to the red recording light when I am recording TV - does anyone know how I can fix this? There has to be some process that makes the red light in MP home blink when a recording is on.

Hi ay129,
try the new version 0.2. Record icon should work now as stated in my last answer here:
http://forum.team-mediaportal.com/threads/futaba-mdm166a-treiber.105705/

Hi all,

works great on MP 1.3.0.0 Beta/Win7-64.

Improvment Suggestion: Smooth scrolling instead of character stepping.


BR
Tom