LCD plugin supporting more than 70 display types (now with full graphics support!!!) (1 Viewer)

[paulchen]

hi,
i need some help to get my lcd (vfd, futaba m402sd06gl) with mp working.

the display is connected (via a usb-to-serial-converter) at com1 and is working fine when i type some text in hyperterminal.

i tried to configure lcd-plugin (and i tried all lcd-types) nothing happens :-(

i hope there is someone who have had the same problems and can give me some hints to get this lcd working.

please fourm, pimp my lcd.

 

[JoeDalton]

I'm sorry but at the moment I don't have the time to add support for new display types
There is one light in the dark, though: my plugin supports the LCDHype drivers, so you can always search the LCDHype forum (http://www.lcdhype.de/) and see whether your display is supported by LCDHype.

If it is, you need to

• Download and install LCDHype
• Lookup the driver folder for your display in the folder c:\Program Files\LCDHype\controller
• Copy the driver .dll from that folder to c:\Program Files\Team MediaPortal\MediaPortal\Plugins\Process\LCDDrivers
• Restart the MP Configuration program.

The new driver should then appear in the list of supported drivers in the plugin configuration.

Joe

 

[paulchen]

sounds funy. but this kind (with a serial-port) is not supported in lcdhype or any other prg.

so, no light. only darkness

i keep this way in mind and hope there is an solution to get it working with lcdhype and then with mp... thx

 

[paulchen]

ther's a light... vfd works perfekt with lcdhype.

so far, so gooe.

i tried (with a big smile) to followed the little 'how-to' from JoeDalton. here we go...
...copy the needed dll (done), open '...plugins/external display' and selected the 'new' display (done), changed to 'com1' (done), pressed 'advanced' and there is the new problem: the new window told me that the display was connected 'parallel' (i never told him to be a parallel display and i have not got a paralell-port on this machine). darkness again!

so please forum, give me a solution to told this %&"-dll (attached with this message) to be serial connected...

 

[thanatos]

JoeDalton,

now I've tried what you told me - turned the "extensive logging" option on, started MP and afterwards had a look at the log file.
In the Plugin Display, I've selected the Soundgraph USB Driver and I put Imon to Plugin Mode. I also tried to turn Imon off - same effect.

I can find 3 lines concerning the Display Plugin:

At Startup:
2007-04-18 18:44:12.062500 [Info.][MPMain]: ExternalDisplay plugin starting...
2007-04-18 18:44:12.062500 [Info.][MPMain]: ExternalDisplay: Loading drivers...

At Shutdown:
2007-04-18 18:44:26.343750 [Info.][MPMain]: PluginManager: stopping ProcessPlugins.ExternalDisplay.ExternalDisplay

If you want, I can of course post the complete log file but I think there is not much information in it...

Any ideas? - I'm stuck...

 

[JoeDalton]

You also need to set the 'Log Level' in the General section of the Configuration program to 'Debug', in order to get the extra info into the log file.

Otherwise the plugin will create the extra information, but the logger will ignore it...

Joe

 

[JoeDalton]

pressed 'advanced' and there is the new problem: the new window told me that the display was connected 'parallel' (i never told him to be a parallel display and i have not got a paralell-port on this machine). darkness again!

so please forum, give me a solution to told this %&"-dll (attached with this message) to be serial connected...

I didn't initialize the display before opening the Advanced Configuration screen. That is why the driver displayed it's default mode: 'parallel'.

I fixed this, so the next SVN version should work ok. I also added the driver to the list of built-in drivers.

Now, in the meantime you can try the following:

• First, completely configure the display in the plugin. Never mind the Advanced configuration.
• Close the MP configuration program.
• Next, as you said the display works fine in LCDHype, copy the Samsung_VFD.cfg file from the LCDHype controller (sub)folder to the MP LCDDrivers folder. This file contains the advanced configuration information.
• Then start MP and pray...

Joe

 

[paulchen]

I didn't initialize the display before opening the Advanced Configuration screen. That is why the driver displayed it's default mode: 'parallel'.

I fixed this, so the next SVN version should work ok. I also added the driver to the list of built-in drivers.

it works perfekt with the latest SVN. Great job!!! Thank you!!!

paulchen

 

[phil123]

Hi (my first post),

I installed MP this week for the first time. I also have the Silverstone GD01 Case.
I've the same problems than thanatos with the LCD/VFD or whatever this thing is!
I tried a lot of configurations but cannot get the display to work. (The remote controller now works fine)

Philipp

 

[JoeDalton]

I don't know if you noticed it, but this thread is the most popular one in the forum. We have 930 posts now and over 155.000 views

Due to this success, it is getting harder and harder for people to find information in it. Therefore I get a lot of questions that are already answered before...

For some time now, the forum has a better place for questions, remarks and discussions concerning external displays.

Therefore I'm going to close this thread, and move it over to the Support section of the ExternalDisplay subforum, where it will still be available for anyone to read.

If you have something to say or ask about external displays, please start a new thread in the new location. From the Forum Home, you can get to it by navigating to Input / Output Interfaces. Look in the ExternalDisplay section in the top.

The following sections are available:

General
For all questions or remarks about this plugin.
I will put the list of supported displays here...

Support
For questions, problems or remarks about displays that are supported. This is also the place to ask for help determing if your display is supported or not.

Tips and tricks
Here you can post useful information that is not available in the Wiki documentation (yet), but perhaps should be... Tips on how to alter the externaldisplay.xml file, for example...

Improvement Suggestions
This is the place to ask for support for new display types. Start a new thread for each new display type. If there is already a thread for your display, add your comments (and bribing propositions) to the existing one. The display with the most (different) posts in it's thread has the most chance of getting supported next. Of course, other improvement suggestions are welcome here too...

So, goodbye here. And see you over there...

Joe

PS: I will wait a couple of days before effectively moving this thread so that everybody has the chance to read this message at its original location...