This section talks about using LCDproc with VFD character-displays build by NEC, FUTABA and NORITAKE. The serialVFD-driver is working with NEC FIPC8367 based VFDs and the "KD Rev 2.1" (an ATMEL AT90S.... based FM20X2KB-AB replacement). It is also known to work on FUTABA VFDs. The driver should operate most of NEC, Futaba and Noritake 7x5 dot VFDs with serial(RS-232) and/or parallel interface. See the following table for testing-status. Feedback is welcome. Display Controller Serial Parallel Display tested Remark NEC FM20X2KB-AB NEC FIPC8367 Ok Ok Yes NEC FC20X2JA NEC FIPC8367 (Ok) (Ok) No Same Controller as on FM20X2KB-AB NEC FC20X1SA-AB/AA NEC FIPC8367 (Ok) (Ok) No Same Controller as on FM20X2KB-AB KD Rev 2.1 AT90S.... microcontroller Ok Ok Yes FUTABA M402SD06GJ ? (?)* Ok Yes (* perhaps no compatible baudrate, not tested) The display has no user-characters: set Custom-Characters=0 in LCDd.conf. FUTABA M204SD01AA FUTABA 5P00A016 (Ok) (Ok) No Samsung 20S204DA2 ? Ok Ok Yes The display is FUTABA compatible (hard- and software). Set Custom-Characters=0 in LCDd.conf. Noritake CU20026SCPB-T microcontroller (Ok) (Ok) No Noritake CU20045SCPB-T28A ? (Ok) (Ok) No (…): Feature not tested. If your display isn't working 100% satisfactorily you can add a new device with modified hardware commands to the driver if you want. To do that you have to add a new section to the display Type=-switch-case in ./server/drivers/serialVFD-displays.c and to write a new "load" function with the correct commands for the display. (Try which display Type= works best with your display, then copy, rename and modify this function to your needs - that is the easiest way I guess.) On Malte Poeggel's page you may find pictures and datasheets of the VFDs: It is possible to switch the display off and back on while the server is running. It may take a few minutes until the next full refresh makes the display show everything correctly. The Connections shown have been tested successfully. Always cross-check with your datasheet, before connecting your display! Different displays of even the same manufacturer may have different pin assignments! With this example connections it will be easy to connect displays with different connector pin-layouts, the pins are commonly named equal in the datasheet. It is not possible to connect most of the displays directly to the serial port. The signal has to be inverted. I use the following circuit to do that job.

- A* | E| | | | | 5(GND) ---------o-----------o----o--------------o-- GND |* Shield -----------------------------------------o optional *connect near display ]]>

The pins on the different displays vary. CN1: CN2: The blue connector (6pin in a row) (the important one!): Hold the display in that position where you can read the KD Rev 2.1 marking normally! The gray connector (10pin 2 rows): The two jumpers next to the gray connector: CN1: CN2: use_parallel= yes no "no" if display connected serial, "yes" if connected parallel [default: no(serial)]. Port= PORT Portaddress where the LPT is. Used in parallelmode only. Usual values are 0x278, 0x378 and 0x3BC [default: 0x278]. Device= DEVICE Device to use in serial mode. Usual values are /dev/ttyS0 and /dev/ttyS1 [default: /dev/lcd]. Custom-Characters= CUSTOM-CHARACTERS Number of Custom-Characters [default: Display-Type dependent]. Size= WIDTH x HEIGHT Specifies the size of the VFD. [default: 20x2] Type= CODE Specifies the display type.[default: 0] The following type codes are available: CODE VFD model 0 NEC (FIPC8367 based) VFDs 1 KD Rev 2.1 2 Noritake VFDs 3 Futaba VFDs Noritake VFDs have not been tested yet. Feedback is welcome. Brightness= BRIGHTNESS Set the initial brightness [default: 1000; legal: 0 - 1000] (4 steps 0-250, 251-500, 501-750, 751-1000) OffBrightness= OFFBRIGHTNESS Set the initial off-brightness [default: 0; legal: 0 - 1000]. This value is used when the display is normally switched off in case LCDd is inactive. (4 steps 0-250, 251-500, 501-750, 751-1000) Speed= 1200 2400 9600 19200 115200 Set the the baud rate communication with the VFD. If not given [default 9600]. ISO_8859_1= yes no Enable ISO-8859-1 compatibility [default is yes].