If you have installed the init-scripts you can simply start, stop and restart LCDd with the init-script. There are several reasons for running LCDd from the command line You don't want to install LCDd but run it from the source directory. You want to do some debugging. You want to get the output directly on stderr. ... If you run LCDd as a "normal" user, it will not change to the user specified in the config file. For some devices, mostly parallel port devices but also some USB devices, you will need root privileges anyway ;) The simplest command that will run LCDd is the following. It is useful for running LCDd from the source directory, e.g. after building. $ server/LCDd -c LCDd.conf Running LCDd -h gives you an overview of the currently available command line options. ] where are: -h Display this help screen -c Use a configuration file other than /etc/lcdproc/LCDd.conf -d Add a driver to use (overrides drivers in config file) [curses] -f Run in the foreground -a Network (IP) address to bind to [127.0.0.1] -p Network port to listen for connections on [13666] -u User to run as [nobody] -w Time to pause at each screen (in seconds) [4] -s If set, reporting will be done using syslog -r Report level [2] -i Whether to rotate the server info screen ]]> You will probably more often run lcdproc from the command line than you will run LCDd. Running lcdproc -h gives you an overview of the currently available command line options. ] [ ...] where are -s connect to LCDd daemon on -p connect to LCDd daemon using -f run in foreground -e slow down initial announcement of screens (in 1/100s) -c use a configuration file other than /etc/lcdproc/lcdproc.conf -h show this help screen -v display program version and are C CPU detailed CPU usage P SMP-CPU CPU usage overview (one line per CPU) G CPUGraph CPU usage histogram L Load load histogram M Memory memory & swap usage S ProcSize biggest processes size D Disk filling level of mounted file systems I Iface network interface usage B Battery battery status T TimeDate time & date information O OldTime old time screen U Uptime uptime screen K BigClock big clock N MiniClock minimal clock A About credits page Example: lcdproc -s my.lcdproc.server.com -p 13666 C M X ]]> You will not be able to connect to a remote server, unless it listens to the correct interface and port! See LCDd.conf: The [server] Section for details on the server setup.