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[mjcumming]

In development, a girder lcd/vfd frontend that gives you an audiotron like interface to MC9.

Need a few beta testers - prelim documentation follows.

Mike


LCD Master

Screen and Menu System for LCD Displays

Intro

Writing documentation is not something I like doing - so this is short but hopefully gives a good idea of what LCD Master does. Today’s Home Theater PC’s often include an LCD display to show information from various media players.  Existing programs for using LCD’s are limited in ability and do not provide an easy method to integrate information from different sources.  The limited real-estate of the LCD display makes it difficult to display more than a small amount of system or player information.  Also, with the advent of high end HTPC’s (i.e. Atech Fabrication) which now have player buttons and powermate knobs, a method to control the HTPC is needed.

LCD Master is a Girder program for use on a Home Theater PC (HTPC) to display media player information, system data, weather, CallerID etc in a highly configurable manner on an LCD display.  Any number of screens can be created.  Display is controlled by setting screen priority levels and cycling times.  For example, weather data and system status screens are assigned a priority of 1.  These screens are cycled with each other using user specified cycling times.  If Zoom Player is started, its screens take over because they have a priority level of 2.  Now suppose CallerID data arrives – this screen is given a priority of 3 and overwrites the Zoom Player screen.  The CallerID screen expires after a short period and the Zoom Player screen again is displayed.  This is all controlled by LCD Master.  The user designs the screens and assigns priority, cycling and expiration times.  Existing screens are automatically updated in the background even when they are not being displayed.

LCD Master also allows users to create menus to control the HTPC using any input device (similar in concept the Audiotron).  This allows using the HTPC for audio playback without turning on the computer monitor.  The included menus also provide controls to change the volume, control Media Center 9, Zoom Player, load DVD ISO’s and shutdown or restart the computer

LCD Master consists of 2 components – the core routines which provide a rich set of functions to create, modify, and delete screens and menus, and a set of pre-designed screens to interface with Zoom Player, Media Center 9, Weather, CallerID, Windows Instrumentation, and CoolMon.  Adding other programs is easy; requiring a moderate understanding of Girder and LUA.

The program is consists of over 8000 lines of LUA code.  Hence, it is somewhat complex and formal documentation of the inner workings does not exist.  It was written for my own personal use and is being distributed for personal use only.  The best way to start with it is to examine the included screens and menus.  The code is fairly well documented and this should provide some help.  Unfortunately, building and configuring an HTPC requires a moderate amount of computer savvy and getting this program running is no different.

[bspachman]

Sign me up! Send me a PM on how I can pick it up...I've been wondering what the next step is for me--my Marantz 5200 is powerful, but I still find myself reaching for a monitor or TV display fairly frequently.

Still---8000 lines of LUA!! Wow!

Brad

[PhatPhreddy]

ready and waiting, have VFD that does not display track info.

[JimH]

Mike,
I'm moving this to the third party board.  Please post an announcement on the MC9 board and link to this thread.

Thanks,

Jim

[kiwi]

What exactly do I need?  Is this for graphical or character based LCDs?  

I have a Serial Character based LCD that I've been dying to play with.  If I could be of help, I'd me more than happy to do some beta testing for you.  PM me if  I can help.

kiwi

[knickelfarz]

I would be able to offer testing with 5x7 Dot Character VFD (Noritake Itron). They have integrated driver IC's and serial interface. I have 16x2, 20x2 and 40x2 versions.
PM me if you like

[mjcumming]

Requires a character based VFD that is supported by the girder lcd driver by MMcM.  See girder.nl in the plugins directory to download the LCD driver information.
It is possible to use other displays but you would need to write some lua code that replicates the commands that exist in the LCD plugin.  Most of the predefined screens and menus are design around a 4x20 display.  Will work on smaller displays but would require some LUA scripting.

PM me with email and I will send a copy of what is needed to get try this out.  Please only reply if you are resonably girder savvy and have the time to provide feedback.  

[mjcumming]

Actually, just to make this easier...

email me at:  michael.cumming @ iname.com

I will send a zip file with the software.  The package is about 3 megs.

[JustinChase]

This may be a stupid question but, is this a program that will relay the information to a 'remote control' like the RC5200 (please say yes) or is it only for relaying the info to a VFD on the HTPC?

I can't remember if the RC5200 allows for 2-way communication.

If it will only display info to a VFD, it seems like that might be somewhat difficult to read from 12-15 feet away in the comfort of my Berkline 990 recliner.  I don't have a VFD in my HTPC, so I don't know how hard it actually is, it just seems difficult.

If the RC5200 will receive this info, I would love to try it.