[lcd4linux] 3x HD44780 problem / special character problem

[Kamil W. <we...@ra...>]

Hi everyone,

after evaluating lcdproc, lcdmod, lcd-linux and lcd4linux I found lcd4linux the 
fastet and most sophisticated
LCD driving application of all of them. I especially like the softwiring, 
nevertheless I used "WinAmp" style
wiring the way lcdproc understands and soft-wired these settings in lcd4linux.conf.

So far so good. It works perfectly for a 40x4 Anag Vision A4004 Display ( Conrad ) 
with two KS0066 controllers.
Until here I appreciate all your work and time you put together to build lcd4linux.

Then I got high-spirited and tried to wire up a third 20x4 HD compatible LCD. In 
order to do so I salvaged the
the third enable line (EN3) by disconnecting R/W from the 40x4 ( and connecting that 
to GND ). The 40x4
share the RS line, both have D0-D7 connected and each controller ( 2 on the 40x4 / 1 
on the 20x4 right ? )
has its own enable line.

I configured the whole thing like this :

Display HD44780-40x8 {
     Driver      'HD44780'
     Model       'generic'
     UseBusy     0
     Bits        '8'
     Port        '/dev/parport0'

     Controllers 3

     Size        '40x8'
     Size1       '40x2'
     Size2       '40x2'
     Size3      '20x4'

     Wire {
     RS          'INIT'
     RW          'GND'
     ENABLE      'STROBE'
     ENABLE2     'SLCTIN'
     ENABLE3    'AUTOFD'
     BACKLIGHT   'GND'
     GPO         'GND'
     POWER       'GND'

    }
}

Is this correct, theoretically ?

I believe so, but the practical result proves me wrong. The 20x4 won't even intialize.
I only see two lines of blocks. I can't be completely sure, that the 20x4 display 
isn't broken
since it isn't new but an older one salvaged from a display project some time ago.

If anyone has any advice I would appreciate it very much. Otherwise I'll have to buy
a new one next week to eliminate the possibility of a broken display / controller.

---

The second issue is the usage of the i2c plugin. It's a great plugin and I emerged
lm_sensors to feed it properly. Again, it's working out of the box using the example
provided.

Since I sit in Germany and I like our °C trailing any temp degree value I wanted to add
a postfix to get something like CPU: 34°C. After doing so my whole layout got
screwed up. I searched the archives and found something about using \337 the octal
value of the ASCII character, but that didn't work out as well.

Any suggestions regarding that matter will also be gladly appreciated.

Thanks a lot in advance and keep up the good work.

-- 
Kamil Wencel

RADION Digital Research & Innovation
Swakopmunder Str. 1
81827 Munich