archived-lcd4linux/README

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# $Id: README,v 1.10 2000/11/28 16:46:11 reinelt Exp $
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This is the README file for lcd4linux


INTRODUCTION 

lcd4linux is a small program that reads various information from the kernel
(and probably from other subsystems, especially ISDN) and displays them on a LCD.

It supports displaying text values and different types of bars: Horizontal and
vertical bars, logarithmic bars, split bars (two independent bars in one row).


USAGE

lcd4linux -h  
print version number and a small help text, then exit

lcd4linux -l 
list available drivers

lcd4linux -d
calibrate delay loop (necessary for some drivers)

lcd4linux [-c key=val] [-F] [-f config-file] [-o output] [-q] [-v]
run lcd4linux 
overwrite entries from the config-file with '-c'
do not fork and detach with '-F'
use configuration from 'config-file' instead of /etc/lcd4linux.conf
write picture to 'output' (raster driver only)
suppress startup splash screen with '-q'
generate debugging messages with '-v'


SUPPORTED DISPLAYS

* Matrox Orbital: <http://www.matrixorbital.com>
	
  "LCD0821": 2 lines by  8 characters
  "LCD1621": 2 lines by 16 characters
  "LCD2021": 2 lines by 20 characters
  "LCD2041": 4 lines by 20 characters (tested)
  "LCD4021": 2 lines by 40 characters


* CrystalFontz <http://www.crystalfontz.com>

  any of 626, 632, 634 and 636.


* HD44780-based displays

  This driver supports display modules based on the Hitachi HD44780 chip,
  connected to a parallel port. These displays are made by different 
  manufactures, and come in various sizes.


* PalmOrb

  I was told that lcd4linux works fine with PalmOrb, a small program that 
  emulates a Matrox Orbital display on the Palm Pilot.


* X11
  thanks to Herbert Rosmanith <herp@wildsau.idv.uni-linz.ac.at> a driver for the 
  X Window System is available. It supports any size at any resolution. A very
  small XLCD4Linux-Window can even swallow on the KDE Panel!
  

* Raster formats:
  a generic raster driver (which is used by the X11-driver, too) is availiable,
  PPM (portable pixmap) is the only output format at the moment. I'm working
  on PNG!


* other displays: lcd4linux and especially the display driver code is very modular, 
  so it should be quite easy to write a driver for any display. See README.driver
  for details. Contributors are welcome!!!


CONFIGURATION

The configuration file (default: /etc/lcd4linux.conf) has a very simple format: 
Every line consists of a key and a value, seperated by whitespace (blanks or tabs). 
Values can contain whitespace, and can be enclosed in single or double quotes.
A key must not contain whitespace. Keys are NOT case-sensitive. Order doesn't matter.
Empty lines and all text on a line after a '#' will be ignored. If you want to
use '#' in a value (think of X11-colors), you have to quote it with a backslash.

The configuration file contains information for different modules of lcd4linux: 

Global options:

  tick: time in milliseconds between bar updates
  tack: time in milliseconds between text updates (text can be updated less often than 
        bars, so you get a smooth bar display and readable text)
  tau:  time constant (in milliseconds) for damping function (not used by now)

Data-specific options:

  overload: load average threshold and bar scaling. The '%L' token (see below) displays 
            a '!' instead of a blank if the current load average exceeds this value. 
            load bars are scaled by this value (load=overload gives 100%)
  fifo: path to fifo for communication with isdnlog (not yet implemented)
  sensor1: path to the 1st temperature file (e.g. /proc/sys/dev/sensors/w83781d-isa-0290/temp1)
           it is important that you use the isa sensors, because the i2c sensors are very slow!
  sensor1_min: temperature where the corresponding bar starts
  sensor1_max: temperature where bar ends
  sensor[2..9], -_min, -_max: entries for the 2nd to 9th temperature sensor
 
Driver-specific options:
  
  Display: the name of a display model (see "supported displays" above)
  every driver has its own configuration options (e.g. 'Port', 'Speed', ...)
  see README.<Drivername> for details!
  
Display options:
  
  row1: Text to display in row 1
  row[2-max]: Text to display in other rows

  The text to be displayed can contain specific directives, which will be replaced 
  by the appropriate values, or will create bars:

  '\nnn` will write the ASCII-character nnn (octal)
  '%<token>' will be replaced by the value of <token>
  '%%' will write a '%'
  '%$' will write a '$'
  '$<direction><length><token>[+<token>] will create a bar with the specified direction 
   and length (in characters) with the value of <token>. If the driver supports dual bars,
   you can specify the second value with '+<token>'. 
   <direction> can be 'l' (left), 'r' (right), 'u' (up) or 'd' (down).
   If you specify the direction in upper case, a logarithmic bar will be created.
   note that the space occupied by a bar always grows from left to right or from top to
   bottom, regardless of the direction!
   
Tokens:

  'o',  operating system name ('Linux')
  'v',  operating system release ('2.0.38')
  'p',  processor ('i686')
  'r',  total amount of memory installed (MB)
  'mt', total memory from /proc/meminfo (kB)
  'mu', used memory (kB)  
  'mf', free memory (kB)
  'ms', shared memory (kB)
  'mb', buffers (kB)
  'mc', page cache (kB)  
  'ma', application memory (kB) = used - buffer - cache
  'l1', load average for the past 1 minute
  'l2', load average for the past 5 minutes
  'l3', load average for the past 15 minutes
  'L',  '!' if load > overload (from config)   
  'cu', percentage of CPU in user mode
  'cn', percentage of CPU in niced tasks
  'cs', percentage of CPU in system mode
  'cb', percentage of CPU busy (=100-idle)
  'ci', percentage of CPU idle
  'dr', disk blocks read
  'dw', disk blocks written
  'dt', disk blocks total (read+write)
  'dm', disk blocks max (read, write)
  'nr', network bytes received
  'nw', network bytes transmitted
  'nt', network bytes total (receive+transmit)
  'nm', network bytes max (receive, transmit)
  'ii', ISDN bytes received
  'io', ISDN bytes sent
  'it', ISDN bytes total (received+send)
  'im', ISDN bytes max (received, send)
  'ti', PPP bytes received
  'to', PPP bytes sent
  'tt', PPP bytes total (received+send)
  'tm', PPP bytes max (received, send)
  's1', temperature of sensor 1
  's2', temperature of sensor 2 (up to s9)