LCD Driver Application for Linux

[IanB]

Just a quick announcement that IILC 0.3.0 has now been released. Initial development has been for a CF-635 (with SCAB), on Linux (Fedora Core 5 32-bit), but can be expanded easily for other devices.

I've rewritten almost everything in Java, which means it's much easier to develop user extension modules. Current functionality is pretty basic - it only provides a heartbeat indicator on the front LED panel, along with dynamic fan control, based on DOW temperature sensor input, but that's expanding rapidly now the main framework is in place.

I've had this application running continuously for 2 weeks now and memory usage is stable, plus it has never crashed. Memory leaks were one of the things I struggled with in the early (non-Java) versions.

There is a small amount of C code to compile, but that should mean I can port it across to pretty much any platform with ease. Windows would be my next target, followed by whatever anyone wants. Compilation should be straightforward for anyone with gcc and make.

The attachment is named .zip, but it's really a .tgz file - please rename before extracting.

You can keep up to date with any further IILC news (including RSS feeds) at my website: http://iilc.ianburnett.com.

Ian.

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[0xC0FFEE]

hey, thanks!

Very nice Ian. I will have to try this out Monday when I get to work.

I'd like to get a CFA-635 (or possibly 631) to use with our debian-based linux squid caching proxy server, to tell me things like cpu and network load, as well as display useful stats from squid and bandwidth reports. Like you, I wasn't looking forward to trying to make the keypad/lcd work nicely with the ancient lcdproc/lcd4linux. Thanks for developing IILC. I hope to use it and contribute to it.

 

[IanB]

IILC 0.4.0 released

This happened sooner than I expected, but I've put out version 0.4.0 of IILC already.

Support has now been added for some display output, along with some key interaction on the CFA-635. Press the "yes" key to toggle backlight on/off. Press the "no" key to switch the backlight on for 5 seconds.

There's two modules supplied, along with a well-commented configuration file. One module simply reports temperatures as received from the DOW sensors, while the other is the most basic module to just dump out the current date and time.

Again, attachment is really a .tgz file - rename before extracting. Java and C source is included, along with basic instructions for building the native code.

Ian.

 

[IanB]

IILC 0.5.0 released

More updates to IILC arriving now. Main changes are:

• Added support for Win32 (pre-compiled binary included)
• Better build scripts
• Rearrangement of the jar files (for better modularity)
• Additional internal documentation
• SCAB detection routine (although not used yet)

At present I don't see anyone using IILC on Windows in favour of something like CC2, but it's very handy for developing IILC if you're not connected to a Linux machine.

As ever, this is a .tar.gz file, not a .zip - please rename.

Ian.

 

[ArmyITGuy]

Outstanding!!

I've been working on a server project using Ubuntu 6.10 and a CFA635. This framework you've developed for linux is just what I needed! I've successfully compiled the stuff in the /linux_x86 folder per your instructions and got the provided test script running successfully on my server (quite a feat for me; see disclaimer below). Many thanks!

However, I do have some questions (of course)...

• Your REQUIREMENTS.txt file refers to running Ant against "build.xml," but that file doesn't exist in your archive. Am I missing something?
• The "FanSpeedDisplay.java" module and the "TempDisplay.java" module contain the exact same contents. Perhaps this shouldn't be the case?

I'll provide my disclaimer that I've gone from being a complete linux neophyte to, well, tackling stuff like this in the span of about three weeks. I also know next to nothing about Java, but this project might provide me the impetus to learn.

If you have the opportunity to flesh out the documentation for this project, I would be very grateful.

 

[IanB]

I've been working on a server project using Ubuntu 6.10 and a CFA635. This framework you've developed for linux is just what I needed! I've successfully compiled the stuff in the /linux_x86 folder per your instructions and got the provided test script running successfully on my server (quite a feat for me; see disclaimer below). Many thanks!

However, I do have some questions (of course)...

• Your REQUIREMENTS.txt file refers to running Ant against "build.xml," but that file doesn't exist in your archive. Am I missing something?
• The "FanSpeedDisplay.java" module and the "TempDisplay.java" module contain the exact same contents. Perhaps this shouldn't be the case?

I'll provide my disclaimer that I've gone from being a complete linux neophyte to, well, tackling stuff like this in the span of about three weeks. I also know next to nothing about Java, but this project might provide me the impetus to learn.

If you have the opportunity to flesh out the documentation for this project, I would be very grateful.

Glad this has been of some help!

You're not missing anything with the build.xml file - that just creates the jar files which were already included. In the next release of IILC I'll make sure that's in.

You're correct in that the FanSpeedDisplay module and TempDisplay module are the same - I just used one as the template for the other and didn't get round to implementing it fully. This will also be fixed in the next IILC version.

Now I know there's not just me interested, then I can make documentation a higher priority.

Ian.

 

[ArmyITGuy]

Can't quite get the fans under control...

Okay, so I managed to get the sample test.conf file set up for my particular configuration (three temp sensors and four fans) by making the obvious edits to the provided test.conf file, and I launched the iilc.sh script. I met with partial success.

The successful part:

• The heartbeat works perfectly.

The partially successful part:

• The time display mysteriously adds an hour to the displayed time.

The not-so-successful part:

• All the temp sensors show the same bogus temp (something like 2.40 C)
• The fans get throttled back right as the script launches, and then immediately go into failsafe mode (100% fan power accompanied by the red LED)

No error messages are produced by the program. Any ideas on where I should start troubleshooting?

Thanks in advance for your help!

 

[IanB]

Okay, so I managed to get the sample test.conf file set up for my particular configuration (three temp sensors and four fans) by making the obvious edits to the provided test.conf file, and I launched the iilc.sh script. I met with partial success.

The successful part:

• The heartbeat works perfectly.

The partially successful part:

• The time display mysteriously adds an hour to the displayed time.

The not-so-successful part:

• All the temp sensors show the same bogus temp (something like 2.40 C)
• The fans get throttled back right as the script launches, and then immediately go into failsafe mode (100% fan power accompanied by the red LED)

No error messages are produced by the program. Any ideas on where I should start troubleshooting?

Thanks in advance for your help!

Have replied by PM. If anyone else has problems, feel free to PM me, or e-mail iilc@ianburnett.com.

Ian.

 

[IanB]

Now on Sourceforge!

Just to let you all know that IILC now has a home on Sourceforge! The official project page is now at sourceforge.net/projects/iilc. Over the coming couple of weeks I'll be adding the code itself, along with various bits of documentation I've currently got stashed away as snippets of e-mails, etc.

Look out for v 0.6.0 coming shortly, which fixes a couple of bugs in the temperature reporting section, and brings the whole system much closer to the intended final design.

Ian