Cant seem to update the firmware on CFA635-tmf-ku. Ultimate goal is to use them with LCDProc without success.

wolfspyre · May 28, 2022

I have 3 different CFA635-TMF-KU units.... two of them seem to have 'magnubox' programmed into their flash.

I'm attempting to use them with opnsense + lcdproc, but having no luck.. As of yet, I've been unable to get anything onto the screen through LCDProc.

The instructions are a bit sparse, and I'm in sorta a niche area, but figured that I'd try updating the firmware on them..

I'm having a hard time finding any firmware downloads for v1.1 of the hardware. (which all of these units are)

The firmware installer binary y'all offer for the CFA-635 seems to expect the hardware to behave differently (given the current hw is several revs divergent, that makes a bit of sense)

I don't want to get too distracted from the mail goal however, which is to use lcdproc to interact with the units.

Does anyone have LCDProc working with v1.1 CFA635's?
if so.... could I steal a clue on how to get from headscratching while wondering
'How do I get this working?'
to headscratching while wondering
'now that I can talk to it and get it to display stuff, what do I want it to show?'

that's a much easier question/problem to solve

CF Kelsey · Jun 6, 2022

Hi! I know you have been speaking with Charlie in a ticket, but I wanted to provide this information here as well to close the loop for anyone else looking for information.

The CFA635-TMF-KU was discontinued in 2017 when the hardware underwent a major change. It was replaced by the CFA635-TML-KU. The change notice is #10852 and can be found here: https://www.crystalfontz.com/product/cfa635tmfku-display-module-usb-20x4-text#pcn

When the CFA635 was changed to hardware 1.5 the main processor on the board was changed, so the firmware for the h1.5 does not work on the older hardware (e.g., h1.1 like you have).

You can find resources for the older hardware version on the old product page here: https://www.crystalfontz.com/product/cfa635tmfku-display-module-usb-20x4-text

There is a linux example here: https://github.com/crystalfontz/cfa_linux_examples

LCDProc should work fine with the older versions of the hardware. I don't personally have an older 635 (work from home), but here are some other people's questions that were previously resolved re:LCDProc and h1.1 635s:

https://forum.crystalfontz.com/threads/how-to-control-cfa-635-leds-in-lcdproc.5763/

https://forum.crystalfontz.com/threads/linux-lcdproc-cfa-63x-fan-temp-enhancements-driver-with-source