Status of Linux support?

ScottishCaptain

New member
Greetings to all!

I'm just wondering... What is the status of CrystalControl under Linux?

I'm building myself a network firewall, and I'd love to have a CFonts 635 display powering the relativly headless (no monitor) machine.

Unfortunately LCDproc and LCD4Linux have almost no support for Menu's and keypads on the LCD's. If they do, it probably isn't what I'm thinking of- having a scrollable/selectable menu/tree system where you can gather system stats and execute commands. Something completely customizable that could control the entire system through the LCD, if setup properly.

A display like the 635 could even act as a small "Bash" terminal, if you want to run some small command like `load` or `uptime`, `halt`, etc.

I've played with CFontz displays under Linux with some C++ programming.

I'd be willing to go ahead and program a Crystalfontz control program in C composed of a Daemon that reads in a configuration file and runs the display with a GTK/GTK2 frontend for creating such a file.

I do believe that such a display coupled with a proper Linux driving program could be quite a product- It would save much deskspace if server systems & firewalls didn't need monitors or keyboards, all operated through a 635 LCD instead.

Is anyone interested in such a program? I'd be willing to write it and send it off here on the forum with some documentation as well as the GTK2 frontend if there is a want for such a package.

Cheers!
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CF Mark

Administrator
There are plans to port CrystalControl2 to Linux, but itll only happen after the Windows version is in good condition (ie, screen editor done, good range of plugins, etc).

Until then you may want to look at LCDProc.
It may already do what you are after.
 

IanB

New member
As I've already mentioned a few times on these forums recently, I'm busy working on something in Linux written specifically for the 635, including SCAB support, LEDs and keypad I/O. The lack of LED and keypad support in LCDproc / any other app I've seen is why I started writing this.

When I get a few more minutes (read: hours) work on it, I'll post the results here.

Ian.
 

ScottishCaptain

New member
I'd be happy to help if you want to post whatever code you have sofar (I've got quite a bit of free time on my hands).

I do understand the need to get CC2 working on Windows first, but if the Linux version is only going to happen after the fact, then it seems to me like that might be quite a while...
 

JoshuaB

New member
ScottishCaptain,

The software you described at the beginning of this post is exactly what I had in mind for some appliance-type embedded servers I plan on building soon. Since I'm not a proficient programmer, I was pretty much resigning to the fact that I would have to incorporate web-administration tools for basic tasks that could be accomplished with the 635 and the right software.

I wouldn't necessarily care for the "Bash Terminal" feature (security), but menu driven features such as:
1) options to change network configuration.
2) various statistical informations such as `load`, `uptime`, and `halt` (as you mentioned).
3) be able to switch specific daemons such as SSH and Webmin on and off.

I've used similar such features on higher-end printers and always wanted to see that functionality on end-user Linux distros.

If there is anything I can do to assist with such a project (project web space, etc.), let me know. I'm sure I'm not the only system builder out there looking for what you described.

JB
 
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