path: root/README

#
# $Id: README,v 1.23 2002/04/29 11:00:26 reinelt Exp $
#

This is the README file for lcd4linux


INTRODUCTION 

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

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

#ifdef USE_OLD_UDELAY
lcd4linux -d
  calibrate delay loop (necessary for some drivers)
#endif

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 info messages with '-v'
  generate debugging messages with '-vv'
  debug socket traffic too, with '-vvv'
  
  
DIAGNOSTICS

  lcd4linux on foreground writes (depending on level) to stdout or stderr.
  The Text-Driver has ist's own diagnostics window.
  
  Started in the background (the default), lcd4linux uses your syslog daemon
  for logging. Facility is USER, levels are ERR, INFO and DEBUG.


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.

* Beckmann+Egle mini-terminal

  thanks to Helmut A. Bender <hab@arcanum.inka.de>


* Mitsubishi M50530

  I got a real cool display (8 lines by 24 characters!) from 
  Udo Altmann (udo.altmann@web.de) Thanks again!
  Unfortunately, the driver is not finished yet.


* Toshiba T6963

  I got another real cool display (240x128 pixel!) from 
  Carsten Nau (info@cnau.de). Thanks again!
  Unfortunately, the driver is not finished yet.


* 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,
  it supports:
     PPM (portable pixmap)
     PNG (with libgd)

* Text:
  This is a ncurses based text driver, mainly intended for debugging.

* 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.

NOTE:

Because of security reasons the config file is assured to be:
   * - file is a normal file (or /dev/null)
   * - file owner is owner of program
   * - file is not accessible by group
   * - file is not accessible by other
   
So if you run lcd4linux as root, /etc/lcd4linux has to be:
  chmod 600
  chown root.root


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%)
  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
  
  exec:
     x1 ... x9: command to execute, PATH=/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin
                $X1 ... $X8 is result of command 1..8 in environment
     Tick_x1 .. 9 delay in ticks (overrides delay_x)
     Delay_x1 ..9 delay in seconds (default 1)
     Max_x1 ..9 max value for bars (default 100)
     Min_x1 ..9 min value for bars (default 0)
     
  battery: Battwarning 10 (default 10)
  
  Mailbox:
     The option string may be a plain mbox file or a pop3/imap4/nntp server
     string with the following format:
     
       pop3:[user[:pass]@]machine[:port]
       imap4:[user[:pass]@]machine[:port][/dir]
       nntp:[user[:pass]@]machine[:port][/dir]
       
     Port defaults to 110 and 143 respectively.
     If /dir is not given, INBOX is assumed.
     If dir is given for nntp: it should be a valid group name
       with '.' separating items
     If dir is not given for nntp: all/unread news of subscribed groups
     from Newsrc are calcualted.
       
     Delay_e1..e9 delay in seconds for querying the MailboxN (default 5)  
     Newsrc ... path/name of your .newsrc file containing subscribed news
     
     Note: authorization on newsservers is untested.
     Note: user and pass may not contain a '/' with above syntax, I hope
           that's ok.
   
  SetiDir: directory where seti@home stores its data files

 
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!
  
  '$t<height><token>,<width> will create a time series bar. The data are 
  displayed like '$u', but are shifted every second 1 pixel to the 
  left. Currently only displays based on the pixel-driver support this 
  bar type.

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)
  'ic' ISDN connected (0=offline, 1=online)
  '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)
  'bp' battery percentage (APM by now)
  'bs' battery status ('=' = online, '+' = charging, '-' discharging)
  'bd' battery duration in s{econds}, m{ins}, h{ours} or d{ays}
  'hc' seti@home % completed
  'ht' seti@home time spent on workunit
  'e*' mails in mailbox 1-9, total mail
  'u*' mails in mailbox 1-9, unseen mail
  'x*' output of command 1-9
  
Please have a look at lcd4linux.conf.sample, where you can find examples
of all options and there usage.