preload
Jun 09

Before I get into another howto about my experiences in MythTV, I have to say I created the following instructions mostly for myself, because everytime I redo my MythTV box, it takes me forever to get the damn LCD working. Now finally I have written it down. If it helps someone else, even better.

The following instructions describe how to successfully setup the imon vfd for use with MythTV on a Fedora Core 5 system running at least a 2.6.16 kernel and above. These instructions are modified where needed from the original site venky.ws. Also these instuctions do not activate the IR receiver that comes included in the imon vfd in the LC10M enclosure, simply just the lcd display.

Stand Alone Driver for imon vfd

Prerequisites:
You must have the kernel source or headers in /usr/src/linux that exactly match your running kernel. The installation instructions below assume you are running a 2.6.16 kernel or above.

Installation:

Download the stand alone driver here

# tar xvzf imon_vfd.tgz
# cd imon

Remove the following lines from the imon_vfd.c file:

line 122 owner = THIS_MODULE 
line 147 owner = THIS_MODULE 
line 162 mode = DEVFS_MODE

Check for devfs_fs_kernel.h

# ls /usr/src/kernels/`uname -r`-`uname -m`/include/linux/devfs_fs_kernel.h
No such file or directory

If you do not have the devfs_fs_kernel.h file, just create a blank file.

# touch /usr/src/kernels/`uname -r`-`uname -m`/include/linux/devfs_fs_kernel.h

Before we run the make command I like to modify the Makefile and remove the `name -r` bit. Replace it with the real name of your kernel.

# make -C /usr/src/linux SUBDIRS=$PWD
# modules
# make install
# depmod -a
# modprobe imon_vfd

Now check to make sure the lcd device has been created.

# ls /dev/lcd0
/dev/lcd0

LCDproc 0.4.5 for imon

This is the most recent stable version of LCDproc together with the iMON patch.
Prerequisites:
You must have the kernel source or headers in /usr/src/linux that exactly match your running kernel.
Make sure you have the autoconf and automake packages installed.
Make sure you have ncurses-devel installed.
Install the standalone iMON VFD driver.

Installation:

Download LCDproc from here

# tar xvzf lcdproc-0.4.5-imon.tgz 
# cd lcdproc-0.4.5-imon
# aclocal; autoheader; autoconf; automake -a 
# ./configure
# make
# make install (as root) 
# cp LCDd.conf /etc

Now add an entry for the imon_vfd so it will be loaded at boot time.

# echo "/sbin/modprobe imon_vfd" >> /etc/sysconfig/modules/lirc.modules

Finally add LCDd to the rc.local file so that it is started at boot time.

# echo "/usr/local/sbin/LCDd &" >> /etc/rc.local

Lastly be sure to enable the option for LCD output in the MythTV options menu.

4 Responses to “Installing the imon LCD in Linux”

  1. redjack Says:

    thanks a bunch for the instructions… i think i still need more experience before i can get it to work… im running mythbuntu 9.10 and dont quite know where to modify the file to see the correct kernel… in my case its 2.6.31-14-generic
    ( i think thats going to be 2_6_31 ?) trying to get the vfd to work… really appreciate anything you can do to help….

  2. ross Says:

    Hey… just checking.. i didnt notice until later that these were archived pages… found them from links to the imon lcd driver page somehow…getting ready to scrap the whole thing and go back to windows…. at least on the theater machine….but if you can help… let me know

  3. Michael Says:

    Unfortunately all my experience with setting this up was on red hat and fedora based systems. I have very limited experience with Ubuntu so I wouldn’t be able to offer much in the way of solutions. Its been many years since I’ve played with mythtv, I gave up on it long ago for Plex running on a mac mini.

    If I recall correctly you need to install the kernel sources (headers) then modify the imon vfd source file to point to the location of the kernel source files. Again I’m not sure how to go about that on ubuntu. Hope that helps.

  4. ross Says:

    well, i appreciate your info, its probably pointing in the right direction… ill get there eventually… thanks Michael

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