LCDproc problem

kavehebadi · February 23, 2017 at 10:14 AM

Hi
with special thanks to LibreELEC team for their continuous efforts to produce ver 8
unfortunately still in this ver my LCD (hd44780) does not work again.
I have RPi3 and LCD hd44780 connected together through GPIO. I have done all wiring according LCD-Display HD44780 20×4 under Openelec and Kodi(XBMC) at the Raspberry Pi – Michael Diesterhöft
everything worked great until v7.90.006. but after v7.90.007 till now I could not run the LCD.
I installed sevices.xbmc lcdproc 2.6.0 and sevices.LCDproc 8.1.102 and set driver to hd44780.
I also modified LCDd.conf inside directories:
~/.kodi/addons/http://service.lcdd/config
and
~/.kodi/userdata/addon_data/service.lcdd
here is my LCDd.conf:

## Server section with all kinds of settings for the LCDd server ##
[server]
DriverPath=/storage/.kodi/addons/http://service.lcdd/lib/lcdproc/
Driver=hd44780
Bind=127.0.0.1
Port=13666
ReportLevel=3
User=nobody
Foreground=no
Hello=" "
Hello=" KODI"
Hello=" Boot up ..."
Hello=" "
GoodBye=" "
GoodBye=" KODI"
GoodBye=" Shutting Down "
GoodBye=" "
WaitTime=5
ServerScreen=blank
Backlight=open
Heartbeat=open
TitleSpeed=10
ToggleRotateKey=Enter
PrevScreenKey=Left
NextScreenKey=Right

## The menu section. The menu is an internal LCDproc client. ##
[menu]
MenuKey=Escape
EnterKey=Enter
UpKey=Up
DownKey=Down

### Driver sections are below this line, in alphabetical order ###
## Hitachi HD44780 driver ##
[hd44780]
pin_D7=18
pin_D6=23
pin_D5=24
pin_D4=25
pin_RS=7
pin_EN=8
ConnectionType=raspberrypi
Port=0x378
Device=/dev/ttyS0
Speed=0
Keypad=no
Contrast=0
Backlight=no
OutputPort=no
Size=16x4
CharMap=hd44780_default
DelayBus=true
KeyMatrix_4_1=Enter
KeyMatrix_4_2=Up
KeyMatrix_4_3=Down
KeyMatrix_4_4=Escape

when i wanted to run LCD i got this :

LCDd 0.5dev, LCDproc Protocol 0.3
Part of the LCDproc suite
Copyright (C) 1998-2016 William Ferrell, Selene Scriven
and many other contributors

This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License
as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2
of the License, or (at your option) any later version.

This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
GNU General Public License for more details.

You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation,
Inc., 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301, USA.

check_board_rev: This board is not recognized as a Raspberry Pi!
Driver [hd44780] init failed, return code -1
Could not load driver hd44780
There is no output driver
Critical error while initializing, abort.

I replaced the driver with my old one but i got same error except the line (check_board_rev:....)

LCDd 0.5dev, LCDproc Protocol 0.3
Part of the LCDproc suite
Copyright (C) 1998-2016 William Ferrell, Selene Scriven
and many other contributors

This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License
as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2
of the License, or (at your option) any later version.

This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
GNU General Public License for more details.

You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation,
Inc., 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301, USA.

Driver [hd44780] init failed, return code -1
Could not load driver hd44780
There is no output driver
Critical error while initializing, abort.

kavehebadi · March 4, 2017 at 9:10 AM

Any idea? Do I have to return to the previous versions?

toxicated101 · March 30, 2017 at 5:34 PM

This is a know issue thread-3769.html

It has been fixed in the latest lcdproc if you can build it. I'm not that confident with cross compiling so I patched the HD44780.so file and it now works great.

I've attached the patched file. This will fix the "Not a raspberry pi" message on 1.8.

Cyberdyne · March 30, 2017 at 5:53 PM

Quote from toxicated101

This is a know issue thread-3769.html

It has been fixed in the latest lcdproc if you can build it. I'm not that confident with cross compiling so I patched the HD44780.so file and it now works great.

If you want the patched file let me know. This will fix the "Not a raspberry pi" message on 1.8

As I wrote, I already have a driver which does not show "Not a Raspberry Pi" but there must be an other problem as well. Does your patched driver fix both problems? Pleasy share the driver. I would love to do some testing!

toxicated101 · March 30, 2017 at 10:34 PM

The driver is attached to the post. What's the other problem. I have replaced my HD44780.so and everything is fine. I run a raspberry pi 3 using the lcd from the GPIO pins. I can post my LCDd.conf. I initially had a 7.x system running fine, update to 8.0 and got the not a raspberry pi, the patch has fixed that and my lcd is running.

kavehebadi · April 9, 2017 at 12:34 PM

Quote from toxicated101

The driver is attached to the post. What's the other problem. I have replaced my HD44780.so and everything is fine. I run a raspberry pi 3 using the lcd from the GPIO pins. I can post my LCDd.conf. I initially had a 7.x system running fine, update to 8.0 and got the not a raspberry pi, the patch has fixed that and my lcd is running.

it finally worked. thank you.

kavehebadi · May 6, 2017 at 5:26 AM

oh! I realized that the new service uploaded in this post thread-3769-post-43004.html#pid43004 causes to restart my rpi sometimes.
[hr]
the driver uploaded in this post thread-1930-post-42979.html#pid42979 has the same problem

Kema · May 6, 2017 at 5:11 PM

Houston, we have a problem...
I'm a Linux/LE n0ob but I'm doing my best to figure this out.
Hardware: RPi3
OS: LE8.0.1 (Kodi 17.1)
Display: 16x2 HD44780 compatible
GPIO 4-bit interface
Installed LCDproc from the LE repo.

I have managed to get the display to turn on but I'm only getting the welcome message and the shutdown message. It seems LCD.xml isn't being read or something?
The path is "/storage/.kodi/userdata/LCD.xml"
Should this be entered somewhere in LCDd.conf or something? I don't understand what I'm doing wrong? I've tried following the tutorials that I've found?

Kema · May 7, 2017 at 9:46 PM

I figured it out.

Hoffy · July 22, 2017 at 9:46 AM

Quote from Kema

I figured it out.

What did you do to get it working? I can't get the info to display on mine.

Momo90 · September 9, 2017 at 12:36 PM

Hi!

I connected a hd44780 display (20x4) via i2c to a raspberry pi 1 rev 2. The i2c uses a PCF8574A chip. the port of the i2c is 0x27.

I have installed both LCDproc addons and set hd44780 as driver in the LE LCDproc addon.

Further i enabled i2c in the config.txt:

Code

################################################################################
#      This file is part of LibreELEC - http://www.libreelec.tv
#      Copyright (C) 2016 Team LibreELEC
#
#  LibreELEC is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
#  it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
#  the Free Software Foundation, either version 2 of the License, or
#  (at your option) any later version.
#
#  LibreELEC is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
#  but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
#  MERCHANTABILITY or F*ITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
#  GNU General Public License for more details.
#
#  You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
#  along with LibreELEC.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
################################################################################
# Bootloader configuration - config.txt
################################################################################

################################################################################
# Memory (System/GPU configuration )
################################################################################

# Default GPU memory split (do not change if you do not know what you are doing)
  gpu_mem=128

# Configure GPU memory based on SDRAM size - overrides above setting
  gpu_mem_256=112
  gpu_mem_512=160
  gpu_mem_1024=256

################################################################################
# For overclocking and various other settings, see:
# https://www.raspberrypi.org/documentation/configuration/config-txt.md
################################################################################
# Set 'force_turbo=1' to disable dynamic overclocking and enable overclocking always.
force_turbo=0

# Make display smaller to stop text spilling off the screen
#
# Note that the overscan settings only affect the splash screen and not Kodi.
#
# If you experience overscan/underscan issues the best solution is to adjust
# your TV settings ("full pixel", "1-1 pixel" etc.). Alternatively, there is a
# calibration menu in the Kodi GUI.
# disable_overscan=1

# Force HDMI even if unplugged or powered off
# hdmi_force_hotplug=1

# Doesn't sent initial active source message.
# Avoids bringing CEC (enabled TV) out of standby and channel switch when
# rebooting.
hdmi_ignore_cec_init=1

################################################################################
# License keys to enable GPU hardware decoding for various codecs
# to obtain keys visit the shop at http://www.raspberrypi.com
################################################################################

# decode_MPG2=0x00000000
# decode_WVC1=0x00000000

################################################################################
# End of default configuration
################################################################################

################################################################################
# Include distribution specific config file if it exists.
################################################################################
[all]
include distroconfig.txt
# For more options and information see
# http://rpf.io/configtxt
# Some settings may impact device functionality. See link above for details

# uncomment if you get no picture on HDMI for a default "safe" mode
#hdmi_safe=1

# uncomment this if your display has a black border of unused pixels visible
# and your display can output without overscan
#disable_overscan=1

# uncomment the following to adjust overscan. Use positive numbers if console
# goes off screen, and negative if there is too much border
#overscan_left=16
#overscan_right=16
#overscan_top=16
#overscan_bottom=16

# uncomment to force a console size. By default it will be display's size minus
# overscan.
#framebuffer_width=1280
#framebuffer_height=720

# uncomment if hdmi display is not detected and composite is being output
hdmi_force_hotplug=1

# uncomment to force a specific HDMI mode (this will force VGA)
#hdmi_group=1
#hdmi_mode=1

# uncomment to force a HDMI mode rather than DVI. This can make audio work in
# DMT (computer monitor) modes
#hdmi_drive=2

# uncomment to increase signal to HDMI, if you have interference, blanking, or
# no display

# uncomment for composite PAL
#sdtv_mode=2

#uncomment to overclock the arm. 700 MHz is the default.
arm_freq=900

# Uncomment some or all of these to enable the optional hardware interfaces
dtparam=i2c_arm=on
dtparam=i2s=on
#dtparam=spi=on

# Uncomment this to enable the lirc-rpi module
#dtoverlay=lirc-rpi

# Additional overlays and parameters are documented /boot/overlays/README

# Enable audio (loads snd_bcm2835)
dtparam=audio=on

# mehr USB-Power
max_usb_current=1

#dtparam=spi=on

Display More

my LCDd.config looks like that:

Code

[server]
DriverPath=/storage/.kodi/addons/service.lcdd/lib/lcdproc/
Driver=hd44780
Bind=127.0.0.1
Port=13666
User=nobody
Foreground=no
Hello="Welcome to"
Hello="LibreELEC"
GoodBye="Thanks for using"
GoodBye="LibreELEC"
WaitTime=5
ServerScreen=blank
Backlight=open
Heartbeat=open
TitleSpeed=4
[hd44780]
ConnectionType=i2c
Device=/dev/i2c-1
Port=0x27
#pin_D4=25
#pin_D5=24
#pin_D6=23
#pin_D7=18
#pin_EN=8
#pin_RS=7
Speed=0
Keypad=no
Backlight=no
OutputPort=no
Size=20x4
CharMap=hd44780_default
DelayBus=true
#i2c_line_RS=0x01 
#i2c_line_RW=0x02 
#i2c_line_EN=0x04 
#i2c_line_BL=0x08 
#i2c_line_D4=0x10 
#i2c_line_D5=0x20 
#i2c_line_D6=0x40 
#i2c_line_D7=0x80

Display More

ls /dev/ | grep i2c outputs:

Code

i2c-1

If i disable the LCDproc and enable it again the other addon displays, that it is connectet.

However the display only shows squares in line 1 and 3. I dont even get a welcome message.

Could anybody help me please?

Momo90 · September 9, 2017 at 1:17 PM

hmm... according to this datasheet scyb031&ved=0ahUKEwjegI_Ch5jWAhXRfFAKHfrhC9MQFggcMAA&usg=AFQjCNF_jtC-EtrBwQR7eDV8QqFqaoGWyQ my port should be 0x38

Maybe the information from my vendor was wrong. Anyway. Changing the port to 0x38 has no effect...

Edit: solved it. The correct port was 0x3f. And i had to use this driver: hd44780.so

ghtester · November 3, 2020 at 10:13 PM

I can confirm this issue still persists in latest official and test LibreELEC builds (9.2.5 official, 9.80 nightly) and hd44780.so file must be replaced (see the Momo90's link above) in folder /storage/.kodi/addons/service.lcdd/lib/lcdproc/ otherwise it does not work with HD44780 compatible displays connected through i2c adapter.

Edit - not necessary anymore, see the next post.

ghtester · November 15, 2020 at 2:55 PM

After some more extensive searching and testing I have found the reason why it did not work with the current hd44780.so driver (the same issue was in current Raspberry OS).

A couple years ago the hd44780 driver was redesigned and it looks default pinout for i2c expander was changed and pinout configure options were added.

Unfortunately so far there's no relevant information update in the LCDd.conf about it so it may confuse many users like me.

In my case it was necessary to add the pinout configuration to [hd44780 ] section of the

/storage/.kodi/userdata/addon_data/service.lcdd/LCDd.conf

file and the following settings works fine with my display and the current hd44780.so driver:

-------------------------------------

ConnectionType=i2c

Port=0x3f # depends on i2c expander type, use i2cdetect -y 1 command to check

Device=/dev/i2c-1

Size=16x2

i2c_line_RS=0x01

i2c_line_RW=0x02

i2c_line_EN=0x04

i2c_line_BL=0x08

i2c_line_D4=0x10

i2c_line_D5=0x20

i2c_line_D6=0x40

i2c_line_D7=0x80

Backlight=external

BacklightInvert=yes

----------------------------------

No file replacement is necessary anymore, just the proper configuration is the solution.

Hope this helps...

sylwas72 · December 9, 2022 at 10:03 AM

Hi,

I've been trying for a few days to get the LCD HD44780 working on Libreelec 10.0.2. with Raspberry Pi4B. Display connected via GPIO. Unfortunately, no attempts have been successful. Has anyone of you run the display in this configuration?

Sorry for my English.

Regards.

Boz1978 · November 5, 2024 at 2:55 PM New

Does anyone still have a working link for this driver? Thankyou

ghtester · November 5, 2024 at 7:06 PM New

See the post #86 and update the LCDd.conf file accordingly.

LCDproc problem

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