# [Solved] Antec Fusion Display

## ALF__

Hello!

Yesterday i got hold of a nice old HTPC in an Antec Fusion case, wich have a VFD on it.

Ive seen that lcdproc is used, dont know if it works with this display though.

Any one have any info on this? what kernel modules needed?Last edited by ALF__ on Fri Jul 04, 2014 4:38 pm; edited 1 time in total

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## gkmac

I've got one of those Antec VFD displays fitted in my MythTV box.

First thing to know is that they are also known as the "Soundgraph iMON" displays, which helps when searching for info about them.

From my memory you need one of these two kernel modules enabled. The first one is for newer devices, the second for older devices.

```
Device Drivers > Multimedia support > Remote Controller devices > SoundGraph iMON Receiver and Display

Device Drivers > Staging drivers > Media staging drivers > Linux Infrared Remote Control IR receiver/transmitter drivers > Legacy SoundGraph iMON Receiver and Display
```

When you pick the right one and load the kernel module, you should have the /dev/lcd0 device appear. Try this command...

```
echo -n "hello" > /dev/lcd0
```

...and see if "hello" appears on your VFD!

If it does, emerge lcdproc with the "imon" USE flag set, delve into /etc/LCDd.conf (note the capital letters) and find the driver= line, it needs to read driver=imon. I also recommend you change the GoodBye= line to just GoodBye=" " with a single space, otherwise the goodbye message will be left on when you power down the PC.

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## ALF__

Hello! 

Thank you for this answer!

i followed it, and lcd0 does appear, but echo returns "invalid argument" any ideas on this?

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## gkmac

There's a little more info on this page about halfway down (just above the photo of a blue LCD display) which mentions that the "echo" command I mentioned won't work on some of those displays (which I didn't know at the time) but that lcdproc would still work on them.

Since /dev/lcd0 is there this might be the case for you, so try starting lcdproc after you've altered the /etc/LCDd.conf file to use driver=imon and see if anything happens.

If that's no joy then the aforementioned web page tells you various modprobe options such as display_type and is_lcd to try.

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## ALF__

Again, thank you for your help.

But i cant seem to get it to work.

I have installed lcdproc and set it up.

I can connect to it via Telnet. and give it commands, but no text shows up, and i cannot turn of the backlight.

also the lirc_imon module wich the site is reffering to is not available, i do just have a imon module. in my kernel version 3.12.21?

I did try to pass the modprobe argument also, no luck

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## gkmac

 *ALF__ wrote:*   

> also the lirc_imon module wich the site is reffering to is not available, i do just have a imon module. in my kernel version 3.12.21?
> 
> I did try to pass the modprobe argument also, no luck

 I think the "imon" module is the one for newer devices whereas "lirc_imon" is the older legacy module, the one found under "Staging drivers" in the kernel config that I described above.

If modprobing "imon" with varying display_type and is_lcd parameters doesn't make anything work, rmmod it and try modprobing "lirc_imon". Again try varying those parameters, as a lot of the older devices have the same USB ID but work in different ways hence the need for those parameters.

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## ALF__

Again thank you for your help.

I cannot find the legacy driver in my kernel tree.

And i found this on the mythtv site: lirc 0.8.4 has support for the iMON LCD compiled in and the is_lcd module parameter is no longer required. Instead the code recognizes the different device ids reported by the different versions of the device. 

so i cannot find where to get lirc_imon driver from?

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## ALF__

Hello guys!

Ive managed to sort this out.

The most problems i think were from that every guide for this is quite old and doesnt really fit the latest version of everything.

Mostly the kernel drivers. For some reason, the drivers included with LIRC did not manage to find my LCD and therefor no /dev/lcd0.

I discovered this early, and the driver in the kernel tree did work and put up a /dev/lcd, but LCDd still did nothing to get this to work. This is probably because i tried it with the LIRC drivers on the LIRC-side and the driver from the kernel tree on the LCDd side.

After reading alot of older guides, it seems like LCDproc and LIRC needs eachother, but i dont know how true that is anymore. Anyone may correct me on this however.

So to get this to work, i have:

 *Quote:*   

> 1: emerged LCDproc
> 
> 2: emerged LIRC (as stated earlier, dont know if this is necessery anymore)
> 
> 3: included > Device Drivers > Multimedia support > Remote Controller devices > SoundGraph iMON reciever and display (it seems to include compatability with all the imon LCD/VFD?)
> ...

 

4th step was the key, i thought i could use the LIRC driver from the portage compilation, but no.

Now everything seems to be fine.

This is in no means a guide, but its my experience and for the record i used the 3.12.21-gentoo-r1 kernel.

Hopefully this may help someone else attempting this.

Im very happy to get this to work. and special thanks to gkmac that helped me alot!

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