Linux Futaba TOSD-5711BB LED display driver
#1
AFAIK, there is no linux driver for this display, and, no one has asked about it on this forum for about 2 years!! Still, it's the display in my media centre case in my bedroom and it was annoying not to have it working.

Therefore, I wrote an LCDproc compatible driver for the display and modded the lcdproc addon for xbmc to support the custom icons of this display.

Probably no one but me still has this case anymore, it's quite old now so I see no point in submitting the driver to LCDproc, or the futaba extension to team XBMC.

The modified files can be downloaded from https://www.dropbox.com/sh/vftg0mfsuxe25...dhNeM8QuXa

Credits to Steve Williams for his work on a simple driver for the display, the LCDproc team, and of course team XBMC.

Small caveat - You will need to compile your kernel from scratch !! Details on the mods to two of the kernel files (and the reason for them) are in the install instructions.
Learning Linux the hard way !!
Reply
#2
After installing Libreelec (9.2.0) on my old Fic Spectra I have managed to make the infrared control (MCE) work perfectly. The VFD (tosd-5711bb) works, but I don't get the extra icons / bars to work. The drivers (futaba from lcdproc) have support? I have the LCDproc and XBMC LCDproc addons installed and activated "Support for extra display elements".
Please, someone could shed light, any indication on where to get information would be welcome. I've been searching for several days and I can't find anything.
Reply
#3
Wow, someone else with the same case !!!

@macrex Which version of does LibreElec 9.2.0 use ?  As you can see from the date of my post, I wrote all this stuff a long time ago!  Also, I'm not convinced that the driver that ships with LCDProc  will actually work with the extra icons.  I never submitted it to them and someone else updated my work to use libusb0.1.  When doing so, they extended the icon map to include the extra colons etc.  That would have been fine, but in doing so they moved the volume control (which controls the bars on the side) from where I had defined it.  Again, that would be fine but the position in the icon map that the volume is encoded into is set in the Kodi addon.  So at the very least, the volume probably won't work. 

You will likely need a modded version of the addon (the one above is too old to install I would have thought) at the very least.  I didn't submit it to the Kodi team, but I probably have a version that works with v18.x  My current version on that machine is 19 alpha and I am in the same position at the moment (display works but no extra icons) until I get around to adding my extra icon support to the python 3 version of the addon.

Give me a day or so and I'll see if I can find a copy that runs on 18.x and I'll dropbox it or something for you.
Learning Linux the hard way !!
Reply
#4
(2020-02-18, 20:59)black_eagle Wrote: Wow, someone else with the same case !!!

@macrex Which version of does LibreElec 9.2.0 use ?  As you can see from the date of my post, I wrote all this stuff a long time ago!  Also, I'm not convinced that the driver that ships with LCDProc  will actually work with the extra icons.  I never submitted it to them and someone else updated my work to use libusb0.1.  When doing so, they extended the icon map to include the extra colons etc.  That would have been fine, but in doing so they moved the volume control (which controls the bars on the side) from where I had defined it.  Again, that would be fine but the position in the icon map that the volume is encoded into is set in the Kodi addon.  So at the very least, the volume probably won't work. 

You will likely need a modded version of the addon (the one above is too old to install I would have thought) at the very least.  I didn't submit it to the Kodi team, but I probably have a version that works with v18.x  My current version on that machine is 19 alpha and I am in the same position at the moment (display works but no extra icons) until I get around to adding my extra icon support to the python 3 version of the addon.

Give me a day or so and I'll see if I can find a copy that runs on 18.x and I'll dropbox it or something for you.
Reply
#5
Thank you very much for your interest, take the time you need. I just installed Libreelec Generic.x86_64-9.2.0 Kodi 18.5 (Linux Kernel 5.1.x). Comparing your contributions in GitHub, with the files installed in my libreelec, I check that indeed, libreelec does not include support for extra icons in the Futaba driver (Tosd-5711BB). Sorry for my English, it's a Google translation. Also I don't know programming and my level in Linux is low. In my case it applies. Learning Linux the hard way !!
Reply
#6
Ha, where does the time go ?  So @macrex I'm happy to report that I now have a version that works with the extra icons for Kodi 18.5+ .  It still needs a little refining (not lighting the 'home' icon when on the home screen for instance) but volume, play, ff, rew etc are all working here again.  Difficult to work with as the machine in question is upstairs and does not have a GUI or a keyboard so I have to write downstairs, push it to the PC upstairs, then run up there and see if my changes have worked.  Keeping me fit at any rate.

Anyway, just wanted to let you know I have not forgotten about this and that work is on-going.
Learning Linux the hard way !!
Reply
#7
Hello, here is another FIC Spectra user excited to find a way to get my VFD working again. Since "Frodo" it was off, now in "Leia" 18.6 on Linux Mint XFCE 19.3.
Although I'm not a programmer, I wish I could adapt your libreelec work to linux mint, or at least try.
Thank you in advance.

PD. I'm from Spain, so I'm sorry to have to translate my message.
Reply
#8
(2020-03-27, 20:28)Sagasa Wrote: PD. I'm from Spain, so I'm sorry to have to translate my message.

Your translation is fine Smile

I have a version of script.xbmc.lcdproc that I'm currently testing.  Volume, play, ff, rew , TV, radio etc all appear to be working OK.  On top of that, if I enter the PVR TV guide, the guide icon lights (didn't originally).  Home lights when on the home screen.  It looks good here but need to check across the weekend that there are no issues.  If not, I'll post a link so that you can download and install it.  Should work fine with Leia V18.x and also, with a slight modification, with Matrix V19.
Learning Linux the hard way !!
Reply
#9
Sorry for not answering before, I didn't want to seem like I was rushing you. If you need me to collaborate on something, don't hesitate to let me know.
Remember that it is Spanish translation. Confused
Reply
#10
Ha, thanks for reminding me Smile

My version has been stable for a few days and running 24/7 with no issues so I will push a copy to github and make a release so that you can just download the zip and install it.  I'll give it a much higher version number so that if you have automatic updates turned on it won't get overwritten with the official version.

Please bear in mind that this is not an official version and is not endorsed or supported by the team.  It is purely my own version that I have adapted to drive that particular LED display.  Also, please note that the volume bars may not work due to someone else altering the icon map in the futaba driver that is included with lcdproc.  If you find that they do not work, please let me know and I'll see if I can fix the addon to work with the lcdproc supplied driver.

I'll update this post with links.
Learning Linux the hard way !!
Reply
#11
Thank you, I understand everything you say and of course I accept that this is so.
I want to thank you for sharing your work and I highly appreciate your effort to resuscitate the benefits of the FIC Spectra. Despite being "obsolete Rofl" for me it does its job very well (yes, with some small help in the form of SSD, more ram and good hdmi graphics).
Thank you Blush
Reply
#12
You can download the zip file from https://github.com/the-black-eagle/scrip...g/V3.0-fic and then install in the usual way.  The version number is set stupidly high to avoid any official updates overwriting this version.
Learning Linux the hard way !!
Reply
#13
Ok, I have been testing your script for 10 days and it works very well Laugh . The volume bar, as you already mentioned, does not work, however the text below it turns on while you increase or decrease the volume. In my case, I notice that khz and / or mhz turns on depending on the volume level, always at the same volume points they turn on and stay on or turn off when changing the volume level. I am not worried or pretend to fix it, I just wanted to tell you and if you were so kind to confirm if it happens to you the same or if I have something wrongly configured, it plays a lot (LCDd.conf, LCD.xml etc) and many times without knowing what what it was actually doing Huh , or where it should look / make the most suitable configuration.
Thank you very much indeed, I am very happy that the screen comes alive. Cool
Reply
#14
(2020-04-16, 21:54)Sagasa Wrote: The volume bar, as you already mentioned, does not work, however the text below it turns on while you increase or decrease the volume.

 Figures. This is because the person that modded the driver added some support for extra icons (mainly the ':' between the segments) but did it in such a way as to break the volume bars Rolleyes Anyway, good to know that the rest of it is OK. If you give me a few days I can look at the updated driver (the one you are using) and see if I can figure out how to patch the add-on to fix the volume bar issue, it isn't something you have configured wrongly or can change yourself.
Learning Linux the hard way !!
Reply
#15
Hello again black_eagle, I did not intend to repair it for me, (maybe the translation misinterpreted), just inform you how it works and check if it is a normal or abnormal operation due to the configuration that I have. In fact most of the time I have the volume almost at maximum to match the volume of the TV (hdmi), only with some action movie with DTS or to listen to good music I change it to 5.1 sound on external speakers and that's when I have You have to reduce the volume, so that you would have practically the entire bar on most of the time.
If you decide to fix it for you great and if you share it, even more great. That is why I inform you what is the behavior in my system, in case you decide to modify it for yourself and maybe it will help you.
Volume configured in 90 steps.
0 (mute)> volume icon ON + ":" (near the right) ON + MUTE icon
1 to 8> All OFF
9 to 17> khz icon ON
18 to 26> mhz icon ON
27 to 35> mhz icon ON + khz icon ON
36 to 44> ":" (near left) ON
45 to 53> ":" (near left) ON + khz ON
54 to 62> ":" (near left) ON + mhz ON
63 to 72> ":" (near left) ON + mhz ON + khz ON
73 to 81> "." (near left)
82 to 89> "." (near left) + khz ON
90> "." (near left) + khz ON + mhz ON
With each press volume> Icon volume ON + ":" (near the right)
Everything else seems to me to work wonderfully and for me it is quite a lot. I insist that I do not need you to repair it for me, only if you decide to do it for you and share it, I will be willing to try it and inform you of what I appreciate. THANK YOU.
Reply

Logout Mark Read Team Forum Stats Members Help
Futaba TOSD-5711BB LED display driver2