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- LCDproc Web site under development by developers 10/14/02 -

Thanks to the great work of Gareth Watts, LCDproc developers now also have access to a real development interface to maintain the nice web site of our little project. More than what we asked for, it works great and this line is the proof! Be prepared for more accurate and up to date information on this web site followed by frequent updates.

- v0.4.1 Released! 05/29/01 -

LCDproc v0.4 is officially out of beta! v0.4.1 is the first official release of the client/server version of LCDproc. It can be had from the downloads page. This release fixes many bugs, changes the protocol and how keys are handled (so clients will likely need to be updated), etc. Check the ChangeLog file in the tarball for more details. Thanks to all the LCDproc developers who helped make this release happen!

- v0.4 Development Status 03/29/01 -

As LCDproc v0.5's design continues, I'll be cleaning up the current v0.4 code for an actual, non-pre-release. There'll be one more cycle (I hope), v0.4pre10, which lives in CVS at the moment, but I hope to fix any lingering build problems, accept patches, and add drivers before the release of v0.4.0. So far, I've already gotten some compiling stuff fixed, and have received a new driver for BayRAD displays (these are rather nice -- two-line, but fit in one PC bay slot and have four buttons built in). More to come.

- FreeBSD Port 03/28/01 -

Thomas Runge has ported LCDproc to *BSD (currently supporting NetBSD, FreeBSD, and OpenBSD). He did this awhile ago, and I forgot to link to it at the time. Sorry about that :) ...

- More Development News 12/12/00 -

Development of v0.5 is stalled a bit, but still underway. I've got a nice long two-week holiday coming up from work (yay!) and I'll be working on LCDproc more then.

In other news, Chris Debenham has ported LCDproc to Solaris. He's finishing up some loose ends and should be sending me the final code any day now. That certainly warrants a release :) I'm actually thinking we're done with the "pre" releases and will actually release 0.4, but some discussion needs to happen first before we do that. Many thanks to Chris though for this port! I'll be posting it soon.

- LCDproc v0.5 Development 09/02/00 -

This has already been in discussion for a couple of weeks on the mailing list, but I figured an announcement here would be nice too. LCDproc v0.5 is entering development. Yes, I know LCDproc v0.4 still isn't officially released, but we've decided to rewrite LCDproc from scratch, designing everything from the ground up to make the code cleaner, easier to read and maintain, faster, use less memory, and to improve the protocol (making clients easier to make) along with the driver model (making drivers much easier to make).

If you want more information about the new development, join the mailing list. Eventually all of this will be moving to Sourceforge. I'm also working on getting a full domain name for LCDproc; we'll see how that goes :)

- SETI@home Client 09/02/00 -

There's a new SETI@home client for LCDproc. It's been added to the Clients page.

- New Clients Added 06/11/00 -

Have a look at the Clients page. I've added links to two new clients for RC5-related stuff.

- Site Updates ...and more to come -

Long time no update. :)

I've added lots of detailed information about CrystalFontz' displays (visit http://www.crystalfontz.com to see these beefy displays -- they've even got bay inserts with the cute lil' Linux penguin on 'em :) to the Hardware page.

These LCDs are slightly larger than Matrix Orbital's, and each row for text is a single, continuous array of dots, instead of an array of 8x5 cells. This has the pleasant side-effect of making "headings" and bar graphs look *incredible*.

Just as soon as I get a new cooling fan installed in my bratty PC, I'll have new screenshots using these new LCDs up on the site. There's new screens we should show off anyway :)

The FAQ has been updated, as well as the Hardware page. There's more to come.

- LCDproc CVS now available 99-12-23 by William -

I have placed LCDproc v0.4-pre9 in CVS at Sourceforge. Anonymous (read-only) access to the most bleeding-edge LCDproc is available to the world. First, create a directory where the CVS version of LCDproc will live, then change into it, and run these two commands:

cvs -d:pserver:anonymous@cvs.lcdproc.sourceforge.net:/cvsroot/lcdproc login
cvs -z3 -d:pserver:anonymous@cvs.lcdproc.sourceforge.net:/cvsroot/lcdproc co lcdproc

When you want to update your version of the code with the newest on CVS, enter the root directory of your version of the code and run:

cvs -z3 update

If you'd like read/write access to the CVS repository to contribute to LCDproc's development, please e-mail William about it.

- LCDproc v0.4-pre9 Released 99-11-13 -
Any display size from 16x2 to 80x25 should work now...
Changes:
 * small fixes for irix
 * Added flag in LCDd to shut off server screen:
        "-i off" or "--serverinfo off"
 + Wirz SLI driver
 + 16x2 support (server only)
 + MtxOrb generic output support in driver
 * Misc libc5 fixes
 + support for arbitrary display sizes; anything 16-80 characters
   wide, and 2-25 characters tall.  (doesn't work if you try to use
   a display size bigger than your LCD..  :)
 * curses driver looks slightly better (titles)
 * sizes > 20x4 no longer crash
- LCDproc v0.3.5 Released Scott 99-04-09 -

Thanks to Lorand Bruhacs for creating LCDproc v0.3.5!

This one has a lot of new stuff, including 20x2 support and gnu-style long arguments, autoconfigure, and some config file support.

It is part of the v0.3.x series, so it does not use the client/server model.

- Latest news on V0.4 (Scott, 99-01-13) -

Anyone interested in creating LCDproc clients should take a look at the development page.

In case you don't know what V0.4 is supposed to do...

The big news with v0.4 is that it will bring a client/server model to LCDproc. A server will sit on the machine with the physical LCD. The server is the ONLY piece of LCDproc that will speak to the LCD itself. The server will have only rudimentary screens in it. In fact, probably only one (or two to prevent burn in), showing how many clients (if any) are connected, and the date/time. It will listen for clients to connect to give it things to display.

The client can run on the same machine as the serer, or on remote machines. When a client connects to the server, it gives the server all the screens it knows how to draw, and all the statistics it knows how to extract.

Because of the new architecture, clients can be run on pretty much any platform that can do TCP/IP sockets, and can pretty much display whatever they want. Before everyone starts worrying that hooking up a whole ISP full of systems to this LCDproc client/server model and blowing away all network bandwidth, keep in mind that the server will choose which client to display information from, and can refuse connections when desired. The server shouldn't be overloaded with network traffic, since the server can notify clients when they should shut up.

Some of the possibilities for clients are...

  • CPU usage
  • Load average (xload)
  • Memory / Swap use
  • Disk space
  • Time, date, uptime, OS version
  • Battery level / APM stats
  • Netload
  • FTP/HTTP users and traffic
  • Users logged in
  • Running processes / "top" display
  • Network monitors (like Big Brother stats)
  • System logs, "tail" display
  • MP3/cd/etc.. players
  • Slashdot/Freshmeat headlines
  • The current weather
  • Stock market ticker
  • A big, flashing "666" to scare onlookers
  • Pong?
  • And, of course, anything else you can think of
- Currently Supported Displays -

The list is starting to expand a little:

We now have support for

Do you have a different kind of display that you'd like to see LCDproc run on? Do you know how to program that display? If you do, grab the LCDproc source, add a driver to it to support your display, and send it on back! If you don't think you have the ability or inclination to add a driver for your display, send us the specs and we'll see what we can do.

- Development Area Open! That didn't take long :), by William 15:41 08/01/98 -
It's up! Go look at it here.
- Development Area Opening Soon by William, 13:37 08/01/98 -
Okay, folks. Development of LCDproc v0.4 is proceeding nicely for once. I've finished writing the first pass of the Screen Construction Language specification, and will be posting that to the development area shortly.

The next thing to write is the LCDproc v0.4 Client/Server protocol. I have a whole bunch of good clues on how this should work, and in fact a nasty first draft is already done, but I'm not letting you see that :). Instead, I'll hammer out a second draft and put that up instead.

"What's this about a developer's area?" Well I figure that'll be the best place to put all the documentation and sample code to help explain how to make a client for LCDproc Server v0.4 when it's released. I still plan to release LCDproc v0.4 with all the screens we're used to, plus at _least_ one sample client to do simple things like paging/displaying one-time messages to the LCD. It'll be fun, I promise :)

The developer's area will be going up sometime tonight.
- Back from Canada! -
Well folks, we're back from Canada. The Matrix Orbital people are nothing less than awesome! Thanks Kim, for housing us for a week, and thanks to everyone at Matrix for making our stay in Canada such a fun time! By the way, the Wyoming Highway Patrol sucks and can kiss my rosy red [censored].

Also, if any of our readers ever get the chance to go to Canada (no fair if you already live there :) check out those traffic signals! The turn arrows BLINK!!!
- Goin to Canada! -
The LCDproc team is on their way to Canada to meet the Matrix Orbital crew (Designer of the LCD displays).
We are leaving June 29th and getting back July 5th. Don't Worry! We will still be online! but we are going by car.. ugh.. well truck, "William's new 1998 Dodge Ram 1500 MagnumV8 (pretty)", and since William is driving we should be there in no time... :)
Wish us all a good trip!
Canada here we come!
- LCDproc v0.4 Development Starting by William, 1:35pm 06/12/98 (Friday) -

Well I shouldn't actually announce this yet but if I don't then I'll never actually get it done :) I'm completely rewriting LCDproc to make v0.4 once things settle down in the new apartment, etc.

The big news with v0.4 is that it will bring a client/server model to LCDproc. A server will sit on the machine with the physical LCD. The server is the ONLY piece of LCDproc that will speak to the LCD itself. The server will have only rudimentary screens in it. In fact, probably only one (or two to prevent burn in), showing how many clients (if any) are connected, and the date/time. It will listen for clients to connect to give it things to display.

The client can run on the same machine as the server (when this occurs, updates on the LCD will happen once every 1/8th second, like they do now), or on remote machines (updated only once per second, so as not to use lots of network traffic). When a client connects to the server, it gives the server all the screens it knows how to draw, and all the statistics it knows how to extract.

Because of the new architecture, clients can be run on pretty much any platform that can do TCP/IP sockets, and can pretty much display whatever they want. Before everyone starts worrying that hooking up a whole ISP full of systems to this LCDproc client/server model and blowing away all network bandwidth, keep in mind that the server will choose which client to display information from, and that only one client will transmit data at any one time (because the server asks the client for info -- it's pull, not push :), and only once per second (and we're talking <100 bytes, too :).

More info coming later on when I get things started. LCDproc v0.4 is still just a concept. No code has been written. But if/when I pull it off, things will kick some major butt!

- V0.3.4 Released by Scott, 21:17 06/25/98 (Thursday) -
The new version contains bugfixes, new features, and more configuration options. Grab it now!
- Development of Graphical Displays a "GO!" by Shane, 1:18 06/17/98 (early Wednesday) -
The Developers of LCDproc have announced a graphic display using a display you probably have in your kitchen. The display is under a lot of development but the LCDproc development team feel you have the right to know.
- LCDproc v0.3.3 Released by Scott, William, 18:46 06/13/98 (Saturday) -

After many delays, the new version is out. We are now working on v0.3 and v0.4 seperately, so that you can still get updates before we finish v0.4.

Several new screens are included now, and a few things "didn't make it", but will be in v0.3.4.

Here's what's new:

  • Disk Space screen
  • Battery Status screen
  • Date, Time, Uptime, and OS version are all on one screen now
  • Modescreen letters have changed -- read the man page!
  • Lock File is gone; uses sockets now.
  • Many more internal changes
  • And a Partridge in a Fig Tree
- New Version Coming Soon by William, 1:26pm 06/12/98 (Friday) -
Alright, folks, sorry for a lack of updates. I moved 06/09/98. I have no modem connection until Thursday the 19th, so Scott's gonna be handing out the new version. LCDproc v0.3.3 will be out soonish (by the end of the weekend for sure :) which adds:
  • Disk Space Stats
  • Battery Stats (for Notebooks)

Scott will make the announcement (I hope :) here.

- New Tidbits by William, 12:30pm 05/06/98 (Wednesday) -

Okay! Long time (well, a week :) since the last update. Matrix Orbital did get me the new display and a keypad that works with it. This is quite cool; up to 25 keys can be used with these. When a user hits one of the keys, the display just sends back a letter from A through Y depending on which key got hit.

There are a few limitations, though. Things the keypad support will not do:

  • Report key-down and key-up events
  • Keep sending a signal as long as the key is held down (in other words, when a key is pressed, just one character gets sent no matter how long that key is held down).

However, the fact that this works as simply as it does means that keypad interactivity is just a short little while away. Right now I've hacked in a mode-skip button into LCDproc. Still, it needs more work before we can release a keypad version of LCDproc.

Other stuff: I've gotten e-mail from all sorts of people wanting to do (or offering already done versions of) ports to various operating systems. Without committing to anything (*grin*) there should be programs coming soon either carrying the name LCDproc or at least performing some (or all) of its functions for Windows 95, Windows NT, and BeOS. If I've left anything out please send me some mail!

Next version: We're working on bunches of stuff for the next version. We're still making the transition from the total hack job I started a few months back (that was, um, LCDproc v0.1 ... yeah, that's it! :) to an amazingly powerful object-oriented architecture. Scott is just too good at this stuff ;) The capability is already in LCDproc v0.3.2 for adding drivers for other LCD types. This includes parallel port LCDs.

The next step is my job (which I haven't been doing too much of lately ... work and real life intrude too often, don't they :), which is to come up with some standard way of getting stats, and then making the stat-gathering stuff modular like the drivers are now. Just with the LCD drivers are now, there'll only be one stat-gathering module at first -- the one for Linux :)

I still want to make a CD player and put it into LCDproc. I still want to make LCDproc able to gather stats from different machines (independent of architecture, of course :) and display all of it on one LCD. I still want to make the scrolly-thing I wrote work right. Heh-heh. Lots of wishes, eh?

By the way, there's quite a good amount of activity on the mailing list now. Join us if you haven't already on the mailing list, or on IRC Efnet on channel #LCDproc. Someone's usually hanging around.

- LCDproc v0.3.2 Released! by William, 2:00pm 04/29/98 (Wednesday) -

A new version of LCDproc has been released (on April 29th, 1998). The new version adds a heartbeat, a new text-mode driver (so you can check it out without owning an LCD :), and a completely rewritten driver interface. No new screen modes have been added, but they are coming soon.

Speaking of coming soon, features that are sure to make the next version are:

  • Mail icon: shows up if you have new mail
  • Disk Space/Usage Stats: shows total/used/available disk space and some I/O stats
  • Net Stats: for now probably only packets sent/received stats

Matrix Orbital is sending me a new LCD with a keypad interface as well as a keypad to work with. As a result, I might just be able to work keypad support into the next release of LCDproc. That's assuming the stuff shows up soon.

Join our mailing list if you haven't already! Lots of nifty ideas are brewing, and we'd love to have your input as well!

  :)
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