Here is the new Growl Display plugin that will send Growl notifications to an LCDproc server. This will allow you to view Growl notifications on any character LCD supported by LCDproc, or on any UNIX or linux terminal using the curses or text drivers. Because it uses LCDproc's TCP/IP connection protocol, you can send your notifications almost anywhere!
Using this plugin, I was able to forward my notifications to my wireless Zaurus PDA running in another room.
Major Update to the GrowLCDisplay plugin just posted. Due to insufficient testing, some bugs had slipped through the previous release. I finally had some time to rewrite parts of the plugin. As a result it is much more stable and reliable with some added new features.
I just finished working on a Growl Display plugin that will send Growl notifications to an LCDproc server. It works very well! I will hopefully have a download available soon. This will allow you to view Growl notifications on any character LCD supported by LCDproc, or on any linux machine if you run the curses or text drivers. Because it uses LCDproc's TCP/IP connection protocol, you can send your notifications almost anywhere!
Check out the screenshot. Notice the LCDproc server running a text based curses display in the terminal.
Here is a Quicktime Movie of the POS Display with iTunes. It shows some of the features of the script. It also reveals some of the limitations of the Display:
Even with these limitations, it serves its purpose well, and it was cheap compared to a normal serial VFD.
I recently managed to get my EMAX POS pole to display my current iTunes Tracks. I will post a video soon. It uses a simple AEDEX command set.
Here is a link to the code: AEDEX iTunes Code
Make sure to save it as an application and select "Keep running." Then put it in your iTunes Scripts folder.
Requires a working serial port (edit the script to specify which) and: SerialPort X 1.0 OSAX
Here is something I tried out today after I finally received my Zaurus CF wifi card. I installed SSH on my Zaurus, then logged into my Powerbook. I ran the LCDproc daemon on my Mac from the Zaurus using curses as a display, and lo and behold, my Zaurus was a wireless LCDproc display!
It is hard to see, but the Z is displaying the status of the hard drives on my Mac. It rotates through about 8 screens, displaying the time, system load, etc.
My EMAX POS pole displayed arrived the other day and the VFD is huge! The spec sheet says it is 15 x 4 cm - much larger than I imagined. It is a parallel Samsung VFD, which connects to a board that translates the RS232 and AEDEX protocol used in some cash registers. There is not serial interface on the VFD unfortunately.
The protocol was very simple to figure out, and after some cable modifications, I got it running using Zterm. Now I am going to start trying to get the LCD Kit to work directly on the VFD, without the other board. I'll keep everyone posted.
I just bought a VFD from ebay. It is a 20x2 model, though I have seen some nice 40x2 models pop up at a decent price. It is from a point of sale display, so I don't really know exactly what I'm am getting. It was cheap though, so if you want a good price on a VFD, look for surplus POS displays. Mine was 99¢ plus shipping.
Since it is from a POS machine, it probably uses serial input, but like many of the Noritake VFDs, it might have parallel too. If so, I will try it with the parallel adapter and let everyone know my results.
Ultimately, I would like to get this working with LCDproc, and write a Growl plugin to connect with LCDproc. That way, I would not have to write any more code for formatting data for the LCD/VFD. This should open a lot of doors for people wanting to use LCDs on Mac OS X.
Try the GrowLCDisplay plugin for Growl that allows you to send Growl notifications to your Mac OS X USB LCD Kit!!!
Update!
All known bugs have been fixed!
Download the latest version now.
Post a writeback if you try it or have any problems.
Thanks!
