- 1. Where can I get a display unit? Who makes them?		FAQ Updated 02/25/2000 -

Several companies make these displays. Refer to the Hardware page for more information.

- 2. How much do these things cost? -

The displays can be as cheap as $20 (probably cheaper) if you decide to go with an HD44780-based display; they are little more than the LCD itself and a controller, and typically require soldering to make them work. But if stuff like that is right up your alley, be sure to check out the HD44780 section of the Hardware page. CrystalFontz comes next on the price list, currently priced at around $45 for a reflective-background LCD (non-backlit, if I understand things correctly :) and $60 for an LED-backlit LCD (both of these are 20x4 character-based LCDs). They provide PC drive bay inserts (with and without cute little Linux penguins on 'em :) that run about $35. Even cooler, they've even built power cables for connecting a PC to the displays, and sell those for about $5. They're *really* long, too, which is quite helpful.

Matrix Orbital is currently the priciest, at $85 for a 20x4, and $35 for a bay insert. LCDproc supports all of these mentioned displays, so have a look at the Hardware page for the latest contact information. Yes, we are proud of our hardware page ;).

- 3. Which one do I *really* want? There's different sizes, brands, etc.		Decisions decisions -

LCDproc supports all displays listed on the hardware page. It can support any character-based LCD made by these companies (and the HD44780 generic displays) in any dimensions up to 80x25 (and I think that's just a limit we stuck in there that may just go away at some point ;). Honestly, if you're technically saavy enough (and can handle yourself well with a soldering iron) go for the HD44780 if you can make sense of the information available about them.

If you don't feel like becoming an electrician or giving up a parallel port, go for one of the serial-based displays. CrystalFontz currently offers the least expensive displays. They run at 9,600 baud, and work flawlessly in LCDproc. The driver for these displays is currently under active development, and works great. Matrix Orbital currently makes the most expensive LCDs, and they run at 19,200 baud. While LCDproc doesn't make use of the extra bandwidth, if you absolutely require a faster display, go with MO, but keep in mind LCDproc won't make use of the extra speed.

At present, 20x2 and 20x4 LCDs are the most fully supported. 20x4 is by far the most supported display, in that we've had more time to build screens for them than the others. 20x2 is well represented though, mainly since we split the 20x4 screens in half and made those work too :) Other screen sizes might not be as "cool" or useful. 40x4 is supported, but at present this is done just by putting two 20x4 screens on-screen at once.

- 4. So what exactly can LCDproc do? -

I think the best way to answer this question is to refer you to the screenshots, but since you want to know right now I'll tell you anyway. Go to the screenshots page to see a sample of the screens we currently display with it.

Our most important change in the 0.4 series is that LCDproc is now a client/server system. A "server" process runs on the machine connected physically to the LCD, and listens for clients to connect. Clients can be on the same machine, or on other systems on the network (or, honestly, even over the internet if you're feeling sadistic ;). The client does the work that the old 0.3 LCDproc did -- it gathers statistics and reports them. Now, instead of reporting directly to a display, it reports to the server. The server handles multiple clients simultaneously (with no known limits to the number of active connected clients), and keeps network usage to a minimum with a protocol that only requires the active, on-screen client to transmit data. The server provides a "widget" set that allows clients to build screens quickly. The server itself generates all the screen data and transmits it to the LCD. This allows clients to run on any display that LCDproc's server supports, without knowing any details about the physical hardware. More features are being added, as well as clients. There's a slew of clients on the Clients page. Go have a look.

- 5. So when will it run on other OS's? -

It already does. LCDproc supports Linux, FreeBSD, OpenBSD, NetBSD, Darwin and Solaris Solaris support is pretty young but I believe even the client works now, gathering stats for Solaris boxes. We are very interested in porting LCDproc to the Windows platform, and welcome development efforts from anyone willing to help. We intend to license LCDproc for Windows with the GPL, the same as under Linux and BSD. If you'd like to assist in development, please contact William Ferrell with your ideas, and we'll get CVS write access set up for you on our Sourceforge CVS server.

- 6. I found a bug. -

If you find a bug, please let us know about it on the mailing list! Maybe it is not a bug or fixed already so checking the documentation of latest version might help. If not and properly explain, the mailing list will help you with it.

If you discover a security issue and want to avoid early disclosure, feel free to contact privately a few long term developper and let them know, we will find the best way to deal with it.

Bug reports and patches are encouraged, since the problems won't get fixed if you don't tell us about them. :)

That reminds me. If you send me a bug or bugfix and don't want to be credited, please say so, otherwise I'll put your name and e-mail address up in lights.

- 7. What's LCDproc's status? When's the next version coming out? -

When it's ready. LCDproc is developed by volunteers. We do not make release plans.

The v0.5.2 release, released on 27 April 2007, is the latest stable release. With this release all previous release series are officially out of maintenance.

or if you are interested in helping with the development of LCDproc, please check our Nightly distribution of LCDproc's CVS tree.

- 8. What about keypad support? -

LCDproc v0.5.0 and above has keypad, joystick, and keyboard support. It also has an lirc input driver that allows using all devices that lirc supports. In addition to that is also has an input driver or the IrMan infrared device. New input devices will be added over time.

- 9. What about version numbers? -