VFD's anyone else here use them?

by **GFORCE** on Sat Mar 04, 2006 11:43 am

Farnell (not sure if you have them) stock Nortiake.

They are not very Cheap.

by **Marbles_00** on Sat Mar 04, 2006 6:36 pm

If Farnell stocks them, then you could check out Newark since them and Farnell are "In One" suppliers.

by **erikt** on Mon Mar 06, 2006 6:20 pm

Thanks guys!
erikt

by **vicom** on Wed Apr 05, 2006 6:55 am

Badubo howz the plugin coming up? Any chance of releasing it?

by **vicom** on Thu May 11, 2006 3:15 pm

badubo wrote:I'm writting a plugin for using VFD (using LCDSmartie) with xlobby.
But I don't know when I will have a working version (with a complete doc)

I downloaded the French team's Xvfd plugin+LCD Smartie, installed everything , but when I launch LCDSmartie it complains that it can't load the PlugSmartie.dll. I've copied the the dll into the smatie's plugin directory. Is there something I'm missing

by **Marbles_00** on Sun Feb 18, 2007 8:13 pm

Whatever happened with this plugin?

Does XVFD plugin exist? If so, where can it be found?

by **dgemily** on Mon Feb 19, 2007 11:28 am

This is the french thread : http://www.xlobby-france.com/forums/ind ... topic=2080

but I didn't try it ... I think memoe did it

by **Marbles_00** on Mon Feb 19, 2007 2:22 pm

Thanks dgemily,

I did a search on XVFD, and it didn't come up with anything (well maybe it did...my French is really really rusty), hence my request above. I should have just done a search on VFD. Silly me.

Thanks again.

by **scottw** on Mon Feb 19, 2007 3:26 pm

Marbles,

Could you please let me know if you get this working?

After reading the LCD Smartie page, I found that using PalmORB you can make a old Palm into an LCD display. Would be fun to try out if it works. I have to dig thru to find my wife's old PalmIIIc that has been sitting in the bottom of a box somewhere

Depending on how it works I may have to buy a real VFD. I like your idea of using it to display zone info.

Thanks,

by **Marbles_00** on Mon Feb 19, 2007 5:42 pm

Looking more at LCDSmartie, for displaying zone information, it may not even require the plugin. All it would take is for the developers to include the abilitiy to add multiple instances of winamp and didicate each instance to a different screen.

I've put in a request, but not sure when or if it will get done.

by **memoe** on Tue Feb 20, 2007 3:23 pm

FWIW, I use LCDSmartie without a plugin. I have two VFU screens (DateTime and CPU %/Temp) that alternate when nothing is playing.

For music, Winamp just works. Marbles, I am only using one instance of WinAmp. For Movies, I use Zoomplayer, and an LCDSmartie Plugin. I had to dump a text file (from XL) to capture the title of the movie.

I am using a Thermaltake VFD http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1643571&CatId=965

I am considering using ThatreTek. There is an LCDSmartie plugin for TT.

by **Marbles_00** on Tue Feb 20, 2007 3:36 pm

I have an older parallel port Hitichi version. I think its a 4x20 display. I don't think the Xlobby plugin will support it though as the plugin's .dll appears to be for a USB version.

Yeah, I was hoping to integrate it into my music server to somehow show zone information. I'm now wondering if I can pass zone information via variables to Girder and use the LCD Girder plugin to display the information. I have a parallel port connection to an external box already that I was going to use for a DIY volume control, but opted out for the kXd/PervTalk route, so the connection is just sitting there collecting dust.

I have to play around with it more when I get a chance.

Thanks memoe for the reply.

by **Marbles_00** on Wed Feb 21, 2007 11:12 pm

Scottw,

I think all we need is Girder, DVDspy and the LCD plugins for girder. I've started to experiment and sent a basic status message from winamp to the LCD simulation screen for one instance. There is a way of sending information from multiple instances of winamp, which I'm hoping to learn how to do.

I'll fill you in more as I learn it. If I should get it to work, I'll forward you all the information that I know.

by **scottw** on Thu Feb 22, 2007 1:02 pm

Sweet....thanks!!!

by **Marbles_00** on Fri Feb 23, 2007 2:19 pm

Just a quick update.

I figured out how to display multiple instances of winamp information via Girder/DVDSpy/LCD Plugin...in simulation mode. The only thing is that it will display information and then as another zone changes songs, or play status, then that zone takes over...until another zone changes in some way.

A guy did mention that he had a screen management script which I'm hopeing he will forward to me. This way I'm hoping to dedicate zones to screens, and have them display in a nice sequential fashion. Fingers crossed.

*EDIT 2/28/07*
Well I've been in contact with an individual over at Girder who created the above mentioned script which became LCD Master. It looked rather promising, until he sent me an email to say that he hasn't looked at the code for over a year, and can't see a reason to for a one off.

So I have to say that right now, this is a dead end. Time like this I wish I was a coder, so I could do my own thing, either as an Xlobby plugin or via Lau. Maybe one day.