What LCD Plugin or Utility to use these days?

[Snooze]

Ok, I am lost now. I installed LCD Smartie 5.3.2, Installed the iMon Plugin and in config I set it to output to text, it is making a text file. It does not appear that anything is working right now as my display is still reading the default from the manufacturer. I open LCDSmartie and everything is enabled so I figured something should show up. I cant figure out how to tell it to read that text file either. I am not interested in displaying the tabs in smartie so I will probably disable them later, I just want to know what GBPVR is doing, or is about to do.

Does anyone have any guidance to help me?

[pBS]

first you should get smartie 5.41[latest and probably last one]
what lcd/vfd do you have? did you select the proper display driver in smartie? [upper right] and #of rows/charcters wide

i had modded imon plugin to output to registry then have a registry plugin in smartie to read it...[howi use it thees days]
but what i use is so customized just for me it's silly...

maybe i'll upload my current setup so we can see how 'universal' it is..
we've been working on a nPvr version here lately..pretty close...
i'll have to gather all the stuff and get back to you..

[Snooze]

Ok, that is where I am getting confused. I installed 5.3.2 because b00sfuk said "I use 5.3.2 as it is the last version that will display a non-fixed message in standby".

I didnt see my LCD listed in LCD Smartie, its the nMediaPC LCD I posted in my first post. I think you said you have the same one. I loaded the driver from the nMediaPC web site but did not do anything else with it. I am assuming it is usable since it is displaying the default message on the display.

I dont see it listed in lcd smartie when i went to configure it, I selected 2X20 but nMediaPC LCD is not listed... do I put the driver somewhere for it to see what I am trying to use? The documentation is very vague. I am somewhat savvy on PC's but I cant second guess how to do this.

I imaged my drive yesterday so I can experiment with anything you have to offer.

Thanks for any help you can provide.

[pBS]

mine is a vl-systems vfd...look on back to see what manufacturer it is from...that's the driver you need..
if it's vl-systems you need a separate driver that's on smartie site[last driver made for it,in news section]
it displays that 'MCE' msg when it gets power...

i don't think the vl-system drv is compatible with 5.3 so you have to use 5.4+
[as are all display plugins, in 5.3 they are all built-in..5.4 uses plugins]
once you get smartie driver figured, you should see smartie stuff on display...then ready to play..

[Snooze]

mine is a vl-systems vfd...look on back to see what manufacturer it is from...that's the driver you need..
if it's vl-systems you need a separate driver that's on smartie site[last driver made for it,in news section]
it displays that 'MCE' msg when it gets power...

i don't think the vl-system drv is compatible with 5.3 so you have to use 5.4+
[as are all display plugins, in 5.3 they are all built-in..5.4 uses plugins]
once you get smartie driver figured, you should see smartie stuff on display...then ready to play..

Yeah, mine is saying "MCE Indicator for Media Center" right now.

I will try the 5.4 version and get back to ya! Thanks!

[Snooze]

Got it working, smartie stuff displaing like crazy! It was a FTDI driver, VLSystem, LIS MCE driver I installed from here http://www.vlsys.co.kr/English/supdown_LISMCE.php that fixed it. I was using the one from nMediaPC website (bad).

In smartie I installed the vl-systems separate driver that's on smartie site as you said.

Who would have thunk all that!

I want those hours of my life back! LOL

Now to get it to read PVRX2 stuff...

Thanks pBS!

[pBS]

hey, is that the lcd version of what i have? is it 20x2? green letters on black?
wondering cuz i was gonna get one of those, if it's same controller as mine then it's a done deal cuz i know those stay on when sleeping..
my vfd is 24x2 [lots of real estate]

so i have drive temperatures, drive free space, cpu bar graph and all gb info on 2 lines!
[all created custom by me]
get tinybar plugin for smartie, single char bar graphs...
and you can have spectrum analyzer with winamp and winamp plugin if using sound card output..[not hdmi or spdif]
i just wish i could get source to rewrite shutdown messages..[stupid static text!!GRRRRR]

[Snooze]

hey, is that the lcd version of what i have? is it 20x2? green letters on black?

As I understand the older one is Green on Black. The newer ones are Blue on Black (like I have). Yes mine is 20X2. eBay for Green one? I got mine from newegg.

wondering cuz i was gonna get one of those, if it's same controller as mine then it's a done deal cuz i know those stay on when sleeping..

I would like this feature of "on" while in standby, but I dont know how to do it. I see the post you snagged that from. I dont see anything configurable in Dev. Man.

so i have drive temperatures, drive free space, cpu bar graph and all gb info on 2 lines!
[all created custom by me]

Cool, I am starting to get the hang of this. I can get LCD Smartie to use ImonPlugin now, so that is progress. I think I will need to look into gbpvrcli to do the remaining items I would like to have.

get tinybar plugin for smartie, single char bar graphs...

What does this do? Can you send a screen shot? Do I need it? If its bling the chicks like, I want it! LOL

and you can have spectrum analyzer with winamp and winamp plugin if using sound card output..[not hdmi or spdif]

I use S/PDIF (see sig) so I guess I cant use it... be interesting to see what it does.

i just wish i could get source to rewrite shutdown messages..[stupid static text!!GRRRRR]

What is your goal here? Is this for the message in standby?

[Snooze]

Oh, and I wanted to ask you something, but its not related to this post so I will PM you.

[pBS]

yea, i can get those for 29$ locally..the pic shows green on black but it may be blue..[hard to tell]
the msg on sleep should just work on that one...try booting and not running smartie [mce indicator showing on lcd]
then send machine to sleep, if that mce msg is still on, then it works in standby...
smartie has a shutdown msg, but it's static text and can't be changed on the fly..
so i have to change smartie to a page that has next info already on it, then kill smartie so that screen stays while in sleep...then restart smartie when woke...
[almost impossible in win7]

tinybar just lets you see stuf like cpu % by using only 1 char, a vertical bar 1 char wide,it can display any info %..
i'm thinking of using it for time remaining or volumes...