iMON VFD

[stustunz]

ok someone few months back was trying to get it to work but it may have been lcd smartie before skate15e came up with his plugin which like you said works well

[RangerBob]

Yes, there is also an LCD smartie plugin which can control the LCD, plus it can control the icons.

I have tried piping the output from the GBPVR iMON VFD plugin to LCD smartie via the text file output, which then controls the LCD + Icons, however this solution is very unstable. Whether it is LCD smartie or the LCD control DLL causing the instability, I am not sure.

[RangerBob]

OK, after further testing and hair pulling I think I have found what was causing the instability on my system.

The instability seemed to be either the LCD driver crashing, or the LCD firmware itself. The display would freeze up, and the only way to clear it is to fully disconnect power from the case, not good. I have found this is an issue both with LCD Smartie, and the GBPVR iMON plugin.

After testing today, I have discovered that it seems to be linked with the built in IR reciever; that I assume also pipes signals via the LCD controller. I could not get this receiver to work with my Hauppauge remotes, so have ignored it and plugged in a Hauppage IR diode on a wire and used its software. The crashes always seemed to occur whilst doing something with the remote.

I have disconnected the built in IR photodiode, and the LCD controller now seems rock solid, both with LCD smartie, and the GBPVR plugin. I have found a few other threads on the Soundgraph website which seem to be describing similar symptoms with other unrelated remotes. http://www.soundgraph.com/Eng_/Forum/For...ingLevel=8

I hope this information helps a few other GBPVR users. Overall I love the Antec Fusion V2 Black, the case has been really well designed for this application, however, this LCD module leaves a lot to be desired. The contrast is poor and the firmware does not seem to be up to standard. There seem to be promises of updated firmware, so there is hope though.

[stu8080]

I'm having a problem here with my Antec Fusion v2 case with an iMON VFD, with the supplied ANTEC vfd it works, however when i remove that and try to use the iMON GBPVR plugin i get garbled characters... i have a feeling im not removing the ANTEC drivers completely??

Also, i get this in the logs:

Code:

2007-10-30 21:07:50.628    INFO    [1]    About to check 'C:\Program Files\devnz\gbpvr\plugins\iMONVFD' for plugins
2007-10-30 21:07:50.628    VERBOSE    [1]    About to check file: C:\Program Files\devnz\gbpvr\plugins\iMONVFD\IMONVFD.dll
2007-10-30 21:07:50.630    VERBOSE    [1]    ImonVfdTask constructor parameter count: 0
2007-10-30 21:07:50.637    VERBOSE    [1]    iMONLCD Plugin: Initializing iMON LCD
2007-10-30 21:07:50.639    VERBOSE    [1]    iMONLCD Plugin: Loading Values from config.xml
2007-10-30 21:07:50.645    VERBOSE    [1]    iMONLCD Plugin: Initial Write to LCD
2007-10-30 21:07:50.646    VERBOSE    [1]    iMONVFD: False
2007-10-30 21:07:50.646    VERBOSE    [1]    iMONLCD Plugin: Initializing Timers
2007-10-30 21:07:50.649    VERBOSE    [1]    iMONLCD Plugin: reinitialize iMON VFD
2007-10-30 21:07:50.649    VERBOSE    [1]    iMONLCD Plugin: Loading Values from config.xml
2007-10-30 21:07:50.650    VERBOSE    [1]    iMONLCD Plugin: Initial Write to LCD
2007-10-30 21:07:50.650    VERBOSE    [1]    iMONVFD: False

Any ideas what im doing wrong? I dont really understand whats going on here!

[stu8080]

bump!

I'm at a complete loss to even understand how the vfd works... do i need Antec software installed or not, would they conflict?

[RangerBob]

edit: Just to be sure is it a VFD or LCD you are talking about? The LCD is a bright blue module with Icons around it with a lighter blue text. The VFD is a darker module with very bright blue/white lettering. The post here describes how to get the LCD working which is fitted to the Fusion V2 Black case. If it's the VFD you have then I have been an idiot and please ignore me.

Since no-one else seems to be following this, I'll try and help.

Your best bet is to uninstall the supplied ANTEC drivers, but before you do that, be sure to snag the SG_VFD.dll from the installation (can't remember where it is, but do a search for it). Check the version number. It needs to be greater than version 5.1 according to cybrmage in order to work with the LCD in the Fusion V2 black. If you can't find it PM me and I'll get it off my machine.

Once you have SG_VFD.dll, copy it to your system32 directory.

Install the iMON LCD Plugin v0.85 (by skate15e) as per the instructions on the wiki, (don't overwrite your SG_VFD with the supplied one - you already have it!). Get the GBPVR_IMON_VFD_LCD.zip supplied by Cybrmage on this post. Copy the IMONVFD.dll from the Zip file, and place it over the installed plugin version (rename the old IMONVFD.dll, just in case).

That should be it. You can fire up the GBPVR config program, go to "plugins" search the list, click on "iMON plugin", then settings. You should now have the option to select "LCD".

That should be it (I'm doing this from memory, don't have access to my machine ATM so please bear with me!).

I do highly recommend disconnecting the IR receiver if you are not using it as described in the post above. It seems to be nothing but trouble with these drivers. Unscrew the module and clip the two outer legs of the IR photo transistor.

[stu8080]

As i understand it the Fusion v1 has LCD and no IR reciever, the v2 has VFD and IR Reciever?

Im pretty sure thats the way it with my v2... bright white 2x16 display. Now im really confused?

[stustunz]

find a picture and post it might be the easiest way to clear up what it is

[RangerBob]

Easiest question is: Is the entire front panel silver or black?

If it is silver then you have the VFD fitted.
If it is black then you have the LCD fitted.

This is from the Antec site.

They've dropped the V1 from the lineup, this had no IR and a VFD.

The V2 can be silver or black. Both have an IR receiver, but the display differs.

My instructions work fine on the black panelled fusion case which has the LCD. It just involves a little more work. The original instructions from the wiki should work fine for the VFD. Just remove the terrible Antec software first!

I wish they'd put a VFD in the black case too though, IMHO VFDs are far superior over the frankly crappy LCD (poor contrast) they have put into this unit.

[stu8080]

Doh!

Just realised that for the plugin to work, PVRX2.exe has to be running!! I knew it had to be something stupid i was doing (or not).

Anyway, its working fine now... Just got to figure out how to manage the text files in LCD smartie so i can mix up the info displayed a bit more!

Thanks for the input guys.