HD44780 LCD Display update

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M5YRG
Posts: 5
Joined: Tue Jun 18, 2019 5:32 am

HD44780 LCD Display update

Post by M5YRG »

Hello, I was wondering if this suggestion might be possible ?
After spending the past few days looking into this problem (Idea) &trying to sort this myself more used to dealing with & fixing hardware problems.
I have connected a 20x04 (2004) LCD (HD44780) Display via MMDVM (Stm32) board to my hotspot. Which in this setup works fine.
I have noticed on the 'Idle' screen 'MMDVM & Idle' is shown in the bottom row.
What I have looked into trying to do is remove these words and show the IP Address instead. eg. Wlan0: 192.168.000.001
In much the same way as a OLED screen displays Call sign, TS & TG& IP info. maybe a new Display config could be called HD44780 2004 ?
Also move DMR ID number 2 spaces to left to avoid wrap around of text.
From left to right
From left to right
HD 44780 LCD 2004.PNG (2.76 KiB) Viewed 2990 times
Many Thanks in advance
73 M5YRG
M5YRG
Posts: 5
Joined: Tue Jun 18, 2019 5:32 am

Re: HD44780 LCD Display update

Post by M5YRG »

Hello Thank you for your quick reply.
I understand what you mean,as I mentioned my back ground is in I.T. hardware fault finding & support more than the software, so sadly the task to rewrite the code is beyond my reach.
re your Nextion idea, I have 2 of these screens on hotspots at my QTH.
The LCD screen is for a outside /P Hotspot, eg, have you ever looked at a MD380 or AT-878 DMR rig LED & a Baofeng LCD screen and noticed which is clearer and easier to see in daylight ? Hence the HD44780 screen.
73 M5YRG
M5YRG
Posts: 5
Joined: Tue Jun 18, 2019 5:32 am

Re: HD44780 LCD Display update

Post by M5YRG »

Hello, to all new readers to this post.
In short what I was asking is: could the MMDVMhost config - be updated so that a LCD 20x4 - 2004 (HD44780) screen would show local ip address, as in the same way a Oled currently does.....?
Idle screen on LCD mode shows: MMDVM & Idle - but this is redundant as it is on the idle screen, IP address would be more useful.
73 M5YRG
M5YRG
Posts: 5
Joined: Tue Jun 18, 2019 5:32 am

Re: HD44780 LCD Display update

Post by M5YRG »

Thank you KE7FNS for your comments 'reply' once again.
I agree the '21' in the example you stated of 'wlan0:192.168.100.254' text would be too much.
I was thinking the code could show Lan:192.168.100.254 which would fit. or maybe 'eLan' 'wlan'. ?
Also as I have mentioned before, but I think you missed it - Not being a coder myself I am a hardware engineer
I suggested this on this forum, as there is no specific room for HD44780 displays.
I have a HS with a Oled on it - It is difficult to see in bright sun 'day' light while out doing /p 'Portable' radio QSOs
Thats why I have purchased a LCD screen to make up a new HS and yes it works, but would be a nice touch to have the IP on it. 73 :D
g4egh
Posts: 6
Joined: Mon Feb 10, 2020 12:55 pm

Re: HD44780 LCD Display update

Post by g4egh »

I, too, have a 20 x 4 LCD screen, and like the OP, it would be nice to see an IP address. Why? The acquisition of an IP address is a good indication of a successful link to the outside world. My portable unit uses an LCD screen, and my smartphone is used as an AP. Knowing that the connection is good would be very useful, it is not always reliable.

An alternative would be some indication that the portable hotspot had indeed, logged into the BM server. I have a Nextion screen as my main station, and it does show the information I have indicated, but where does it get it from. If, from over the network, then all well and good, but if, for example, the Nextion screen gets it from the Pistar config, then it is informative, but not useful as a network diagnostic.

The date and time shows on the LCD screen. As the Pistar does not have a RTC, then it must come from a network device, like my smartphone. If it came from an NTC server, that would indicate network connections are good. From here, any failures would likely be limited to the BM server being unreachable. A quick config change would sort that.

The question of LCD V Nextion is a cost issue, both in terms of the cost of the physical devices, the Nextion being around 7 times more expensive, and the current consumption, where the Nextion takes around 50% more power, from a system most likely powered from a relatively small battery.

So, one possibility is to have the LCD screen show the local IP address, starting bottom left of the screen. No header is necessary, I think most of us would recognise an IP address. When transmitting from the radio into the hotspot, that IP address to be changed to that of the connected server?

The trouble with Pistar is that it is truly a great product, and some of us start pushing it to the limit :-)

73, Stan, G4EGH
M5YRG
Posts: 5
Joined: Tue Jun 18, 2019 5:32 am

Re: HD44780 LCD Display update

Post by M5YRG »

Thank you for your advice/input. As mentioned I am not a software coder - my background is in hardware breakfix as mentioned.
I thought I would put my first initial post up in the 'Feature Requests' Forum group as this seemed to be the most appropiate place to politely ask for somthing to be considered to be done by the Development team. As I and many others are not able to do the coding my / ourselves.
g4egh
Posts: 6
Joined: Mon Feb 10, 2020 12:55 pm

Re: HD44780 LCD Display update

Post by g4egh »

Greetings,

May I suggest that KE7FNS has, perhaps, missed the point, in that M5YRG, and myself have made a request that a certain feature be incorporate into Pistar when an LCD screen is employed. There could be a number of ways that this could be done, and I don't suppose M5YRG is any more fussy than myself as to what actually gets displayed. The point is, the bottom line does not convey anything special, and from a network fault point of view, it is not useful.

If that is accepted, this line could be used in some way to convey that the network is OK, and the simplest way of doing this is up to the development team, and, if they decide not to incorporate the suggestion, that is fine by me, I will not question the programming abilities of those whose experience far outweighs mine.

For me, and I suspect M5YRG, this thread is not about how various parts of Pistar work, it is about asking if a solution to a minor feature could be implemented.

73 de Stan, G4EGH
M1DNS
Pi-Star Team
Posts: 1388
Joined: Thu Apr 05, 2018 5:30 am

Re: HD44780 LCD Display update

Post by M1DNS »

What Jason is telling you both is mmdvm isnt coded by "team pistar" mmdvmhost is where these changes would need to be made, changes would need to be implemented upsteam from pistar...

https://github.com/g4klx



Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk

Andrew M1DNS.
Pi-star Admin Team.
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