Output plugin request

I found this 4.3 480x272 TFT LCD USB display project and have been in contact with the developer and saying I might be interested in it. I would like to use it to display virtual gauge. It is small enough to be installed on a steering wheel, which makes it really cool for me.

However, the current display does not have drivers/software that lets it being used as an extension to the Windows desktop. It may be added in the future though. But the developer said it might be even more efficient if it is possible to create an output plugin that could create the virtual gauge data to a 480x272 pixel area and create it in a separate frame buffer that then could be accessed using an outside code which would transfer the data to the USB-display.

Currently there is a small program for it that can display a portion of the desktop and transfer it to the USB-display. And also this site: http://mylcd.sourceforge.net/libmylcd/u ... index.html shows Doom being run on it which though is OpenGL.

The fact that it is USB makes it possible to have multiple of them regardless of your GFX card(s) and its outputs.

Is there any hope for getting this USB-display to show virtual gauges?

But even if its slower, than it is quite perfect for an infopanel without pointer gauges still.
You could display some car data like tire temp, fuel, etc... or any status displays like lights on/off for example.

Regards
Christian

Thanks for the replies

The dev who is working on the display emailed me last night saying he had programmed basic driver that lets it being used as an extension to the desktop. And he also tested that X-Sim2 virtual gauges are displayed properly.

Though he did not test the pointers afaik. I would imagine the display is fast enough since it says on the site that it can be updated 50 time per second. However, I do know that it may not tell the whole story. So that needs to be tested.

Personally I would use it for preferrably for displaying digital data so no gauges with pointers. But still the same applies, it needs to update at decent pace for rpm, speed, gears etc. to be displayed in effectively real-time.

I thought that LCDHype and LCDStudio are for monochrome displays? And if so, then this would be a bit out of the scope of those programs. Of course if this could be made to work with them it would be great.

Great news! Does he made a vid of this testing procedure?
I'd really like to see it working

Please ask him, if he agrees to add this driver as a plugin in X-Sim.

Regards
Christian

hmm, LCDstudio outputs very low res, monochrome images.
http://www.lcdstudio.com/site20/screenshots.php

It will be preferable to use the desktop extension driver imho.

Regards
Christian

Yes, exactly. You said it better than I did

No video at this point. I will very likely get one of those displays and do some videos if still wanted

Do you have an idea already how your infopanel will look like?

Regards
Christian

I had some ideas long back. But I finally had something done, just posted it in the beta area, here: motec-adl-sdl-type-mini-dash-t1228.html

I will likely do more than one though

Oh and I'll be receiving the USB display next week, hopefully. Should be able to make some videos then.

Ok, I've received the display now and it's working. The driver that allows the display to be used as a desktop extension didn't work out of the box. I might have some ideas why not. But haven't yet explored them.

Anyway, I only now saw this when browsing this thread.

I can ask him if he'd be interested in that. Currently I'm looking into getting the display to display X-Sim gauges without having it to be used as a desktop extension. As that's a bit of a hassle, and not the most user friendly way to do it imo.

Maybe LCD Hype or LCD Studio can be made to support this.

I posted the vid to the LCDinfo.com forum too to show that I got it working. Also mentioned the plugin. And the dev is interested in making it, but wants to know how much work is involved in that. I guess because the whole project is still very much a wip and I think I'm the only using it for this. So I would understand that I'm not high on the priority list He also said LCD Studio doesn't support colors, but he thinks LCDHype does and will look into that. I guess it would be best to try to get him and sirnoname to talk to eachother directly as I'm a poor middle-man

Martin showed interest in this and I want to make this info available to everyone so I*ll reply here instead of just keeping it private.

The price for the display was 90e + VAT + shipping in it's current stage of development. The price may change when everything is more final and finetuned. No idea which way it goes, probably down as it would make more sense.

You connect the display to USB port using a standard USB-A - USB micro-A (I think, not sure of the correct name) plug. A lot of cameras and cell phones use the same plugs, but they are custom made by the manufacturer.

The program I'm using is not available anywhere afaik. I got it straight from the dev of this display project.

You can learn more here:
http://www.lcdinfo.com/
and here:
http://forum.lcdinfo.com/viewforum.php?f=19


- Tero

What concerns you about that? Is it that uncomfortable?

regards