How to configure VFD

[icke1260]

Hello,
I came across a “Mutant Inferno SE” box with an Amlogic S905x3 on which I installed CoreELEC 20 (dtb: sm1_s905x3_2g). The display has indicators for power, LAN, WiFi high, WiFi low and clock with colon. When I start CE it permanently says “boot”. When Android starts, the display works as expected.

I have already tried various vfd configurations. Unfortunately without success. For now, it would be enough for me if the display is off, i.e. no longer constantly shows “boot”.

I also followed the description here as far as possible. But I can’t figure out how to make a vfd.conf out of it.

Output on Android:

$ cat /sys/kernel/debug/gpio
gpiochip1: GPIOs 410-495, parent: platform/pinctrl@ff634480, periphs-banks:
 gpio-448 (                    |amlsd               ) out hi
 gpio-458 (                    |amlsd               ) in  lo
 gpio-482 (                    |sdio_wifi           ) out hi
 gpio-483 (                    |sdio_wifi           ) in  hi
 gpio-493 (                    |bt_rfkill           ) in  lo
 gpio-495 (                    |bt_rfkill           ) out hi

gpiochip0: GPIOs 496-511, parent: platform/pinctrl@ff800014, aobus-banks:
 gpio-498 (                    |avout_mute          ) out hi
 gpio-502 (                    |stb_gpio            ) out hi
 gpio-503 (                    |clock_gpio          ) out hi
 gpio-504 (                    |data_gpio           ) out hi

Output on CoreELEC:

$ cat /sys/kernel/debug/gpio
gpiochip1: GPIOs 410-495, parent: platform/pinctrl@ff634480, periphs-banks:
 gpio-448 (                    |amlsd               ) out hi
 gpio-458 (                    |amlsd               ) in  lo
 gpio-473 (                    |openvfd             ) in  lo
 gpio-474 (                    |openvfd             ) in  hi
 gpio-482 (                    |sdio_wifi           ) out hi
 gpio-483 (                    |sdio_wifi           ) in  hi
 gpio-493 (                    |bt_rfkill           ) in  lo
 gpio-495 (                    |bt_rfkill           ) out hi

gpiochip0: GPIOs 496-511, parent: platform/pinctrl@ff800014, aobus-banks:
 gpio-498 (                    |avout_mute          ) out hi
 gpio-499 (                    |key                 ) in  hi
 gpio-507 (                    |?                   ) out lo

[TheCoolest]

Try this config:
a95x-f2-aml-vfd.conf

[icke1260]

yeehaw
It works - I had tried all possible configurations that showed that it was a S905x3 box.
Thanks a lot!

[TheCoolest]

Your box may be S905X3, it’s just the pin layout and display type seem to match exactly the config of that A95X-F2 box.

[FoLeY]

Hey …
Is it possible to use the display on Dune HD premier 4k pro ? It’s the same like Homatics Box R4k+ but with display and 2,5 HDD bay …

I’ve tried some files from here but no success…
It’s my first box with LCD display and I don’t know how to configure it.

Need some help…

[TheCoolest]

Hi, it should be possible.
Is the pic taken when in Android?
To be able to help I need the GPIO configuration of the box in Android:

How to configure VFD

Boot up Android, and in the app Terminal run the following command, and the output for me (you can take a pic of the TV if you can’t copy the text directly) cat /sys/kernel/debug/gpio

If you can’t get that, then a DTB dump you can do from CoreELEC.

Extracting .dtb file from a running Android OS

If you still have Android installed, you can boot CE from USB/SD and type dd if=/dev/dtb | gzip > /storage/downloads/dtb.img.gz on SSH, you can then download it from the Downloads folder.

[FoLeY]

cat /sys/kernel/debug/gpio does not work or it really don’t exist…

[FoLeY]

I think the problem is …

When I boot the box first time , there’s no display working. But after I installed Dune hd Media Center the display appears. Maybe no general Android support with the display ?

[FoLeY]

Here the DTB …
dtb.img.gz (100.0 KB)

So what to do with that file ?
@TheCoolest

[TheCoolest]

I think that this was brought up to me some time ago.
Dune has an Android app that they use to run the display. If memory serves, I couldn’t figure out exactly how it was configured.
Sorry for the delay.

[FoLeY]

A ok … Thanks for looking at…

[fesarlis]

Hello,
I have tried most of the configs in this topic for my TX3 Max. Many work, but only the time is shown (no icons). I would appreciate some help.

[TheCoolest]

You need to install the OpenVFD addon in Kodi.

[fesarlis]

Everything is installed as instructed.

[Portisch]

https://wiki.coreelec.org/coreelec:ce_support

[catharsys]

Hi,

Do you know if it’s possible to control the “led” on gt king II ?

[vpeter]

@catharsys

control the “led”

CE Settings:
System LED

[TheCoolest]

If you found a tanix config where the clock works correctly, then the icons should work too. As long as the addon is enabled and the advanced settings are disabled.
You can also use the addon to set display brightness, try it and see it takes any effect or not.
Also, you didn’t even mention which version of CE you are on:
https://wiki.coreelec.org/coreelec:ce_support

[fesarlis]

The main use of this box is to run EmuELEC. However, and since the documentation of EE regarding this issue is not enough, and after I found this topic, I prepared an SD card with CE 19.3 only to find out that the result is exactly the same.

# cat /sys/kernel/debug/gpio
gpiochip1: GPIOs 401-500, parent: platform/pinctrl@4b0, periphs-banks:
 gpio-422 (                    |mute_gpio           ) out hi    
 gpio-436 (                    |amlsd               ) out hi    
 gpio-449 (                    |amlsd               ) in  lo    
 gpio-474 (                    |?                   ) out hi    
 gpio-476 (                    |openvfd             ) in  hi    
 gpio-477 (                    |openvfd             ) out hi    
 gpio-486 (                    |sdio_wifi           ) out hi    
 gpio-487 (                    |sdio_wifi           ) in  hi    
 gpio-497 (                    |bt_rfkill           ) out hi    

gpiochip0: GPIOs 501-511, parent: platform/pinctrl@14, aobus-banks:
 gpio-503 (                    |key                 ) in  hi    
 gpio-505 (                    |openvfd             ) out hi

vfd.conf:

# This file must be renamed to vfd.conf and placed in the /storage/.config/ folder.
#
# Tanix TX3-MINI (S905W) configuration
#--------------------
#gpio_xxx:
# [0] 0 = &gpio, 1 = &gpio_ao.
# [1] pin number - https://github.com/openSUSE/kernel/blob/master/include/dt-bindings/gpio/meson-g12a-gpio.h
# [0] Reserved - must be 0.

vfd_gpio_clk='0,76,0'
vfd_gpio_dat='0,75,0'
vfd_gpio_stb='1,4,0'

#chars:
# < DHHMM > Order of display chars (D=dots, represented by a single char)

vfd_chars='4,3,2,1,0'

#dot_bits:
# Order of dot bits. Typical configurations:
# Display Type 0, 1 usually has Alarm, USB, Play, Pause, Col, Ethernet, Wifi dots
# Alarm = 0, USB = 1, Play = 2, Pause = 3, Col = 4, Eth = 5, Wifi = 6
# Display Type 2 usually has APPS, USB, SETUP, CARD, Col, HDMI, CVBS dots
# APPS = 0, USB = 1, SETUP = 2, CARD = 3, Col = 4, HDMI = 5, CVBS = 6
# Display Type 3 Power, LAN, Col, Low Wifi, High Wifi
# N/A = 0, N/A = 1, Power = 2, LAN = 3, Col = 4, Low Wifi = 5, High Wifi = 6

vfd_dot_bits='0,1,3,2,4,5,6'

#display_type:
# [0] - Display type.
# [1] - Reserved - must be 0..
# [2] - Flags. (bit 0 = '1' - Common Anode display)
# [3] - Controller.

vfd_display_type='0x01,0x00,0x00,0x00'

#functions='alarm usb play pause colon lan wlan'
functions='usb colon eth wifi'

[TheCoolest]

This will be my last reply to you on this topic.
You need to install the OpenVFD addon in kodi. If you see the clock, everything is configured correctly.