QNAP TS-439 Pro LCD documentation available?

[Alphix]

Hi,

I'm considering buying a QNAP TS-439 Pro and I'm planning to install Debian on it.

However, I'd still like to be able to use the LCD screen on front of the device. I have no problems writing code, but I'd like to know if the specs for the protocol to communicate with the LCD screen are (or can be made) available?

Oh, and the same question goes for the front-panel USB-copy-button.

Regards,
David

[QNAPFrances]

I'm considering buying a QNAP TS-439 Pro and I'm planning to install Debian on it.
if the specs for the protocol to communicate with the LCD screen are (or can be made) available?
and the same question goes for the front-panel USB-copy-button.

Hi David,

You may refer to our "Debian on QNAP" section on this forum:
http://forum.qnap.com/viewforum.php?f=147


BR,
Frances

[Alphix]

Thanks,

I've already bought the TS-439 Pro and I've successfully installed Debian.

Could you please send the documentation you mentioned to my email address (should be available from my profile, right?)

Regards,
David

[MausFan]

Hi Frances,
hi David,


I got exactly the same "problem". I run ubuntu on my TS 439 Pro and my LCD is freezed with the "Booting system" message.
Could you also provide me the documentation please? Or David, if you have already implemented something in C maybe even the source (if it is open source)

Thanks a lot in advance
Goran

P.S.: I PM you my email address.

[Alphix]

I got exactly the same "problem". I run ubuntu on my TS 439 Pro and my LCD is freezed with the "Booting system" message.
Could you also provide me the documentation please? Or David, if you have already implemented something in C maybe even the source (if it is open source)

Unfortunately it turned out that QNAP couldn't, or wouldn't, provide me with the docs...perhaps you'll have better luck...

[pcfe]

2. Yes, we have these documents available and can send it to you when you need.

I would also be interested in that documentation.

[QNAPFrances]

Hi All,

We don't plan to release these documents for x86 models in this stage.
Sorry for the inconvenient.

BR,
Frances

[feri]

I have Debian installed on my TS439. I was able to get the LCD working. All that was required was to set the baud rate of /dev/ttyS1 to 1200 using stty. Now I can "echo" commands to the LCD. I have also found some documentation about this type of LCD. If anyone needs it, send me a private message.

[pcfe]

for those wanting to extract these themselves;

• image your DOM as per this post.
• copy the image to another box.
• mount one of the two boot partitions as per this, I used the second partition, YMMV.
• copy boot/initrd.boot to some place ([user@PC]# cp boot/initrd.boot /tmp/initrd.boot.gz)
• copy boot/rootfs2.bz to some place ([user@PC]# cp boot/rootfs2.bz /tmp/)
• extract the initrd ([user@PC]# cd /tmp && gunzip initrd.boot.gz)
• loop mount the initrd ([user@PC]# mkdir /tmp/initrd ; sudo mount -o loop,ro initrd.boot /tmp/initrd)
• copy out files (see below)
• unmount the initrd ([user@PC]# sudo unmount -d /tmp/initrd)
• extract the rootfs ([user@PC]# mkdir /tmp/rootfs ; cd /tmp/rootfs && tar xvjf ../rootfs2.bz)

from sbin of the initrd, copy these to /sbin/ on the target

• lcd_hwtest (I'm not yet sure if this is useful when not using the QNAP distribution)
• lcdmond (I'm not yet sure if this is useful when not using the QNAP distribution)
• lcd_tool (used to write to the LCD)
• get_time (used by lcd_tool)

from lib (ldd tells us, oh and ignore linux-gate.so.1), tar up these (including symlinks) and extract to /usr/lib/qnap/ on the target

• libuLinux_config.so*
• libuLinux_naslog.so*
• libuLinux_NAS.so*
• libuLinux_PDC.so*
• libuLinux_quota.so*
• libuLinux_Storage.so*
• libuLinux_Util.so*

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[user@PC]# cd /tmp/rootfs/usr/lib/
[user@PC]# tar cvjf /tmp/libs.tar.bz2 libuLinux_config.so* libuLinux_naslog.so* libuLinux_NAS.so* libuLinux_PDC.so* libuLinux_quota.so* libuLinux_Storage.so* libuLinux_Util.so*
[user@PC]# scp /tmp/libs.tar.bz2 root@qnap:/tmp/
[root@qnap]# mkdir /usr/lib/qnap
[root@qnap]# cd /usr/lib/qnap
[root@qnap]# tar xfjv /tmp/usr_lib.tar.bz2

create /etc/ld.so.conf.d/qnap-lcd.conf (on Red Hat distributions, yours may have a different path name) containing

Code: Select all

/usr/lib/qnap

remember to run

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ldconfig

after configuring it to also look in /usr/lib/qnap

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[root@qnap]# lcd_tool -h

is self-explanatory.

If someone has input on the other two binaries, please share.

[gr8boy]

Hi,

I've successfully managed to install Ubuntu 10.10 Server on my QNAP TS-659 Pro. I've also extracted lcd_tool and the libraries as described in the previous post.

Upon running lcd_tool I received the following error:

sudo: unable to execute /sbin/lcd_tool: No such file or directory

A bit of digging around led me to realize that the problem lies in my Ubuntu version being 64-bit and the lcd_tool being 32-bit. So I installed the 32-bit version of libc like this:

sudo apt-get install ia32-libs

... and I was up and running.

[StylusPilot]

I have Debian installed on my TS439. I was able to get the LCD working. All that was required was to set the baud rate of /dev/ttyS1 to 1200 using stty. Now I can "echo" commands to the LCD. I have also found some documentation about this type of LCD. If anyone needs it, send me a private message.

feri,

Is this how you did it?

1. Setup ttyS1

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stty -F /dev/ttyS1 1200

2. echo command to LCD

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echo "Hello World!" > /dev/ttyS1

Where am I going wrong? it's definetly doing something, as when I boot up the QNAP the LCD has that ">>> Booting" but once I run the echo command the screen goes blank but I am unable to get anything to display untill after a reboot.

[paulvanleest]

Almost. You can set the baud like you did:

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stty -F /dev/ttyS1 1200

And then execute these commands to control the LCD (Switch on, Switch off, Set text in line 1, Set text in line 2):

Code: Select all

echo -e "M^\x1" > /dev/ttyS1
echo -e "M^\x0" > /dev/ttyS1
echo -e "M\f\x0 HELLO WORLD 1234" > /dev/ttyS1
echo -e "M\f\x1 HELLO WORLD 1234" > /dev/ttyS1

Text length in the last 2 commands must be exactly 16!

[Obaterspok]

Here is a script to set it. Save the content between the ===== lines in to a file set_qnap_lcd
Then make the file executable with chmod +x set_qnap_lcd
Then just do "set_qnap_lcd on" to turn it on and "set_qnap_lcd 2 Hello World" to set text of second line
====================================================================
#!/bin/bash

TEXT="${@:2:$#}"

function printUsage() {
echo "Usage: $0 <off|on>"
echo "Usage: $0 <1|2> Text Message"
exit 0
}

function setDisplay() {
if [ ${#2} -gt 15 ]; then
echo "String to set can be max 16 characters!"
exit 1
fi

printf "Setting line $1 on display to \"%s\"\n" "$2"
# Text we print must be padded to exactly 16 characters to wipe old text
printf "M\f\x`expr $1 - 1` %-16s" "$2" > /dev/ttyS1
}

if [ $# -eq 0 ]; then
printUsage
fi

stty -F /dev/ttyS1 1200

if [ $1 = "off" ]; then
echo "Turning display off"
echo -e "M^\x0" > /dev/ttyS1
exit 0
fi

if [ $1 = "on" ]; then
echo "Turning display on"
echo -e "M^\x1" > /dev/ttyS1
exit 0
fi

if [ $1 = "1" ] || [ $1 = "2" ]; then
setDisplay $1 "$TEXT"
exit 0
fi

printUsage
====================================================================

[bkram]

Hi,

I have written a python module to control the LCD Display and read out the buttons.

https://github.com/bkram/mytoolbox/tree ... napdisplay

Maybe this is useful for some other people as well.

I have started to write a display daemon as well but that is very much WIP.

Good luck

[Jude24to25]

Hi,

I have written a python module to control the LCD Display and read out the buttons.

https://github.com/bkram/mytoolbox/tree ... napdisplay

Maybe this is useful for some other people as well.

I have started to write a display daemon as well but that is very much WIP.

Good luck

Any idea if this could be adapted for use on Windows? I currently have Windows as my base OS on a TS-453a (not as a VM), and I am unable to find drivers/software to control both my LCD display and the unit fans. I would be curious to find out if I could somehow use your script on Windows!