RouteZeroDesign Posted March 2, 2008 Share Posted March 2, 2008 Hey guys, I really want to build a small lcd display into my case to display system temps, water flow etc.. Not a huge problem right?....well..em...no, there doesnt seem to be any mac based software that you can use to control a serial lcd screen. The one il be using while in windows (for playing games and amusing myself with its crapness) is lcdstudio, lcdstudio It would be this type of display that i will be using, can anybody help me? Ive searched and searched myself but i cant find anything, the only other option is running a palm pilot with a built in data logger to monitor the system externally, but this option is kinda complicated....que avril lavigne song! Ps: Free virtual hug to the person who can help Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/91206-display-built-into-case/ Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baudouin Posted March 2, 2008 Share Posted March 2, 2008 you can have a look here, maybe it will help you : http://aquamac.proboards106.com/index.cgi?...=499&page=1 Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/91206-display-built-into-case/#findComment-650850 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ongeloof Posted March 2, 2008 Share Posted March 2, 2008 Talk about pushing boundaries. If no software works for you, the is a very good widget that i use. It moniors everything, while you watch videos on MyTube. Think Mark Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/91206-display-built-into-case/#findComment-651069 Share on other sites More sharing options...
RouteZeroDesign Posted March 2, 2008 Author Share Posted March 2, 2008 Thanks for the help guys Baudouin- thanks for the link. The guy on the aquamac forum seems to be trying to convert the source code into mac osx compatable software, so hopefully it would be possible for me to do something similar. The Fan/pump controller that i plan to use is the mCubed T-balancer BigNG,Link, If you look on the website you will see that it is an incredible product that control 12 fans,2 pumps, it can montior 2 flow sensors and 32 (yes 32!) different temperature sensors. Another advantage of the T-balancer is that it can output its data over usb, for data logging and for configuration. Now i forgot to say earlier that i dont want to have to use an additional graphics card to run the small lcd as i dont have space on the motherboard. This leaves me with two options. (1) Use a serial lcd, using a usb-serial adaptor to output data to the screen or (2) Use a windows moblie pda to monitor the computer from an external position. The advantage of this is that the pda has its own graphics card built in, has a colour touchscreen display, is available quite cheaply and can be used in both portrait or landscape view. I think of the two options, the most exciting (if i can get it to work) is the pda method. For the pda their are two options available. (1) Use an application called sidewindow link to use the pda as a secondary display, and drag widgets ( thanks think mark for the heads up) over to the screen. This is a nice method but it has a few problems. There is still additional load on the pc to run the pda screen and kind of negates the advantage of having a pda with it's own proccesor. The sidewindow software is windows based, so it would require me to rewrite the code 3 times to have it run system wide. ( i will be running quad boot- Osx86,Vista 64bit, xp and ubuntu linux) This only works as a screen and dissables the touchscreen so there would be no way of changing fan speeds or waterpressure via the palm pilot. (2)Use the palm pilot and keep it as a seperate display, independant of the os. I would then skin the pda software to keep the clutter down and then start plugging in different aspects to the software. The skin would allow me to view the information, but have an arrow at the side of the screen to switch between pages. This would include: A system monitor page with cpu load, hdd space, ram usage etc. I would get this information out of the computer over a usb connection using something similar to this link A cooling page which would display individual fan speeds, waterflow at various different points in the loop, water level, water temp and temperatures of various components(cpu,gpu etc). If i can get the mcubed software to run on the pda i will be able to adjust the fans, flow etc. This would be great as it would make the cooling system completly autonimus from the pc and hense independant of whichever os im running. A remote control page which, via the ir port. would allow me to view the currently playing song, adjust volume, skip songs etc. I would do this by using one of the various programs for the pda which allow you to use it as a remote for osx, and then setup windows to recognise inputs from the macintosh ir remote (even though it will only be an emulated mac remote) A misc page to display new email notifications and various other things. Any other pages that i should try include? Any advice would be great. I know this is going to be a complicated addition to an already complicated project, but if i can get it to work it would be amazing and would also help others out in the moding community who wish to persue a similar route. I will try, if possible to make all the code open source, which may mean writing my own control software as not to break copywright laws, but would enable greater freedom for customization and better community support. Sorry for the long post, ive had this buzzing around in my head for the past few weeks so its good to get it down in print, just so i can step back and re evaluate each problem. Feel free to comment and make suggestions for changes or additions. Paul Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/91206-display-built-into-case/#findComment-651256 Share on other sites More sharing options...
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