Help wanted to test a new OpenVFD alternative

[Jean-Francois Lessard]

That should make it. You can always try to see if it works and search online if not.

[dale]

Quote

sudo ./display -c
[WARN] Display device directory missing at /sys/class/leds/display; attempting module load
[INFO] Successfully loaded module: tm16xx
[ERROR] Display device not present after modprobe

Hi, @Jean-Francois Lessard I'm using a x98h box with self-built image. I have issue with the tm16xx kernel module using a patch https://github.com/paolosabatino/armbian-build/blob/main/patch/kernel/archive/rockchip64-6.16/general-driver-tm16xx-led-driver.patch

The vfd controller is AIP1688 which is similar to fd628. Do you have any idea why it fails?

 

Edited Friday at 01:15 PM by dale

[Jean-Francois Lessard]

Hi @dale

 

What is your DTS node for your display? My first guess is that your DT node is not being picked up/inexistent since the module loads but the display device is not present.

You can use dtc /proc/device-tree to see your loaded DT and find your display node, if any.

 

Then, have you checked dmesg for any tm16xx kernel message?

 

Then, you can ls /sys/class/leds to see if any device were created. The display-service/display-utils scripts expect /sys/class/leds/display.

 

That should not be your issue here, but I'm not sure that aip1688 is the same as tm1628 variants. Googling aip1688 list it besides aip1618, so that would be the tm1618 variant. Whatsoever, I think you should have partial working display if using tm1628. To be 100% of which compatible string to use, we would need the aip1688 datasheet but I couldn't find it online.

 

Good luck with your experimentation! Let me know how you results.

 

[dale]

@Jean-Francois Lessard I'm sorry for the typo. Yes the controller is tm1628. 

ls /sys/class/leds --> shows empty. 

Dmesg doesn't show any message for tm16xx.

I've attached the working overlay source for openvfd which I have the clock digits working at least with.

(The full icons would be card, usb, Low wifi, hi wifi, apps and eth)

openvfd_x98h.dts

Edited Saturday at 08:17 AM by dale

[Jean-Francois Lessard]

@dale you need a display overlay that is compatible with tm16xx. OpenVFD overlays are NOT supported.

 

You can read README.md and dt-bindings documentation at https://github.com/jefflessard/tm16xx-display

But note that there has been many changes recently to the code base since the driver is currently in review process to be upstreamed into mainline kernel (targeting v6.18). So double check which bindings version format has been integrated into Armbian rockchip64.

 

The GitHub repo also contains a vfd-convert utility to automatically convert OpenVFD configuration files to expected tm16xx DTSO. But :

1. It requires OpenVFD conf file, not dtso.

2. You may need to go through file history to get the version matching of what has been integrated into Armbian rockchip64.

 

 

[Jean-Francois Lessard]

To anyone interested, I am seeking help to test the latest tm16xx changes for the (hopefully) final upstreaming submittal.

 

You will find in-tree patches here: https://github.com/torvalds/linux/compare/master...jefflessard:linux:tm16xx, just suffix with ".patch" to get all patches in a single download.

 

 

You will find out-of-tree version, device-specific dtso and latest display-service in the https://github.com/jefflessard/tm16xx-display/tree/v4-feedback branch.

 

Thanks to all of you for you help so far!