Raspberry Pi Display/Locator Service

05/12/2016 Added Gtk+-3.0 and GLib2.0 Display Services.

Program Documentation

dOxygen Documention

05/12/2016 Added GLib and GSSDP command line clients.

Package includes two features. One designed to both locate your Pi and provide a list of known services. The other acts as a central LCD display service, allowing other network devices/nodes to send a one-liners to the service for display on its LCD.

Each Raspberry Pi, Mac OSX, and Linux node in your network could execute udp_locator_service (LocatorService) as a backgound program using SystemD, a LaunchD PList, or an init script of some sort. The LocatorService collects the address of the machine it running on and creates a entry in its ServiceRegistry; which it sends to clients that requests it.

This establishes the network of locators, for which a udp_locator_client can poll at any time to find your Pi.

Likewise the lcd_display_service executes on nodes that also have an LCD Display of some sort; Serial/USB, MCP23008, or PCF8574 based. It is the provider of the shared LCD Display, and the target of the lcd_display_client (DisplayClient). DisplayClients query all LocatorServices for their active ServiceRegistry, and pickout the default lcd_display_service entry, or via command line option –alt-service-name=my_service_name.

Once a DisplayService is located, the DisplayClient sends a message to the DisplayService to display; from the command line -m option. Or if the DisplayClient has been started in –non-stop=60 mode, it will send random status messages automatically to the DisplayService; in this case every 30 seconds.

Recent additions include a GTK+3 Display Service(gtkDS), a Plain Command Line Display Service(cmdDS), a GLIB-2.0 based Display Client(cmdDC), and a GSSDP based Display Client(gssdpDC). Note: gtkDS and cmdDS program include the udp_locator_service internally.

These apps were not intended to be final form applications. Instead they are well formed starters for your own projects.

Enjoy!

Executables

Configuration Options

Locator Service

upd_locator_service –help

udp_locator_service -- Provides IPv4 Addres/Port Service info.
          Skoona Development <skoona@gmail.com>
Usage:
  udp_locator_service [-v] [-s] [-m "<delimited-response-message-string>"] [-h|--help]
  udp_locator_service 
  udp_locator_service -s -a mcp_display_service
  udp_locator_service -m 'name=mcp_locator_service, ip=10.100.1.19, port=48028|'

Options:
  -a, --alt-service-name=my_service_name
                 *lcd_display_service* is default, use this to change name.
  -s, --include-display-service  Includes DisplaySerivce in default Registry response.
                *Presumes both are located on same machine; otherwise enter with '-m'*
  -m, --message  ServiceRegistry<delimited-response-message-string> to send.
  -v, --version  Version printout.
  -h, --help     Show this help screen.
  
  **ServiceRegistry Format:  _<delimited-response-message-string>_**
    delimited-response-message-string : required order -> name,ip,port,line-delimiter...
      format: "name=<service-name>,ip=<service-ipaddress>ddd.ddd.ddd.ddd,port=<service-portnumber>ddddd <line-delimiter>"
        name=<service-name> text_string_with_no_spaces
        ip=<service-ipaddress> ddd.ddd.ddd.ddd
        port=<service-portnumber> ddddd
      REQUIRED   <line-delimiter> is one of these '|', '%', ';'
 
    **example: -m "name=lcd_display_service,ip=192.168.1.15,port=48028|"**
    ** -m "name=rpi_locator_service, ip=10.100.1.19, port=48028|name=lcd_display_service, ip=10.100.1.19, port=48029|"**

udp_locator_client –help

udp_locator_client -- Collect IPv4 Address/Port Service info from all providers.
          Skoona Development <skoona@gmail.com>
Usage:
  udp_locator_client [-v] [-m 'any text msg'] [-u] [-a 'my_service_name'] [-h|--help]
  udp_locator_client 
  udp_locator_client -u -a 'my_service_name'

Options:
  -a, --alt-service-name=my_service_name
                          *lcd_display_service* is default, use this to change name.
  -u, --unique-registry   List *unique* entries from all responses.
  -m, --message    Any text to send; 
      _'**QUIT!**' causes service to terminate._
      _'**ADD **<delimited-response-message-string>'  -- add new registry entry into Service_ 
  -v, --version    Version printout.
  -h, --help       Show this help screen.

Display Service.

Supports on the ‘YwRobot Arduino LCM1602 IIC V1 LCD Backpack’

• which uses the I2C controller PCF8574
• example: lcd_display_service -r4 -c20 -t pcf
• This is the default. example: lcd_display_service

Supports ‘Adafruit IC2/SPI LCD Backpack’

• which is based on the I2C controller MCP23008
• example: lcd_display_service -r4 -c20 -t mcp

Supports ‘Adafruit RGB Negative 16x2 LCD+Keypad Kit’

• which is based on the I2C controller * MCP23017*
• example: lcd_display_service -r2 -c16 -t mc7
• Untested: I don’t have one to test

Supports for ‘Adafruit USB/Serial LCD Backpack’

• which uses /dev/ttyACM0
• example: lcd_display_service -r2 -c16 -p /dev/ttyACM0 -t ser

Supports for ‘AD / DA Shield Module For Raspberry Pi’

• which is based on the I2C controller PCF8591T to access:
• • on-board temperature sensor; NTC, MF58103J3950, B value 3950K, 1 K ohm 5% Cantherm
• • on-board light sensors; GL5537-1 CdS Photoresistor
• example: a2d_display_client -i 73

lcd_display_service –help

lcd_display_service -- LCD 4x20 Display Provider.
          Skoona Development <skoona@gmail.com>
Usage:
  lcd_display_service [-v] [-m 'Welcome Message'] [-r 4|2] [-c 20|16] [-i 39|32] [-t pcf|mcp|ser|mc7] [-p string] [-h|--help]

Options:
  -r, --rows=dd  Number of rows in physical display.
  -c, --cols=dd  Number of columns in physical display.
  -p, --serial-port=string Serial port.       | ['/dev/ttyACM0']
  -i, --i2c-address=ddd  I2C decimal address. | [0x27=39, 0x20=32]
  -t, --i2c-chipset=ccc  I2C Chipset.         | [pcf|mcp|ser|mc7]
  -m, --message  Welcome Message for line 1.
  -v, --version  Version printout.
  -h, --help     Show this help screen.

[lcd|para|a2d]_display_client –help

lcd_display_client -- Send messages to display service.
          Skoona Development <skoona@gmail.com>
Usage:
  lcd_display_client [-v] [-m 'text msg for display'] [-u] [-n] [-a 'my_service_name'] [-h|--help]
  lcd_display_client -u -m 'Please show this on shared display.'
  lcd_display_client -u -m 'Please show this on shared display.' -a 'ser_display_service'
  lcd_display_client -u -n 60 -a 'ser_display_service'
  lcd_display_client -u -n 60 -a 'mcp_display_service'
  para_display_client -n 330
  a2d_display_client -i 73 -n 330

Options:
  -a, --alt-service-name=my_service_name
                          *lcd_display_service* is default, use this to change name.
  -m, --message           Message to send to display, default: *$ uname -a output*
      _'**QUIT!**' causes service to terminate._
  -n, --non-stop=1|300    Continue to send updates every DD seconds until ctrl-break.
  -u, --unique-registry   List unique entries from all responses.
  -i, --i2c-address=ddd   I2C decimal address. | [0x49=73, 0x20=32]         
  -v, --version           Version printout.
  -h, --help              Show this help screen.

Build: Autotools project

Requires WiringPi and assume the Pi is using Raspbian.

$ autoreconf -isfv            *Should not be required: use only if .configure produces errors*
$ ./configure
$ make
$ sudo make install

Only lcd_display_service requires WiringPi, builds automatically determine if wiringPi is available and build what is available to build.

Notes:

• WiringPi is a required library for display_service and some of the disply clients. If WiringPI is not present, which is the case with OSX and most Linuxs, then the autoconf will build the udp_locator_service and a limited set of clients. When WiringPi is available all services and clients are built.
• Planning to write systemd unit scripts as part of package, add the following to rc.local for now.
  • ’//udp_locator_service >> /tmp/udp_locator_service.log 2>&1 &'
• SINGLE QUOTES vs double quotes work a lot better for command line options.

Known Issues:

08/08/2015 Found that concurrent I2C operations for LCD updates and reads from /sys/class/thermal/thermal_zone0/temp cause the lcd_display_service to lockup with a process state of uninterruptible sleep. This is caused by the RPi’s internal firmware, with no immediate resolution. To work around this issue, I have removed calls to getCpuTemp() from the lcd_display_service program.