6/13/2021 How to configure VFD - General / Guides & How-tos - CoreELEC Forums

CoreELEC 19.2-Matrix_rc2 (June 6th, 2021)

CoreELEC 19.2-Matrix_rc2 is now available. This is a hotfix release for issues on some type of user
setups introduced by 19.2-Matrix_rc1 release.

Changes Since 19.2-Matrix_rc1:

Fixed GLIBC to support Widevine 4.10.2252.0

Added support for HDR10 and HLG for the VP9 format (YouTube)

Changes Since 19.1-Matrix:

cbsousa2004 Jul '20

Yes, the display is off after an update. I applied the patch did not return. TX3 mini Red pcb.

TheCoolest CoreELEC Team Jul '20

Please try these, and if one of them works, let me know which one (1 or 2)

vfd-configurations.zip (1.6 KB)

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cbsousa2004 Jul '20

Not work. I’m using corelec 9.2.3 e dtb gxl_p281_1g.

TheCoolest CoreELEC Team Jul '20

Reboot and post output from dmesg | paste

cbsousa2004 Jul '20

Follows attached! dmesg.log (82.4 KB)

TheCoolest CoreELEC Team Jul '20

It looks like a DTB issue, one of the pins is already assigned to something else.

Will investigate.

TheCoolest CoreELEC Team Jul '20

Did the display work in an older build of CoreELEC?

cbsousa2004 Jul '20

I lost the display after I updated the firmware, I hadn’t tested CorELEC before.

TheCoolest CoreELEC Team Jul '20

I didn’t even notice that this was a S905W device at first.

I think that without having the original DTB from the Android firmware where the display worked
correctly, it would be hard to find a proper fix for this.

The conflicting pins are related to the audio device, and I don’t know whether I can change them
without breaking something.

It seems you have some sort of one-off device, because I’ve never seen this sort of conflict before.

cbsousa2004 Jul '20

I made a backup of the original rom, but I can’t restore it, it crashes on the TX screen. I use
original Tanix firmware, I just don’t have the display.
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cbsousa2004 Jul '20

I can make the display work with the Selenga A3 firmware, but it is not functional for other things,
would it be possible to collect the data and make a VFD to work at Tanix?

TheCoolest CoreELEC Team Jul '20

Yes, all I need is the DTB from it. I think on your device it should be doable from CE (after you
install the A3 ROM)

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.

cbsousa2004 Jul '20

Follows dtb of ROM A3. If possible you can for rom tx3? dtb.zip (97.9 KB)

TheCoolest CoreELEC Team Jul '20

Something doesn’t add up for me. Could you please make a picture of

cat /sys/kernel/debug/gpio command with the A3 ROM, where the display is working?

cbsousa2004 Jul '20

This result that I have in A3.

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cbsousa2004 Jul '20

The display works, but I don’t support controls. On the tanix rom I don’t have a display.

TheCoolest CoreELEC Team Jul '20

Yes, I understand.

cbsousa2004 Jul '20

The Tanix rom works perfectly, but I need help from the display only.

TheCoolest CoreELEC Team Jul '20

Remove the vfd.conf file and try this DTB, let me know if it works.

gxl_p281_1g.dtb (40.3 KB)

If it doesn’t, post dmesg after a clean boot again.

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TheCoolest CoreELEC Team Jul '20

I see that didn’t help.

Next step would be to install the Amlogic-ng nightly and use the vfd.conf file I provided earlier
today.

The way DTBs are configured in CoreELEC will conflict with the pins your box uses for the vfd
display.

From what I see, in the new kernel the setup is the same as in the Android DTB you provided, so it
has much higher chance of actually working.

rospy Aug '20

For those who might be interested I installed 9.2.4.1 NG using standard version gxl_p281_2g.dtb
on local emmc in a A95X F1 2/16G and it works. I then used instructions to use the correct dbt
given before by CETeam

with PUTTY

mount -o remount,rw /flash

cp /usr/share/bootloader/device_trees/gxl_p281_2g_a95xr2.dtb /flash/dtb.img

reboot

then to make the VDF working first with date I followed instructions provided before by CETeam

Goto Arthur’s VFD repository here https://github.com/arthur-liberman/vfd-configurations .

Download the configuration that matches your device and rename it to vfd.conf.

Make sure that you save the file as Raw.

Copy the vfd.conf to /storage/.config on your device.

For the A95X F1 the file is a95x-r2-aml-vfd.conf

to have the icons shown

Install OpenVFD Service via the CoreELEC repository in Kodi.

Reboot, play with the options of the OpenVFD and enjoy the icons.

kos25k Aug '20

Hello.A general question,if wrong thread,devs please move it.I have CE on my Vorke Z6 (Tanix
TX92) and when i press power off inside CE,it seems to be powering off OK,but this logo saying
“boot” doesn’t leave at all.Normally when i power off from the tv box’s stock OS,this screen is
totally closed

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.So i want to ask:Is really my tv box

powered off,or i have to reboot from EMMC every time and power it off from there?

9.2.4.2 Discussion

TheCoolest CoreELEC Team Aug '20

You need to configure the openvfd driver, as discussed in this thread, and the display will shut off
when you shutdown CE.

kos25k Aug '20

Thanks,i found the file for my box and now not only screen turns off,but also it displays and time!!

TheCoolest CoreELEC Team Aug '20

You can install the OpenVFD addon to make the icons work, too.

shmizan Sep '20

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@TheCoolest , thanks for this addon, it’s really great.

one thing I noticed on my box, is the remaining time on playback doesn’t count the seconds
properly.

the time between one second and another is not the same.

here’s to demonstrate what I mean: http://www.mediafire.com/file/bgdyyvfiiw2izop/file

you can see for example, that the time the display says “03:15” is almost half of the time the
display says “03:16”, and the same for “03:12” and “03:13” and so on (it’s like that for every two
passing seconds - one second is displayed longer than the next one).

the sync is kept throughout the video playback, but it’s strange seeing seconds pass
inconsistently.

am I the only one seeing it? it’s a s905x2 4gb box.

TheCoolest CoreELEC Team Sep '20

Yes, I’m aware of this problem.

The main issue with this is that this functionality is provided by the OpenVFD addon (it’s not part of
the driver), and the addon only updates 2 times a second. It’s enough for clock/icons, but it has
trouble keeping up with seconds.

There’s not much I can do about it at this point. I also don’t have much free time to work on this
anymore.

The OpenVFD addon sources are on github, PRs are welcome.

Menion Sep '20

Hi

I have a box with this gpios

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How I translate them into the gpio numbering of vfd.conf?

TheCoolest CoreELEC Team Sep '20

You take the base address (410) and subtract it from the pin address (474, 475)

This translates into 64 and 65. I’m pretty sure there are vfd.conf files with this config already.

Menion Sep '20

Yesh, thanks, found one that is working fine

desibeast Oct '20

Hello,

I have tried almost every single possible vfd.conf on my device Transpeed X3 PLUS S905x3
2g/32g

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Its just stuck on “boot”, I have used sm1_s905x3_2g.dtb

I have set it up on couple more different model boxes but on this box it doesnt want to work.

What could be wrong? Can someone please help me out…

Currently I have hk1-x3-vfd.conf as /storage/.config/vfd.conf

Thanks

Betatester Oct '20

desibeast:

What could be wrong?

Did you use a raw copy?

desibeast Oct '20

Yes I used raw and also downloaded repo and pushed file to box. Tried all options.
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TheCoolest CoreELEC Team Oct '20

You need to run cat /sys/kernel/debug/gpio from Android, not from CoreELEC.

desibeast Oct '20

Oh damn. I have installed coreelec into internal removing android os assuming that might fix the
issue. I don’t have android os anymore, is there any other way/options left for me ?

TheCoolest CoreELEC Team Oct '20

Not really, unless you restore/reinstall the original Android image onto the device.

4ltj4 Oct '20

recently got my X99MAX (s922x) and cannot find the correct VFD.conf file.

I already tried around 10 different files from the link (first post), but none seem to work!

-Any help is appreciated-

X99 MAX:

TheCoolest CoreELEC Team Oct '20

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Run the following command in Terminal in Android and post the output/screenshot.

cat /sys/kernel/debug/gpio

4ltj4 Oct '20

TheCoolest:

cat /sys/kernel/debug/gpio

gpiochip1: GPIOs 410-495, parent: platform/pinctrl@ff634480, periphs-banks:

gpio-445 ( |amlsd ) out hi

gpio-458 ( |amlsd ) in lo

gpio-482 ( |sdio_wifi ) out hi

gpio-483 ( |sdio_wifi ) in lo

gpio-493 ( |bt_rfkill ) out hi

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 hi

4ltj4 Oct '20

any info ? --bump–

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