LCDisplayer Plugin for Winamp
Copyright (c) 1998 by Mike Lynch

Important Known Issues:

The plugin has a tendency to crash when Winamp is terminated while
the plugin is still active, but only when the plugin is sending
output to a window.

Description:

Output information to an LCD panel connected to a parallel port.
All information from an ID3 tag (except genre) can be displayed,
But that's not all, lots more stuff which can be displayed!

See vis_LCDi.ini for more detail on what information can be displayed
and how to configure the display.

Installation and usage:

Put the DLL and the INI file into the Plugins directory.
Go to the Visualization Plug-in setup in Winamp and select
LCDisplayer (vis_lcdisp.dll) and select a Module.

Modules:
Sample All Info - displays a window showing most of the information
                  which can be displayed.  Note: Any blank lines means
                  there is an incomplete or no ID3 tag for the file.
Screen - simulates what the panel display will look like using a small
         window.
Panel - outputs to the panel

When the output is send to a window, the window will only be updated
while a file is playing.  Panel output is continuely be updated.

See vis_LCDi.ini for more detail on configuring the display.

Requirements:

You must have Winamp v2.05 or later.

Recomended that you have an ECP parallel port.

The plugin will only run on Windows 95 (and probably 98), meaning
I've only tested it running on Windows 95 and the word is NT blocks
direct access to the parallel port, so it more than likely won't
work for NT.

You must have the display hooked up to a parallel port and the display
must have an HD44780 compatible controller.  I have only tested it
running on LPT1.  The only supported connection method is an 8 bit
connection (some people use a 4 bit interface).

While the plugin should work with a display of any size, it has only
been tested with a 20x4 and 40x4 (columns x lines) display, so no guarantee
that it will work with displays of different sizes.

General Information and Known Issues:

If you choose to display the title of the track and there is no ID3 tag
then whatever Winamp is displaying in the song title section will be
displayed (usually the filename without the extension).

Only output to the LCD Panel will be continuely updated.  In otherwords
even when a file is not being played, long lines will continue to scroll
and the clock (if being used) will properly function.  Output to a window
will only be updated while a file is playing.

The INI file:

The [LCD] section sets various parameters describing the LCD panel
and how the display should look.  See the INI for details on how to
configure the display

The [Screen] contains paramters which affect what you see on your
screen (monitor).
HideWindow=0 or 1.  Set HideWindow to 1 to prevent the little window
from being displayed when using Panel Output.

The [Timing] section in the INI file sets various timing parameters
specified in milliseconds.
ControlCode and Data set how fast stuff is fired out of the parallel port.
ControlCode is the delay for sending control information to the display,
and Data is when characters are fed to the display. I've seen everything
from 1ms to 30ms used.  If the display is garbled, try increasing these
values.  Increasing these values will impact how fast the display is
updated, so the scrolling speed will be affected.

ECP should be set to 1 if you have an ECP parallel port, otherwise set it
to 0.  Note that an EPP port is NOT the same as an ECP.  The ECP port does
not need a DMA channel (though most systems assign one to an ECP port).
When using an ECP port, the ControlCode and Data timing values are not
used.  Instead, the LCD is monitored and data is sent as soon as the LCD
indicates it is not busy.  Using this method is more reliable and much
faster.

Legal Notes:

I am not responsible for any damage LCDisplayer causes, directly or
indirectly related, to you, whatever is plugged into the parallel port,
your computer, any other equipment you own, or your neighbour's dog.
You use LCDisplayer at your own risk.

LCDisplayer may not be sold.  LCDisplayer may not be distributed with
any other software, hardware, or anything.  You are not allowed to
modify the DLL file in any way.

LCDisplay is Copyright (c) 1998 by Mike Lynch

