source: npl/mediabox/lcdproc_edwin/src/INSTALL

0. REALLY-QUICK START

Try this, if you're in a hurry:
        edit Makefile.config   (use your preferred text editor, of course)
        make
        su
        make install


1. GETTING STARTED

First read the README if you haven't already.

2. CONNECTING THE DISPLAY TO YOUR SYSTEM

WARNING! Danger, Will Robinson, Danger! This is pretty easy, but if
by chance you screw up your machine by crossing some wires or by
pouring water on things with the power turned on, don't blame us!
Neither we, Matrix Orbital Corporation, or any manufacturer of LCDs
you're trying to use shall be held responsible for damage incurred
by following these directions.

These instructions are SPECIFICALLY FOR MATRIX ORBITAL'S DISPLAYS!
Other displays will quite obviously have different requirements!

2.1. POWER CONNECTION

Matrix Orbital has instructions online for connecting the power
cable.  It's at http://www.matrix-orbital.com/addendum.htm
Go there, if you're online.  Or you can just read this:

The LCD takes either +5V or +12V, depending on which model you
bought.  You should have the +5V model unless you requested
otherwise.  Either amount can be provided conveniently by a slightly
modified floppy power cable.

       ************* For +5V, use the RED wire. **************
       *********** For +12V, use the YELLOW wire. ************

Basically, disconnect the wire you don't need (yellow for +12V, or red
for +5V) and one of the black wires (they're both grounds so it
shouldn't matter which one you use).  Then move the two remaining
wires to the opposite ends of the connector. The power wire goes to the
clearly marked +5V pin, and the black one goes to the also clearly
marked GND pin.

Assuming you modified the cable right (we'll have pictures on the
web site in a few days to show how this connection should be made),
plug the other end of your modified wire into your system's power
cables and turn the system on (you don't need to connect the serial
cable until you know you got the power working). The LCD should light
up and tell you what version of the BIOS it has in it. If it does,
you've got it. If it doesn't, uh-oh. Turn the machine off quickly and
try it again.

2.2. SERIAL CONNECTION

The LCD uses a standard DB9 serial connector. However you want to
get from your motherboard or add-in card's serial port to the back of
the LCD is up to you. In one of my machines, I just literally pulled
one of the DB9 connectors off the back of my machine and plugged it
straight into the LCD, so it was just running from the motherboard
right to the LCD. YMMV (your milage may vary). In my new machine, I
needed a longer cable, so I just went out and bought a 6' external
serial cable, rolled it up and put it on top of my power supply, and
everything worked.

By default (at least mine was shipped this way ;) the LCD is
configured to run at 19,200 baud, 8-N-1. You might want to make sure
yours is set like this; otherwise you'll need to hack our code which
you shouldn't have to do for this to work right.

3. BUILDING LCDPROC

As long as you have a working gcc and make, this should work.

 - Edit Makefile.config to configure some options.
 - Run "make"

LCDproc will build in (hopefully) a few seconds. It's not very big. If
you want, you can install it (if you're root) by typing:

make install

This will install the binaries and the man page, and will make a link
called /dev/lcd which points to whatever port you specified in the
Makefile. It will also change the permissions on the specified port
to allow all users to write to the port (so users can run LCDproc).
If you _don't_ want to allow this, change the permissions back after
installing LCDproc. :)

4. RUNNING LCDPROC / MANUAL INSTALL

First, you'll need to run the LCDd server.  If you're in the LCDproc
source directory, and have just built it, run...

       server/LCDd -d joy -d MtxOrb

This assumes you want to use the Matrix Orbital LCD driver and a
joystick.  You can find out what other drivers are available by
running "LCDd -h".  Note that you can use more than one driver at the
same time.

Then, you'll need some clients.  LCDproc comes with one:

       clients/lcdproc/lcdproc C M T X &

This will run the main LCDproc client, with the [C]pu, [M]emory,
[T]ime, and [X]load screens.  The ampersand (&) puts it in the background.

To install manually, you'll want to do something like the following:

        su
        cp server/LCDd /usr/local/bin
        cp clients/lcdproc/lcdproc /usr/local/bin
        cp docs/lcdproc.1.gz /usr/local/man/cat1
        ln -s /dev/ttyS0 /dev/lcd

Some prereleases or development releases will have broken auto-install
scripts, so manual installs may be necessary for those versions.


5. PUTTING LCDPROC IN SYSTEM STARTUP

It's nice to have LCDproc start when the computer boots, so here's how
to do it:

In Slackware or RedHat:
        Add lines to your /etc/rc.d/rc.local, such as the following:
          echo "Starting LCDproc..."
          /usr/local/bin/lcdproc C M X &

In Debian:
      - Make a file "/etc/init.d/lcd" which works the same as the
        other scripts in that directory.  (it should accept "start"
        and "stop" as parameters...)
      - To start, run "LCDd" with any necessary parameters.  It will
        put itself in the background as a daemon.
      - Also in the "start" section, add "lcdproc" with some
        parameters.  Be sure to put a "&" on the end, or the system
        will get stuck there when you boot.
      - And, put in any other clients you want to run all the time.
      - For the "stop" section, simply "kill" all the programs you
        started in the "start" section.  They will shut down and exit.
        I recommend killing the server after all the clients, but it
        really doesn't matter much.

      - Now, add symlinks from /etc/rc[2-5].d/S50lcd to /etc/init.d/lcd,
        and be sure to get /etc/rc[06].d/K50lcd to /etc/init.d/lcd.
        This will cause LCDproc to shut down when your system does.

That's all the OS`s we've actually done this with so far..

6. OUR WEB SITE

Visit http://lcdproc.omnipotent.net/ for the latest updates and news
for LCDproc. If you've got comments, suggestions, bug fixes, or 
problems (related to LCDproc, not women ;), send e-mail to either
William W. Ferrell (choadster@earthlink.net) or Scott Scriven
(scriven@cs.colostate.edu).