[Lcdproc] VFD probs

[meino.cramer at gmx.de]

Hi,

I bought a VFD from a local electronic seller. It seems to be a FUTABA
one, its product number is: M202-MD-07g-2.
It is a 20x2 dot matrix character display with additional triangles
below the lower row of characters.
Until now I did not found any datasheet for it. It is driven by 5Volts.

It has two 16pin connectors, which are connected in parallel (I mean: pin1
of connector 1 equals pin1 of connector 2 and so on...).

There are jumper connectors (or hwo is this called?) which can be set
to TEST, RxD1, RxD2, RxD3. Closing TEST with a jumper and feeding
5Volts, shows some text and the complete character set - the VFD is
alive.

Now the more difficult part.
Equipped with a voltmeter and the datasheet of the microcontroller of the
VFD (a 80c51) I found the RxD pin of the 16pin connector.

I did the following wiring:

PC                                          VFD
RS232(PC) => [RS232 to TTL] ---oGNDo--------<GND>
                            ---oTxDo--------<RxD>
PSU ---------------------------o5V o--------<5V>             
    ---------------------------oGNDo--------<GND>


I installed lcdproc/LCDd and configured it to use the serialVFD
driver, type 3.

I tested all available serial speeds but did not find a way to define
the parity and the count of stop bits for the serial communication.

The output of the VFD is "correct in a wrong way" so to speak... ;)

For example:

If one would exspect the text
    Hello LCDproc
    Server Start

it displays instead:
    pX55) 5CD$q)c
    gXqvXq g@!q@

It looks like a simple substitution cipher ;)

Furthermore the brightness settings in the configuration file
are respected by the VFD.

Starting lcdproc after the LCDd shows, that something
happens, which is not based on pure random.

How can I proceed to get this VFD back in business again?

Thank you very much in advance for any help! :)

Best regards,
mcc