Are you going to try and implement your own display? If it's not too distracting you could just use /proc/empeg_screen.[png!raw] and just update the display that way. The baud rate of the VFD serial protocol is too low for a high refresh rate but it should be okay enough to just see what's happening.

I would do this, and may still, but I'm not sure how the data format is in the PNG/RAW files. (If I COULD figure it out, then I could easily convert it to data that the VFD understands, and just 'loop'.

The empeg_screen.raw file is 2048 bits. Screen size is 4096 (128x32). Is there info somewhere on how to intreperet the file? (Going to do a search after this..)

I just finished writing a little program that loops every second, and scand empeg_notify, and if it changes, pipes out to screen. (I didn't realize that "Source" (or Album) isn't contained in that file.. Interesting.)

Just copying the display (like Hugo did) would be most beneficial for Menus and such - but refresh rate would look kinda crappy on visualizations. :>

Untimately, I want to have a hybrid. Simple text or graphics displaying song info, and then making own menus when user enters them. Biggest hurdle there is finding out WHEN the menu is accessed, and knowing WHAT is on the menu.

That's a ways off, as I learn more C. (Hey. I[m pretty friggin' happy that my first All-C program works as expected. So far.)

Me.