This is a fork of ukoda's lcd4linux-ax206, which itself is a fork of MaxWiesel's lcd4linux-max, focused on making AX206 USB LCD displays (commonly sold as "AIDA64 3.5" USB displays") easy to set up on modern Linux and FreeBSD systems including Rocky/RHEL, Ubuntu/Mint, Raspberry Pi, and FreeBSD.
The 3.5" AX206 USB displays are cheap and widely available, but most of the software ecosystem around them targets Windows (AIDA64) or uses Turing Smart Screen protocols that these displays aren't compatible with. LCD4Linux supports them natively on Linux, but getting a good-looking setup has historically required writing config files from scratch with little visual guidance.
This fork aims to fix that by providing ready-to-use themes ported from the Turing Smart Screen theme ecosystem and adapted to work with LCD4Linux's config system. In the process, new widgets were added: Gauge (circular arc rings) and Sparkline (line graph history); to support the variety of visual styles these themes use. The goal is to make it as easy as possible to plug in a display and have a polished system monitor running in minutes.
For more information visit the LCD4Linux-ax206 Wiki.
- DPF, VNC, and X11 display drivers
- Display mirroring (e.g. DPF + VNC for remote viewing)
- Pixel-level brightness control (0-100) separate from hardware backlight (0-7)
- GraphicBar widget with color thresholds
- TrueType font rendering with background color support
precision()function for formatted numeric display- MySQL/MariaDB reconnect fix
- (NEW✨) APT, DNF, and FreeBSD pkg repositories — install with
apt install,dnf install, orpkg install - (NEW✨) Pre-built packages for amd64, arm64, and armhf (including Raspberry Pi) and FreeBSD amd64
- (NEW✨) Pre-built themes for system monitoring and NAS displays
- (NEW✨) Sparkline widget for line graph history (e.g. temperature, I/O over time)
- (NEW✨) Gauge widget for circular arc gauges (CPU, RAM, disk usage rings)
Be aware that AIDA64 is actually Windows software, not the displays themselves. While LCD4Linux works with the 3.5" AIDA64 USB displays, it will not work with 5" AIDA64 displays as those are HDMI. The 3.5" USB displays use the AX206 chipset designed for photo frames but can be hacked for general use. All 3.5" USB displays I have purchased so far have the correct firmware for use with LCD4Linux. Searching online for AX206 displays yields few results so you are better searching for AIDA64 displays then filtering for USB versions only.
Pre-built packages are available for Debian/Ubuntu, Rocky/RHEL/Fedora, and FreeBSD systems. Packages are built automatically by CI for amd64, arm64, and armhf (Debian), x86_64 and aarch64 (RPM), and amd64 (FreeBSD pkg) architectures, so manual cross-compilation is not needed.
# Add the repository GPG key and source
curl -fsSL https://amd989.github.io/lcd4linux-ax206/gpg.key | sudo gpg --dearmor -o /usr/share/keyrings/lcd4linux-ax206.gpg
echo "deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/lcd4linux-ax206.gpg] https://amd989.github.io/lcd4linux-ax206 stable main" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/lcd4linux-ax206.list
# Install
sudo apt update
sudo apt install lcd4linux-ax206Or use the convenience script:
curl -fsSL https://amd989.github.io/lcd4linux-ax206/setup.sh | sudo bash# Add the repository
sudo curl -fsSL https://amd989.github.io/lcd4linux-ax206/setup-rpm.sh | sudo bash
# Install
sudo dnf install lcd4linux-ax206# Add the repository
curl -fsSL https://amd989.github.io/lcd4linux-ax206/setup-pkg.sh | sudo sh
# Install
sudo pkg install lcd4linux-ax206Linux (lcd4linux-ax206):
/usr/bin/lcd4linux— the binary/etc/lcd4linux/lcd4linux.conf— default configuration (320x240 DPF layout)/etc/lcd4linux/examples/— additional example configslcd4linux-ax206.service— systemd service unit
Linux (lcd4linux-ax206-themes, optional):
/usr/bin/lcd4linux-theme— theme management CLI/usr/share/lcd4linux/themes/— 39 pre-built themes/usr/share/lcd4linux/fonts/— bundled TrueType fonts
FreeBSD:
/usr/local/bin/lcd4linux— the binary/usr/local/bin/lcd4linux-theme— theme management CLI/usr/local/etc/lcd4linux/lcd4linux.conf— default configuration/usr/local/etc/lcd4linux/examples/— additional example configs/usr/local/share/lcd4linux/themes/— 39 pre-built themes/usr/local/share/lcd4linux/fonts/— bundled TrueType fonts/usr/local/etc/rc.d/lcd4linux— rc.d service script
Linux:
sudo systemctl start lcd4linux-ax206
sudo systemctl enable lcd4linux-ax206 # start on bootFreeBSD:
sudo sysrc lcd4linux_enable=YES
sudo service lcd4linux startThe service reads from /etc/lcd4linux/lcd4linux.conf (Linux) or /usr/local/etc/lcd4linux/lcd4linux.conf (FreeBSD). Edit this file to match your display and desired layout.
If you prefer to build from source, or need to modify the code:
Debian/Ubuntu:
sudo apt install build-essential autoconf automake libtool libtool-bin pkg-config \
libusb-1.0-0-dev libgd-dev libvncserver-dev libx11-dev libxext-dev libxpm-devRocky/RHEL:
sudo dnf install epel-release
sudo dnf config-manager --set-enabled crb # or powertools on older versions
sudo dnf install gcc make autoconf automake libtool pkgconfig \
libusbx-devel gd-devel libvncserver-devel \
libX11-devel libXext-devel libXpm-devel gettext-develFreeBSD:
# libusb is part of FreeBSD base — no package needed
sudo pkg install autoconf automake libtool pkgconf gettext-tools \
libgd libvncserver xorg-libraries./bootstrap
./configure --with-drivers=DPF,VNC,X11
touch lcd4linux.c && makeYou can select only the drivers you need:
./configure --with-drivers=DPF # USB display only
./configure --with-drivers=DPF,X11 # USB + X11 window
./configure --with-drivers=DPF,VNC,X11 # USB + VNC server + X11./lcd4linux -F -f /path/to/config.conf # foreground mode
./lcd4linux -l # list available drivers/pluginsVariables in the config are evaluated in alphabetical order, not definition order. This means:
Variables {
white 'ffffff'
std_fg white
}
std_fg will be empty because std_fg is evaluated before white (s < w). Use the hex value directly or choose variable names that sort correctly.
When creating a new widget, the typedef struct WIDGET_MYNEWWIDGET must have its first fields (up through visible) in the same order as WIDGET_IMAGE. Internal code casts widget pointers to WIDGET_IMAGE*, so mismatched field order causes subtle bugs.
The best documentation on the configuration file is at The unofficial LCD4Linux Wiki. Full documentation for features specific to this fork is on the AX206 fork wiki. Brief summaries are below.
A brightness setting (0–100) has been added alongside backlight for smooth dimming without flicker. A LCD::brightness plugin mirrors LCD::backlight for runtime adjustment via a Timer widget.
See AX206 Fork Features on the wiki for details.
Renders text using TrueType fonts via libgd. Supports variable font size, alignment, background color, and a debug border mode.
See the TrueType Widget wiki page for full field reference and examples.
Allows a second driver (VNC or X11) to display a live copy of the primary display — useful for remote viewing of a physical AX206 display. Both drivers must be graphics displays with the same resolution.
See AX206 Fork Features on the wiki for the full config example.
A circular arc gauge that fills proportionally to a value. Supports configurable start angle, sweep, ring thickness, fill direction, color thresholds, and reverse fill mode.
See the Gauge Widget wiki page for full field reference and examples.
A pixel-based bar graph for graphics displays. Supports pixel-level sizing, negative minimums, directional fill (N/E/S/W), color thresholds, and hollow style.
See the GraphicBar Widget wiki page for full field reference and examples.
A line graph widget that records historical values in a ring buffer and renders a connected trend line. Auto-scales Y-axis by default; supports fixed range and color thresholds.
See the Sparkline Widget wiki page for full field reference and examples.
Formats a float with a fixed number of decimal places (adds trailing zeros for alignment). Returns a string — apply it after any math.
expression precision(file::readline(F_PW, 3), 3) . ' kW '
A visual theme editor is included in the ThemeEditor/ directory — a cross-platform desktop app (Avalonia UI, .NET 10) for opening, previewing, and editing lcd4linux theme config files. Supports drag-to-reposition, a color picker, undo/redo, and zoom.
See AX206 Fork Features on the wiki for build instructions and usage.
35+ pre-built themes are included in the themes/ directory, covering system monitors, NAS dashboards, landscape layouts, cyberpunk/terminal styles, and more — in portrait and landscape orientations with color variants for each style.
Install the themes package, then use the lcd4linux-theme CLI:
sudo apt install lcd4linux-ax206-themes
# List all available themes
lcd4linux-theme list
# Apply a theme (backs up your current config automatically)
sudo lcd4linux-theme apply SimpleBlue
# Check what's currently active
lcd4linux-theme currentPoint lcd4linux directly at the config file from the repository root:
./lcd4linux -F -f themes/SimpleWhite/dpf_simplewhite.confOriginal theme designs from turing-smart-screen-python, adapted for lcd4linux. Theme authors: @takattila, @mathoudebine, @napobear, @amiltonjr. Licensed under GPL-3.0.
