Streams H.264 to the Galahad II LCD via USB (gousb) with: - ffmpeg CLI transcoding (no fragile FFmpeg C-ABI bindings) - pure-Go Annex-B access-unit splitting - framerate pacing with graceful shutdown and USB reconnect - TOML config, cobra CLI, structured slog logging, unit tests
3.5 KiB
galahad2lcd
A modern Go driver for the Lian Li Galahad II LCD cooler display. It transcodes a video or GIF to H.264 and streams it over USB to the 480×480 LCD, running as a systemd service.
This is a clean-room rewrite of the archived
GalahadII_LCD_Linux
project. It keeps the exact wire protocol but drops the fragile FFmpeg C-ABI
dependency in favour of the system ffmpeg binary, adds structured logging,
automatic USB reconnection and a testable, layered architecture.
Features
daemon— transcodes media to H.264 and streams it in a loopset— change the input/rotation/speed and restart the servicelist— enumerate USB devices to diagnose connectivityversion— print the build version- Automatic reconnect if the USB link is lost (e.g. after suspend)
- Graceful shutdown on SIGINT/SIGTERM (
systemctl stopworks cleanly) - Structured logs (
log/slog) captured by journald - Rotation, playback speed and framerate overrides via config or flags
Requirements
- Go 1.22+ (to build)
- FFmpeg + FFprobe (any recent version, e.g.
sudo pacman -S ffmpeg) - libusb (transitive build dependency of
github.com/google/gousb) - systemd
Install
sudo ./packaging/install.sh /path/to/media.gif
The script builds the binary, installs the systemd unit and udev rule, writes an initial config and starts the service. If no media file is given, configure it afterwards:
sudo galahad2lcd set --input /path/to/media.gif --rotate 0
Configuration
Settings live in /etc/galahad2lcd.toml:
[display]
input = "/home/user/media.gif"
rotate = 0 # 0, 90, 180, 270 (clockwise)
speed = 1.0 # >1 slower, <1 faster
[usb]
vendor_id = 0x0416
product_id = 0x7395
[stream]
fps = 0 # 0 = auto-detect from the source
cache_path = "/tmp/galahad_cache.h264"
The set command updates this file and restarts the service:
sudo galahad2lcd set --input /home/user/media.gif --rotate 90 --speed 1.2
sudo galahad2lcd set --fps 15 --no-restart # apply later
CLI flags also override the config for one-off runs:
sudo galahad2lcd daemon --input /home/user/media.gif --rotate 180
Diagnostics
galahad2lcd list # find the LCD on the USB bus (needs udev rule or root)
journalctl -u galahad2lcd -f # live daemon logs
The bundled udev rule (packaging/99-galahad2lcd.rules) grants the
logged-in session user access to the device so list works without root.
Architecture
cmd/galahad2lcd entry point (composition root)
internal/cli cobra commands: daemon, set, list, version
internal/config TOML configuration model, load/save/validate
internal/transcoder ffmpeg/ffprobe wrapper, filter graph, FPS detection
internal/h264 Annex-B stream → access-unit splitting (pure Go)
internal/stream frame-rate pacing loop (testable, device-agnostic)
internal/device Device interface + gousb (libusb) implementation
internal/protocol USB framing (pure functions, golden-tested)
internal/service systemd unit management
Layers depend only downward. stream talks to a device.Device interface,
so the transport can be swapped or faked in tests without touching the rest
of the pipeline.
Development
make build # build ./bin/galahad2lcd
make test # unit + integration tests (integration needs ffmpeg)
make vet # go vet
make fmt # gofmt
make install # copy binary to /usr/local/bin
Uninstall
sudo ./packaging/uninstall.sh
License
MIT