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 systems including Rocky/RHEL, Ubuntu/Mint, and Raspberry Pi.
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.
The best source for general LCD4Linux information is The unofficial LCD4Linux 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 and DNF package repositories — install with
apt installordnf install, with automatic updates - (NEW✨) Pre-built packages for amd64, arm64, and armhf (including Raspberry Pi)
- (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 and Rocky/RHEL/Fedora systems. Packages are built automatically by CI for amd64, arm64, and armhf (Debian) or x86_64 and aarch64 (RPM) 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/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
sudo systemctl start lcd4linux-ax206
sudo systemctl enable lcd4linux-ax206 # start on bootThe service reads from /etc/lcd4linux/lcd4linux.conf. 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-devel./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. Below is information specific to this fork.
The backlight setting is not linear and will blank the display or flicker at low values. To improve this a brightness setting has been added with the range 0 to 100 (default 100). It scales pixel values as a percentage. Set the lowest backlight value that gives a stable backlight, then use brightness to dim to suit your needs. Setting backlight higher than needed will cause light bleed on black areas.
The display has an undocumented LCD::backlight plugin that you would normally call from a Timer Widget to adjust the backlight during operation. A LCD::brightness plugin has been added to control pixel brightness in the same way.
The TrueType widget class from Eric Loxat renders text using TrueType fonts.
Fields:
class: Must be 'Truetype'.expression: The expression for the text to display.font: The full path to the TrueType font file.size: Font height (not including descenders, not in pixels). If 0 or omitted, auto-sizes to fit the box.width: Width of the bounding box in pixels.height: Height of the bounding box in pixels.align: Horizontal alignment: 'L', 'C', or 'R'.fcolor: Font color as RGB or RGBA hex (e.g. 'ffffff').background: Background color as RGB or RGBA. If not defined, background is transparent. (Added in this fork)inverted: Inverts fcolor (e.g. '0000ff' becomes 'ffff00').debugborder: Color for the bounding box outline, useful for layout debugging.update: Update time in ms.visible: Visibility expression.
If size is given and the text is too large for the box, it will be cropped. Text is always vertically centered, ignoring descenders.
Example:
Widget Debug {
class 'Truetype'
expression 'Test'
font '/usr/share/fonts/gnu-free/FreeSans.ttf'
width 60
height 80
fcolor 'ffffff'
}
This allows a second driver to mirror the normal driver. Intended use case is where a machine has a local physical display (e.g. AX206) and you wish to view that screen remotely via VNC or X11.
The mirror driver must be different from the main driver and both must be graphics displays with the same resolution.
To use, define two Display sections and add a Mirror declaration:
Layout 'Compact'
Display 'DPF'
Mirror 'VNC'
Display dpf {
driver 'DPF'
port 'usb0'
font '6x8'
orientation 0
backlight 4
foreground _white
background _black
basecolor _black
}
Display VNC {
Driver 'VNC'
Font '6x8'
Port '5900'
Xres '480'
Yres '320'
Bpp '4'
Maxclients '2'
Osd_showtime '2000'
}
NB: Only tested with DPF paired with VNC or X11 drivers.
A circular arc gauge widget that fills proportionally to an expression value. Draws a ring arc using GD, with configurable start angle, sweep, thickness, and fill direction. Supports color thresholds and reverse fill mode.
Fields:
class: Must be 'Gauge'.expression: The expression for the gauge value.width: Width of the bounding box in pixels.height: Height of the bounding box in pixels.min/max: Value range. Defaults to 0–100.start: Start angle in degrees (GD convention: 0 = 3 o'clock, increases clockwise). Default: 135.sweep: Total arc sweep in degrees. Default: 270.thickness: Ring thickness in pixels. If 0 or omitted, draws a filled pie wedge.direction: Fill direction: 'CW' (clockwise, default) or 'CCW' (counter-clockwise).color: Foreground (filled) arc color (RGB/RGBA). Default: bright green.background: Background (unfilled) arc color (RGB/RGBA). Use000000fffor transparent.valuelow/colorlow: Threshold and color for low values.valuehigh/colorhigh: Threshold and color for high values.reverse: Set to 1 to invert fill (foreground shows remaining portion).update: Update time in ms.
Example:
Widget CPU_Gauge {
class 'Gauge'
expression proc_stat::cpu('busy', 500)
width 66
height 66
min 0
max 100
start 180
sweep 360
thickness 5
color '35bf5c'
background '000000ff'
update 500
direction 'CCW'
}
A pixel-based bar graph widget for graphics displays. Key differences from the text-mode Bar widget:
- Single value (no two-value kludge)
- Pixel-based sizing and positioning
- Supports negative minimum values (bar starts from the zero point)
- Color thresholds for value ranges (e.g. green at low loads, yellow at moderate, red at high)
Fields:
class: Must be 'GraphicBar'.expression: The expression for the bar value.length: Length of the bar axis in pixels.width: Thickness of the bar in pixels.direction: Direction of bar travel: 'N', 'E', 'S', or 'W'. Default is 'E'.min/max: Axis range. If omitted, auto-ranges.color: Nominal bar color (RGB/RGBA). Default: bright green.background: Background color (RGB/RGBA). Default: dark gray.valuelow/colorlow: Threshold and color for low values.valuehigh/colorhigh: Threshold and color for high values.style: Set to 'H' for hollow bar.update: Update time in ms.
A line graph widget that records historical values in a ring buffer and renders them as a connected line graph. Useful for visualizing trends over time such as temperature, CPU usage, or disk I/O.
- One sample per pixel column — a 140px wide widget stores 140 data points
- Auto-scales Y-axis by default, with optional fixed
min/maxoverrides - Color thresholds for value ranges (same as GraphicBar)
Fields:
class: Must be 'Sparkline'.expression: The expression to sample on each update.length: Length of the graph axis in pixels (number of samples stored).width: Thickness of the graph in pixels.min/max: Y-axis range. If omitted, auto-scales to fit the data.color: Line color (RGB/RGBA). Default: bright green.background: Background color (RGB/RGBA). Default: dark gray.valuelow/colorlow: Threshold and color for low values.valuehigh/colorhigh: Threshold and color for high values.update: Update/sample interval in ms.
Example:
Widget CPU_Spark {
class 'Sparkline'
expression proc_stat::cpu('user', 500)
width 50
length 140
color '00ff00'
background '333333'
min 0
max 100
update 1000
}
Formats floating point numbers with a fixed number of decimal places (adds trailing zeros for column alignment). The output is a string, so use it after any math.
Example:
expression precision(file::readline(F_PW, 3), 3) . ' kW '
Pre-built themes are included in the themes/ directory. Each theme contains a config file, a background image, and a preview screenshot. To use a theme, copy or symlink its config file:
lcd4linux -F -c themes/SimpleWhite/dpf_simplewhite.confSystem monitor themes — general-purpose system information displays for 320x480 portrait:
| Theme | Description |
|---|---|
| SimpleWhite, SimpleBlue, SimpleGreen, SimpleRed, SimpleOrange, SimplePurple, SimpleYellow, SimpleNeon | System monitor with CPU, RAM, disk, and network stats in various color schemes |
| SimpleBlueFall, SimpleGreenFall, SimpleOrangeFall, SimplePurpleFall, SimpleRedFall, SimpleYellowFall | Alternate color variants |
| SimpleBlueGauge, SimpleGreenGauge, SimpleOrangeGauge, SimplePurpleGauge, SimpleRedGauge, SimpleYellowGauge, SimpleNeonGauge, SimpleRedGaugeRedBg, SimpleCyberpunkGauge | Gauge-style variants with radial gauge meters |
| SimpleMulticolor | Multi-color variant |
| Cyberpunk, Cyberpunk-net | Cyberpunk 2077-styled system monitor (net variant replaces disk with download/upload speeds) |
| bash-dark-green, bash-dark-green-gpu | Hacker/terminal-style green-on-black with CPU, RAM, network, and disk gauges (GPU variant adds GPU usage, VRAM, and temperature) |
Landscape themes — 480x320 landscape system monitors (Orientation 0):
| Theme | Description |
|---|---|
| Cyberdeck | Multi-gauge cyberdeck display with CPU, GPU, RAM, fan speeds, FPS sparkline, and network stats |
| LandscapeEarth | Clean Earth-themed monitor with CPU, GPU, RAM bars and temperature |
| LandscapeModernDevice35 | Server dashboard with CPU sparkline, ETH/WiFi network sparklines, memory, disk, and uptime |
| LandscapeMagicBlue | Sci-fi dashboard with 4 radial gauges (CPU, GPU, RAM, GPU RAM), network speeds, and disk usage |
NAS themes — 4-bay drive monitor layouts designed for NAS/server use:
| Theme | Description |
|---|---|
| SimpleWhiteNas | 4-bay NAS monitor showing drive usage %, used/total size, temperature, and temperature sparkline history per drive. Requires the drivetemp kernel module. |
| SimpleWhiteNasIO | 4-bay NAS monitor showing drive usage %, temperature, size, and disk I/O throughput sparkline with M/s overlay per drive. Uses /sys/block/*/stat for I/O delta calculation. |
The NAS themes require editing the Variables section to match your drive configuration (partition paths, block device names, display labels). Both support VNC mirroring out of the box — just install libvncserver and build with --with-drivers=DPF,VNC.
Original theme designs from turing-smart-screen-python, adapted for lcd4linux. Theme authors: @takattila, @mathoudebine, @napobear, @amiltonjr. Licensed under GPL-3.0.
