asterctl Documentation

Aster: Greek for star and similar to AOOSTAR.

A work-in-progress "panel-mode" mimics the AOOSTAR-X software and uses the same configuration files for rendering sensor panels with dynamic sensor values.

By default, the original LCD USB UART device 416:90A1 is used. See optional parameters to specify a different device.

./asterctl --help
AOOSTAR WTR MAX and GEM12+ PRO screen control

Usage: asterctl [OPTIONS]

Options:
  -d, --device <DEVICE>
          Serial device, for example "/dev/cu.usbserial-AB0KOHLS".
          Takes priority over --usb option

  -u, --usb <USB>
          USB serial UART "vid:pid" in hex notation (lsusb output). Default: 416:90A1

      --on
          Switch display on and exit. This will show the last displayed image

      --off
          Switch display off and exit

  -i, --image <IMAGE>
          Image to display, other sizes than 960x376 will be scaled

  -c, --config <CONFIG>
          AOOSTAR-X json configuration file to parse.
          
          The configuration file will be loaded from the `config_dir` directory
          if no full path is specified.

  -p, --panels <PANELS>
          Include one or more additional custom panels into the base configuration.
          
          Specify the path to the panel directory containing panel.json and fonts /
          img subdirectories.

      --config-dir <CONFIG_DIR>
          Configuration directory containing configuration files and background
          images specified in the `config` file. Default: `./cfg`

      --font-dir <FONT_DIR>
          Font directory for fonts specified in the `config` file. Default: `./fonts`

      --sensor-path <SENSOR_PATH>
          Single sensor value input file or directory for multiple sensor input files.
          Default: `./cfg/sensors`

  -o, --off-after <OFF_AFTER>
          Switch off display n seconds after loading image or running demo

  -w, --write-only
          Test mode: only write to the display without checking response

  -s, --save
          Test mode: save changed images in ./out folder

      --simulate
          Simulate serial port for testing and development,
          `--device` and `--usb` options are ignored

  -h, --help
          Print help (see a summary with '-h')

  -V, --version
          Print version

Sensor Panel Mode

asterctl --config monitor.json

Control Commands

The following control commands are available to switch the display off or display a static image.

Switch display on:

asterctl --on

This will display the last image that was shown before the display was switched off. This image is stored in the display firmware and not sent by asterctl.

Switch display off:

asterctl --off

Switching the display off is also possible with pure shell commands.

Display an image:

asterctl --image img/aybabtu.png

This expects a 960 × 376 image (other sizes are automatically scaled and the aspect ratio is ignored). See Rust image crate for supported image formats.

Demo app

cargo run --release --bin demo -- --config monitor.json

The --config parameter is optional. It loads the official configuration file and displays the defined sensors in the first panel.

Parameters

• --device /dev/ttyACM0 — Specify the serial device.
• --usb 0403:6001 — Specify the USB UART device by USB VID:PID (hexadecimal, as shown by lsusb).
• --help — Show all options.