riplatt/truenas-rn426-panel

# truenas-rn426-panel A front-panel driver that brings the **LCD and navigation buttons back to life** on a **NETGEAR ReadyNAS RN426** (and the related RN526 / RN626X, which share the same front board) running **TrueNAS SCALE**. When you install TrueNAS on this hardware, the little front display stays frozen on **`Booting...`** forever and the buttons do nothing — because TrueNAS has no driver for NETGEAR's front board. This project is that driver, reverse-engineered from the stock ReadyNAS firmware and reimplemented from scratch in pure Python (no kernel module, no compiled helper).  ## What it does - Drives the 128×32 **SSD1305 graphic LCD** (it's an LCD panel with an SSD1305-class controller; NETGEAR's code calls it "oled"). - Reads the **5-way navigation buttons** (up / down / left / right / center). - Shows rotating info **pages** you cycle with the buttons: 1. Hostname + IP 2. Pool name, health, capacity 3. CPU temperature + chassis fan RPM 4. Uptime + load average - **Auto-sleeps** the display after a configurable idle timeout (default 90 s) to avoid image retention/burn-in, and wakes on any button press. - Installs as a systemd service that **survives reboots and TrueNAS updates** (registered through TrueNAS's config-DB init scripts, just like a fan-control daemon would be). ## How it works (short version) Full details, register maps, and the reverse-engineering story are in [`docs/`](docs/). ## Requirements - A ReadyNAS **RN426 / RN526 / RN626X** running **TrueNAS SCALE**. - `python3` + **Pillow** (`python3-pil`) and the **DejaVu** fonts — both ship with TrueNAS SCALE. - Kernel modules `i2c-dev` and `i2c-i801` (loaded automatically by the installer). - A pool to install onto (the root filesystem is reset on updates, so the files live on a pool and the service is registered in the config DB). ## Install git clone https://github.com/riplatt/truenas-rn426-panel.git cd truenas-rn426-panel sudo ./install.sh /mnt//rn426-panel To remove it: `sudo ./install.sh --uninstall /mnt//rn426-panel`. ## Usage # the service runs automatically; manual control: sudo systemctl status rn426-panel python3 rn426_panel.py sleep # blank the display now python3 rn426_panel.py wake # re-init / wake it python3 rn426_panel.py run # run the loop in the foreground RN_SLEEP=120 ... # env var: idle seconds before sleep (0 = never) Customize the pages by editing the `page_*()` functions and the `PAGES` list in `rn426_panel.py`. ## Important gotchas - **i2c bus numbers are not stable across reboots** — the i801 and iSMT SMBus adapters can swap between `i2c-0` and `i2c-1`. The driver finds the i801 bus by name, so don't hard-code it. - **Never write the MSP430's `reg 0x02`** (its LED/control register). On this firmware that register *also* gates button scanning; once you disable it, the buttons stop reporting and **only a full power-cycle recovers them — a warm reboot is not enough** (the front board is on standby power). This driver is strictly read-only toward the MCU. If your buttons are dead, do a cold power-off/on once. - The LCD's `EN` line gates panel power, so waking from sleep does a full re-init rather than just sending display-on. ## Porting to other ReadyNAS models The approach (RE the stock firmware's `oled_probe` / `spi_send` / `i2cfb_reporter`, then drive the pads via `/dev/mem`) generalizes. The per-model GPIO pad map lives in the firmware (look for the `rn426_8` / `rnx16` config structs). See [`docs/porting.md`](docs/porting.md). ## License MIT — see [LICENSE](LICENSE). Not affiliated with or endorsed by NETGEAR or iXsystems. Use at your own risk; this pokes SoC registers directly.