MegaPC 180 - Programming LCD Panel

Question

Hi All,
I recently built my MegaPC180 and what a lovely machine she is too!.  My old machine sounded like an aircraft taking off!, this is nice and quiet with lots of mod-cons in a SFF barebone.
One thing I'd like to take advantage of is the LCD panel at the front.  I know the PCAlert tool uses this, and by the looks of things it doesn't make any direct calls to the dll file which I thought may be the API for the panel.
I'm very familiar with C++ and VB and want to use the panel in several utilities I've created.
I found the msidrvif.dll file in the Program Files\MSI\Common\Bin folder.  It exports the following functions...
DIF_CheckHardware
DIF_CheckMBType
DIF_CheckModel
DIF_CheckOEMModel
DIF_FS_SetAPStats
DIF_FreeDrvIF
DIF_GetDriverSelect
DIF_GetModelName
DIF_GetVideoFormat
DIF_InitCheckDevice
DIF_InitDriverSelect
DIF_InitDrvIF
DIF_RD_AudioOff
DIF_RD_AudioOn
DIF_RD_CheckLock
DIF_RD_GetDefMem
DIF_RD_GetRemtKey
DIF_RD_LMute
DIF_RD_PanelOn
DIF_RD_QueryLockLevel
DIF_RD_RMute
DIF_RD_RadioOff
DIF_RD_ScanFreq
DIF_RD_SelHWMem
DIF_RD_SetArea
DIF_RD_SetBand
DIF_RD_SetDefMem
DIF_RD_SetEQ
DIF_RD_SetFreq
DIF_RD_SetHCC
DIF_RD_SetHWMem
DIF_RD_SetLCDTime
DIF_RD_SetLEDPanel
DIF_RD_SetMono
DIF_RD_SetSIJ
DIF_RD_SetSNC
DIF_RD_SetSRS
DIF_TV_AudioOff
DIF_TV_AudioOn
DIF_TV_FineTune
DIF_TV_GetFreeScanStatus
DIF_TV_SetChannel
DIF_TV_SetCountryCode
The unfortunate thing is....I don't know the syntax of the functions, such as params, and returns.
I'm hoping someone from these forums, or from MSI technical could tell me the declarations so I can get over this hurdle?

Answer 1

Hi Andy,
Perhaps you have already read the posts regarding control of the LED panel. Anyway, I have done a little research myself and was able to obtain the specifications of the Bluebird VL+ controller which actually controls all the pc-off functions (and the LED panel). In theory this controller can perform more tasks than MSI used!
I also contacted Liteon Optoelectronics for the design specifications of the MSI LED panel. Unfortunately they are not allowed to release them (prohibited by MSI). However, I found the blueprints of another LED panel from Liteon with a comparable product code. I think it is likely that Liteon used the same design basics when building the MSI panel.
You can send a p-mail when you are interested in these .pdf files.