Last Edited: Jul 1, 2018

NCIDdisplay

The NCIDdisplay is a homebrew project that requires some soldering and some skill in determining hole placement and drilling the holes in the exact locations marked. While plexiglass machines very easily with woodworking tools, the assembly instructions provide links to sites that do not require access to a woodworking shop. Some skill is also needed in cutting or breaking plexiglass to size.

In its standard configuration of 4 LED matrix panels, NCIDdisplay’s display area is 3" x 18" (7.62 cm x 45.72 cm). It displays 2 lines of 16 characters that are approximately 1.5" (3.81 cm) tall making it very viewable from across a room.

The cost is about $200 USD if you buy everything new. A full bill of materials with part numbers and links is provided. Of course you can make substitutions, maybe you can come up with a better case than the project specifies or maybe you have a 3D printer and make a case for it. Whatever you do, we will be happy to include a description and picture of your project in a special user section of the website.

Future releases will include new features such as buttons and a remote control.

Requirements

An NCID server is required. If you are not running a standard Linux based distribution, it is suggested that you use a RaspberryPi running Raspbian.

You would need to download and install the ncid armhf.deb package from NCID.

INSTALL-Raspbian contains the requirements and instructions for installing and configurating NCID.

Current Features

• Support for Arduino Ethernet
• Support for 4 to 6 Adafruit LED Matrix Panels
  • 4 Panels give 2 rows x 16 characters (standard configuration in parts list)
  • 5 panels give 2 rows x 20 characters
  • 6 panels give 2 rows x 24 characters
• Reads call log upon connection to NCID server
  • Stores recent history
• Displays the following information sent if provided by a NCID server
  • BLK: Blacklisted Call Blocked
  • CID: Incoming Call
  • HUP: Blacklisted Call Hangup
  • MWI: Voicemail Message Waiting
  • OUT: Outgoing Call
  • PID: Caller ID from a Smart Phone
  • PUT: Outgoing Smart Phone Call
  • RID: Ringback Call
  • WID: Call Waiting Caller ID
  • MSG: Server Message
  • NOT: Notice of a Smart Phone Message
• Display brightness can automatically brighten with incoming call or message and automatically dim after preset time
• Debug mode(s) to send information to serial monitor
  • Compile time option

Future Features

• Support for Arduino Yun
• Provide “universal” code/hex binary that works for most users
  • DHCP support
    • IP address
    • Gateway address
    • Subnet mask
  • Webserver interface to set/modify
    • Hostname of NCIDdisplay for DHCP request
    • Hostname of NCID server
    • MAC address of NCIDdisplay
    • Values stored in EEPROM to be persistent across resets
    • Bright/Dim values and associated timeouts
• Support for IR Remote and/or 4 buttons
  • 2 Buttons to scroll up/down through history stored on NCIDdisplay
  • 1 Button to return display to most recent line in history
  • 1 Button to reset/reconnect to server
• IR remote functionality:
  • Blacklist number
  • Enter/update name alias
  • Reset/reconnect to NCID server
  • Display IP address of NCIDdisplay
  • Display NCID server hostname & IP address