ZeDMD SPI failed when connecting over wifi and very slow

[francisdb]

On vpinball I configured the ZeDMD plugin to use wifi
However on startup it still tries to connect over usb and logs an ERROR, also connecting is very slow

026-05-21 16:59:40.533 INFO  [1288955] [VPXPluginAPIImpl::PluginLog@244] ZeDMD 5.1.8 found: WiFi UDP, width=128, height=32
2026-05-21 16:59:40.534 INFO  [1288955] [VPXPluginAPIImpl::PluginLog@244] ZeDMD WiFi enabled, connected to zedmd-wifi.local.
2026-05-21 16:59:40.534 INFO  [1288955] [VPXPluginAPIImpl::PluginLog@244] Searching for ZeDMD...
2026-05-21 16:59:40.534 INFO  [1288957] [VPXPluginAPIImpl::PluginLog@244] ZeDMDComm[WiFi@0x7f4490191f30] run thread starting
2026-05-21 16:59:40.535 INFO  [1288955] [VPXPluginAPIImpl::PluginLog@244] ZeDMD candidate: device=/dev/ttyUSB0, vid=0x10C4, pid=0xEA60
2026-05-21 16:59:41.004 INFO  [1288825] [Player::ApplyPlayingState@1190] Pausing Game
2026-05-21 16:59:41.076 INFO  [1288948] [VPXPluginAPIImpl::PluginLog@244] B2S polling status: lamps=false, solenoids=false, giStrings=false, leds=false
2026-05-21 16:59:42.018 INFO  [1288955] [VPXPluginAPIImpl::PluginLog@244] ZeDMD handshake response error, result: 0
2026-05-21 16:59:43.411 INFO  [1288955] [VPXPluginAPIImpl::PluginLog@244] ZeDMD handshake response error, result: 0
2026-05-21 16:59:43.468 INFO  [1288955] [VPXPluginAPIImpl::PluginLog@244] ZeDMD candidate: device=/dev/ttyS4
2026-05-21 16:59:44.862 INFO  [1288955] [VPXPluginAPIImpl::PluginLog@244] ZeDMD handshake response error, result: 0
2026-05-21 16:59:46.255 INFO  [1288955] [VPXPluginAPIImpl::PluginLog@244] ZeDMD handshake response error, result: 0
2026-05-21 16:59:46.256 INFO  [1288955] [VPXPluginAPIImpl::PluginLog@244] Unable to find ZeDMD
2026-05-21 16:59:46.256 INFO  [1288955] [VPXPluginAPIImpl::PluginLog@244] ZeDMD SPI: try to open with speed=7104884, framePause=1852403830, width=1819042146, height=9830402
2026-05-21 16:59:46.256 INFO  [1288955] [VPXPluginAPIImpl::PluginLog@244] ZeDMDSpi: unsupported platform. SPI only runs on Raspberry Pi with Linux.
2026-05-21 16:59:46.256 ERROR [1288955] [VPXPluginAPIImpl::PluginLog@246] ZeDMD SPI failed
2026-05-21 16:59:46.256 INFO  [1288955] [VPXPluginAPIImpl::PluginLog@244] Searching for Pixelcade...
2026-05-21 16:59:46.256 INFO  [1288977] [VPXPluginAPIImpl::PluginLog@244] ZeDMD: Change frame size from 0x0 to 128x32

2026-05-22 11:35:25.804 INFO  [1419033] [VPXPluginAPIImpl::PluginLog@244] ZeDMD 5.1.8 found: WiFi UDP, width=128, height=32
2026-05-22 11:35:25.804 INFO  [1419033] [VPXPluginAPIImpl::PluginLog@244] ZeDMD WiFi enabled, connected to zedmd-wifi.local.
2026-05-22 11:35:25.804 INFO  [1419033] [VPXPluginAPIImpl::PluginLog@244] Searching for ZeDMD...
2026-05-22 11:35:25.804 INFO  [1419035] [VPXPluginAPIImpl::PluginLog@244] ZeDMDComm[WiFi@0x7f98280b7050] run thread starting
2026-05-22 11:35:25.806 INFO  [1419033] [VPXPluginAPIImpl::PluginLog@244] ZeDMD candidate: device=/dev/ttyS4
2026-05-22 11:35:26.357 INFO  [1419024] [VPXPluginAPIImpl::PluginLog@244] B2S polling status: lamps=false, solenoids=false, giStrings=false, leds=false
2026-05-22 11:35:27.201 INFO  [1419033] [VPXPluginAPIImpl::PluginLog@244] ZeDMD handshake response error, result: 0
2026-05-22 11:35:28.596 INFO  [1419033] [VPXPluginAPIImpl::PluginLog@244] ZeDMD handshake response error, result: 0
2026-05-22 11:35:28.596 INFO  [1419033] [VPXPluginAPIImpl::PluginLog@244] Unable to find ZeDMD
2026-05-22 11:35:28.596 INFO  [1419033] [VPXPluginAPIImpl::PluginLog@244] ZeDMD SPI: try to open with speed=7104884, framePause=1852403830, width=1819042146, height=9830402
2026-05-22 11:35:28.596 INFO  [1419033] [VPXPluginAPIImpl::PluginLog@244] ZeDMDSpi: unsupported platform. SPI only runs on Raspberry Pi with Linux.
2026-05-22 11:35:28.596 ERROR [1419033] [VPXPluginAPIImpl::PluginLog@246] ZeDMD SPI failed
2026-05-22 11:35:28.596 INFO  [1419033] [VPXPluginAPIImpl::PluginLog@244] Searching for Pixelcade...
2026-05-22 11:35:28.596 INFO  [1419150] [VPXPluginAPIImpl::PluginLog@244] ZeDMD: Skipping 105 frame(s) from position 0 to 106
2026-05-22 11:35:28.596 INFO  [1419150] [VPXPluginAPIImpl::PluginLog@244] ZeDMD: Change frame size from 0x0 to 128x32
2026-05-22 11:35:28.899 INFO  [1419033] [VPXPluginAPIImpl::PluginLog@244] Unable to find Pixelcade

moved here from vpinball/vpinball#3418

[mkalkbrenner]

It seems that the VPX plugin tells libzedmd to scan for all possible connection methods. That is not the intended behaviour.

[jsm174]

Was anything new added to libdmdutil, libzedmd? Everything should be at defaults right?

[jsm174]

vpx just proxies the following over:

MSGPI_BOOL_VAL_SETTING(zeDMDProp, "ZeDMD", "ZeDMD", "", true, true);
MSGPI_STRING_VAL_SETTING(zeDMDDeviceFolderProp, "ZeDMDDevice", "ZeDMDDevice", "", true, "", 1024);
MSGPI_BOOL_VAL_SETTING(zeDMDDebugFolderProp, "ZeDMDDebug", "ZeDMDDebug", "", true, false);
MSGPI_INT_VAL_SETTING(zeDMDBrightnessFolderProp, "ZeDMDBrightness", "ZeDMDBrightness", "", true, -1, 1000, -1);
MSGPI_BOOL_VAL_SETTING(zeDMDWifiProp, "ZeDMDWiFi", "ZeDMDWiFi", "", true, false);
MSGPI_STRING_VAL_SETTING(zeDMDWiFiAddrFolderProp, "ZeDMDWiFiAddr", "ZeDMDWiFiAddr", "", true, "zedmd-wifi.local", 1024);
MSGPI_BOOL_VAL_SETTING(pixelcadeProp, "Pixelcade", "Pixelcade", "", true, true);
MSGPI_STRING_VAL_SETTING(pixelcadeDeviceProp, "PixelcadeDevice", "PixelcadeDevice", "", true, "", 1024);
MSGPI_BOOL_VAL_SETTING(pin2dmdProp, "PIN2DMD", "PIN2DMD", "", true, true);
MSGPI_BOOL_VAL_SETTING(dmdServerFolderProp, "DMDServer", "DMDServer", "", true, false);
MSGPI_STRING_VAL_SETTING(dmdServerAddrFolderProp, "DMDServerAddr", "DMDServerAddr", "", true, "localhost", 1024);
MSGPI_INT_VAL_SETTING(dmdServerPortFolderProp, "DMDServerPort", "DMDServerPort", "", true, 0, 1000, 6789);

MSGPI_BOOL_VAL_SETTING(findDisplaysProp, "FindDisplays", "FindDisplays", "", true, true);
MSGPI_BOOL_VAL_SETTING(dumpDMDTxtProp, "DumpDMDTxt", "DumpDMDTxt", "", true, false);
MSGPI_BOOL_VAL_SETTING(dumpDMDRawProp, "DumpDMDRaw", "DumpDMDRaw", "", true, false);

[jsm174]

Actually, it looks like updates would be needed to libdmdutil and new props added to vpx.

When all the SPI stuff was added, several variables were left uninitialized which means unpredictable behavior.

https://github.com/vpinball/libdmdutil/blob/2573395b42eaa216f8328b41753850deb88b2c8d/src/Config.cpp#L17-L51

guessing you'd want to add

m_zedmdWiFiEnabled = false;
m_zedmdSpiEnabled = false;
m_zedmdSpiSpeed = 72000000;
m_zedmdSpiFramePause = 2;