If you have installed the init-scripts you can simply start, stop and restart LCDd with the init-script. There are several reasons for running LCDd from the command line You don't want to install LCDd but run it from the source directory. You want to do some debugging. You want to get the output directly on stderr. ... If you run LCDd as a "normal" user, it will not change to the user specified in the config file. For parallel port devices you will need root privileges anyway ;) The simplest command that will run LCDd is the following. It is useful for running LCDd from the source directory, e.g. after building. $ server/LCDd -c LCDd.conf Running LCDd -h gives you an overview of the currently available command line options, including a list of the compiled in drivers. ] [ -d ] [ -a ] \ [ -p ] [ -u ] [ -w ] [ -r ] Available options are: -h Display this help screen -c Use a configuration file other than /etc/LCDd.conf -d Add a driver to use (output only to first) -f Run in the foreground -i Disable showing of the main LCDproc server screen -w Time to pause at each screen (in seconds) -a Network (IP) address to bind to -p Network port to listen for connections on -u User to run as -s Output messages to syslog -r Report level (default=2) Currently available drivers: lcdm001, LCDM001, MtxOrb, MatrixOrbital, CFontz, CrystalFontz, LB216, text, curses, ncurses, BayRAD, glk, glc, IOWarrior ]]> You will probably more often run lcdproc from the command line than you will run LCDd. Running lcdproc -h gives you an overview of the currently available command line options. You will not be able to connect to a remote server, unless it listens to the correct interface and port! See LCDd.conf: The [server] Section for details on the server setup.