Update: It seems that I need to add some additional steps when installing on a completely vanilla version of Ubuntu. So I have added all the steps that should now be required.
Despite the most recent version (0.11.0) of lcd4linux being released in November 2009, Ubuntu Lucid comes with an older version and thus misses out on some new features and drivers, in particular drivers for the cool and cheap Pertelian X2040. 
It is however, possible to build the latest version of lcd4linux from source, but you need to do a few things in order to get it to work.
This little guide assumes you have built stuff before on Ubuntu, so have all the necessary build tools.
First, navigate to the folder you want to download and build the source in.
Then, download the latest version via svn:
svn co https://ssl.bulix.org/svn/lcd4linux/trunk lcd4linux
Next, navigate into the newly created source folder using cd lcd4linux and install some dependencies:
sudo apt-get install automake autoconf m4 perl libtool gettext
Then, run ./configure, if you want to include a specific driver, for instance for Pertelian, include it here, like this:
./configure --with-drivers=Pertelian
Now, if you try to make, it wont work, I am not sure why, but there are some issues. To fix these, issue the two following commands:
mkdir m4
sudo ln -sf /usr/share/libtool/config/ltmain.sh .
Now, you can run:
make
sudo make install
And you now have a working and up-to-date lcd4linux. I’d recommend using checkinstall rather than make install, because you can uninstall the package at a later date if you want.
Doing all this allows me to run my Pertelan display on my little thin client that I use as a baby monitor. It now tells me the PIDs of FFmpeg and motion (so that I know that they are working and running), that the Internet connection is UP and the system load, alongside the date and time!
This is really some cool stuff. Where to get that lcd device ?
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