Build-in 2 by 16 character front display on Netgear ReadyNAS RN104 (no replies)

The Netgear ReadyNAS RN104 has a 2 by 16 character display. It's a Winstar WH1602G LCD. Pictures here. U-boot (v2011.12) writes "NETGEAR Storage Welcome" on the display when it starts, and "Booting.." before booting Linux. This latter text sticks since Linux makes no effort to change it.

The display is defined like this in the dts file:

	auxdisplay {
		compatible = "hit,hd44780";
		data-gpios = <&gpio1 25 GPIO_ACTIVE_HIGH>,
				<&gpio1 26 GPIO_ACTIVE_HIGH>,
				<&gpio1 27 GPIO_ACTIVE_HIGH>,
				<&gpio1 29 GPIO_ACTIVE_HIGH>;
		enable-gpios = <&gpio1 24 GPIO_ACTIVE_HIGH>;
		rs-gpios = <&gpio1 22 GPIO_ACTIVE_HIGH>;
		rw-gpios = <&gpio1 23 GPIO_ACTIVE_HIGH>;
		backlight-gpios = <&gpio1 21 GPIO_ACTIVE_LOW>;
		display-height-chars = <2>;
		display-width-chars = <16>;
	};

There is no '/dev/fs*' framebuffer in the root file system, but '/dev/char/2:16' exist:

root@rn104:~# ls -alF /dev/char/2:16
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 8 Jan 14 19:04 /dev/char/2:16 -> ../ptyq0

root@rn104:~# ls -alF /dev/ptyq0
crw------- 1 root root 2, 16 Jan 14 21:00 /dev/ptyq0
root@drodle:~#

I hoped being able to send characters to this device. Tried

root@rn104:~# echo Hello world > /dev/char/2:16

but it does nothing:

Can anyone please give a hint on how to proceed?

Regards,
Trond Melen