LCD Support in kernel

[Tim Pushor]

Hi all,

I am planning on purchasing a crystalfontz LCD panel to be able to have 
a rudimentary interface with the system without having a 
keyboard/monitor/shell.

I'm not sure whether to go the serial or USB route. What I want to do is 
to be able to display status as the system is coming up, then have a 
user level application accept input from the panel and display various 
statistics, then when the system is brought down, for the panel to 
notify the user that it is safe to turn off the machine.

For the startup and shutdown I would need to hack stuff into the kernel. 
I have done a fair bit of C programming over the years, but never worked 
in the kernel. So I have 2 real questions:

Would it be easier to control the USB or Serial panel from the Kernel?
And - does anyone have any recommendations as to where I could even 
start looking in the kernel to do what I want?

Thanks,
Tim

(Please CC: me as I am not subscribed to this list - Thanks!)