Of course you can download the latest stuff from CVS via anonymous login.
Login to CVS:
$
cvs -d:pserver:anonymous@lcdproc.cvs.sourceforge.net:/cvsroot/lcdproc login
(Hit enter when prompted for a password.)
Get the files from CVS:
$
cvs -d:pserver:anonymous@lcdproc.cvs.sourceforge.net:/cvsroot/lcdproc checkout -r stable-0-5-x lcdproc
Once you've done that and want to update the downloaded files to the latest stuff you can use the "update" command of CVS (Make sure to be in the lcdproc directory.):
$
cvs update -d
Now that you have downloaded the files you can prepare them for compiling, but first you should (you don't have to) copy them to another place on your machine: