Donation (if wanted) - LED Screen Tiles

[mistamudd]

Hi folks.

Tom here - your occasional LED screen dumper !

Would folks be interested in any more tiles from LED screens ?  I have a few boxes of LED tiles to clear out that used to belong to a digiLED MC7 LED Screen.   They are the exact same type as recently donated to the Las Vegas Hackspace (Synshop) .  Please see https://groups.google.com/d/msg/synshop/ov_LCQSXeds/jCaFP1iGBAAJ for details.

Let me know if there's any interest or, as always , please do say  "we dont want any more of your old LED crap Tom :-) "

All the best

Tom

[Michele Panegrossi]

Hi Tom,

I would love two of them! What kind of driver do they need?

Many thanks,

Michele

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "London Hackspace" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to london-hack-space+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.

[mistamudd]

Hi Michelle.   I'm guessing by 'driver' you mean how to get them lit up and displaying video again ?

Well, there's been a number of Pi and arduino projects in the US and UK with previous LED tiles Ive donated.... Have a search for 'Jumbotron' and lots will pop up.

Alternatively, if you're happy to buy off-the-shelf kit, you can purchase the controller cards (we call the scan cards) from the web here :   http://www.led-card.com/led-receiver-board.html

To quirt video into these cards you'll then need an LED sender card (think of it as a DVI capture card to convert to LED tile protocol)  :  http://www.led-card.com/led-sending-card.html

Originally these LED panels ran on the Linsn family of Sender and Scan but there's no reason you couldn't go for the more common NovaStar or similar instead.

All you'll need then to light them up is a hub card  (to distribute the power and data from the Scancard)   and some 5v DC power.

Its only a brief summary but I hope it helps.

Tom

To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to london-hack-sp...@googlegroups.com.

[John Jordan]

Hi tom.

How many do you have?

I was thinking of making some LED cubes. These sound perfect!

Thanks

John

To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to london-hack-space+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.

[Henry Sands]

Can never say no to more LED screens! how many do you have available? I'd love to do a little wall feature.

Henry.

[JJ]

Likewise. I'd like to make up a larger display if there are enough up for grabs.

Thanks,

JJ

[Nigel Worsley]

> Would folks be interested in any more tiles from LED screens?

YES!

I have an application in mind for four tiles, a spare or two would be
nice, but even a pair of them would be useful. I am thinking about
knocking up a PCB to interface them to an ESP32, I suspect a few other
people would be interested in this too.

Nigle

[Jasper Wallace]

I'd like a pair if possible (I'm assuming thats the 16x64 smaller things.)

Do you know if there are any better docs of pinouts etc?

This is in the google groups link you posted:

https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=forums&srcid=MTUyMzA2ODU4ODYxODQ1OTIyODEBMDA0MDI2NzYzMDQxNzczNDU1MzABRkw2ZU81MjJCQUFKATAuMQEBdjI

Ok, this looks good:

https://github.com/krux702/led_panel_wall

> All the best
>
>
> Tom
>
> --
> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "London Hackspace" group.
> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to london-hack-sp...@googlegroups.com.
> For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
>
>

--

[http://pointless.net/] [0x416333590FC0E569]

[deanforbes]

count me in if there are any still going 

3 by 3 panel would be great if not 2 by would also good

so optimistically 9 if not 4 would be great too 

:-) 

On Sunday, 26 March 2017 08:37:04 UTC+1, mistamudd wrote:

[Michele Panegrossi]

Thanks Tom,

Yes that's what I meant! I remember that thread on the mailing list, I'm sure I'll be able to sort something out!

Many thanks,

Michele

To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to london-hack-space+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.

[Jon Russell]

Hi,

I would love a couple fi there's any left. I'm a bit late to the party ! :-)

either 1 or 2, or 4 !? :-)

Thanks !

Jon.

[bleh blah]

Would love some if poss?

[mistamudd]

OK - Good to see there's still a gang of people up for some LED projects :-)

Lets talk numbers...

I don't want to swamp you guys but there are approximately 1500 of these tiles !  They are currently stored in 19 crates each of which is 112x58x73cm . 

I've offered some of these to other hack spaces too but there's still heaps to go round.

I'm happy to run some of these up to Hackney in the boot of my car 1 crate at a time.   If people would like a few more though it might need a van.   (These are located at our office just outside Dorking in Surrey)  Very happy for people to request as few or as many as they like.  Just let me know.

All the best

Tom

ps - if you're curious whether you've seen these LED tiles before.... this is them in the background heart screen :   https://i.scdn.co/image/8d52d583a342e3d84f6525cc429111e58dc0ff06

[Tom Mudd]

Very happy to share around.

There's 1500 of them going begging :-)

Tom

On 27 March 2017 at 15:16, kraptv <skylab...@gmail.com> wrote:

Would love two for the Richmond Makerlabs if possible! Am also an LHS member and can pick up there.

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to a topic in the Google Groups "London Hackspace" group.
To unsubscribe from this topic, visit https://groups.google.com/d/topic/london-hack-space/RZeO143uh7A/unsubscribe.
To unsubscribe from this group and all its topics, send an email to london-hack-space+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.

For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.

--

http://www.digiled.com/colossus-the-largest-centre-hung-led-screen-display-in-the-world-is-unleashed/

[John Jordan]

Wow! If there are that many then i would really like maybe 2 creates.

Thinking an LED cube and a video wall for a AV idea i have been planning on for a while.

Thanks

John

You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "London Hackspace" group.

To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to london-hack-space+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.

[Jon Russell]

I don't feel embarrassed or greedy asking for 4 now !!! :-)

Regards,

Jon.

[Richard Patterson]

On 27 March 2017 at 15:18, Tom Mudd <mist...@gmail.com> wrote:

Very happy to share around.

There's 1500 of them going begging :-)

Awesome, I'd be keen for 2 please.   

My allocation from the last lot got wombled before I could get to the Space to collect. :(

-Richard

[Aden]

How many would it take to cover an entire room in them?

--

You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "London Hackspace" group.

To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to london-hack-space+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.

[Nigel Worsley]

On 27 March 2017 at 16:19, Aden <ad...@aden.org.uk> wrote:
> How many would it take to cover an entire room in them?

All 1500 of them probably isn't quite enough for the quiet room. And a
10,000 amp 5V supply would be rather bulky and expensive...

Nigle

[Matt Camp]

I'd love 16 of them (enough for a 1x1m display) for an art project if there are still plenty left... I'd need to pick up from somewhere in London though as I don't have a car.

[Henry Sands]

If I could pinch 20, that would be amazing.

Kind regards,

Henry.

[JJ]

How big and heavy is a crate? Work takes me within a few miles every other week so I could potentially collect and distribute for those west of London.

[mistamudd]

I'm going to chuck a crate or two in my boot tonight and run them back into London.

I'll photograph them and get an approximate weight for you.

On that subject, how early do people arrive at the Hackspace ?   Wondering if I could do a drop-off at , say 8am tomorrow morning  ?

Could somebody let me know please ?

Also - sorry about that stupid signature image that's attached itself.... Not quite sure why or how it got into my posts.  Sorry !

Tom

[Michele Panegrossi]

Wow! 

I don't want to sound greedy... But in this case i would love to get 20 of them if at all possible!... I've seen your email about being at the hackspace tomorrow morning at 8am.

I can be there if you need somebody to let you in. I'll pm you my number.

Many thanks,

Michele

You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "London Hackspace" group.

To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to london-hack-space+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.

[mistamudd]

Here's what the boxes look like.

I managed to load 1 and a half boxes worth into the boot of my car  ( I'll drop these at the Hackspace tomorrow am)  (Thank you Michele for agreeing to meet me)

The wooden crates, weight wise are a reasonable 2 person lift. Pulling the tiles out 1 by 1 though is also pretty easy.

Just FYI

Tom

[Jon Russell]

Is it going to be a free for all tomorrow morning, with people just grabbing arm fulls of screens :-) or is there any kind of system ?

:-)

Regards,

Jon.

[Adrian Godwin]

Let them all go, then ask Tom to bring some more ?

--

You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "London Hackspace" group.

To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to london-hack-space+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.

[Aden]

A free for all sounds like the best system, as last time everyone reserved them then left them around the space for months. Maybe people wanting large quantities should wait until the end or go pick them up themselves though. IE everyone only grab one or two to start with.

On Tue, Mar 28, 2017 at 7:06 PM, Jon Russell <goo...@red-herring.co.uk> wrote:

--

You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "London Hackspace" group.

To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to london-hack-space+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.

[Tom Mudd]

Please dont worry....

There's plenty to go around.


I live around the corner so can easily do boot-full by boot-full over the next few weeks.


Tom

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to a topic in the Google Groups "London Hackspace" group.
To unsubscribe from this topic, visit https://groups.google.com/d/topic/london-hack-space/RZeO143uh7A/unsubscribe.
To unsubscribe from this group and all its topics, send an email to london-hack-space+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.

For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.

--

http://www.digiled.com/colossus-the-largest-centre-hung-led-screen-display-in-the-world-is-unleashed/

[Michele Panegrossi]

Hi guys,

Tom just left and delivered a huge amount of tiles! Pic attached, they are all under the table in the main space.

He said there's plenty more if we want them.

I'm going to come back in an hour or so and take 20 of them.

Thanks,

Michele

[Michele Panegrossi]

By the way, a HUGE thanks to Tom!!!

😆😆😆😆😆

[JLJ]

Awesome! 

I have grabbed a couple to start lighting them up.

Thanks so much Tom.

John

[Graham Perdeaux]

I have a project in mind for these - if there's that many I'd like 20 too please - I have no problem picking them up from Dorking if it suits you better.

[Jamie Smith]

With folk taking 20 at a time i hope theres a couple left for me when i get there :D

[Paddy Duncan]

A note from the Trustees:

Can we please be sensible and try not to leave them cluttering up the space forever.

Please remove them asap when collecting rather than just spread them about.

I know it’s a tall order but…

Ta

Paddy

--

You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "London Hackspace" group.

To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to london-hack-sp...@googlegroups.com.

[tom]

If we run out you can always check my soon-to-be-opening eBay store

[JLJ]

Does anyone have any more info on getting them up and running been do some research today.

The easy way would be to purchase all the cards etc but was wondering if anyone has found anything on hacking these. Using RPi or arduino?

Thanks

John

[Toby Catlin]

This wiki page was build for the previous LED tile bonanza: https://wiki.london.hackspace.org.uk/view/LED_tiles

I had an amount of success running the code but the addressing system of those tiles was different to the Adafruit panels and so most of the existing code doesn't cut it. 

I would be very interested in any more info on these new tiles.

t

--

You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "London Hackspace" group.

To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to london-hack-space+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.

[Jon Russell]

From the brief look we had today;

(mixed with some wild speculation)

There are 16 x 64 RGB LEDs. (3072 individual LEDs)

There are 48 MBI5034 LED controller chips on the PCB, which are 16 bit shift register constant current sinks.

The controller chips are labelled R,G & B 1-16. So each chip does 16 LEDs of the same colour. They each have a current set resistor.

There are two address line inputs and the LED chips seem to be soldered in to banks of 4. Which makes sense.

There is an HC138 decoder on the address lines, and only the first four outputs seem to be wired. Again, matches the above.

There are also 8 dual FET chips, which seem to control the 4 banks.

The top connector is all Vcc

The bottom is all ground

The middle has :

D1 & D2 (not sure if these are two different data ins, or data in and data out)

OE (Output enable)

LAT (Latch)

A0 & A1

CLK (Clock)

NC

https://www.dropbox.com/s/u0tiv7ft9o9ci8i/2017-03-29%2014.43.51.jpg?dl=0

So, I'm guessing you need to send 3 (RGB) x 16 frames of 16 bits for each 4 addresses.

Set A0 & A1 to 0x00

Clock 3 x 16 frames of 16 bits

Set A0 & A1 to 0x01

Clock 3 x 16 frames of 16 bits

Set A0 & A1 to 0x10

Clock 3 x 16 frames of 16 bits

Set A0 & A1 to 0x11

Clock 3 x 16 frames of 16 bits

Rinse and repeat *many* times a second !

They seem to be constant current sinks. So, to do brighten you need to keep updating them, very, very, fast !!!

Not something an Arduino will do. Or even a RPi .. hence why all the controllers are FPGA.

If you want to just have single RGB colours, then an Arduino will light them. But if you want brightness control, it's too much data.

Wild speculation is the two data lines are both data in, so you might have to send two data streams at the same time, one drives the top half, the other drives the bottom half, which would halve the amount of data you need to send and double the refresh rate.

I'll try and jerry rig one tonight

Regards,

Jon.

[JLJ]

Great info thanks,

Any idea on power usage? Just trying to get some idea of who many power supplies im going to need.

Thanks

[Jon Russell]

Some fag packet maths ... Assuming you can only have 768 LEDs on at any one time (assumes there are 4 banks)

10mA per LED = 7.7A

15mA = 12A, 

20mA = 15.5A ?

If you control the brightness, they wont be on all the time. So, a 10-15A power supply should be fine per panel.

A basic ATX PSU should do 20-30A @ 5v

Regards,

Jon.

[Nigel Worsley]

On 29 March 2017 at 15:32, JLJ <chillicl...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Any idea on power usage? Just trying to get some idea of who many power
> supplies im going to need.

The minimum current per LED for the driver chips is specified as 3mA,
so at least 9.2A with all leds on.

Nigle

[Stephen Casey]

So, one ATX or similar PSU per panel?! That's heavy! I'd love to mess about with these, but the reality is that I have neither the time, nor any worthwhile end use, to justify taking any.

Good luck to all of you who are working with these. I look forward to seeing the outcomes.

Cheers.

Stephen.

[Robin Baumgarten]

Ooh! I'll take a few as well. Started experimenting with the Teensy already :)

If we get a few more of these crates, I'd happily take 24 or so (for a full cube). Unless there's not enough for everyone, of course.

[Graham Perdeaux]

If they're in the way now and more coming, I could take some now and others who can't get in yet could take from the later stock, if it's more convenient?

[tom]

We've made some progress with these, the pinouts seem to be as follows

A0 and A1 are definitely bank selectors, however the banks are arranged like in rows rather than blocks:

3

2

1

0

3

2

1

0

3

2

1

0

3

2

1

0

so a bank 0 spans 4 rows in total

D2 and D1 are data pins for the upper and lower halves of the display

other than drawing white lines on the screen i've yet to make any more progress :)

[tom]

heres some test code that illustrates the wacky scan-pattern this uses

https://pastebin.com/GhMp1Pww

[Robin Baumgarten]

Just to confirm, I've got Tom's code running on my Teensy 3.6 as well. The data pins can be driven directly with 3.3V. I'm powering the panel with a 5v 10a supply.

I'm writing some simple 3-bit display code now...

[Robin Baumgarten]

Ok, I've written a simple program that displays a 3-bit picture (red green blue, but only on or off for each of those).

https://pastebin.com/JvEMX07V

It's not optimized in any way, it could probably be made much faster by avoiding the digitalWrite functions and/or using some form of DMA.

On my (admittedly extremely fast) Teensy 3.6 i get 807 frames per second at 240mhz, which might be fast enough to get more colours rather than just the 9 or so you can get with 3 bits. At least the bright ones.

[Jon Russell]

My first attempt ... :-)

https://www.dropbox.com/s/23tbneomygbrssp/2017-03-30%2000.44.56.mp4?dl=0

Regards,

Jon.

On Wednesday, March 29, 2017 at 6:50:54 PM UTC+1, Robin Baumgarten wrote:

[Henry Sands]

Looks awesome, what are you using to drive it?

[Jon Russell]

Just an Arduino at the mo, and very slowly.

But I've worked out the colour mapping / bit stream to LEDs.

The panels are laid out a bit weird. They are designed to make the panel electronics cheap and easy and move all the mapping in to software. But that makes the software a bit more complex.

I'll try and write up the LED mappings in to the wiki.

Here's an example of a full colour screen, cycling between colours. Again, not as fast as it could be ...

https://www.dropbox.com/s/s1sdpjsq5ek8ql9/2017-03-30%2001.06.57.mp4?dl=0

Regards,

Jon.

[Jon Russell]

Also, that was topping out my PSU at about 7A. So, the screen fully on (given the refresh rate for the four lines) pulls about 7 amps @ 5v.

[Robin Baumgarten]

Tom and I have figured out the pattern mapping as well. And I've written a little mapping function in my arduino test file above, if that helps. Admittedly, documentation isn't perfect there.

[Jon Russell]

I've started an update on the wiki ... feel free to add, update, delete as desired.

https://wiki.london.hackspace.org.uk/view/LED_tiles_V2

Regards,

Jon.

[Giacomo Giacomo]

The Vegas chaps have gotten some detail together on their GitHub, as found in their Google Group posting:

https://github.com/krux702/led_panel_wall

https://groups.google.com/d/msg/synshop/ov_LCQSXeds/E9uHfen7AgAJ

https://groups.google.com/d/msg/synshop/ov_LCQSXeds/lOVqK43CAwAJ

https://www.open-electronics.org/a-fpga-controlled-rgb-led-matrix-for-incredible-effects-the-hardware/

--

[Rob Kam]

If any are left, I'd like one please.

[Nigel Worsley]

On 31 March 2017 at 14:55, 'Rob Kam' via London Hackspace

<london-h...@googlegroups.com> wrote:
> If any are left, I'd like one please.

You can see them on the main room webcam, a big stack next to the Club
Mate. At least 50 of them by my reckoning, probably a fair bit more.
They might disappear quicker over the weekend though.

Nigle

[Rob Kam]

Thanks, got some :-)

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "London Hackspace" group.

To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to london-hack-sp...@googlegroups.com.

[Edward]

Hi tom,

I'll take two crates if possible.

Thanks ever so much,

Ed

[Oliver Passey]

Many Thanks, grabbed a few to see how i can use them

Will be back for more if i manage to drive them easily.

Thanks!

[mistamudd]

Hi Jon et al.

I've been asked for info on the LED Scancards (receiving cards)  available from http://www.led-card.com/ . 

Here's what I can help with.

On the website you'll find cards from companies called Linsn, DBstar, NovaStar etc.  The one's I'd recommend are from Nova Star (although the others should still work).

The control software from Nova (Nova Mars) is by far the most friendly and widely used LED panel control software.  This can be downloaded here :  https://www.dropbox.com/s/17r9j3b2ycbif82/NovaLCT-Mars%20V4.4.1%20Setup.exe?dl=0

Here's our instruction manual for end users :   https://www.dropbox.com/s/xutbswt1c742isb/Nova%20Mars%20-%20LED%20Control%20Software%20User%20Manual%20v1.6.pdf?dl=0

But, there's a hitch - If you buy an LED screen from us we will give you a pre-made config file called an rcfg file.   This is the file that configures the Scancard to work with a given design of LED tile.  

Sadly, because this isn't a standard digiLED product I cant share a ready made file with you.  Instead, you need to create the file yourself.

This is done from the Receiving Card Tab of the Screen Configuration menu.  Look for a menu called "Smart Settings"

Smart settings will walk you through a wizard where you click-in the multiplex/ scan info , the RGB order info and the pixel map info of the LED tile, all guided by lit up sections of the LED tile and click responses in Mars.   The end result of this process is a newly created rcfg file that will configure your Scancard of choice to you LED tile of choice.  Bingo !  Job done  (nearly)

So - which cards ?

I'd recommend you start with this one http://www.led-card.com/novastar-mrv336-led-display-receptor.html  because it's cheap and can do lots and lots of LED tiles on one card.

You are also going to need one of these http://www.led-card.com/novastar-msd300-led-display-decoder.html  to act as your DVI to LED converter card.

With this little bundle of kit you literally have enough to map a 64 x 16  pixel slice of your computer desktop straight onto the LED tiles at full video quality and frame-rate.  Add more LED tiles = bigger pixel space.  Copy Paste Repeat and you could take this all the way to 4k width or height although a screen with these pixels at 4k size would be mahussive !!!



Hope that's useful to folks.


All the best

Tom

[Tom Mudd]

Hi Ed.

I've been called away to  a job in Cambridge this week.  Is it possible for you to collect next week ?

BTW, two crates will completely fill the back of a large estate car... Do you have transport big enough ?

Let me know.

Cheers

Tom

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to a topic in the Google Groups "London Hackspace" group.
To unsubscribe from this topic, visit https://groups.google.com/d/topic/london-hack-space/RZeO143uh7A/unsubscribe.
To unsubscribe from this group and all its topics, send an email to london-hack-space+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.

For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.

--

http://www.digiled.com/colossus-the-largest-centre-hung-led-screen-display-in-the-world-is-unleashed/

[JLJ]

We are planning on coming to you Tom to pick up some and have loads of room so can also pick up for others.

many thanks

John

On Monday, April 3, 2017 at 10:39:58 AM UTC+1, mistamudd wrote:

Hi Ed.

I've been called away to  a job in Cambridge this week.  Is it possible for you to collect next week ?

BTW, two crates will completely fill the back of a large estate car... Do you have transport big enough ?

Let me know.

Cheers

Tom

On 1 April 2017 at 13:42, Edward <ecpem...@gmail.com> wrote:

Hi tom,

I'll take two crates if possible.

Thanks ever so much,

Ed

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to a topic in the Google Groups "London Hackspace" group.
To unsubscribe from this topic, visit https://groups.google.com/d/topic/london-hack-space/RZeO143uh7A/unsubscribe.

To unsubscribe from this group and all its topics, send an email to london-hack-sp...@googlegroups.com.

For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.

--

http://www.digiled.com/colossus-the-largest-centre-hung-led-screen-display-in-the-world-is-unleashed/

[Rob Kam]

There are no obvious fastening holes so how to mount the panels and what if using more than one to keep the edges butted against each other? How sensible would it be to remove them from the plastic enclosure to fasten instead against e.g. plywood or mdf?

Rob

[JLJ]

Hi Rob, they have alot of holes all the way through that you can attach them to things with.

John

[Oliver Passey]

This is a huge help! Thanks Tom! 

The last bit that is puzzling me is the physical connection from the reciever card to the various panels...

Is there a cable that easily connects these or do i need to build cabling into a mount to host multiple tiles?

Im thinking i have two use cases im interested in - 1. being one panel on a PC small as possible setup - 2. a config of say 8 tiles high by 4 wide, running video output.

Would like to purchase some hardware that would let me do both with a bit of re-config.

Going to head along to the electronics group tonight if anyone working on this is going to be about - would be nice to say hi!

[Andy Focallocal]

i've got a LWB van and am happy to pick up some for our project, and some more for Hackspace. can pick up anytime that suits you Tom. We'd go with two or three crates too. (split between our charities outdoor cinema project and hackspace)

Andy

On Monday, April 3, 2017 at 10:39:58 AM UTC+1, mistamudd wrote:

Hi Ed.

I've been called away to  a job in Cambridge this week.  Is it possible for you to collect next week ?

BTW, two crates will completely fill the back of a large estate car... Do you have transport big enough ?

Let me know.

Cheers

Tom

On 1 April 2017 at 13:42, Edward <ecpem...@gmail.com> wrote:

Hi tom,

I'll take two crates if possible.

Thanks ever so much,

Ed

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to a topic in the Google Groups "London Hackspace" group.
To unsubscribe from this topic, visit https://groups.google.com/d/topic/london-hack-space/RZeO143uh7A/unsubscribe.

To unsubscribe from this group and all its topics, send an email to london-hack-sp...@googlegroups.com.

For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.

--

http://www.digiled.com/colossus-the-largest-centre-hung-led-screen-display-in-the-world-is-unleashed/

[Arthur Guy]

Hi Tom,

There is some interest from a couple of members at the Brighton makerspace, would I be able to stop by and collect some (ideally a crate!) this week?

Thanks,

Arthur

[Tom Mudd]

Hi Arthur.

Sure thing.  Happy to spread the LED love.

Im afraid it would have to be next week though, I've been sent to a job in Cambridge all this week.

Would Tuesday afternoon be good ?  (not confirmed but trying to work things out for Tuesday week)

Tom

 

--

You received this message because you are subscribed to a topic in the Google Groups "London Hackspace" group.
To unsubscribe from this topic, visit https://groups.google.com/d/topic/london-hack-space/RZeO143uh7A/unsubscribe.
To unsubscribe from this group and all its topics, send an email to london-hack-space+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.

--

http://www.digiled.com/colossus-the-largest-centre-hung-led-screen-display-in-the-world-is-unleashed/

[Arthur Guy]

Tuesday might be a little difficult, Wednesday, Thursday or Friday any good for you?

On Monday, 3 April 2017 17:54:55 UTC+1, mistamudd wrote:

Hi Arthur.

Sure thing.  Happy to spread the LED love.

Im afraid it would have to be next week though, I've been sent to a job in Cambridge all this week.

Would Tuesday afternoon be good ?  (not confirmed but trying to work things out for Tuesday week)

Tom

 

On 3 April 2017 at 17:14, Arthur Guy <arthur...@gmail.com> wrote:

Hi Tom,

There is some interest from a couple of members at the Brighton makerspace, would I be able to stop by and collect some (ideally a crate!) this week?

Thanks,

Arthur

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to a topic in the Google Groups "London Hackspace" group.
To unsubscribe from this topic, visit https://groups.google.com/d/topic/london-hack-space/RZeO143uh7A/unsubscribe.

To unsubscribe from this group and all its topics, send an email to london-hack-sp...@googlegroups.com.

For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.

-- 

[Shaun Meehan]

Hi Tom 

I have just picked up 4 tiles and am looking forward to playing with them.

Thank you

You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "London Hackspace" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to london-hack-space+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.

[Andy at Focallocal]

i'd be happy to. what time are you thinking on Tuesday  afternoon and whats the location Tom?

Andy

To unsubscribe from this group and all its topics, send an email to london-hack-sp...@googlegroups.com.

For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.

-- 
There's beauty all around you, remember to take a little break and enjoy it today

Andy at Focallocal :O)
focallocal.org

[Giacomo Giacomo]

Will you be dropping off more at the space when you're back in the London Tom?  Sadly I missed out on grabbing a few by last Tuesday.  Thank you!

-- 
There's beauty all around you, remember to take a little break and enjoy it today

Andy at Focallocal :O)
focallocal.org

--

You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "London Hackspace" group.

To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to london-hack-space+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.

[Andy Focallocal]

i'm planning to pick some up on Tuesday and drop them off at the space. just need to get a confirmation on times and the location they are stored at from Tom

Andy

On Thursday, April 6, 2017 at 4:33:39 PM UTC+1, Giac0m0 wrote:

Will you be dropping off more at the space when you're back in the London Tom?  Sadly I missed out on grabbing a few by last Tuesday.  Thank you!

On 4 April 2017 at 16:29, Andy at Focallocal <focalloc...@gmail.com> wrote:

i'd be happy to. what time are you thinking on Tuesday  afternoon and whats the location Tom?

Andy

On 03/04/2017 17:54, Tom Mudd wrote:

Hi Arthur.

Sure thing.  Happy to spread the LED love.

Im afraid it would have to be next week though, I've been sent to a job in Cambridge all this week.

Would Tuesday afternoon be good ?  (not confirmed but trying to work things out for Tuesday week)

Tom

 

On 3 April 2017 at 17:14, Arthur Guy <arthur...@gmail.com> wrote:

Hi Tom,

There is some interest from a couple of members at the Brighton makerspace, would I be able to stop by and collect some (ideally a crate!) this week?

Thanks,

Arthur

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to a topic in the Google Groups "London Hackspace" group.
To unsubscribe from this topic, visit https://groups.google.com/d/topic/london-hack-space/RZeO143uh7A/unsubscribe.

To unsubscribe from this group and all its topics, send an email to london-hack-sp...@googlegroups.com.

For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.

--

http://www.digiled.com/colossus-the-largest-centre-hung-led-screen-display-in-the-world-is-unleashed/

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to a topic in the Google Groups "London Hackspace" group.
To unsubscribe from this topic, visit https://groups.google.com/d/topic/london-hack-space/RZeO143uh7A/unsubscribe.

To unsubscribe from this group and all its topics, send an email to london-hack-sp...@googlegroups.com.

For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.

-- 
There's beauty all around you, remember to take a little break and enjoy it today

Andy at Focallocal :O)
focallocal.org

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "London Hackspace" group.

To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to london-hack-sp...@googlegroups.com.

[Jon Russell]

I got four panels (64x64 LEDs) working as one, from a single Arduino Micro tonight, at about 200+ HZ frame rate. 3 bit colour.

Two ATX power supplies (5v @ 32 Amps total. 8 Amps per panel)

8 lines of text, with a standard 7x5 font.

I just need to build a frame to mount them now.

Thanks Tom ! :-)

https://www.dropbox.com/s/gofu48wfw1z6rak/LEDpanel%281%29.jpg?dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/s/ow4gw70okdq9dsz/LEDpanel%282%29.jpg?dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/s/j80b57scz7viq6s/LEDpanel%283%29.jpg?dl=0

[Liam Lynch]

On Sunday, 9 April 2017 02:14:11 UTC+1, Jon Russell wrote:

I got four panels (64x64 LEDs) working as one, from a single Arduino Micro tonight, at about 200+ HZ frame rate. 3 bit colour.

Two ATX power supplies (5v @ 32 Amps total. 8 Amps per panel)

8 lines of text, with a standard 7x5 font.

I just need to build a frame to mount them now.

Thanks Tom ! :-)

https://www.dropbox.com/s/gofu48wfw1z6rak/LEDpanel%281%29.jpg?dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/s/ow4gw70okdq9dsz/LEDpanel%282%29.jpg?dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/s/j80b57scz7viq6s/LEDpanel%283%29.jpg?dl=0

Very nice john,

Don't suppose you can share the sketch?

Liam

[Rob Kam]

Well done!

--

[Toby Catlin]

That is awesome well done!

Would love to get that code pls. 

T

--

You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "London Hackspace" group.

To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to london-hack-space+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.

[Tom Lynch]

I'd really like to pickup 4.

[Tom Lynch]

I'd really like to pickup 4.

Are there any left at Hackspace?

[Jon Russell]

I'll add some comments and explanation and stick it up on GitHub this week.

Regards

Jon.

[Shaun Meehan]

Look forward to seeing the code and well done. It looks good ;)

[Toby Catlin]

Hey Jon,

Would you mind sending us what you have today? We have our Hackspace meeting tonight and a few of us were planning on getting some tiles running and figuring out the addressing in code. Seeing as you have already done this it save us time and brain cells.

thanks

toby

[Jon Russell]

First stab ... https://github.com/JonRussell00/LEDpanels

Regards,

Jon.

On Monday, April 10, 2017 at 9:16:17 AM UTC+1, Toby Catlin wrote:

Hey Jon,

Would you mind sending us what you have today? We have our Hackspace meeting tonight and a few of us were planning on getting some tiles running and figuring out the addressing in code. Seeing as you have already done this it save us time and brain cells.

thanks

toby

On 10 April 2017 at 00:12, Shaun Meehan <sh...@sillypoodle.co.uk> wrote:

Look forward to seeing the code and well done. It looks good ;)

On 10 Apr 2017 12:07 a.m., "Jon Russell" <goo...@red-herring.co.uk> wrote:

I'll add some comments and explanation and stick it up on GitHub this week.

Regards

Jon.

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "London Hackspace" group.

To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to london-hack-sp...@googlegroups.com.

For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "London Hackspace" group.

To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to london-hack-sp...@googlegroups.com.

[Robin Baumgarten]

I don't see any left near the fridge where they used to be. Unless someone moved the remaining panels, they seem to be all gone!

[Toby Catlin]

Jon, thanks a lot for that. It will give us something specific to work on tonight.

t

--

You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "London Hackspace" group.

To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to london-hack-space+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.

[Marrold]

Awesome work

Thanks for sharing

[mistamudd]

Sorry folks.

I've had a bit of a glitch in my work calendar which means I'll not be down in Dorking / Crawley for a week or two now.

 I'll have to ask you all to be patient re more tiles until I can get back there in person.

Please bear with us caller - Hopefully I'll be able to update after Easter.

Tom

[Liam Lynch]

Just a quick note to say I manged to get the test code from Robin and Jon running on a Particle core, driving just one panel.

Liam

[Toby Catlin]

Did you use the frame buffer, ports and interrupt?

We got the most very basic sketch running and spent quite a bit of time going through Jons code. I think we mostly understand what is going on but did want to write a simpler sketch that drives one panel without the more complex performance optimisations.

Could we look at your code too?

thanks

toby

On 11 April 2017 at 15:52, Liam Lynch <dickhe...@gmail.com> wrote:

Just a quick note to say I manged to get the test code from Robin and Jon running on a Particle core, driving just one panel.

Liam

--

[Liam Lynch]

Hi Toby,

I shamlessly copied Robins code and only changed the pin assignments as follows:-

#define PIN_CLK   0
#define PIN_ADD0  1
#define PIN_ADD1  2
#define PIN_OE    3
#define PIN_LAT   4
#define PIN_D1  5
#define PIN_D2  6


I hate posting code as it makes for a huge massage, but looking back through this thread is driving me nuts:-

// Simple 3bit color test for Hackspace LED Panel
// written by Robin Baumgarten

// draw 1 white pixel on screen that moves from first to last spot, measuring fps along the way.
// Tested on Teensy 3.6. (I get 788 fps at 240mhz!)

// with the panel the correct way up (you can read "digiled" on the black plastic) these are the pins:
// see also: https://github.com/krux702/led_panel_wall/blob/master/photos/pinout.jpg

// all 8 top pins VCC (5v). Careful: You might need to connect at least two pins, since the halfs of the board use separate vccs

// D1 LAT A1 NC
// D2 OE  A0 CLK
//https://build.particle.io/build/58e2a88d76a35fc9f200092b#verify
// all 8 bottom pins GND.
// NC = not connected

// populate with your own arduino pins!
#define PIN_CLK   0
#define PIN_ADD0  1
#define PIN_ADD1  2
#define PIN_OE    3
#define PIN_LAT   4
#define PIN_D1  5
#define PIN_D2  6

// pixel storage
bool r[1024];
bool g[1024];
bool b[1024];

int fpsCounter = 0;
long fpsMillisStart = 0;

void initPixels()
{
    for(int i =0; i < 1024; i++)
    {
        r[i] = 0; //(i % 5) == 0;
        g[i] = 0; //(i % 6) == 0;
        b[i] = 0; //(i % 7) == 0;
    }
}

void setup() {

  pinMode (PIN_CLK, OUTPUT);
  pinMode (PIN_ADD0, OUTPUT);
  pinMode (PIN_ADD1, OUTPUT);
  pinMode (PIN_OE, OUTPUT);
  pinMode (PIN_LAT, OUTPUT);
  pinMode (PIN_D1, OUTPUT);
  pinMode (PIN_D2, OUTPUT);

  delay(10);
  digitalWrite(PIN_OE, LOW);

  initPixels();

  // A0 & A1 control bank to push vals to.
  // 3
  // 2
  // 1
  // 0
  // etc
  // each bank consists of 128 leds
  // d1 is data for bottom half of display
  // d2 is data for top half

  // shifting data:
  // each bank is further split into chunks
  // 0 pixel is bottom right, proceeds to left until hitting 8
  // row then changes to row+4 and continues from column 0
  // colour then changes to next in cycle
  // data is BBBBBBBB BBBBBBBB GGGGGGGG GGGGGGGG RRRRRRRR RRRRRRRR
  //         | row 0 | row 4  | row 0  | row 4  | row 0  | row 4
}

// set a pixel to a certain 3-bit color on the screen. x: 0 - 63, y: 0 - 16
void setPixel(int x, int y, bool cr, bool cg, bool cb)
{
    r[y * 64 + x] = cr;
    g[y * 64 + x] = cg;
    b[y * 64 + x] = cb;
}

bool getBit(int ledIndex, int bank)
{
    // is this the higher row?
    bool isRow4 = (ledIndex / 8) % 2 == 1;

    bool isBlue = (ledIndex % 48) / 16 == 0;
    bool isGreen = (ledIndex % 48) / 16 == 1;
    //bool isRed = (ledIndex % 48) / 16 == 2;

    int x = (ledIndex / 48) * 8 + (ledIndex % 8);

    if (isBlue)
    {
        return b[((isRow4 ? 4 : 0) + bank) * 64 + x];
    }
    else if (isGreen)
    {
        return g[((isRow4 ? 4 : 0) + bank) * 64 + x];
    }   
    else //if (isRed)
    {
        return r[((isRow4 ? 4 : 0) + bank) * 64 + x];
    }
}

bool a0Order[] = {true, false, true, false};
bool a1Order[] = {true, false, false, true};

void drawPixels()
{
    for (int bank = 0; bank < 4; bank++)
    {
        // enable correct bank
        digitalWrite(PIN_ADD0, a0Order[bank]);
          digitalWrite(PIN_ADD1, a1Order[bank]);

          //set latch low to send data
          digitalWrite(PIN_LAT, LOW);

        for (int i = 0; i < 384; i++)
        {  // led index
            digitalWrite(PIN_D1, getBit(i, bank));     // write to bottom half
            digitalWrite(PIN_D2, getBit(i, bank + 8)); // write to top half

            // toggle clock
            digitalWrite(PIN_CLK, LOW);
            digitalWrite(PIN_CLK, HIGH);
        }
       
        digitalWrite(PIN_LAT, HIGH);
    }
}

int c = 1;
void loop()
{
    // set one of the pixels to white
    setPixel(c % 64, c / 64, true, true, true);
    drawPixels();

    // clear pixel
    setPixel(c % 64, c / 64, false, false, false);

    c++;
    if (c > 1023) c = 0;

    // print out fps
    fpsCounter++;
    if (millis() - fpsMillisStart > 1000)
    {
        fpsMillisStart = millis();
        Serial.print("FPS: ");
        Serial.println(fpsCounter);
        fpsCounter = 0;
    }
}

[Toby Catlin]

Thanks a lot. I'll have a good read through.

Pastebin is always good for keeping the thread clean: https://pastebin.com/X581G32d

t

[Cass M]

So, on Tom's suggestion, I picked up and MSD300 and a MRV336. They seem to be connecting up fine and spitting out data, but the MRV336 has separate channels for R, G, and B, and seems to be putting them out in parallel, whereas the tiles obviously want them serialised. Has anybody else picked up one of the cards, and if so have you had the same issue? There are two extra bits of row selection on the card output, so presumably each output can be used over four separate panels.

The obvious solution to this, if there isn't a stock hardware layer which I've failed to account for, is to put in an MCU which serialises the data and passes it on. However, I am worried about not keeping up and the panels glitching (I'm trying to make a light sculpture out of them). The alternative is obviously an FPGA implementation, but I'd ideally not like to detour through learning HDL programming.

Is there something obvious, or less obvious, I've missed?

-C

To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to london-hack-sp...@googlegroups.com.

[Cass M]

So, Toby pointed me at this bit of info from Tom, which I had skim read, and which may well hold the key.

"But, there's a hitch - If you buy an LED screen from us we will give you a pre-made config file called an rcfg file.   This is the file that configures the Scancard to work with a given design of LED tile.  

Sadly, because this isn't a standard digiLED product I cant share a ready made file with you.  Instead, you need to create the file yourself.

This is done from the Receiving Card Tab of the Screen Configuration menu.  Look for a menu called "Smart Settings"

Smart settings will walk you through a wizard where you click-in the multiplex/ scan info , the RGB order info and the pixel map info of the LED tile, all guided by lit up sections of the LED tile and click responses in Mars.   The end result of this process is a newly created rcfg file that will configure your Scancard of choice to you LED tile of choice."

[Oliver Passey]

Are you planning on working on any of this in the space? I'd be really interested to see how you connected up those cards to the tiles.

Completely newbie to this stuff 

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to a topic in the Google Groups "London Hackspace" group.
To unsubscribe from this topic, visit https://groups.google.com/d/topic/london-hack-space/RZeO143uh7A/unsubscribe.
To unsubscribe from this group and all its topics, send an email to london-hack-space+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.

[Cass M]

I'm working on it at home at the moment, but I'd be happy to come and do a quick howto session once I've got them up and running, if you'd be interested.

-C

[Oliver Passey]

i'd be very interested! shout when you are at a point you'd be happy to share.

currently trying to decide buying some off the shelf hardware vs hacking an arduino / teensy together.

Cheers, Oli

[Cass M]

I think it depends how many you're trying to drive, and what frame rate/colour depth you need. Tom was kind enough to let me take away a fair number of them, and the thing I'm making needs to be pixar-perfect, so I've decided to go with the commodity hardware. If you're just hacking about with them, I suspect you're going to learn more and have more fun driving them manually from a raspi/arduino.

--