Posts Tagged ‘:windows’
Cheap-Ass PC Interface for Digital LED Pixels
I have an unhealthy obsession with LEDs. I also have an unhealthy obsession with frugality…
Total Control Lighting is a system of individually-addressible full-color LED “pixels” that can be shaped into any display imaginable. It’s a new offering from Funhouse Productions, who’ve been marketing their Cool Neon electroluminescent wire to creative types for years now, practically defining the after-dark aesthetic of the Burning Man arts festival.
The appeal of the Total Control Lighting system is that it scales linearly…just chain one strand of LEDs after the next, like Christmas lights. One end plugs into a controller box, which can issue preprogrammed color sequences, or others can load animation data from an SD card. In more sophisticated setups, the controller in turn connects to a computer, which can then command every LED individually and in real time. That’s where this project comes in…
Tags: bitbang, c, cool neon, ftdi, led, leds, library, linux, mac, pixels, rgb, total control lighting, totalcontrol, windows
The 25¢ I2C Adapter
This project demonstrates a novel repurposing of the existing display control lines present on many graphics cards as an inexpensive method of interfacing computers with a variety of sensors and devices.
I2C (Inter-Integrated Circuit) is a two-wire serial bus typically used inside computers for low-level communication between components, but it’s also seen in robotics and hobbyist electronics for interfacing all manner of sensors, displays and actuators. I2C connections are often readily available on microcontrollers and esoteric embedded systems, but there’s traditionally little call for end-user access to this bus on mainstream personal computers. Lately though, netbooks and other small form-factor systems are increasingly being put to use as the high-powered “brains” of many homebrew projects. To sense and react in the physical world, a USB to I2C adapter (or “bridge”) device is typically used, often at considerable expense.