electronics, 3d printing, hacking, etc
This past weekend, I finally finished building my 8×8 RGB matrix floor lamp. I call it Lampduino. A Processing sketch running on a host computer controls Lampduino via a USB connection. When turned on without a computer, it automatically displays a soothing plasma simulation. If you want to build one of your own, I wrote a … Continue reading “Lampduino – an 8×8 RGB Matrix Floor Lamp”
INTRODUCTION I’ve been laying the groundwork for doing some projects using remote controlled RGB LEDs. My first attempt was Lampduino, which used discrete RGB LEDs, and an ITEAD Colorduino as a controller. In that project, I ran into several pitfalls: though inexpensive, assembly of the LED matrix was very labor intensive the LED’s were rather dim, … Continue reading “WS2812B LED (NeoPixel) Control: Part 1 – Serial Control via 8-bit ATmega (Arduino)”
ITEAD Studio asked me how to install Processing 2.1.1 on Debian 7.0 running on the IBOX, because they want to use the IBOX as a Lampduino controller. This article describes the installation procedure. All of the commands must be typed into a shell Terminal. 1. Install openjdk and librxtx # apt-get update # apt-get install openjdk-7-jdk … Continue reading “ITEAD Studio IBOX – Part 3: Installing Java and Processing”
ITEAD Studio recently contacted me to let me know that they’re going to display my Lampduino project at the Shenzhen Makerfaire. I thought that was a pretty cool idea, and am honored to hear that. They also asked if I wanted to test out their IBOX mini multifunction single board computer, which is currently in its final … Continue reading “ITEAD Studio IBOX – Part 1: First Look”
The first step in wiring up the matrix is deciding on the method. I immediately ruled out soldering, because it’s messy, slow, and smelly. Also, it incurs the risk of overheating the LED’s as well as being hard to repair. I also ruled out using crimp-on connectors due to expense. After pondering it for a … Continue reading “8×8 RGB LED Matrix Construction: Step 2 – Wiring”
I started building my 8×8 RGB LED matrix this weekend. The first step was mechanical construction of the matrix. Below are the materials I used: I recycled a piece of foam core poster board. This kind of poster board is composed of two sheets of thick paper, with a piece of foam sandwiched in between. … Continue reading “8×8 RGB LED Matrix Construction: Step 1 – Cutting Foam Board”