<div dir="ltr">Justin/Gwion,<div><br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex"><span style="font-size:small;background-color:rgb(255,255,255);text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial;float:none;display:inline">Have you documented which pins do what, the voltages and currents<br></span><span style="font-size:small;background-color:rgb(255,255,255);text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial;float:none;display:inline">required, etc ?</span><br></blockquote><div><br></div><div>Yes, Tom has put together a full schematic in KiCad for the display, which along with exported logic analysis from a scope at uni has allowed us to figure out which pins do what.</div><div><br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex"><span style="font-size:small;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial;background-color:rgb(255,255,255);float:none;display:inline">I looked at the project page you listed but it only points to other<br></span><span style="font-size:small;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial;background-color:rgb(255,255,255);float:none;display:inline">peoples similar projects.</span>
</blockquote><div><br></div><div>I've just updated the <a href="https://swansea.hackspace.org.uk/Main/Projects">Project Page</a> with all of this new information, so that should make a lot more sense now. </div><div><br></div><div><br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex"><span style="font-size:small;background-color:rgb(255,255,255);text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial;float:none;display:inline">Is there scope for a camera to be added and used render a live B&W feed to the frame as some sort of crude view finder?</span></blockquote><div><br></div><div>Absolutely! We are planning to use a computer or raspberry pi to control the billboard, so we could integrate a camera and do some processing on it, or use something like openCV for facial tracking.</div><div><br></div><div><a href="https://youtu.be/SJU2-1X8kHQ?t=1m21s">See this video from CES</a>, where they used PrimeSense cameras to do facial tracking, and then displayed an avatar on the flip dot billboard.</div><div><br></div><div><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BSdiop75jIg">Other giant panel</a> / <a href=" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uxL4SK3B4lY ">other other giant panel</a></div><div><br></div><div>Once we have developed a reliable control system for each panel, that will act as a hardware abstraction layer, making the fronted programming much easier. </div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div>Regards,</div><div><br></div><div>Peter Barnes</div><div><a href="http://m0swn.uk">MØSWN</a></div></div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr">On Tue, Jul 10, 2018 at 9:12 AM Justin Mitchell <<a href="mailto:justin@swansea.hackspace.org.uk">justin@swansea.hackspace.org.uk</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">On Tue, 2018-07-10 at 04:53 +0100, Peter Barnes wrote:<br>
> All,<br>
> <br>
> It's been quite a few months since the Hackspace embarked on a<br>
> project to bring some old bus displays back to life. I'm please to<br>
> report that we have made great progress, and plan on having a fully<br>
> functional display made up of six panels ready for EMF2018<br>
> <br>
> Last night, with the help of Tom, we managed to get pixel level<br>
> control over a panel, using a very high tech method of connecting tac<br>
> switches to address lines! Next job is to use a MCU to pulse those<br>
> lines with somewhat more precise timing, so we can get full control<br>
> over the panels.<br>
<br>
Great stuff.<br>
<br>
Have you documented which pins do what, the voltages and currents<br>
required, etc ?<br>
<br>
I looked at the project page you listed but it only points to other<br>
peoples similar projects.<br>
<br>
> Once we've sorted that out, we need to work on a few things:<br>
> <br>
> We need to design and build an enclosure / stand that will allow us<br>
> to show off the displays to the public at EMF. This will likely be<br>
> built out of bits of wood in order to raise the display to eye level<br>
> and tilt them up a little to make them easier to see. The enclosure<br>
> will include a large, plexiglass panel to protect the displays from<br>
> the elements.<br>
<br>
> We need to come up with an effective solution for controlling all six<br>
> panels in real time. Our current idea for this is to pair each panel<br>
> with an MCU that will update its pixels, and then network them<br>
> together using a SBC (perhaps a Raspberry Pi 3B+) acting a bit like a<br>
> hypervisor.<br>
<br>
Once we know how many control lines there are, how many pixels etc then<br>
people can suggest suitable control mechanisms. Also questions like, do<br>
you want the panels to be usable independently and interchangeably? is<br>
it better for the control interface to be wired, or wireless ? How<br>
quickly can pixels be updated, and thus what is the max frame rate<br>
likely to be ?<br>
<br>
> Once we can control each pixel in the entire display, we need to<br>
> write software to make it do something cool. Ideas for this have<br>
> ranged from games such as pacman, a twitter bot, scrolling text and<br>
> more. Perhaps we could even make a system that would allow EMF<br>
> attendees to program the panel with to do something else entirely!<br>
Might be worth taking a look at the Blinkenlights projects from, well<br>
over a decade ago now, they would install light sources in the windows<br>
of office blocks, wire them all up to a central control, and play<br>
animations and games on them.<br>
<br>
afair the software was all open source, and features stuff like<br>
multiple controllers, transfering patterns and synchronisation. <br>
istr there also being a plugin for some video playing sioftware that<br>
would output the blinkenlights protocol.<br>
<br>
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</blockquote></div>