Projects/arduinoledscroller
From 757Labs
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[edit] Oracle by Sunrise Systems Retrofit
This is a CPU upgrade for an old sign made by Sunrise Microsystems. The sign is called an Oracle.
[edit] Background
Sign is a 12' long green LED scrolling sign. It originally had an old CPU board in it and some MS-DOS software to update it. Never fully figured out how to program it, it was always troublesome.
[edit] Guts
Sign consists of 3 modules. One had the cpu in it, the others connect to the master by means of DB-25 cables.
Internally the sign consists of '595 shift registers that drive the columns. A ribbon cable with leads that (when grounded) illuminate the rows is present. The clock and data lines are known internally.
It is unknown how data is passed to the 2nd and 3rd sign parts.
[edit] Hacking
Let's make it work!
I'm using an arduino programmed in avr-libc/gnu toolchain rather than wiring/arduino to take advantage of the massively increased performance provided from programming in avrlibc. currently, I have the led signs upstairs on the tables, and i have coded the program for the triple display off of a single frame inside of the arduino's memory. I have been putting it off, but i am going to implement a serial recieve-complete interrupt service routine to take a frame from a computer hooked up to the usb fdti device on the arduino board, along with rewiring the internals of the display to allow for correct ransfer of row, serial, and clock data to all of the boards. I am also considering a libgd program to convert a 288x7 png picture into the correct format to show on teh display.
[edit] New stuff
Matt D is game to write a plugin for Audacious to turn the thing into a large spectrum analyzer. This means the software on the ardunio needs to be able to act has a frame buffer.
