Colorduino
The Colorduino (http://iteastudio.com) is a RGB matrix driver platform with an Atmega 328P. You can connect those nice big 8x8 RGB led matrices to it (common anode). The Colorduino has no USB connector, just a serial connector. That's why we need an USB-to-Serial adapter like an FTDI232 board for a connection to the computer.
Position the pin labeled with "1" of the RGB matrix on the connector labeled "BLUE", pin 1.
The connection schema is as follows:
| FTDI232 | Colorduino |
|---|---|
| RX | TX |
| TX | RX |
| DTR | DTR |
| GND | GND |
| VCC | VDD (5V) |
- Select "Arduino Duemilanove or Diecimilia" as Board
- Select Atmega 328 processor
- Select correct serial port
I had success getting the Colorduino run with lincomatics Colorduino library.
In order to display colors correctly, you have to do some kind of white balance. In lincomatics library, this is done with the Colorduino.SetWhiteBal() API. It involves some fiddling with finding the right values for, red green and blue correction, which can be challenging (my Colorduino still displays colors a bit greenish).
This example show turning all LEDs to white (RGB 0xffffff) without any white balance in effect: tbd
tbd