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There's no mistaking the messages left in the office by one very ingenuous Gadget Master, "kitesurfer". He has built a 12-foot long and 20" high LED matrix, to display text across 512 blue LEDs, which sit behind some frosted acrylic.
Apparently the display runs the length of his home office and his website gives full details and pictures of the kit, so make sure you check out his website. But note - he stresses this - the rig is not for sale!
Giving some detail on the blue 5mm LEDs, kitesurfer says:
The system is controlled by an ATMEL Mega8, which gets its commands from a Linux-based embedded computer. Even more clever, this Debian box also runs a webserver to enable the receipt of remotely sent messages, from a smartphone instead.
kitesurfer writes:
One thing's for sure, there's be no chance of messages not being seen in his house!
Thanks to Slashgear for highlighting this one. It says the total cost of the project was around €200, although half the cost came from the sheet of acrylic...
Apparently the display runs the length of his home office and his website gives full details and pictures of the kit, so make sure you check out his website. But note - he stresses this - the rig is not for sale!
Giving some detail on the blue 5mm LEDs, kitesurfer says:
In the technical point of view it is a quite simple story: The LEDs are switched in rows and columns by using copper wire. There are 8 circuit-boards behind the LED-boards to control the columns. Each of this circuits consists of a 74HC595 shift-register and a ULN 2803A darlington-array.Frosted acrylic glass (giving 79% light transmittance he reports) was used to diffuse the light from the LEDs and also hide them a little bit.
The system is controlled by an ATMEL Mega8, which gets its commands from a Linux-based embedded computer. Even more clever, this Debian box also runs a webserver to enable the receipt of remotely sent messages, from a smartphone instead.
kitesurfer writes:
The controller is connected via a MAX 232 to the serial port of an embedded computer. I used an IGEL Compact 364 LX from ebay for that, running Debian Linux. On the IGEL runs a small server-programm, which forwards UDP-packets received over IPv6 to the serial port and the matrix-controller. There is also an Apache webserver with some php-scripts running. This makes it possible to control the matrix using a normal browser. Because of the IPv6-connectivity the matrix can be controlled directly from the Internet. Provided that you have IPv6. I can also control the matrix using the browser of my smartphone. No special apps needed.Altogether the project cost around €200 ($273) though half of that was the lengthy sheet of acrylic that covered the front of the matrix.
One thing's for sure, there's be no chance of messages not being seen in his house!
Thanks to Slashgear for highlighting this one. It says the total cost of the project was around €200, although half the cost came from the sheet of acrylic...
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