 Notice. New forum software under development. It's going to miss a few functions and look a bit ugly for a while, but I'm working on it full time now as the old forum was too unstable. Couple days, all good. If you notice any issues, please contact me. |
Forum Index : Microcontroller and PC projects : Mik-Matrix moving message display
| Author | Message | ||||
bigmik Guru  Joined: 20/06/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 2870 |
Gday All, Just a bit of advance notice about Mik-Matrix (really the credit belongs to Curtis, he has done the hard bit) A pretty ordinary demo video clip can be found HERE It is not easy to capture a decent clip that shows the beautiful depth of colour but at least it shows it working. Curtis may add some more discussion about the operation but he has done a fantastic job with the code and has written it entirely in BASIC. Whilst there is a bit of flicker at some scroll speeds it is quite acceptable IMHO especially considering, to display RED the GREEN driver has to be disabled and vice versa, yellow is a combination of both RED and GREEN and still requires the alternating on/off of the drivers. This is all handled in interrupts so is taken care of in the background.. Curtis has provided the following features Red text Green text Alternate colour every character Mixed (alternate colours every column) Brightness up and down (16 steps) Speed up and down RTC support for time & date display Temperature reading and display (C & F) via a DS18B20 Boards will be available from either Curtis (US based) or myself (AUS based) Anyway I hope you enjoy the post. Regards, Mick Mick's uMite Stuff can be found >>> HERE (Kindly hosted by Dontronics) <<< |
||||
kiiid Guru Joined: 11/05/2013 Location: United KingdomPosts: 671 |
Good job! 
Did I notice variable character widths there? Can you draw individual dots on the screen? http://rittle.org -------------- |
||||
| bigmik Guru Joined: 20/06/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 2870 |
Thanks Kon, Yes Curtis has created a variable width font fir the job, Curtis is probably better to answer the individual diets but in the code there are bit maps fir each character so in effect you could draw individual dots by changing a character font but whether it can be adapted to a static bit map display, it is best to ask Curtis.. I am sure he will respond when the antipodes, or, as we are usually called that, the 'podes' wake up. Regards, Mick Mick's uMite Stuff can be found >>> HERE (Kindly hosted by Dontronics) <<< |
||||
| bigmik Guru Joined: 20/06/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 2870 |
ignore this I tried to edit and ended with a duplicate post, Sorry Regards, Mick Mick's uMite Stuff can be found >>> HERE (Kindly hosted by Dontronics) <<< |
||||
Justplayin Guru Joined: 31/01/2014 Location: United StatesPosts: 313 |
Yikes! Mick caught me by surprise with his post... I guess now I'll have to actually finish writing the program!  Really, it's 99.9% done, just need to make a clean up pass through the code remove diagnostic bits left behind, add some shameless advertising (only in the code comments). I'll get right on it after the NASCAR championship race.
Mick covered most of the features. There are a couple of message "commands": @xmas$ - Days, Hours, Minutes until Christmas @xmas2$ - Days until Christmas @newyear$ - Days, Hours, Minutes until New Years day @newyear2$ - Days until New Years day @datetime$ - with parameters for lots of variations of the date and/or time @temp$ - a couple of parameters create quite a few variations for displaying the temperature The downside to all these commands is they are standalone only. There can not be used as part of a message. Also, there is limited color control. You may pick any single one of the 5 colorizing choices and that choice is applied to the entire output for that command created message. I'm going to go with "No" for both questions. The program has no facility to alter the font. HOWEVER, you may certainly create your own font characters of any size you wish. The current font is a proportional font, so the code does not care if a character is one column wide or 20. Also, there is no support to access individual dots in this program. Before someone asks... No, flashing characters are not possible with with this code. Not to say it's 100% impossible, but I never created any way to track individual characters after they have been broken down into the column byte data. I have a list ideas for version 2... ANSI controlled line editor for entering the messages, Flashing text, a pause command, in line commands, create your own count down for holidays/birthdays/anniversaries... --Curtis I am not a Mad Scientist... It makes me happy inventing new ways to take over the world!! |
||||
| bigmik Guru Joined: 20/06/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 2870 |
Thanks Curtis for your response, Sorry I didn't mean to drop you in the deep end, I thought the code had progressed to a stage that it is more than acceptable as it is, any improvement from here will only make it better.. It is a little difficult to synchronise when you are asleep whilst I am awake and vice versa... I read Kon's first question as a proportional font as an I takes less space than a W ... Anyway, I was pretty chuffed being able to get a reasonable video clip in about 6MB size that I felt I needed to share it. I have started on the manual so hopefully this week I will have that finished for perusal by all. Regards, Mick Mick's uMite Stuff can be found >>> HERE (Kindly hosted by Dontronics) <<< |
||||
| viscomjim Guru Joined: 08/01/2014 Location: United StatesPosts: 925 |
NICE WORK Curtis and Mik. Been delaying this one for a while, but now I am super excited about these matrix leds again!!!!!! Can't wait to see the code and start playing again. Also the board sounds very interesting. I am glad to hear they will be available over on this side of the pond. THANKS again for your work!!!!! |
||||
geraldfryjr Regular Member  Joined: 02/03/2014 Location: United StatesPosts: 61 |
That is Neat !!!! 
I like That.... A Lot !!! 
jer Keep on DIYin' !!!  |
||||
lew247 Guru Joined: 23/12/2015 Location: United KingdomPosts: 1676 |
Just found this post and the link doesn't work anymore? |
||||
| Justplayin Guru Joined: 31/01/2014 Location: United StatesPosts: 313 |
The video is available on "Mick's uMite Stuff" page. Here is the current link: Mik-Matrix Video I'm currently working on an update to the software which will improve the scrolling through CSubs. Preliminary tests show the C routines are about 65 times faster at updating the displays.
--Curtis I am not a Mad Scientist... It makes me happy inventing new ways to take over the world!! |
||||
| bigmik Guru Joined: 20/06/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 2870 |
Hi Lew, We had to change the link as Don and I put a `Free-counter' so we could see how many people visited the pages and it flooded the visitors with spam messages and the best way to overcome the cache in the internet was to change the link (we removed the s from ....micks-mites.... to make it ....micks-mite...) My link in my signature at the bottom of my messages is always up to date.. That video clip is pretty poor but it was the best I could get that showed the true colour of the display... Whilst there is a bit of jerkiness in the `totally' basic version it isnt as bad as the clip shows (I reduced the frame rate to reduce the file size).. Curtis has been working on a CFunction version and has come up with a brilliantly smooth running demo, but he still needs to implement some of the advanced features.. Maybe he can explain the progress further... (Sorry Curt )
Regards, Mick Mick's uMite Stuff can be found >>> HERE (Kindly hosted by Dontronics) <<< |
||||
| Justplayin Guru Joined: 31/01/2014 Location: United StatesPosts: 313 |
First I am breaking everything, then try to fix it all! 
The addition of the C routines has made it necessary to make several big changes. The integer arrays needed for the C routines are HUGH! Using 8 bytes to store one byte eats up memory in a hurry and I have run out of memory on the umite 170. So I'm looking to convert my main numerical arrays to strings arrays where I can easily store and access single byte values. Of course, that in turn means I have to update the C routines.  When finish I "should" have more free memory than I had before adding the C routines. Also, the flashing text routines need to be totally rewritten. It was thrown together at the last minute and it ties flash rate directly to the scroll rate. I want to make it time controlled and independent of how fast the display is scrolling.
--Curtis I am not a Mad Scientist... It makes me happy inventing new ways to take over the world!! |
||||
jman Guru Joined: 12/06/2011 Location: New ZealandPosts: 711 |
Hi I got a set of PCB's from Mick and the resulting display is rather nice. As always the PCB's and Mick's documentation are without fault. Instead of a MX170 my test unit is running on MX470 and the operation is rather smooth with the CPU running at 100Mhz. Curtis has done a great job with the software. I have only tested the Basic Version so far and will need to check with Curtis if the C-Functions run on a MX470 Link to video of the unit running unfortunately the video does not do the brightness and colours any justice as they look a lot better in person Mik-Matrix Regards Jman |
||||
| bigmik Guru Joined: 20/06/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 2870 |
Thanks John, A comment for those wondering... Those are the slightly `blemished' cheap(er) Chinese modules I was able to obtain.. The blemishes are the odd dot here or there that can be seen in that video clip, it does NOT affect the LED BRIGHTNESS or COLOUR in anyway it is only a slight surface discolouration on 1 or 2 dots per module... When the message is running the brightness of the LEDs make these un-noticeable.. Of course you can pay more for first grade modules but these are about half the price and not worth paying more IMHO. If the display was mounted behind a soft opaque filter you would not notice them even with the display OFF. @John, I know how difficult it is to get a good clip of the display running, I ended up reducing the exposure (quite considerably) to get the colours showing near correct in this VIDEO CLIP but as can be seen the rest of the screen is rather dark, but I thought colour was more important. Any way well done and thank you for your trust in me. Kind Regards, Mick Mick's uMite Stuff can be found >>> HERE (Kindly hosted by Dontronics) <<< |
||||
| Justplayin Guru Joined: 31/01/2014 Location: United StatesPosts: 313 |
John, It's great to see someone has a set of Mik-Matrix modules up and running. I hate to think how many times I've watched that demo run but it amazes me that I got it to work.  Currently the C routines do not support the 470. I know what needs to be changed, so it will be supported.
--Curtis I am not a Mad Scientist... It makes me happy inventing new ways to take over the world!! |
||||
palcal Guru Joined: 12/10/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1805 |
I have got my Mik-Matrix up and running with a new beta version of the code from Curtis. Using C functions this display is awesome. It runs as fast as you want with no jitters, very smooth and the TWINKLE is mesmerising. Anyone who wants an eye catching display this is the one. Some comments from the code... Brilliant, thanks Mick and Curtis for the great project. Paul. "It is better to be ignorant and ask a stupid question than to be plain Stupid and not ask at all" |
||||
| Justplayin Guru Joined: 31/01/2014 Location: United StatesPosts: 313 |
Thanks Paul! The C routines have really made a HUGH difference in performance and smoothing out the scrolling. TassyJim's help with the generation of bit masking pairs made the “Twinkle” effect possible. Those mask pairs turn solid yellow characters into characters with randomly changing colour patterns. A new data handling method for storing data into the arrays reduced the arrays down to one eighth their original sizes! There is free memory again! --Curtis I am not a Mad Scientist... It makes me happy inventing new ways to take over the world!! |
||||
| bigmik Guru Joined: 20/06/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 2870 |
Hi All, I just want to let you all know that Curtis has released a new C based version of his fantastic demo for the Mik-Matrix. All of the files are available from my `site' Located HERE The new C-Based code is in a zip format called Bi-Colour Matrix - v2.2 .zip which contains 2 versions, the entire program complete with comments and a crunched version. Due to memory space the standard MM2 will overflow if you try to load the non-crunched version int, hence the crunched version which loads in OK and (after a lot of effort on Curtis's behalf) even on the beta version 5.2. Also for those interested I have been able to source some cheaper display modules (had to buy in lots of 100) These are similar to the duller modules that I had previously for offer but are slightly brighter than them. These are NOT blemished but are good quality with black front surface.. I will be offering these for $4ea or $3ea for QTY 5 or more. As these are better quality than my slightly `blemished' displays. I am prepared to sell those off for $2ea ... PM me if interested in either. The Sparkfun Display is still IMHO the best and is `burn your eyes out' bright (set on level 15 but they cost me about $8-$9ea landed over here in Australia so are uneconomical.. But on brightness level 15 both the blemished and the newer modules are a very pleasing brightness level at normal room lighting. Kind Regards, Mick Mick's uMite Stuff can be found >>> HERE (Kindly hosted by Dontronics) <<< |
||||
 Print this page |
