Showing posts from December, 2015


I've now got a Python webserver up an running (on my Linux server, for now), which offers a list of modes for the user to select from. When a mode is selected, it uses jQuery to push this back to the webserver, which then tells the other thread to change which animation it should play.

It's on Github, obviously -

The letters have arrived too, and I had to re-jig the LED layout a bit. It was tricky to get something that lines up in nice neat rows, but I think I got there in the end. After a few goes on the computer using LibreOffice Draw, I decided to just use chads from a hole punch to get the layout right.

Christmas with a Pi Zero

I picked up a couple of Raspberry Pi Zeroes (plus one with the Mag Pi magazine, which I'm not going to open) when they went on sale. It's Christmas, so what better than a Christmas Pi project?

While in the local garden centre, I saw a Christmas ornament I quite liked - the word XMAS in MDF lit up with LEDs. But they were just regular LEDs, and that's dull. An idea formed.

The project is underway, but here's where we are so far:

Four letters (X, M, A and S) ordered in MDF from I considered making the letters myself, but I don't yet have access to the scroll-saw at work and I figured I'd just make a mess doing it by hand. I'll put up some photos when they arrive. I've gone for a flat bottomed Arial Bold, as the serif fonts are generally asymmetric and that messes with the LED layout.

40 off WS2811 5mm Neo-Pixel LEDs ordered from The standard LED format will be so much cleaner when mounted in the letters than the more common …