Software user

So far, on a 8x8 LED matrix, I have only seen the time displayed with scrolling numbers (beside the geeky binary/hex/tix/dice/dots/bars or other coded formats). There is simply not enough room to statically display 4 digits at once, since the tiniest set of human-readable digits can be defined in a grid not smaller than 3x5 pixels. I challenged myself to find an intuitive way to display 4 digits on the "standard" 8x8 matrix. I figured that this is possible if using 2 colors. Even though they may overlap a bit (quite literally), digits of different colors can be easily distinguished. This is because the overlap makes a third color: in the case of the bi-color (red/green) LED matrix, it will be orange. I focused on two aspects: font definition (3x5) as simple as possible, with minimal number of "on" pixels, but still readable; // tiny 3x5 digits; byte digit[10][5] = {   {2, 5, 5, 5, 2},  // 0   {1, 1, 1, 1, 1},  // 1   {6, 1, 2, 4, 7},  // 2 ...

I recently had to revisit the (original, glass domed)  WiseClock and the SillyClock . On WiseClock I streamlined the software ( download from here ) to only show the time and quotes. It also allows the time to be set from buttons as opposed to the Sony TV remote control (the Reset button on the 8x8 LED matrix shield was re-purposed/re-routed). As well, the character set is now defined in progmem as opposed to internal microcontroller EEPROM (font1.h contains the font definition). The method I chose for setting the time is to show the hours in red and the minutes in green, and alternate between hours and minutes by pressing the left button (now named "Set"). The left button (the former "Reset") is now named "Inc" and connected to A2/D16 (a pull-up 10k resistor is also required), as shown in the photo. This button is used for incrementing the hours or minutes. Once the right time is set, the clock will revert to displaying the scrolling quotes and time. O...

The great I2SD board  from Wyolum (also introduced here ) offers almost everything one needs to make a simple Wise Clock : it's an Arduino with ATmega328 (and FTDI connector); has on-board RTC (DS3231) with backup battery; has on-board SD card (with the 3V3 regulator and voltage level shifter). In other words, I2SD is equivalent to  Arduino + Adafruit Logging shield , but equipped with a better RTC (DS3231 instead of DS1307). And it is much smaller. And cheaper (I think). One of the essential ingredients in making the clock is the display. I chose to use the simpler 3208 LED display because it requires only 3 wires (CS, WR, DATA) in addition to the Vcc and GND and it's easier to manage in software (requires less code). Here I show how to connect the I2SD to 0832 display from Sure Electronics . First, we need to realize that this is a hack. I2SD was not designed to be used as a full-fledged Arduino. Most of the digital pins are not accessible through headers. Well, in...