node-red-contrib-ledmatrix

Contains the Node-RED nodes used in TimeSquAir to use the LEDMatrix library.

These nodes can be installed on top of the ThingBox but with additional advanced installs as described in the hzeller page.

TimeSquair (http://TimeSquAir.io) is an educational device built on top of the Thingbox (http://thethingbox.io) that contains a LEDMatrix and a tag reader.

The LEDMatrix lib is the software that allows the use of the matrix:

http://www.raspberrypi-spy.co.uk/2014/09/32x32-led-matrix-on-the-raspberry-pi/

https://github.com/hzeller/rpi-rgb-led-matrix

This page is only destinated to advanced users.

History

• fixed bug: Nodes does not appear because of missing dependencies

Use

Build a flow by wiring:

• a LEDBlank node at first
• add pictures by wiring LEDPicture nodes
• add texts by wiring LEDText nodes
• end with the LEDMatric node to display the concatened result.

Install

This documents explains how to install the LEDMatrix software.

Install hzeller/rpi-rgb-led-matrix

Is be already installed on the ThingBox. Use that to upgrade.

rm rpi-rgb-led-matrix-master/
wget https://github.com/hzeller/rpi-rgb-led-matrix/archive/master.zip
unzip master.zip
rm master.zip
cd rpi-rgb-led-matrix-master/
make

Test:

./led-matrix -r 16 -d -t 10 -D 1 runtext16.ppm

Install led-image-viewer

aptitude update
aptitude install libmagick++-dev -y
aptitude install libgraphicsmagick++1-dev -y
make led-image-viewer

Test :

./led-image-viewer img/time-display.jpg -r16

install imagemagick

apt-get install imagemagick

Test :

/usr/bin/convert -size 300x16 xc:skyblue -fill white -stroke black -pointsize 14 -gravity center -draw "text 0,0 'Hello'" /root/draw_text.gif
aptitude install netpbm -y

Test :

/usr/bin/ppmmake black 200 16 > /root/temp.ppm

/usr/bin/ppmlabel -size 10 -x 5 -y 12 -text "hello there" /root/temp.ppm > /root/temp2.ppm

./rpi-rgb-led-matrix-master/led-matrix -r 16 -t 10 -D 1 /root/temp2.ppm

Install the Node-RED Nodes

• Go to the Node-RED interface of a Thingbox
• Use the menu "import / Node" and add "node-red-contrib-ledmatrix" in the edit box, then Ok, then reboot the Pi.