Monday, May 16, 2011

8x8 LED Matrix Scrolling Message Changing In Serial Monitor

The classic scrolling message with the ability to enter a message from the serial monitor and while it is scrolling if you enter a lowercase 'a' in the monitor it stops and you can enter a new message.

To do this I created my own character set (reminds me of the olden days with my Commodore 64 - yes I am that old)

It took 3 evenings to create the character set and then 2 evening to create the code.  So, if you are looking to do something similar the code below with the character set defined may save you some time.


Below is the code.  Be aware I'm more about getting the Arduino to do something and so the code will be a bit rough around the edges.  It works but I definitely do not consider it best practise or even efficent code.
Use at your own risk.

// Control an 8x8 LED display with 2 x 74HC595 shift registers
// Using only 3 pins from the Arduino

// while condition variable
int whileVar = 0;

//Pin connected to Pin 12 of 74HC595 (Latch)
int latchPin = 8;

//Pin connected to Pin 11 of 74HC595 (Clock)
int clockPin = 12;

//Pin connected to Pin 14 of 74HC595 (Data)
int dataPin = 11;

uint8_t led[8];
uint8_t letters[672];
uint8_t currentdisplay[8];

long counter1 = 0;

// Current Character in the charMessage Array
int charMessageCurrent = 0;

// Current line in Letter
int lineLetter = 672;

//currentChar is the current character in the charMessage that is being chekced
char currentChar =32;

// Used to store the message instead of displayMessage
char charMessage[40];

// scrollMessage is array holding the message that will be displayed
uint8_t scrollMessage[480];

// Serial read Byte
int incomingByte = 0;

void setup() {

Serial.begin(9600);
 
// Seed Random Generator with noise from analog pin 0 
randomSeed(analogRead(0));
 
//set pins to output
pinMode(latchPin, OUTPUT);
pinMode(clockPin, OUTPUT);
pinMode(dataPin, OUTPUT);

// Symbol [ ] space
letters[0] =  B00000000;
letters[1] =  B00000000;
letters[2] =  B00000000;
letters[3] =  B00000000;
letters[4] =  B00000000;
letters[5] =  B00000000;
letters[6] =  B00000000;
letters[7] =  B00000000;

// Symbol !
letters[8]  =  B00000000;
letters[9]  =  B00000000;
letters[10] =  B00000000;
letters[11] =  B00000000;
letters[12] =  B11110011;
letters[13] =  B00000000;
letters[14] =  B00000000;
letters[15] =  B00000000;

// Symbol "
letters[16] =  B00000000;
letters[17] =  B00000000;
letters[18] =  B00000000;
letters[19] =  B11100000;
letters[20] =  B00000000;
letters[21] =  B11100000;
letters[22] =  B00000000;
letters[23] =  B00000000;

// Symbol #
letters[24] =  B00000000;
letters[25] =  B00100100;
letters[26] =  B11111111;
letters[27] =  B00100100;
letters[28] =  B00100100;
letters[29] =  B00100100;
letters[30] =  B11111111;
letters[31] =  B00100100;

// Symbol $
letters[32] =  B00000000;
letters[33] =  B01001110;
letters[34] =  B10010001;
letters[35] =  B10010001;
letters[36] =  B11111111;
letters[37] =  B10010001;
letters[38] =  B10010001;
letters[39] =  B01100110;

// Symbol %
letters[40] =  B00000000;
letters[41] =  B10000111;
letters[42] =  B01000101;
letters[43] =  B00110111;
letters[44] =  B00011000;
letters[45] =  B11100100;
letters[46] =  B10000010;
letters[47] =  B11100001;

// Symbol &
letters[48] =  B00000000;
letters[49] =  B01100000;
letters[50] =  B10010101;
letters[51] =  B10010011;
letters[52] =  B10010101;
letters[53] =  B10011001;
letters[54] =  B01011001;
letters[55] =  B00111110;

// Symbol '
letters[56] =  B00000000;
letters[57] =  B00000000;
letters[58] =  B00000000;
letters[59] =  B11100000;
letters[60] =  B00000000;
letters[61] =  B00000000;
letters[62] =  B00000000;
letters[63] =  B00000000;

// Symbol (
letters[64] =  B00000000;
letters[65] =  B00000000;
letters[66] =  B10000001;
letters[67] =  B01000010;
letters[68] =  B00100100;
letters[69] =  B00011000;
letters[70] =  B00000000;
letters[71] =  B00000000;

// Symbol )
letters[72] =  B00000000;
letters[73] =  B00000000;
letters[74] =  B00011000;
letters[75] =  B00100100;
letters[76] =  B01000010;
letters[77] =  B10000001;
letters[78] =  B00000000;
letters[79] =  B00000000;

// Symbol *
letters[80] =  B00000000;
letters[81] =  B10010010;
letters[82] =  B01010100;
letters[83] =  B00111000;
letters[84] =  B11111111;
letters[85] =  B00111000;
letters[86] =  B01010100;
letters[87] =  B10010010;

// Symbol +
letters[88] =  B00000000;
letters[89] =  B00010000;
letters[90] =  B00010000;
letters[91] =  B00010000;
letters[92] =  B11111111;
letters[93] =  B00010000;
letters[94] =  B00010000;
letters[95] =  B00010000;

// Symbol ,
letters[96]  =  B00000000;
letters[97]  =  B00000000;
letters[98]  =  B00000000;
letters[99]  =  B00000110;
letters[100] =  B00000001;
letters[101] =  B00000000;
letters[102] =  B00000000;
letters[103] =  B00000000;

// Symbol -
letters[104] =  B00000000;
letters[105] =  B00000000;
letters[106] =  B00000000;
letters[107] =  B00010000;
letters[108] =  B00010000;
letters[109] =  B00010000;
letters[110] =  B00000000;
letters[111] =  B00000000;

// Symbol .
letters[112] =  B00000000;
letters[113] =  B00000000;
letters[114] =  B00000000;
letters[115] =  B00000011;
letters[116] =  B00000011;
letters[117] =  B00000000;
letters[118] =  B00000000;
letters[119] =  B00000000;

// Symbol /
letters[120] =  B00000000;
letters[121] =  B10000000;
letters[122] =  B01000000;
letters[123] =  B00100000;
letters[123] =  B00011000;
letters[125] =  B00000100;
letters[126] =  B00000010;
letters[127] =  B00000001;

// Number 0 - zero
letters[128] =  B00000000;
letters[129] =  B00111100;
letters[130] =  B01000010;
letters[131] =  B10100001;
letters[132] =  B10010001;
letters[133] =  B10001001;
letters[134] =  B01000010;
letters[135] =  B00111100;

// Number 1
letters[136] =  B00000000;
letters[137] =  B00000000;
letters[138] =  B00000001;
letters[139] =  B11111111;
letters[140] =  B01000001;
letters[141] =  B00100001;
letters[142] =  B00000000;
letters[143] =  B00000000;

// Number 2
letters[144] =  B00000000;
letters[145] =  B01100001;
letters[146] =  B10010001;
letters[147] =  B10001001;
letters[148] =  B10001001;
letters[149] =  B10000101;
letters[150] =  B10000011;
letters[141] =  B01100001;

// Number 3
letters[152] =  B00000000;
letters[153] =  B01111110;
letters[154] =  B10011001;
letters[155] =  B10011001;
letters[156] =  B10011001;
letters[157] =  B10000001;
letters[158] =  B10000001;
letters[159] =  B01000110;

// Number 4
letters[160] =  B00000000;
letters[161] =  B00000100;
letters[162] =  B11111111;
letters[163] =  B01000100;
letters[164] =  B00100100;
letters[165] =  B00010100;
letters[166] =  B00001100;
letters[167] =  B00000100;

// Number 5
letters[168] =  B00000000;
letters[169] =  B10001110;
letters[170] =  B10010001;
letters[171] =  B10010001;
letters[172] =  B10010001;
letters[173] =  B10010001;
letters[174] =  B10010001;
letters[175] =  B11100010;

// Number 6
letters[176] =  B00000000;
letters[177] =  B01001110;
letters[178] =  B10010001;
letters[179] =  B10010001;
letters[180] =  B10010001;
letters[181] =  B10010001;
letters[182] =  B10010001;
letters[183] =  B01111110;

// Number 7
letters[184] =  B00000000;
letters[185] =  B11100000;
letters[186] =  B10010000;
letters[187] =  B10001000;
letters[188] =  B10000111;
letters[189] =  B00000000;
letters[190] =  B00000000;
letters[191] =  B00000000;

// Number 8
letters[192] =  B00000000;
letters[193] =  B01100110;
letters[194] =  B10011001;
letters[195] =  B10011001;
letters[196] =  B10011001;
letters[197] =  B10011001;
letters[198] =  B10011001;
letters[199] =  B01100110;

// Number 9
letters[200] =  B00000000;
letters[201] =  B01111110;
letters[202] =  B10001001;
letters[203] =  B10001001;
letters[204] =  B10001001;
letters[205] =  B10001001;
letters[206] =  B10001001;
letters[207] =  B01110010;

// Symbol :
letters[208] =  B00000000;
letters[209] =  B00000000;
letters[210] =  B00000000;
letters[211] =  B00000000;
letters[212] =  B01100110;
letters[213] =  B00000000;
letters[214] =  B00000000;
letters[215] =  B00000000;

// Symbol ;
letters[216] =  B00000000;
letters[217] =  B00000000;
letters[218] =  B00000000;
letters[219] =  B00000000;
letters[220] =  B01100110;
letters[221] =  B00000001;
letters[222] =  B00000000;
letters[223] =  B00000000;

// Symbol <
letters[224] =  B00000000;
letters[225] =  B00000000;
letters[226] =  B00000000;
letters[227] =  B10000010;
letters[228] =  B01000100;
letters[229] =  B00101000;
letters[230] =  B00010000;
letters[231] =  B00000000;

// Symbol =
letters[232] =  B00000000;
letters[233] =  B00000000;
letters[234] =  B00000000;
letters[235] =  B00100100;
letters[236] =  B00100100;
letters[237] =  B00100100;
letters[238] =  B00100100;
letters[239] =  B00000000;

// Symbol >
letters[240] =  B00000000;
letters[241] =  B00000000;
letters[242] =  B00010000;
letters[243] =  B00101000;
letters[244] =  B01000100;
letters[245] =  B10000010;
letters[246] =  B00000000;
letters[247] =  B00000000;

// Symbol ?
letters[248] =  B00000000;
letters[249] =  B00000000;
letters[250] =  B01100000;
letters[251] =  B10010000;
letters[252] =  B10001101;
letters[253] =  B10000000;
letters[254] =  B01100000;
letters[255] =  B00000000;

// Symbol @
letters[256] =  B00000000;
letters[257] =  B01111000;
letters[258] =  B10100101;
letters[259] =  B10100101;
letters[260] =  B10100101;
letters[261] =  B10011001;
letters[262] =  B10000001;
letters[263] =  B01011110;

// Letter A
letters[264] = B00000000;
letters[265] = B00111111;
letters[266] = B01001000;
letters[267] = B10001000;
letters[268] = B10001000;
letters[269] = B10001000;
letters[270] = B01001000;
letters[271] = B00111111;

// Letter B
letters[272]  = B00000000;
letters[273]  = B01110110;
letters[274] = B10001001;
letters[275] = B10001001;
letters[276] = B10001001;
letters[277] = B10001001;
letters[278] = B10001001;
letters[279] = B11111111;

// Letter C
letters[280] = B00000000;
letters[281] = B00100100;
letters[282] = B01000010;
letters[283] = B10000001;
letters[284] = B10000001;
letters[285] = B10000001;
letters[286] = B01000010;
letters[287] = B00111100;

// Letter D
letters[288] = B00000000;
letters[289] = B00111100;
letters[290] = B01000010;
letters[291] = B10000001;
letters[292] = B10000001;
letters[293] = B10000001;
letters[294] = B10000001;
letters[295] = B11111111;

// Letter E
letters[296] = B00000000;
letters[297] = B10000001;
letters[298] = B10000001;
letters[299] = B10010001;
letters[300] = B10010001;
letters[301] = B10010001;
letters[302] = B10010001;
letters[303] = B11111111;


// Letter F
letters[304] = B00000000;
letters[305] = B10000000;
letters[306] = B10000000;
letters[307] = B10010000;
letters[308] = B10010000;
letters[309] = B10010000;
letters[310] = B10010000;
letters[311] = B11111111;

// Letter G
letters[312] = B00000000;
letters[313] = B00101100;
letters[314] = B01001010;
letters[315] = B10001001;
letters[316] = B10000001;
letters[317] = B10000001;
letters[318] = B01000010;
letters[319] = B00111100;

// Letter H
letters[320] = B00000000;
letters[321] = B11111111;
letters[322] = B00001000;
letters[323] = B00001000;
letters[324] = B00001000;
letters[325] = B00001000;
letters[326] = B00001000;
letters[327] = B11111111;

// Letter I
letters[328] = B00000000;
letters[329] = B00000000;
letters[330] = B10000001;
letters[331] = B10000001;
letters[332] = B11111111;
letters[333] = B10000001;
letters[334] = B10000001;
letters[335] = B00000000;

// Letter J
letters[336] = B00000000;
letters[337] = B10000000;
letters[338] = B10000000;
letters[339] = B11111100;
letters[340] = B10000010;
letters[341] = B10000001;
letters[342] = B10000001;
letters[343] = B10000010;

// Letter K
letters[344] = B00000000;
letters[345] = B10000001;
letters[346] = B01000010;
letters[347] = B00100100;
letters[348] = B00011000;
letters[349] = B00001000;
letters[350] = B00000100;
letters[351] = B11111111;

// Letter L
letters[352] = B00000000;
letters[353] = B00000001;
letters[354] = B00000001;
letters[355] = B00000001;
letters[356] = B00000001;
letters[357] = B00000001;
letters[358] = B00000001;
letters[359] = B11111111;

// Letter M
letters[360] =  B00000000;
letters[361] =  B01111111;
letters[362] =  B10000000;
letters[363] =  B10000000;
letters[364] = B01110000;
letters[365] = B10000000;
letters[366] = B10000000;
letters[367] = B01111111;

// Letter N
letters[368] =  B00000000;
letters[369] =  B11111111;
letters[370] =  B00000010;
letters[371] =  B00000100;
letters[372] =  B00011000;
letters[373] =  B00100000;
letters[374] =  B01000000;
letters[375] =  B11111111;

// Letter 0
letters[376] =  B00000000;
letters[377] =  B00111100;
letters[378] =  B01000010;
letters[379] =  B10000001;
letters[380] =  B10000001;
letters[381] =  B10000001;
letters[382] =  B01000010;
letters[383] =  B00111100;

// Letter P
letters[384] =  B00000000;
letters[385] =  B00110000;
letters[386] =  B01001000;
letters[387] =  B10000100;
letters[388] =  B10000100;
letters[389] =  B10000100;
letters[390] =  B10000100;
letters[391] =  B11111111;

// Letter Q
letters[392] =  B00000000;
letters[393] =  B00111101;
letters[394] =  B01000010;
letters[395] =  B10000101;
letters[396] =  B10001001;
letters[397] =  B10000001;
letters[398] =  B01000010;
letters[399] =  B00111100;

// Letter R
letters[400] =  B00000000;
letters[401] =  B00110001;
letters[402] =  B01001010;
letters[403] =  B10000100;
letters[404] =  B10000100;
letters[405] =  B10000100;
letters[406] =  B10000100;
letters[407] =  B11111111;

// Letter S
letters[408] =  B00000000;
letters[409] =  B01001110;
letters[410] =  B10010001;
letters[411] =  B10010001;
letters[412] =  B10010001;
letters[413] =  B10010001;
letters[414] =  B10010001;
letters[415] =  B01100110;

// Letter T
letters[416] =  B00000000;
letters[417] =  B10000000;
letters[418] =  B10000000;
letters[419] =  B10000000;
letters[420] =  B11111111;
letters[421] =  B10000000;
letters[422] =  B10000000;
letters[423] =  B10000000;

// Letter U
letters[424] =  B00000000;
letters[425] =  B11111100;
letters[426] =  B00000010;
letters[427] =  B00000001;
letters[428] =  B00000001;
letters[429] =  B00000001;
letters[430] =  B00000010;
letters[431] =  B11111100;

// Letter V
letters[432] =  B00000000;
letters[433] =  B11111000;
letters[434] =  B00000100;
letters[435] =  B00000010;
letters[436] =  B00000001;
letters[437] =  B00000010;
letters[438] =  B00000100;
letters[439] =  B11111000;

// Letter W
letters[440] =  B00000000;
letters[441] =  B11111110;
letters[442] =  B00000001;
letters[443] =  B00000001;
letters[444] =  B00001110;
letters[445] =  B00000001;
letters[446] =  B00000001;
letters[447] =  B11111110;

// Letter X
letters[448] =  B00000000;
letters[449] =  B10000001;
letters[450] =  B01000010;
letters[451] =  B00100100;
letters[452] =  B00011000;
letters[453] =  B00100100;
letters[454] =  B01000010;
letters[455] =  B10000001;

// Letter Y
letters[456] =  B00000000;
letters[457] =  B10000000;
letters[458] =  B01000000;
letters[459] =  B00100000;
letters[460] =  B00011111;
letters[461] =  B00100000;
letters[462] =  B01000000;
letters[463] =  B10000000;

// Letter Z
letters[464] =  B00000000;
letters[465] =  B10000001;
letters[466] =  B11000001;
letters[467] =  B10100001;
letters[468] =  B10010001;
letters[469] =  B10001001;
letters[470] =  B10000101;
letters[471] =  B10000011;

// Symbol !
letters[472] =  B00000000;
letters[473] =  B00000000;
letters[474] =  B00000000;
letters[475] =  B00000000;
letters[476] =  B11110011;
letters[477] =  B00000000;
letters[478] =  B00000000;
letters[479] =  B00000000;

// Symbol "
letters[480] =  B00000000;
letters[481] =  B00000000;
letters[482] =  B00000000;
letters[483] =  B11100000;
letters[484] =  B00000000;
letters[485] =  B11100000;
letters[486] =  B00000000;
letters[487] =  B00000000;

// Symbol #
letters[488] =  B00000000;
letters[489] =  B00100100;
letters[490] =  B11111111;
letters[491] =  B00100100;
letters[492] =  B00100100;
letters[493] =  B00100100;
letters[494] =  B11111111;
letters[495] =  B00100100;

// Symbol $
letters[496] =  B00000000;
letters[497] =  B01001110;
letters[498] =  B10010001;
letters[499] =  B10010001;
letters[500] =  B11111111;
letters[501] =  B10010001;
letters[502] =  B10010001;
letters[503] =  B01100110;

// Symbol %
letters[504] =  B00000000;
letters[505] =  B00000000;
letters[506] =  B01000110;
letters[507] =  B00110000;
letters[508] =  B00011000;
letters[509] =  B00000100;
letters[510] =  B01100010;
letters[511] =  B00000001;

// Symbol &
letters[512] =  B00000000;
letters[513] =  B00000000;
letters[514] =  B00000101;
letters[515] =  B01000010;
letters[516] =  B10100101;
letters[517] =  B10101001;
letters[518] =  B01010001;
letters[519] =  B00101110;

// Symbol '
letters[520] =  B00000000;
letters[521] =  B00000000;
letters[522] =  B00000000;
letters[523] =  B11100000;
letters[524] =  B00000000;
letters[525] =  B00000000;
letters[526] =  B00000000;
letters[527] =  B00000000;

// Symbol (
letters[528] =  B00000000;
letters[529] =  B00000000;
letters[530] =  B10000001;
letters[531] =  B01000010;
letters[532] =  B00100100;
letters[533] =  B00011000;
letters[534] =  B00000000;
letters[535] =  B00000000;

// Symbol )
letters[536] =  B00000000;
letters[537] =  B00000000;
letters[538] =  B00011000;
letters[539] =  B00100100;
letters[540] =  B01000010;
letters[541] =  B10000001;
letters[542] =  B00000000;
letters[543] =  B00000000;

// Symbol *
letters[544] =  B00000000;
letters[545] =  B10010010;
letters[546] =  B01010100;
letters[547] =  B00111000;
letters[548] =  B11111111;
letters[549] =  B00111000;
letters[550] =  B01010100;
letters[551] =  B10010010;

// Symbol +
letters[552] =  B00000000;
letters[553] =  B00010000;
letters[554] =  B00010000;
letters[555] =  B00010000;
letters[556] =  B11111111;
letters[557] =  B00010000;
letters[558] =  B00010000;
letters[559] =  B00010000;

// Symbol '
letters[560] =  B00000000;
letters[561] =  B00000000;
letters[562] =  B00000000;
letters[563] =  B11000000;
letters[564] =  B00100000;
letters[565] =  B00000000;
letters[566] =  B00000000;
letters[567] =  B00000000;

// Symbol -
letters[568] =  B00000000;
letters[569] =  B00000000;
letters[570] =  B00000000;
letters[571] =  B00010000;
letters[572] =  B00010000;
letters[573] =  B00010000;
letters[574] =  B00000000;
letters[575] =  B00000000;

// Symbol .
letters[576] =  B00000000;
letters[577] =  B00000000;
letters[578] =  B00000000;
letters[579] =  B00000011;
letters[580] =  B00000011;
letters[581] =  B00000000;
letters[582] =  B00000000;
letters[583] =  B00000000;

// Symbol /
letters[584] =  B00000000;
letters[585] =  B10000000;
letters[586] =  B01000000;
letters[587] =  B00100000;
letters[588] =  B00011000;
letters[589] =  B00000100;
letters[590] =  B00000010;
letters[591] =  B00000001;

// Number 0 - zero
letters[592] =  B00000000;
letters[593] =  B00111100;
letters[594] =  B01000010;
letters[595] =  B10100001;
letters[596] =  B10010001;
letters[597] =  B10001001;
letters[598] =  B01000010;
letters[599] =  B00111100;

// Number 1
letters[600] =  B00000000;
letters[601] =  B00000000;
letters[602] =  B00000001;
letters[603] =  B11111111;
letters[604] =  B01000001;
letters[605] =  B00100001;
letters[606] =  B00000000;
letters[607] =  B00000000;

// Number 2
letters[608] =  B00000000;
letters[609] =  B01100001;
letters[610] =  B10010001;
letters[611] =  B10001001;
letters[612] =  B10001001;
letters[613] =  B10000101;
letters[614] =  B10000011;
letters[615] =  B01100001;

// Number 3
letters[616] =  B00000000;
letters[617] =  B01111110;
letters[618] =  B10011001;
letters[619] =  B10011001;
letters[620] =  B10011001;
letters[621] =  B10000001;
letters[622] =  B10000001;
letters[623] =  B01000110;

// Number 4
letters[624] =  B00000000;
letters[625] =  B00000100;
letters[626] =  B11111111;
letters[627] =  B01000100;
letters[628] =  B00100100;
letters[629] =  B00010100;
letters[630] =  B00001100;
letters[631] =  B00000100;

// Number 5
letters[632] =  B00000000;
letters[633] =  B10001110;
letters[634] =  B10010001;
letters[635] =  B10010001;
letters[636] =  B10010001;
letters[637] =  B10010001;
letters[638] =  B10010001;
letters[639] =  B11100010;

// Number 6
letters[640] =  B00000000;
letters[641] =  B01001110;
letters[642] =  B10010001;
letters[643] =  B10010001;
letters[644] =  B10010001;
letters[645] =  B10010001;
letters[646] =  B10010001;
letters[647] =  B01111110;

// Number 7
letters[648] =  B00000000;
letters[649] =  B11100000;
letters[650] =  B10010000;
letters[651] =  B10001000;
letters[652] =  B10000111;
letters[653] =  B00000000;
letters[654] =  B00000000;
letters[655] =  B00000000;

// Number 8
letters[656] =  B00000000;
letters[657] =  B01100110;
letters[658] =  B10011001;
letters[659] =  B10011001;
letters[660] =  B10011001;
letters[661] =  B10011001;
letters[662] =  B10011001;
letters[663] =  B01100110;

// Number 9
letters[664] =  B00000000;
letters[665] =  B01111110;
letters[666] =  B10001001;
letters[667] =  B10001001;
letters[668] =  B10001001;
letters[669] =  B10001001;
letters[670] =  B10001001;
letters[671] =  B01110010;


for (int i = 0; i < 8; i++){
  led[i] = letters[i];
  currentdisplay[i] = letters[i];
  }
}

void loop() {

// Clear the screen before starting
for (int i=448; i <456; i++){
  led[i-448] = letters[i];
  currentdisplay[i-448] = letters[i];;
}
screenUpdate();

// Reseting variables
whileVar = 0;
counter1 = 0;
charMessageCurrent = 0;
lineLetter = 672;
currentChar =32;

//  Start Reading the Serial Data

while (whileVar ==0){
screenUpdate();
 
// send data only when you receive data:
    if (Serial.available() > 0) {
        // read the incoming byte:
        incomingByte = Serial.read();

                // If the byte read is an 'a' stop, otherwise add the byte to the string
                if (incomingByte ==97){
                whileVar =1;
                }
                else
                {
                charMessage[charMessageCurrent] = incomingByte;
                charMessageCurrent++;
                } 
        }
}

// End Reading Serial Data 
 

// prints charMessage
Serial.write("charMessage is: ");

for (int i=0; i<charMessageCurrent; i++){
Serial.write(charMessage[i]);
}
Serial.println("");

// Making the first 8 Bytes - character a space
for(int i =0; i <8; i++){
  scrollMessage[i] = B00000000;
}
// Move counter1 to 8 so that the space stays in place
counter1=8; 
 
for (int i=0; i < charMessageCurrent; i++){
currentChar = charMessage[i];

for (int x=7; x >= 0; x--){
  scrollMessage[counter1] = letters[((currentChar-32)*8)+x];
  counter1++;
  }
}
// End Sorting out the message for scrolling

// Clear the screen before starting
for (int i=0; i <8 ; i++){
  led[i] = B00000000;
  currentdisplay[i] = B00000000;;
}
screenUpdate();

// Reseting current1 to 0 as it is used for the delay in the code below
counter1=0;

// Resetting whileVar so it can be used again
whileVar=0;

while (whileVar ==0)
{
// Check if I enter just an a - lower case a to exit the system
    if (Serial.available() > 0) {
        // read the incoming byte:
        incomingByte = Serial.read();

                // If the byte read is an 'a' stop, otherwise add the byte to the string
                if (incomingByte ==97){
                whileVar =1;
                }
        }  
// counter1 used for delay in animation
counter1++;

// set the LEDs
screenUpdate();

// Loop for the action - counter1 used for the delay in scrolling
if (counter1 >= 25) {
counter1 = 0;
lineLetter++;

if (lineLetter >(((charMessageCurrent)*8)+7)){
  lineLetter = 0;
  }
// Do scrolling

for (int i = 8; i > 0; i--){
  led[i] = currentdisplay[i-1];
  }
led[0] = scrollMessage[lineLetter];

for (int i=0; i <8; i++){
  currentdisplay[i] = led[i];
  }

}

}

}

void screenUpdate() {
uint8_t row = B00000001;

for (byte k = 0; k < 9; k++) {
// Open up the latch ready to receive data
digitalWrite(latchPin, LOW);
shiftIt(~row );
shiftIt(led[k] ); // LED array

// Close the latch, sending the data in the registers out to the matrix
digitalWrite(latchPin, HIGH);
row = row << 1;
  }
}

void shiftIt(byte dataOut) {
// Shift out 8 bits LSB first,
// on rising edge of clock

boolean pinState;

//clear shift register read for sending data
digitalWrite(dataPin, LOW);

// for each bit in dataOut send out a bit
for (int i=0; i<8; i++) {

  //set clockPin to LOW prior to sending bit
digitalWrite(clockPin, LOW);

// if the value of DataOut and (logical AND) a bitmask
// are true, set pinState to 1 (HIGH)
if ( dataOut & (1<<i) ) {
pinState = HIGH;
}
else {
  pinState = LOW;
}

//sets dataPin to HIGH or LOW depending on pinState
digitalWrite(dataPin, pinState);

//send bit out on rising edge of clock
digitalWrite(clockPin, HIGH);
digitalWrite(dataPin, LOW);
}

//stop shifting
digitalWrite(clockPin, LOW);
}

6 comments:

  1. can you please provide the schematics? or the connection of 2 ICs to arduino? thank you

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Dante,

      I don't have the actually wiring I used as I broke it down and didn't record the details.

      I started with the the pin outs from the following guide to wire up the 2 ICs from http://www.earthshineelectronics.com

      Direct Link:
      http://www.earthshineelectronics.com/files/ASKManualRev5.pdf

      The guide is a bit out of date as it is pre- IDE 1.0, but the wiring and details are still valid. It also gives great details on how it all works with timing diagrams.
      I did find a few errors in some of the instructions, but then understanding what you are doing so you can overcome minor errors in the instructions is part of the fun.

      I hope this is helpful.

      Delete
  2. for a matrix of 8x32, What I should change? thank you

    ReplyDelete
  3. I did something very similar, I thought this might be helpful: If you want different character sets, you can take advantage of the existing work done years ago for the C64. You can chose a char set from http://kofler.dot.at/c64/#char, then run this little snippet of java code to generate the source code to embed into your program. I hope someone else finds it useful. NOTE: these bitmaps are rendered slightly differently than the ones you created, which are oriented by column, these are oriented by row, meaning that they will appear off by 90 degrees with your current code.

    https://gist.github.com/npahucki/5404728

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thank you. Worked very nicely with 2 shift registers and an LED matrix.
    My wiring -
    1) 74595 15-9,1-14,2-8,3-12,4-1,5-7,6-2,7-5 788BS matrix through 220k resistors. 9 (data out) connects to 14(data in) on
    2) 74595 15-13,1-3,2-4,3-10,4-6,5-11,6-15,7-16 788BS matrix

    ReplyDelete

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