XMas Tree Container

Overview

Simple sample setup to drive the 3D Xmas Tree for Raspberry Pi from The Pi Hut using containers, either with balenaCloud or with Docker / Docker Compose

The code skeleton supports the original 3D Xmas Tree with red LED's as well as the latest one with addressable RGB LED's; the same container can be used on several device using the XMAS_TREE_TYPE environment variable to select the hardware or the LED animation scenario.

Included scenarios:

Original tree:
- red
- red-random: randomly sparkle pixels
RGB Tree:
- rgb / rgb-rainbow: rainbow effect
- rgb-cycle: cycle through red, green and blue, changing pixel-by-pixel
- rgb-random: randomly sparkle all the pixels
- rgb-random-half: randomly sparkle half of the pixels

Adding a scenario

You can easily add new animation scenarios by adding a function in xmas-tree.py and a new entry in the tree_map dictionary.

The function must accept an optional float delay parameter.

Usage

balenaCloud

Create a new application, provision a device and push this repository with the Balena CLI. E.g:

balena push <My XMas App>

If you are unfamiliar with balenaCloud, follow the steps described in Get started with Raspberry Pi.

Define a Device variable or a Device Service variable for you device named XMAS_TREE_TYPE with the value for your animation scenario (see above list).

Optionally define a XMAS_DELAY variable to change the speed of the animation. The meaning and default value for the delay is scenario dependant.

That's it!

When you change the value of a variable, your container will be automatically restarted and the new parameters.

If you make changes to xmas-tree.py, run balena push to rebuild the container and update your devices.

Docker / Docker Compose

If you prefer, you can use directly Docker and Docker Compose on your Pi.

Copy the .env-distr file to .env and configure:

MACHINE_NAME: your Raspberry Pi version
XMAS_TREE_TYPE: the selected tree type / animation scenario
XMAS_DELAY (optional): change the speed of the animation. The meaning and default value for the delay is scenario dependant.

Build the container:

docker compose build

Run the container:

docker compose up

To change the scenario or the delay, edit the .env file, bring you container down and up again.

Changes in xmas-tree.py will require a new build.