LED Matrix

The following describes what is needed to get the led matri working on the raspi.

vcc + 5 -> 2
gnd -> 6
din -> mosi (19)
cs -> ce0 (24)
clk -> clk (23)

we basically need python and pip sudo apt-get install python3-dev python3-pip and spidev: sudo pip3 install spidev

Give your user access to spi: sudo usermod -a -G spi pi and also sudo usermod -a -G dialout pi

What can you do with this?

Test the led matrix: python3 led_matrix.py -d

Play tetris: python3 tetris.py

Hook up your digirule 2u, set it to debug mode, and watch the memory: python3 digirule.py

Here's an example library that seems to work correctly https://github.com/rm-hull/luma.led_matrix

check the spi module: ls -l /dev/spi* if no result, install the module using raspi-config, under interfaces

Test functionality: sudo python3 examples/matrix_demo.py --cascaded 4 --block-orientation 90 --reverse-order 1

Important lesson: the max-chip supports speeds up to 10mhz. we need to configure the spidev lib to set the speed to 8mhz or less!