"Physical" notifications with Raspberry Pi and addressable LEDs
I'd like a way to have a device on my desk which lights up to indicate that I have something I should be paying attention to. Initially, I'd like this to be for Office365 calendar events and GitHub mentions, but ideally it should support arbitrary messages. The plan is to assign specific colors (ideally "patterns" consisting of a sequence of colors and time) to specific message types.
I have a handful of raspberry Pi Zeroes, a couple of OLEDs, a strand of individually-addressable RGB LEDs, a power supply, and some misc electronics (like the 3.3-5v logic level shifter necessary for the 5v LED strand). I'm thinking Python is probably the way to go for the software. I'm hoping OpenSUSE actually works on the Pi zero. :D If not, there's an ESP32 with a built-in display and a few Pi 3s laying around barely used, maybe one of them will work.
Either way, this should deliver a how-to (perhaps an instructable?) using all open source software.
Looking for hackers with the skills:
This project is part of:
Hack Week 19
Activity
Comments
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almost 6 years ago by nunofilipesantos | Reply
There is actually a PiHat with LED Matrix display that you can address specific LEDs or just scroll text. You can try the emulator here: https://trinket.io/sense-hat
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almost 6 years ago by dannysauer | Reply
I almost ordered one of those. But I want a big ol' display that gets my attention. :D So, I ended up with https://www.adafruit.com/product/3346 instead. It provides a few easy pickup points for several GPIOs, and also allows the potential of making noises to accompany the lights. :D
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