interesting. it would probably be more efficient charlieplex that matrix which would not require the transistors and would actually use fewer pins.

Posted at 9:47 pm on Sep 30th, 2008 by amk

Interesting? This is hardly more than a “hello, world!” project in a microcontroller. There have been like, a million people who have done this, it’s hardly a hack.

A hack should at least be somewhat novel, innovative, creative, circuit-bending, or some combination of those. This is doing something very simple the way it’s been done for many, many years.

Posted at 3:06 am on Oct 1st, 2008 by Sparky

“circuit-bending”, Im sorry this is way more creative than circuit bending (yes it has been done 100 times before but so what). CB was a very creative solution to provide sound for pong when the board was over budget for any extra chips. Most CB today consists of some god awful youtube video with some idiot randomly poking wires at a circuit thinking he is a creative genius.

Posted at 3:33 am on Oct 1st, 2008 by mem.namefix

heh. tin can transistors. how quaint.

Posted at 5:18 am on Oct 1st, 2008 by Man On Fire

novel, innovative, creative, circuit-bending, or some combination of those.

good grief…for all the complaining around here about no documentation, source code, etc…here we have a post with that covered and we have to complain that it’s not novel?

Please look past yourself , there are a lot of people out there with limited microprocessor experience who love a ’simple’ project to cut their teeth on.

…climbing off soapbox…

Posted at 5:42 am on Oct 1st, 2008 by greenyooper

@greenyooper11 yeah like me!

Posted at 6:10 am on Oct 1st, 2008 by Edward Nardella

All i have to say to all those that complain. This is a user driven site. So either do better and post it, or shut up. Hack something and post it for the community to grow from. All the complaining does is waste time and effort and honestly makes those who do the work not want to post it again because of the few people complaining.

Are there more advanced ways of doing this, yea im sure there are. Who cares! Everyone has to start somewhere. Most people are not ucontroller experts. I know for sure I am not, I like the project and have learned something today.

Hats off to those who do the work and document it. I think this is a great post. keep it up.

Posted at 6:33 am on Oct 1st, 2008 by mage2

@Edward Nardella

i’m one of those guys too!

Posted at 8:45 am on Oct 1st, 2008 by lapubell

I typically appreciate projects which don’t include the PCB because the best step a person can make in my opinion is to become better at understanding schematics.

That being said. This project with a matrix of LED’s deserves it’s own PCB.

I also tend to agree that this is not really a hack, but it is a great introduction to using microcontrollers.

For someone who is just establishing the basic capabilities of a home electronics lab, a project like this is invaluable. They get to test everything from their PCB construction to microcontroller programming (make sure their package compiles properly).

This provides confidence for the hacks that they then may attempt.

Cheers, Mike

Posted at 9:15 am on Oct 1st, 2008 by Mike

I kinda want to build something like this, just for fun, haven’t ever used microcontrollers before but they look like fun and don’t seem too hard to use. An LED matrix seems to be a good starter project, though I’d probably make a larger one than that.

Posted at 11:39 am on Oct 1st, 2008 by CalcProgrammer1

CHARLIEPLEX, yes that is a REAL hack !
for the n00b, do you want me to post my
“how to connect a led to a battery with a switch” hack ?

Posted at 4:39 pm on Oct 1st, 2008 by kru3l

@kru3l: who called charlieplexing a hack? and yes, if document your “how to connect a led to a battery with a switch” thing and post it, there are a lot of people who can learn from it. let’s not be a bunch of elitist twats here. we all have our areas of expertise, and we’re essentially new to everything else.

Posted at 7:48 pm on Oct 1st, 2008 by amk