Hackerspace Light Wall Plays Video At 30 Fps

January 1, 2012 by Mike Nathan 24 Comments

The folks at The Quad Cities Collaboration and Hackerspace (QC Co-Lab) were trying to find something to build for their first big project, and had to look no further than the wall for inspiration. The north end of their facility is home to a huge 15×17 glass block wall that happens to face a well-traveled roadway.

They decided that turning the wall into a huge LED display would be a great way to attract attention from passers-by, so they picked up some GE Color Effects lights and got down to business. Once they found out that the technical college next door was putting on an open house, the race was on to get the light display assembled as quickly as possible to maximize their exposure.

The team mounted the 255 LEDs in vacuum-formed reflective cones, which were attached to wooden frames before being installed behind the glass wall. An Arduino drives the entire display at a smooth 30 frames per second, a task they say tests the very limits of the board’s capabilities.

They finished the job in time for the open house, and as you can see in the video below, the display looks great.

Nice job QC-Co-Lab!

Continue reading “Hackerspace Light Wall Plays Video At 30 Fps” →

Hackerspaces Sprouting Up Around The Midwest

September 19, 2010 by Mike Szczys 19 Comments

[Chris Cooper] wrote in letting us know that this weekend is the grand opening of QC Co-Lab, a hackerspace in Davenport, Iowa. They kicked the weekend off in grand fashion on Friday by sand casting bronze medallions with a blast furnace. The 4000 square foot facility has plenty of room for new members so if you’re in the area check it out. It’s not too late to join in on the tail end of the festivities.

Sector67 is also making plans for its grand opening. The Madison, Wisconsin based hackerspace will officially open on October 15th. There was a strong turnout for the first viewing of the facilities on September 7th (see for yourself), with plenty of building, arranging, and accumulating to be done before the official start. [Chris Meyer] has been working hard to get the organization off the ground, acquiring several grants, and working with the School Factory (something of a quick-start incubator for hackerspace-type non-profits). Want to see more? Thanks to [Andrew Seidl] you can peruse a set of quality photos from the event.