Difference between revisions of "Alpha 220 LED Sign"
m (→Install a Serial Port Interface) |
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Line 126: | Line 126: | ||
| HEIGHT=16 ALIGN=LEFT | t | | HEIGHT=16 ALIGN=LEFT | t | ||
| ALIGN=LEFT | compressed text | | ALIGN=LEFT | compressed text | ||
− | | ALIGN=LEFT | MODE TAG (see below) | + | | ALIGN=LEFT | <b>MODE TAG</b> (see below) |
|- | |- | ||
| HEIGHT=16 ALIGN=LEFT | \x1C | | HEIGHT=16 ALIGN=LEFT | \x1C | ||
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| HEIGHT=16 ALIGN=LEFT | 1 | | HEIGHT=16 ALIGN=LEFT | 1 | ||
| ALIGN=LEFT | red | | ALIGN=LEFT | red | ||
− | | ALIGN=LEFT | COLORTAG (see below) | + | | ALIGN=LEFT | <b>COLORTAG</b> (see below) |
|- | |- | ||
| HEIGHT=16 ALIGN=LEFT | Hello World | | HEIGHT=16 ALIGN=LEFT | Hello World | ||
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====MODE TAG and COLORTAG==== | ====MODE TAG and COLORTAG==== | ||
− | The key parts of this are the MODE TAG and COLORTAG, there is full documentation available for this<ref>[http://www.ams-i.com/Pages/97088061.htm Alpha Sign Communications Protocol (pn 9708-8061)] | + | The key parts of this are the <b>MODE TAG</b> and <b>COLORTAG>/b>, there is full documentation available for this<ref>[http://www.ams-i.com/Pages/97088061.htm Alpha Sign Communications Protocol (pn 9708-8061)] |
</ref> but here are the pertinent parts. | </ref> but here are the pertinent parts. | ||
Revision as of 01:01, 10 August 2007
You can find one of these signs for less than $100. |
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220 Full Matrix, (Case 37.7" x 3.8" x 2.9 ") Tricolor[1] |
Contents
Install a Serial Port Interface
I this case a KuroBoxPro was used however any Linkstation could be used by accessing the serial port interface.
First you are going to have to install a serial port interface. There are two physical serial ports on the KuroBox. One serial port on the bottom[2] which is the same as the port on the Linkstation Pro and one on the daughterboard accessible from the front. Both are addressed as /dev/ttyS0. Consider soldering in a pinheader rather than the pressure connector used in the method described in the LSPRO method.
The cheapest TTL/RS232 converter found was from futurelec, however the order is shipped from thailand so it takes 2-3 weeks to get it. | The sign uses a 6 conductor RJ-12 Jack. A Quick port RJ-12 jack is used to interface the sign to the serial port converter | The serial port board/connector are then enclosed in a 2 port Quick port surface mount housing |
Interface Sign to Serial Port Interface
A standard 6 wire telephone cable meant for a two line phone is used (a 4 wire one will not work) Plug one end into the sign, and one end into the Quick port RJ-12 Jack. Wire the jack into the serial port board as such[3]
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Setup the serial port
Adjust the serial port settings, below is a script to do this. This information comes from a FAQ on using the Alpha sign with Linux[4].
setledsign
# /usr/local/bin/setledsign #!/bin/sh rm /dev/alpha ln -s /dev/ttyS0 /dev/alpha chmod a+rw /dev/alpha stty 9600 -opost -ocrnl -onlcr cs7 parenb -parodd < /dev/alpha
Wake up the sign and display something on it
alphamon.pl
# alphamon.pl # #!/usr/bin/perl # # Script will display the contents of /tmp/textfile to the ALPHA 220C LED # Display # # Usage # # alphamon.pl [MODE TAG] [COLORTAG] # Get the attention of the sign print "\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0"; # Tell the sign to print the message $message = `cat /tmp/textfile` ; print "\001" . "Z" . "00" . "\002" . "AA" . "\x1B" . " $ARGV[0]" . "\x1C" . "$ARGV[1]" . $message . "\004";
Alpha Sign Syntax
"\001" | "Z" | "00" | "\002" | "AA" | "\x1B" | "t" | "\x1C" | "1" | Hello World | "\004" |
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Value | Meaning | Code Type |
---|---|---|
\001 | SOH | Start of Header |
Z | Direct at all Signs | Type Code |
00 | All Signs Should Listen | Sign Address |
\002 | Start of Text Character | Start Type |
A | Text File | Write File Type |
A | A | File Label |
\x1B | ESC | Start of Mode Field |
t | compressed text | MODE TAG (see below) |
\x1C | color control code | Control Code |
1 | red | COLORTAG (see below) |
Hello World | Text Message | |
\004 | EOT | End of Transmission |
MODE TAG and COLORTAG
The key parts of this are the MODE TAG and COLORTAG>/b>, there is full documentation available for this[5] but here are the pertinent parts.
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Stock Ticker
The sign can be used for a number of purposes (to display weather forecasts from an RSS feed, to display news feeds as a news ticker) As a proof of concept the following script uses the sign to display a stock ticker that gets it's data from yahoo. It then colors the prices green if they are positive/up and red if they are negative/down for the day.
First install perl and make
apt-get install perl make
Then install the quote package [6]
wget http://www.circlemud.org/pub/jelson/quote/quote-0.05.tar.gz tar -xvzf quote-0.05.tar.gz cd quote-0.05 ./configure ./make ./make install
install curl and lynx so that they can be used later to get content from the web.
apt-get install curl lynx
Lastly here is a shell script to display the ticker
leddisplay
# /usr/local/bin/leddisplay #!/bin/sh # Stock ticker symbols # PTE=/usr/local/bin stocks=" ^DJI ^IXIC ^GSPC " quote $stocks | cut -d"(" -f1 |sed 's/^/\x1C9 \x7F \x1C3 /' | sed '/ -/s/:/\x1C1/g' | sed '/ +/s/:/\x1C2/g' > /tmp/textfile $PTE/alphamon.pl t A > /dev/alpha