Desk of Ladyada – It’s a sparkly LED Christmas! #DeskOfLadyada #Adafruit @adafruit
This week at the desk, we’ve been testing out Sparkle Motion – the WLED board we designed a few weeks ago – other than one tiny error in a resistor value, everything came out great!
We also started testing out the design with large-scale netting. As we were learning how to use it, we realized the best way to do animations is with xLights, which is an awesome open-source tool for small-to-enormous-scale LED installations. It has a learning curve, but it has some great features once configured.
We’re starting to do some decorating to test out the hardware and, while creating some lighting effects, decided to make a smaller Sparkle Motion, when 12/24V power isn’t needed. We also got a sample of a NeoPixel-esque Christmas decoration with a USB stick and had an idea to make a drop-in replacement PCB.
And on The Great Search: Pull out Drawer Sets for Components and Boards
Adafruit publishes a wide range of writing and video content, including interviews and reporting on the maker market and the wider technology world. Our standards page is intended as a guide to best practices that Adafruit uses, as well as an outline of the ethical standards Adafruit aspires to. While Adafruit is not an independent journalistic institution, Adafruit strives to be a fair, informative, and positive voice within the community – check it out here: adafruit.com/editorialstandards
Stop breadboarding and soldering – start making immediately! Adafruit’s Circuit Playground is jam-packed with LEDs, sensors, buttons, alligator clip pads and more. Build projects with Circuit Playground in a few minutes with the drag-and-drop MakeCode programming site, learn computer science using the CS Discoveries class on code.org, jump into CircuitPython to learn Python and hardware together, TinyGO, or even use the Arduino IDE. Circuit Playground Express is the newest and best Circuit Playground board, with support for CircuitPython, MakeCode, and Arduino. It has a powerful processor, 10 NeoPixels, mini speaker, InfraRed receive and transmit, two buttons, a switch, 14 alligator clip pads, and lots of sensors: capacitive touch, IR proximity, temperature, light, motion and sound. A whole wide world of electronics and coding is waiting for you, and it fits in the palm of your hand.
Have an amazing project to share? The Electronics Show and Tell is every Wednesday at 7:30pm ET! To join, head over to YouTube and check out the show’s live chat and our Discord!
Python for Microcontrollers – Adafruit Daily — Python on Microcontrollers Newsletter: Open Hardware is In, New CircuitPython and Pi 5 16GB, and much more! #CircuitPython #Python #micropython @ThePSF @Raspberry_Pi
EYE on NPI – Adafruit Daily — EYE on NPI Maxim’s Himalaya uSLIC Step-Down Power Module #EyeOnNPI @maximintegrated @digikey
