Open Lab Logo Sign

Open Lab Sign

This is the Open Lab Sign, a user-controlled LED version of the Open Lab logo. You can connect to the sign's hotspot and pick what colours you want each letter to be. There's also an advanced mode where you can create and run animations on the LED panels!

Connecting

If you're lucky, you can scan the QR Code on the front of the sign, be prompted to join the WiFi and use the captive portal that appears to control the sign.

If that doesn't work:

  1. Attempt to join the Wi-Fi Open Lab Sign
  2. Wait for it to connect, it might warn you that there is no internet connection
  3. Open 192.168.4.1 in your browser
  4. Control the sign!

About

More information about the sign project...

Advanced

There is an advanced mode on the sign where you can upload JavaScript to more precisly animate the LED panels. Click advanced in the footer of the page to get to this.

In this JavaScript environment, you can use basic structures of the language like if/for/when statements along with primatives like promises and timers.

Here are some examples →

Within the script, there is a Thing global that you use to control the pixels.

// Set the "o" to red, arguments:
// - letter (string)  see the segment names below
// - red (number)     0-255 red value of the colour
// - green (number)   0-255 green value of the colour
// - blue (number)    0-255 blue value of the colour
Thing.setLetter("o", 255, 0, 0);

// Set a specific pixel to green, arguments:
// - index (number) see info below
// - red (number)   0-255 red value of the colour
// - green (number) 0-255 green value of the colour
// - blue (number)  0-255 blue value of the colour
Thing.setPixel(50, 0, 255, 0);

// Reset the sign
Thing.clearPixels();

// Set the relative brightness of all the pixels,
// it's probably best to leave this alone
Thing.setBrightness();

// This exists, but doesn't currently do anything
Thing.showPixels();

Letters

The sign is made up of segments, each with a name:

  • O — The top right of the logo-mark
  • L — The bottom left of the logo-mark
  • D — The center of the logo-mark, "dot"
  • o — The letter "o"
  • p — The letter "p"
  • e — The letter "e"
  • n — The letter "n"
  • l — The letter "l"
  • a — The letter "a"
  • b — The letter "b"

Pixels

There are two 32x64 LED panels behind the logo that light up the letters and mark. These are addressed 0 to 4096, going along each row left to right from the top to the bottom.