Clockport RGB LED Controller

[Daedalus]

My current lockdown project is finally starting to look like an actual thing. It started out as a simple adaptor I was making for a friend to passively run some case LEDs from the floppy power connector. But it grew arms and legs, and has become a clockport-mounted board that can control addressable RGB LED strips, read multiple temperature sensors, control a case fan's speed, and react to various events, such as floppy or hard drive activity and audio from the Amiga.

As well as this, it includes a built in clockport splitter for using additional clockport devices and a few other useful features.

The board mostly runs autonomously with a number of built-in LED patterns, but can be configured by software on the Amiga side. Many customisation options are available, including RGB values for the patterns, and the size and speed of them. An ARexx host is planned, which will allow any programs to easily control the LEDs and fan, read the temperature sensors and so on.

It's currently at the prototype PCB stage with a couple of small niggles to work out before building the final version, and there should be a few available if anyone was interested in buying one.

The board is called "Solas" (Irish for "Light"), and you can read more about it at robthenerd.com/solas.

[Amiga4000]

Oh, I gotta have one of these! With all those outputs and voltage triggers one could control the world with a series of applied relays!

Any reason this wouldn't work on Buddha clockport? I still have an Indivision A500 clockport adapter new in the box I'll finally be able to take advantage of!

I'm down! I'll keep watch for further developments here and on your site. Thx for another awesome project Rob!

[Daedalus]

It should work on any clockport in theory, but it might need the address to be manually set as it only supports autodetection on the internal clockport. I've an old Buddha card here that I'll try it on though. Should also work on the A500 adaptor, but again I'll have to find one (or build one) to test it

Cheers

[crazyc]

Wow - thinking this would go nicely in my new checkmate case......

[Daedalus]

Here's a quick, rough video showing the board in action. Here it's sampling the Amiga's audio so it can control the LEDs in time with the mod that's playing, and switches to a green scanner-style effect when the floppy disk is inserted.

[ Show youtube player ]

[DMWCashy]

Very cool project. Who doesn't love addressable LEDs.

[Daedalus]

Another couple of videos, first one showing a bit of an overview of the board in a slightly more presentable condition:
[ Show youtube player ]

And here's a presentation I made at the virtual Amiga Ireland event last month with some Q&A and chat about the board:
[ Show youtube player ]

[DerSheriff]

Originally Posted by DMWCashy

Very cool project. Who doesn't love addressable LEDs.

Me!

[robinsonb5]

That is *extremely* cool - nice work! How did I miss this back in November?!

[crazyc]

This does look great and would go so well in my checkmate case! I would have to run it off the clockport on my RapidRoad though. Jens is already of the view that the fact I am using a non commodore or Jens made PSU means I can expect the rapid road (and actually the amiga) to go up in smoke at any point, not sure this will help .....

[Daedalus]

Ha, well it does add some load to the 5V rail, but it does have its own power input to take power directly from the PSU instead of the A1200 motherboard. If you're using any sort of SFX supply in the Checkmate case there would be plenty of current available.

[Amiga4000]

Your Solas project is really coming along nicely Rob! Can't wait for more updates! Put me in the front of the line for one!

[seb132]

Love it too and I’ll be up for 3 pieces... unless you open source it and we can DIY ourselves??

[crazyc]

Hmm. For some reason I thought my rapid road had a pass thru clockport but actually I dont think it does.
I would have to add a clockport expander to run this and the rapidroad - would this work OK with such an expander?

[seb132]

Originally Posted by crazyc

Hmm. For some reason I thought my rapid road had a pass thru clockport but actually I dont think it does.
I would have to add a clockport expander to run this and the rapidroad - would this work OK with such an expander?

It seems to me that you better do it the other way around and plug your Rapidroad in one of the clock port expander of this board...

[crazyc]

Originally Posted by seb132

It seems to me that you better do it the other way around and plug your Rapidroad in one of the clock port expander of this board...

D'oh ! Yes that would make sense assuming it will work.

[Daedalus]

It'll work both as a clockport splitter itself and as a separate device connected to an existing clockport splitter (in which case the additional clock ports on this board won't work).

I've no plans to open source it for the moment, but I might sell kits of parts for people who wish to solder them up themselves once I have it completely finished. Still a few small bits to clear up and get working.

[crazyc]

Sounds good - would it require 'stopping' like usb and internet for whdload?

[Daedalus]

No, it doesn't use any interrupts or anything, so it shouldn't interfere with WHDLoad.

[crazyc]

Hi Mate

Just had a peek in my checkmate case, and was wondering if this will fit with a SUM USB in place as well as an Indy Mk 2?

Also, can it be called from the startup sequence? Or can powerup be listed as an event?
I was thinking it would be cool to have a red sweeping light whilst booting then a green solid light for a second or two once its booted. Or something like that.
If it was called from startup then that would avoid any clash when booting from a floppy which would not trigger it? (But would trigger whatever was set to happen on floppy access?)

Cheers