Last Updated or created 2024-05-30

Yesterday I got this nice led matrix I mentioned before.

I wanted to control this display using Circuit Python and a Raspberry Pico.

Pico  Matrix
GP0   R1
GP1   G1
GP2   B1
GP3   R2
GP4   G2
GP5   B2
GP6   A
GP7   B
GP8   C
GP9   D
GP10  Clock
GP11  E
GP12  Latch
GP13  Output Enable

GND   GND ( I did both )

I installed Circuit Python and the following libraries.

adafruit_imageload, adafruit_display_text.label (the rest was already in the uf2 firmware.)
(Check this link : https://circuitpython.org/board/raspberry_pi_pico/ )
I could not install the Wifi uf2 file, then I got a out of storage space when installing the adafruit libraries.

importing libaries and init display

import board, digitalio, busio, time, displayio, rgbmatrix, framebufferio
import adafruit_imageload, terminalio, random
import adafruit_display_text.label

displayio.release_displays()
matrix = rgbmatrix.RGBMatrix(
    width=64, bit_depth=2, height=64,
    rgb_pins=[board.GP0, board.GP1, board.GP2, board.GP3, board.GP4, board.GP5],
    addr_pins=[board.GP6, board.GP7, board.GP8, board.GP9, board.GP11],
    clock_pin=board.GP10, latch_pin=board.GP12, output_enable_pin=board.GP13)
display = framebufferio.FramebufferDisplay(matrix)

I became interested in Conway’s “Game of Life”, in 1983. Reading a article in the Dutch Magazine Kijk.

The Game of Life, also known simply as Life, is a cellular automaton devised by the British mathematician John Horton Conway in 1970. It is a zero-player game, meaning that its evolution is determined by its initial state, requiring no further input. One interacts with the Game of Life by creating an initial configuration and observing how it evolves. It is Turing complete and can simulate a universal constructor or any other Turing machine.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conway%27s_Game_of_Life

I found these on my server. Bad quality, I know. Scanned these many years ago.

The rules are:

1. Any live cell with fewer than two live neighbours dies, as if by underpopulation.
2. Any live cell with two or three live neighbours lives on to the next generation.
3. Any live cell with more than three live neighbours dies, as if by overpopulation.
4. Any dead cell with exactly three live neighbours becomes a live cell, as if by reproduction.

When playing with the Basic code as a kid, I wanted to try if it was possible to make a 3D version of this.

I came up with the following rules:

1. Birth : 4 alive neighbours needed
2. Survive : 5 or 6 neighbours
3. Dead : below 4 and over 6

I think there should be a BBC Acorn basic version I wrote somewhere.

Back to the display

Code for the glider gun

    conway_data = [
        b'                        +           ',
        b'                      + +           ',
        b'            ++      ++            ++',
        b'           +   +    ++            ++',
        b'++        +     +   ++              ',
        b'++        +   + ++    + +           ',
        b'          +     +       +           ',
        b'           +   +                    ',
        b'            ++                      ',
    ]

Next todo:

• Line functions
• Design a Chip tune hardware add-on
• Make a Game of Life start situation selector
• Make a new Maze game!
• …