Pimoroni SCROLL:BIT A Little Display With A Lot Of Pixels!
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scroll: bit is a little display with a lot of pixels! Its 119 bright white LEDs are perfect for scrolling messages with your micro: bit, or for animations, graphs, and more!
Just slot in your micro: bit, then code scroll: bit with the block-based Microsoft MakeCode editor, or with MicroPython in the Mu code editor. It works in a very similar way to the built-in red LED matrix on your micro: bit, so if you’ve used that then you’ll know exactly what to do.
Features
- Comes fully-assembled and ready to use
- 17×7 matrix of bright white pixels (119 total)
- Individual PWM brightness control of each pixel
- Uses the IS31FL3731 LED matrix driver chip
- Compatible with micro: bit and micro: bit v2
- Microsoft MakeCode and MicroPython support
- No soldering required!
Software
You can code scroll: bit with the block-based Microsoft MakeCode editor, which’ll get you started with the concepts of how to code a matrix of LEDs, or if you want to delve deeper, then you can use MicroPython in the Mu code editor.
To add the scroll: bit library in MakeCode, click on the cog at the top right-hand corner, then “Add Package“, then search for “scrollbar“. You can find full instructions in the GitHub repository for the library.
The Pimoroni Getting Started with Scroll: bit tutorial has a bunch of useful information and even embedded code examples (including how to make a spirit level) that are easy to download straight to your micro: bit. You’ll be up and running in a jiffy!
The Pimoroni MicroPython library for scroll: bit is also available on GitHub, again with full instructions on how to get going with it.
Worksheets
Our Tanya has put together some lovely educational content for scroll: bit, including downloadable worksheets for use in the classroom or for learning at home. They’ll show you how to get started and how to build some simple projects with MakeCode blocks.
- Displaying words on the scroll: bit
- Displaying an icon anywhere on the scroll: bit
- Make a tilting ghost
- Animations on the scroll: bit
