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Gadgetoid committed Apr 17, 2018
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rpi_ws281x
==========

Userspace Raspberry Pi library for controlling WS281X LEDs.
This includes WS2812 and SK6812RGB RGB LEDs
Preliminary support is now included for SK6812RGBW LEDs (yes, RGB + W)
The LEDs can be controlled by either the PWM (2 independent channels)
or PCM controller (1 channel) or the SPI interface (1 channel).

### Background:

The BCM2835 in the Raspberry Pi has both a PWM and a PCM module that
are well suited to driving individually controllable WS281X LEDs.
Using the DMA, PWM or PCM FIFO, and serial mode in the PWM, it's
possible to control almost any number of WS281X LEDs in a chain connected
to the appropriate output pin.
For SPI the Raspbian spidev driver is used (`/dev/spidev0.0`).
This library and test program set the clock rate to 3X the desired output
frequency and creates a bit pattern in RAM from an array of colors where
each bit is represented by 3 bits as follows.
rpi\_ws281x
===========

Userspace Raspberry Pi library for controlling WS281X LEDs. This
includes WS2812 and SK6812RGB RGB LEDs Preliminary support is now
included for SK6812RGBW LEDs (yes, RGB + W) The LEDs can be controlled
by either the PWM (2 independent channels) or PCM controller (1 channel)
or the SPI interface (1 channel).

Background:
-----------

The BCM2835 in the Raspberry Pi has both a PWM and a PCM module that are
well suited to driving individually controllable WS281X LEDs. Using the
DMA, PWM or PCM FIFO, and serial mode in the PWM, it's possible to
control almost any number of WS281X LEDs in a chain connected to the
appropriate output pin. For SPI the Raspbian spidev driver is used
(``/dev/spidev0.0``). This library and test program set the clock rate
to 3X the desired output frequency and creates a bit pattern in RAM from
an array of colors where each bit is represented by 3 bits as follows.

::

Bit 1 - 1 1 0
Bit 0 - 1 0 0

GPIO Usage:
-----------

### GPIO Usage:

The GPIOs that can be used are limited by the hardware of the Pi and will
vary based on the method used to drive them (PWM, PCM or SPI).
Beware that the GPIO numbers are not the same as the physical pin numbers
on the header.
The GPIOs that can be used are limited by the hardware of the Pi and
will vary based on the method used to drive them (PWM, PCM or SPI).
Beware that the GPIO numbers are not the same as the physical pin
numbers on the header.

PWM:
```
PWM0, which can be set to use GPIOs 12, 18, 40, and 52.
Only 12 (pin 32) and 18 (pin 12) are available on the B+/2B/3B

PWM1 which can be set to use GPIOs 13, 19, 41, 45 and 53.
Only 13 is available on the B+/2B/PiZero/3B, on pin 33
```
::

PWM0, which can be set to use GPIOs 12, 18, 40, and 52.
Only 12 (pin 32) and 18 (pin 12) are available on the B+/2B/3B

PWM1 which can be set to use GPIOs 13, 19, 41, 45 and 53.
Only 13 is available on the B+/2B/PiZero/3B, on pin 33

PCM:
```
PCM_DOUT, which can be set to use GPIOs 21 and 31.
Only 21 is available on the B+/2B/PiZero/3B, on pin 40.
```

::

PCM_DOUT, which can be set to use GPIOs 21 and 31.
Only 21 is available on the B+/2B/PiZero/3B, on pin 40.

SPI:
```
SPI0-MOSI is available on GPIOs 10 and 38.
Only GPIO 10 is available on all models.
See also note for RPi 3 below.
```

::

SPI0-MOSI is available on GPIOs 10 and 38.
Only GPIO 10 is available on all models.
See also note for RPi 3 below.

### Power and voltage requirements
Power and voltage requirements
------------------------------

WS281X LEDs are generally driven at 5V. Depending on your actual
LED model and data line length you might be able to successfully drive
the data input with 3.3V. However in the general case you probably
want to use a level shifter to convert from the Raspberry Pi GPIO/PWM to 5V.
WS281X LEDs are generally driven at 5V. Depending on your actual LED
model and data line length you might be able to successfully drive the
data input with 3.3V. However in the general case you probably want to
use a level shifter to convert from the Raspberry Pi GPIO/PWM to 5V.

It is also possible to run the LEDs from a 3.3V - 3.6V power source, and
connect the GPIO directly at a cost of brightness, but this isn't
recommended.

The test program is designed to drive a 8x8 grid of LEDs e.g.from
Adafruit (http://www.adafruit.com/products/1487) or Pimoroni
(https://shop.pimoroni.com/products/unicorn-hat).
Please see the Adafruit and Pimoroni websites for more information.
(https://shop.pimoroni.com/products/unicorn-hat). Please see the
Adafruit and Pimoroni websites for more information.

Know what you're doing with the hardware and electricity. I take no
Know what you're doing with the hardware and electricity. I take no
reponsibility for damage, harm, or mistakes.

Important warning about DMA channels
------------------------------------

### Important warning about DMA channels
You must make sure that the DMA channel you choose to use for the LEDs
is not `already in
use <https://www.raspberrypi.org/forums/viewtopic.php?p=609380#p609380>`__
by the operating system.

You must make sure that the DMA channel you choose to use for the LEDs is not [already in use](https://www.raspberrypi.org/forums/viewtopic.php?p=609380#p609380) by the operating system.
For example, **using DMA channel 5 will cause filesystem corruption**
on the Raspberry Pi 3 Model B.
See: https://github.com/jgarff/rpi_ws281x/issues/224

For example, **using DMA channel 5 [will cause](https://github.com/jgarff/rpi_ws281x/issues/224) filesystem corruption** on the Raspberry Pi 3 Model B.
The default DMA channel (10) should be safe for the Raspberry Pi 3 Model
B, but this may change in future software releases.

The default DMA channel (10) should be safe for the Raspberry Pi 3 Model B, but this may change in future software releases.
Limitations:
------------

### Limitations:
PWM
~~~

#### PWM
Since this library and the onboard Raspberry Pi audio both use the PWM,
they cannot be used together. You will need to blacklist the Broadcom
audio kernel module by creating a file
``/etc/modprobe.d/snd-blacklist.conf`` with

Since this library and the onboard Raspberry Pi audio
both use the PWM, they cannot be used together. You will need to
blacklist the Broadcom audio kernel module by creating a file
`/etc/modprobe.d/snd-blacklist.conf` with
::

blacklist snd_bcm2835

If the audio device is still loading after blacklisting, you may also
need to comment it out in the /etc/modules file.

On headless systems you may also need to force audio through hdmi
Edit config.txt and add:
On headless systems you may also need to force audio through hdmi Edit
config.txt and add:

::

hdmi_force_hotplug=1
hdmi_force_edid_audio=1

A reboot is required for this change to take effect

Some distributions use audio by default, even if nothing is being played.
If audio is needed, you can use a USB audio device instead.
Some distributions use audio by default, even if nothing is being
played. If audio is needed, you can use a USB audio device instead.

PCM
~~~

When using PCM you cannot use digital audio devices which use I2S since
I2S uses the PCM hardware, but you can use analog audio.

SPI
~~

When using SPI the ledstring is the only device which can be connected
to the SPI bus. Both digital (I2S/PCM) and analog (PWM) audio can be
used.

#### PCM
Many distributions have a maximum SPI transfer of 4096 bytes. This can
be changed in ``/boot/cmdline.txt`` by appending

When using PCM you cannot use digital audio devices which use I2S since I2S
uses the PCM hardware, but you can use analog audio.
::

#### SPI
spidev.bufsiz=32768

When using SPI the ledstring is the only device which can be connected to
the SPI bus. Both digital (I2S/PCM) and analog (PWM) audio can be used.
On a RPi 3 you have to change the GPU core frequency to 250 MHz,
otherwise the SPI clock has the wrong frequency. Do this by adding the
following line to /boot/config.txt and reboot.

Many distributions have a maximum SPI transfer of 4096 bytes. This can be
changed in `/boot/cmdline.txt` by appending
```
spidev.bufsiz=32768
```
On a RPi 3 you have to change the GPU core frequency to 250 MHz, otherwise
the SPI clock has the wrong frequency.
Do this by adding the following line to /boot/config.txt and reboot.
```
core_freq=250
```
::

SPI requires you to be in the `gpio` group if you wish to control your LEDs
without root.
core_freq=250

### Comparison PWM/PCM/SPI
SPI requires you to be in the ``gpio`` group if you wish to control your
LEDs without root.

Both PWM and PCM use DMA transfer to output the control signal for the LEDs.
The max size of a DMA transfer is 65536 bytes. Since each LED needs 12 bytes
(4 colors, 8 symbols per color, 3 bits per symbol) this means you can
control approximately 5400 LEDs for a single strand in PCM and 2700 LEDs per string
for PWM (Only PWM can control 2 independent strings simultaneously)
SPI uses the SPI device driver in the kernel. For transfers larger than
96 bytes the kernel driver also uses DMA.
Of course there are practical limits on power and signal quality. These will
be more constraining in practice than the theoretical limits above.
Comparison PWM/PCM/SPI
----------------------

When controlling a LED string of 240 LEDs the CPU load on the original Pi 2 (BCM2836) are:
PWM 5%
PCM 5%
SPI 1%
Both PWM and PCM use DMA transfer to output the control signal for the
LEDs. The max size of a DMA transfer is 65536 bytes. Since each LED
needs 12 bytes (4 colors, 8 symbols per color, 3 bits per symbol) this
means you can control approximately 5400 LEDs for a single strand in PCM
and 2700 LEDs per string for PWM (Only PWM can control 2 independent
strings simultaneously) SPI uses the SPI device driver in the kernel.
For transfers larger than 96 bytes the kernel driver also uses DMA. Of
course there are practical limits on power and signal quality. These
will be more constraining in practice than the theoretical limits above.

When controlling a LED string of 240 LEDs the CPU load on the original
Pi 2 (BCM2836) are: PWM 5% PCM 5% SPI 1%

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