NOOB here.
Have bought 4 64x32 RGB Led Matrix P4 panels that I intend to run off ‘one chain’ configuration. Have bought a 200W 5V PSU and plan on using breadboard connectors to connect my Raspberry Pi 2 Model B to the Panel(s) until the electrodragon
RGB LED Matrix Panel Drive Board arrives.
I already run a lot on my Raspberry PI 2 Model B - Docker, NAS server, KODI, Pollution monitor, TV card, turn my USB Laserprinter to wifi, CUPS print server, SMB shares… It’s running debian OSMC. It’s already running Python3 for other stuff.
Will I be able to install the above library and not really have to worry as it will likely fit in with the other stuff, or is it so processor hungry I need a dedicated virgin Raspberry PI to operate this? (I plan on using it as a ticker-tape display)??
honesty no one can tell you for sure until you try it, but
- 128x64 should run without issues on one chain. I run 392x64 on a single chain
- if your Pi gets too slow, you could always get a Pi4 for $30
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Its easily enough - it flickers a bit on the led matrix though.
Here is my top command output - it takes about 50% of CPU on a Raspberry pi 2 B. The python is doing a lot more than just RGB output though.
CPUtop - 14:02:38 up 1 day, 19:27, 1 user, load average: 2.05, 2.00, 1.69
Tasks: 150 total, 1 running, 148 sleeping, 0 stopped, 1 zombie
%Cpu(s): 25.4 us, 10.5 sy, 0.2 ni, 59.7 id, 0.2 wa, 0.0 hi, 4.1 si, 0.0 st
MiB Mem : 746.7 total, 49.0 free, 478.5 used, 219.2 buff/cache
MiB Swap: 0.0 total, 0.0 free, 0.0 used. 196.4 avail Mem
PID USER PR NI VIRT RES SHR S %CPU %MEM TIME+ COMMAND
23903 daemon 20 0 80056 35776 10264 S 52.0 4.7 8:20.30 python3
6555 root 20 0 8576 3184 2516 S 31.6 0.4 338:50.69 openvpn
360 osmc 20 0 1104496 196432 8348 S 23.7 25.7 334:33.75 kodi.bin
6817 root 20 0 176092 98028 4380 S 20.1 12.8 242:12.79 transmiss+
77 root 1 -19 0 0 0 S 1.3 0.0 11:47.96 vchiq-slo+
Python3 will likely take over 50% running hello world, so thats not representative of just the rgb led matric library.