Review
raspberrypi.org/magpi The Official Raspberry Pi Projects Book 173256 RGB
LEDs in a
16×16 matrix...
High-
definition
rainbow
goodness!
PimoroniMaker
SaysUNICORN HAT HD
UNICORN HAT HD
he Pimoroni pirates have
upped their game with
this new HD version of the
classic Unicorn HAT, featuring a
16×16 array of super-bright LEDs.
Boasting four times the number of
RGB pixels of the original display,
it can do a lot more and has a real
wow factor.
The board comes pre-assembled
with its female GPIO header, so
there’s no soldering required.
All you need to do is attach the
diffuser layer to the top of the
LED array using the supplied nuts
and bolts. The diffuser makes a
big difference to the visual effect,
filling out the gaps in the display
between the rather small pixels.
Communicating with the
Raspberry Pi via SPI, the HAT uses
only four GPIO pins (plus power
and ground). Best of all, it has
its own ARM STM32F chip to do
all the heavy lifting, acting as a
middleman between the Pi and
the three LED drivers. This meansthere’s no lag at all when you send
data to it, as demonstrated by the
camera program downloaded with
the one-line software installer.
The camera demo displays the
low-res live view from the Camera
Podule +although it was tricky to
connect the latter to the CSI port
on a non-Zero Pi model with the
HAT sitting on top).
Other example programs also
showcase the Unicorn HAT HD
well, particularly the snazzy
shading demo which transitions
between four classic graphics
effects to produce some awesome
eye candy. D Vnake game and
Conway’s Game of Life demo
really benefit from the increased
number of pi{els, confirming how
much more versatile this display is
compared with an 8×8 version.
There’s even a version of
Unicorn Paint that you interact
with via a remote web browser,
your painted pixels appearing
almost instantly on the HAT.The Unicorn HAT HD has its
own Python library, including
functions to set the brightness
and rotation. Scrolling text across
the display isn’t as easy as using
a single function, requiring a
fairly complex loop, but you could
adapt either of the impressive
multicoloured text demos
for this purpose.Create brighter projects with the new Unicorn HAT HD
T
ADAFRUIT
RGB
MATRIX
HAT + RTC
This HAT makes
it easy to
control HUB75-
type LED
matrices (which
you’ll need
to purchase
separately)
using a
Raspberry Pi.magpi.cc/2u9xljuRelated
£22 / $24
magpi.cc/2uItfMn
£32/$35
Last word
The increased number of
pixels means the Unicorn
HAT HD is a more versatile
display than its predecessor.
The performance is excellent,
too, as it reacts near
instantaneously to whatever
data you throw at it. Since
the HAT’s ARM chip does
all the processing, it’s even
technically possible to drive
multiple displays from one Pi.