144 LED Games Console Project

[aberco]

A clock would be nice, should not be too hard to write as I've seen some implementation somewhere on this forum. Darrel's routines for interrupt are very simple to use, so you could use a timer interrupt to derive your 1Hz signal. I have built some clocks too, but they all use I2C RTCs (so that they can keep time while power is off). Newer PICs have built in RTCs too, so that may be something to look for... but I think they require an external 32.768kHz xtal for Timer1 which is not planned on the PCB layout.

Keep in touch! I'll get back in the forum when I get the PCBs manufactured and your code modified. I'm a bit the other way around, software is not my thing... I'm actually quite impressed by the routine you wrote for this project!

[Cobra_Phil]

I did not read the whole thread, but have you seen these yet?
http://www.sureelectronics.net/goods.php?id=1095

32x16 Red/Green LED's gives you three colors.
Very easy SPI interface. I have 3 of these linked together using just 3 SPI control signals and 3 Chip Select Signals.
I have seen other link upto 8 of these boards together. Here are a couple of links.

[aberco]

There are many LED drivers IC around. The nice thing here is to use only off the shelf, easy to find transistors to drive the matrix.

I have a large 16x16 chainable LED matrix in project using PWM LED drivers from TI, also interfaced via SPI.

[aberco]

Art, I'd need some help with the button functions to label them correctly on the silkscreen:

What is the power on mode for each wen you press UP/LEFT/DOWN/RIGHT and when the board is horizontal (like in my previous post)? it can be confusing as you have to hold the board either horizontally or vertically depending of the selected game

[Art]

Yes, the joypad orientation does change with the screen orientation for Tetris.
Assuming it's held horizontal for Snake,
Power on while holding:
Up = Tetris
Down = Snake
Left = Interactive Invader Sprite Demo
Right = Serial massage programming mode
Left + Right = Non Interactive Pong Demo
Nothing = Massage display Mode.

[aberco]

Ok, there's a bit more modes than I thougt. I'll leave the board with generic silk screen (SW1-SW4), that way other functions can be implemented without having the wrong function written below the buttons. I've sent the gerber for quote and manufacturing, should have them back in 2-3 weeks

[aberco]

Got it back from fabrication. I spotted a small mistake on my behalf, a missing via hole... nothing dramatic.

Next come the assembly and modification of the source code to remap I/Os and invert the signal sent to the row drivers.