#RaspberryPi with #Pimoroni Unicorn HAT HD

This pumped up Pimoroni Unicorn HAT HD is an incredible toy.
The content of the kit looks like the following:

– a 256 RGB LED pixels in a 16×16 matrix. Pixels driven by ARM STM32F and three STP16CPC26 LED drivers
– Bundled ninja diffuser
– Nuts(4) and bolts (8 + 3 spares)

I was able to add it very nice on top of my multilayer cases by simply removing the 3 top layers.

Next I added the diffuser (do not forget to peal the plastic foils that protect it). With the difusser nicely added on top and with the RaspberryPi nicely added back to the support plate we have this.

The software python library is very easy to use and straight forward.

To install everything Pimoroni prepared a script. You just have to run it:

# curl https://get.pimoroni.com/unicornhathd | bash

The API looks easy see here the simple test:

#!/usr/bin/env python

import time

import unicornhathd


unicornhathd.clear()
unicornhathd.set_all(10, 0, 10)

unicornhathd._buf = unicornhathd.numpy.random.randint(low=0,high=255,size=(16,16,3))

frame = 0
t_start = time.time()

try:
    while True:
        unicornhathd.show()
        unicornhathd.rotation(frame)
        frame += 1

except KeyboardInterrupt:
    print("FPS: {}".format(frame / (time.time() - t_start)))
unicornhathd.off()

So you just have to import the library then use the functions as documented here API

In the end the rainbow maker 🙂 looks like the following in lower right of the image.

You can see it also in comparison with a RaspberryPi Sense HAT and with a TTF screen.

It is very bright even with the difusser and is much faster that the RaspberryPi Sense HAT led matrix.

Another video with the rainbow test. The Unicorn HAT HD is owning big time the Sense HAT.