First, thanks for the great library.  I'm gearing up to do some RGB matrix stuff and have demo'd up your code on a RGB led matrix.  Here's some pics.  This one is a common cathode and a weird pinout (only $11 from http://www.futurlec.com/LEDMatrix.shtml).  I'll post more as I move forward.  I plan on testing the shift matrix code eventually too.


Hardware setup:
Duemilanove, 3x595's, RGB matrix, resistors


Too bright!


All rows hooked up, it just repeats what was on the first row.  Note the difference in colors across the rows, i'm guessing this is because i need to give this a dedicated 5v instead of just off the arduino rail.

I put together the wiring layout for the shift registers in fritzing.  I hope this makes the previous post make a little bit more sense.  The part of this that I found the most confusing was the shift register closest to the Arduino is the last byte (6) and the register farthest away is the first byte 0.

Thanks for the feedback and comments so far.

Here's kind of the overview with how I use the shift registers...

byte 0, 1, 2 : red cathodes
byte 3, 4, 5 : green cathodes
byte 6: anodes for rowscan

I'm using 8 2222 transistors connected to +5v that get their signals from byte 6 and push out to all 3 panels at the same time.  I was originally doing larger 5 panel displays which required this setup, and I like how bright the leds are.

The code to select color is really simple.  I keep track of the color cycle with an int and have a case statement before i do the shift outs...

Code:

psuedo code
red:
 byte 0, 1, 2 on
 byte 3, 4, 5  off
green
 byte 0, 1, 2 off
 byte 3, 4, 5 on
orange:
 byte 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 on

Apologies for not having more of the code ready.  It takes a lot more time than I thought to clean stuff up for public consumption.  

I'll try and put together the info about designing the fonts and interlacing (not the right word, can't think of anything better) two digits into a single 1 byte value in my next post.

the hardware


red leds


red leds inverted


green leds


orange (red+green) leds

here's a link to the video showing the functionality

Long time lurker, first time poster...

I've been working on my first official project YAAC (hopefully that name hasn't been taken).  I've got the breadboard version to a point i'm happy with and wanted to share some pictures and a video.

//Hardware
Arduino
PCF8583 Demo Board (futurlec)
8x8 led matrix dual color (sureelectronics)
74HC595's

//Software
I wanted to see if I could create a design that allowed the user to change the color of the leds via pushbutton.  It seemed like a waste to have a dual color led matrix if it was going to only be one color.  I also include the ability to invert the font on a secondary button.

The design relied entirely on the knowledge and ideas from this forum and the main arduino site.  Thanks!  I'll post more info later, I at least wanted to get this up and get some feedback on the design.

(see next post for pics and vid links)