Thanks Grumpy_Mike and CrossRoads-
the bitmath link was a nice read..
and thanks for the diagram CR.. (a bit over my head.. but looking at those schematics arent as scary as they used to be!.. used to be they were so 'busy' it was a HUGE turn off and very demotivating.. now I can sorta follow..just dont always understand hat is being done on some things or need verification on what a certain trace is going or what part is what)
I found this:
http://arduino.cc/playground/Main/MAX72XXHardware
one chip..can drive 64 leds...etc
(again sorry Im 'so' bad at hardware)
I understand a 'driver' is just a board/chip that 'drives' the led(s) with the correct power.. right? nothing more?
So that 'driver' linked above would be used only for supply enough power to my SMD leds.. (whatever the final count ends up being).. Id use or two of those chips..etc
however I still need to use/find a shift register.. (cause these are NOT the same..right?.. that driver chips can do shift register stuff?
I think Im still getting confused on the led strip.. vs a 'matrix' (which I understand uses columns/rows to target the specific led)
and I read the article that using a 8 bit array to turn on/off leds 01100010 (direct bit addressing..etc)
but Im missing a real world example to put it all together.. even on a small scale.
Would I search here for bit math? or bit addressing? to see others experiences before me? maybe seem some small diagrams/examples..etc
@CR-
dang.. thats a serious schematic for a noob to take in! LOL