The state of python on embedded systems isn't great. That's not bad news though! Raspberry Pis are cheap and run python pretty darn well.
If you want to drive a single LED on a Raspberry Pi with python, I'm not going to cover that here. I'm going to talk about running a few thousand LEDs, but let's start with some basics.
I like[1] the World Semi set of LEDs called the WS281X series, there are several variations, and working with them with an arduino is REALLY ...
I made a project. It's silly and wonderful. There are many parts and it had some restrictings which drove the decisions I made. Any project has restrictions, mine were sort of arbitrary.
I'm going to write a series of blog posts about how I built this. This is the first of the series ...
I've got a Taz 2.1 from Lulzbot. It's tons of fun, but I had really hoped I'd find some joy in the ability to use it for rapid prototyping. I've done some minor stuff with it, but this weekend I finally got to build a thing which I designed that was not trivial. 
One of the final pieces being printed
I also took all the scraps and did some ad hoc materials testing. A 6mm standoff will take a 1/16" drill bit just fine, and then the resulting hole will hold an M3 screw ...
Wake me up!
Alarms are alarming. They’re super fine and useful if you really need to be up at a certain time and it’s hard for you to hit it. Otherwise, they are the harbingers of morning terrorism.
I got my lights to slowly turn on to tell me it’s time to get up. It takes 15 minutes to go from 0 to full brightness, at the time I specify.
I’m finally back on a hacking/automation kick. For a number of reasons which I won’t write about, for everybody’s sake, It’s been ...
I'm Issac. I live in Oakland. I make things for fun and money. I use electronics and computers and software. I manage teams and projects top to bottom. I've worked as a consultant, software engineer, hardware designer, artist, technology director and team lead. I do occasional fabrication in wood and plastic and metal. I run a boutique interactive agency with my brother Kasey and a roving cast of experts at Kelly Creative Tech. I was the Director of Technology for Nonchalance during the The Latitude Society project. I was the Lead Web Developer and then Technical Marketing Engineer at Nebula, which made an OpenStack Appliance. I've been building things on the web and in person since leaving Ohio State University's Electrical and Computer engineering program in 2007. Lots of other really dorky things happened to me before that, like dropping out of high school to go to university, getting an Eagle Scout award, and getting 6th in a state-wide algebra competition. I have an affinity for hopscotch.