If it doesn’t show up in dmesg, how can I flash firmware? Doesn’t the kernel need to see a device, in order to talk to the device? I don’t see how a userspace application would be able to do anything on it, if the kernel doesn’t see a USB device there of some sort…?
Possibly try the instructions for re-flashing the firmware here:
https://jschroedl.com/rgb-start/
I can’t offer any further advise as I have never flashed mine.
Hey there! Just signed up as interested. I’m in the middle of writing some software to manage the grayscale versions, and I’d love to add support for the RGB ones if anyone is interested.
Thread here - LED Matrix framework tool - FLEM
Repo here - GitHub - jwilkins88/flem_tool: It's a work in progress
Hello all, I have some unfortunate news. With all the new higher tariffs it isn’t economical anymore for me to produce new RGB LED matrix modules. The LEDs come from a manufacturer in China and those are the most expensive part of the modules.
The BOM and PCB files are all available on my GitHub if you want to build a module yourself. I do have enough mechanical components to build about 20 modules.
If you would like to build a matrix, then you can send me a DM either here or on the Framework Discord server and I can arrange for you to purchase the mechanical components for a low cost.
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That is very unfortunate. Short term costs of making America great again. Hopefully a US led manufacturer can eventually pick up that slack and produce some. Thank you for making the ones you did and providing the files on github. It has been a great service to the community.
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I have uploaded the python script I have been building to display various stats about the system. I am at a state I am happy with it so far. But it still has a ways to go. Here it is if anyone is interested:
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I’m happy to sell my pair of RGB LED Matrix modules if anyone’s interested.
They’re still super cool, but I’ve ended up leaving the RGB macropad installed instead for the extra buttons. It’s a waste having the RGB modules sitting in a box. I suppose I can list it on ebay or Facebook or the reddit group, but I’m not sure anyone would be interested or at what price.
I’d be shipping from Minnesota, USA.
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After a horrendous experience with PCBWay, I was left with only one working module and a mess of unpopulated PCBs. (TL;DR: PCBWay won’t correct a mistake their own “Expert Advisor” made in preparing the final order. So, F those guys!)
I would definitely be interested in purchasing your pair of modules! DM me and we can figure out a fair price, etc. I’m in Texas, so it’ll be an easy ship.
I sold it to TheWebMachine.
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Darn I was just searching for something like this as I am building an OS from scratch and this would have been perfect for my FW16. I got the regular white ones working showing the scheduler doing its thing as blinkinlights. I might be willing to sponsor a run of these if people still want them.
I’d definitely buy a pair.
If you do decide to do a group purchase of these, use JLPCB. DO NOT USE PCBWAY!
As previously mentioned, I had the absolute worst experience with PCBway. However, @Joseph_Schroedl used JLPCB for his limited run of them. I have the pair @Micah_Lindstrom sold me and they are substantially better quality - especially the soldier mask job - than the single functional one I got out of PCBway. JLPCB actually masks all the vias properly. PCBWAY does not. And it makes a huge difference to the visual quality of the final product.
Based on my conversations with Joseph, you should be able to get these down to a reasonable price with JLPCB if you’re producing quantities of 10 or more. (at least, you could before tariffs; YMMV now)
However, there is one caveat. You guys are going to need to contact Framework to acquire a quantity of the metal and plastic housing shells for those final PCBs so you can actually install them. Joseph asked nicely and they sent him some for his test run. I would imagine, for a group-buy situation, they would be willing to work out some sort of deal to buy them.
The first step might be to create a Google form in order to gather interest to see how many people actually want a pair of them. Then you’ll know what kind of quantity you’ll be looking to produce.
I can send the plastic and metal hardware to anyone wanting to produce more modules. I would guess I have enough hardware for at least 15 modules.
I was thinking a batch of ~100 or more, I can cover the cost up front in order to get the unit cost down.
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Then definitely reach out to Framework to see if you can get the housings first. Hate for ya to order all those PCBs and not be able to use them!
I don’t have relevant experience to help with this but would like to express interest! this looks like an amazing project and I’d love to get a pair for my laptop