Next I looked at device manger and there was no PORTS section. When I manually run dpinst64.exe it says there are no drivers that need installing, but the tape only blinks once, turns off and does not register.

So based on the advanced install section, it seems that drivers are not installing and the blinkytape is not being recognized as a result.

This will also enable me to use one button to control the mode-switch on both of my BlinkyTapes - by wiring both up to the same button.

Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
AJ

I'm trying to fix a Blinkytape that is only working for the first 4 pixels (pixels 5 and beyond are not lighting up).

I have tried the button reset and reuploading firmware - that gets the first 4 pixels to show the rainbow pattern again, but the others still do nothing. I can also change (using the latest PatternPaint for Mac) the pattern of the first 4 pixels.

Oh, one other interesting thing, when plugging in the strip, most of the time, all the pixels blink on for a moment then go out (occasionally, only a few [plus the first 4] blink).

I'm guessing that there is a problem in the connection between the 4th and 5th pixel, but I'm not sure if there's a reasonable way to go in and fix it (or if it could also be a problem lower down in the chain).

Any suggestions? My first thought is to remove the end-caps, slide the plastic sheath down and try to see if adding some solder along the joint between the 4th and 5th pixels might do something. If that did work, then putting some sort of thin splint between those pixels and pulling the plastic sheath back over.

Thanks!

Stan

I cannot find anywhere in pattern paint to upload images. Also can anyone direct me to premade images or animations that I may upload to pattern paint. I imagine there is a site with a collection of common patterns that I may use.

Thanks!

Two questions:
1. Is there a succinct document that describes the current serial protocol for the standard BlinkyTape Arduino firmware? (Is it simply a stream of RGB byte triplets, mapped to LED addresses 0..n-1 for n LEDs, with 255 being a distinguished value that means "paint the frame"?)
2. Have seen lots of mentions on the net of various apps, written in various languages, to generate this serial data stream. One of interest, from leojhartiv, provides a link from Java apps to BlinkyTape, using an http server process in the host to get out of the Java sandbox, Has anyone done the same for JavaScript?

TIA,

Mike

and you'd be right. they worked beautifully.

made a couple sketches.

then when I went to upload a sketch, the paint sketch froze and crashed first time this has happened

Once I plug in the blinky tape, it begins to play my sketch but extremely fast.
It won't connect to the computer anymore.

then it keeps playing fast and fast each time I plug it in. ( bout 3x as I tried to reset it.)

then it stopped turning on at all.

most of the leds flash for a second when I plug em in... but I can't seem to figure out how to fix it.

I saw on another thread that I could chain up to 500 but should stay in the 200 range.. figured i'd be totally fine..

please help... I have another blinky tape somewhere that I guess im going to take apart and resoder my other peices back on ( worked on it for like 6 hours atleast so I don't wanna start over.)

I was so proud of what I made.... now its totally tanked from some software issue..

please help me.

Every time I put in my parameters I get ArrayIndexOutOfBoundsException: 181

I have 3 sides to my Blinkytape on the back of my monitor, 11 up the sides, 38 across the top. Everytime I plug in my number, Ambitape gets pissed off.

The tutorial states "Below is an example display array for a 19″ monitor with a 4:3 aspect ratio" But I could not locate any entry that need this information added? Does this even matter? Did I just waste 50 bucks on a fools errand when I should have just paid the extra money for Lightpack and the DIY out of the equation?

Tried to demonstrate it later in the day, same method. Nothing.
Plugged in to Laptop (Windows 7, PP 2.2) Not recognised.
Doesn't seem to be taking any power.

I've tried holding down the button when plugging in, but that has no effect.

Any ideas?

Thanks.

In my quest to repurpose a couple of older Macs to work with BlinkyTape, I'm in a similar situation to BlinkyTape not identifying as TTY device on Linux where the Mac detects the BlinkyTape but doesn't create the TTY. The following is on a PowerPC Mac running OS X 10.5.8 (Leopard).

The Mac equivalent of a Linux lsusb shows:

Bus 027 Device 000: ID 1d50:605e 1d50 BlinkyTape

The dmesg log shows:

       0        0 AppleUSBCDCACMControl: start - Failed to find the CDC driver
AppleUSBCDCACMData: start: InterfaceMappings dictionary not found for this device. Assume CDC Device...
       0        0 AppleUSBCDCACMData: start - Find CDC driver failed

I found the same error for a Microchip MCP2200 controller. Here is some troubleshooting info with way-over-my-head-highly-technical-details on why it isn't working -- MCP2200 not recognized on a mac/OS X and MCP2200 CDC for Mac OS X and Linux.

The solution is described at Serial connection on Mac OS X and [Traumflug/Generation_7_Electronics/USB tool/](https://github.com/Traumflug/Generation_7_Electronics/tree/master/USB tool).

I modified [mcp2200-forwarder.c](https://github.com/Traumflug/Generation_7_Electronics/blob/master/USB tool/mcp2200-forwarder/mcp2200-forwarder.c) lines 49 and 50 to be the hardcoded BlinkyTape USB vendor:product ID's of 1d50:605e. (There are references to ATmega at the above links, and I know the BlinkyTape uses an Atmega 32u4. I'm hoping this means the code is close enough.)

When compiled and run with the highest verbose mode, I get:

$ ./mcp2200-forwarder -vvv -l /tmp/ACM0
device_added()
Device added.
find_interfaces()
Scanning interfaces ...
Interface 0x00001703.
Interface class 2, subclass 2.
Interface has 1 endpoints.
PipeRef 1: direction in, transfer type interrupt, maxPacketSize 16.
Choosing this interface as Interrupt.
Interface 0x00001A03.
Interface class 10, subclass 0.
Interface has 2 endpoints.
PipeRef 1: direction out, transfer type bulk, maxPacketSize 64.
PipeRef 2: direction in, transfer type bulk, maxPacketSize 64.
Choosing this interface as Bulk.
... interface scan done.
send_bridge_setup()
Failed to take down DTE & RTS. Ignoring. (e000404f)
Failed to set baud rate & co. Ignoring. (e000404f)
Failed to raise DTE & RTS. Ignoring. (e000404f)
Unable to set up USB-UART bridge. (e000404f)
close_interface()
device_removed()
pty_open()
Terminal name: /dev/ttys002
Created symlink to /tmp/ACM0

When I start a second shell session and run Oskari Okko Ojala’s Perl Device::BlinkyTape example code pointing to 'dev' => '/tmp/ACM0', it sits there thinking for a few seconds and doesn't send anything to the screen (as expected), not even an error. And, the BlinkyTape just gives me a blank stare .

The first shell session running mcp2200-forwarder shows only one new line:

pty_read(), event 0x0002

HERE'S MY QUESTION:

I'm wondering if someone here who is familiar with the BlinkyTape USB hardware could look at [mcp2200-forwarder.c](https://github.com/Traumflug/Generation_7_Electronics/blob/master/USB tool/mcp2200-forwarder/mcp2200-forwarder.c) and tell me if, or what, needs changing? I know enough to change the hardcoded vendor:product ID but that's the limit of what I know about what mcp2200-forwarder.c is doing with the USB code.

If this isn't practical to get going and there's no longer much of a reason for my older Macs to justify their existence and electric bill, I'll quite understand, but I would appreciate knowing either way.

I've installed the latest version of Pattern Paint. The program opens and shows the example patterns. When I connect the LED strip (WS2812) and BT controller to the computer, the LED strip flashes every LED for a split second then goes dead. After reading through some other discussions, I looked to see if the computer was recognizing the controller - it is not. I followed the instructions on the trouble shooting page to reset the controller. Again, the LED strip flashed, then went dead. The computer gave a notice that it did not recognize the device plugged into the USB port. Pattern Paint still shows no controller.

I tried this on two computers, one running Windows 8 and one running Windows 10. Same problem on both computers.

Any thoughts? Thank you for your help

I have modified the BlinkyTape firmware for RC models. With the PWM signal on pin A9 the BlinkyTape can be controlled: change patterns, control brightness, switch off.

Now I have problems with creating a release version. The script "release_patternpaint_windows.sh" does not work anyway. No Windows Installer is created. Only a temporary folder.

I hope someone can help me.

Anyone else had this problem or have any suggestions?

I daren't fully reset it otherwise I could lose even the functions on there now.

The UI just says "do the reset trick" but I don't know what that is.

I do get my pattern when I plug it in to either the machine but it is a pattern I coded ages ago and not the rainbow…

Cheers.

Phil

I'm new to blinkylabs and am no programmer and there's a problem I've run into using blinkypixels with ambitape. The colors the blinkypixels are outputting is inaccurate and in some cases very inaccurate. For example, reds are more like yellow, and greens don't really show up at all. It's pretty much limited to shades of blue and yellow, and sometimes a very random magenta pixel will show up. I know I've arranged the pixels correctly in Processing. When I run the program and move a window around the edges of my screen the colors are definitely accurate on the box that pops up when you hit run, they're just not showing up accurately on the blinkypixels. I've tried everything I can think of, and have messed with the code as best I can. Please help!

Extra Info: While messing with code in the "blinkyTape" tab in processing I am able to make some normally unseen colors appear such as green, but they're not at all accurate. This thread (http://forums.blinkinlabs.com/index.php?p=/discussion/151/blinky-pixels-shows-the-wrong-color) has made me think some lines of code may need to be rewritten for blinkypixels specifically. Hopefully that is not too difficult to do!

Using PatternPaint I'm certain it is not a malfunction of the Blinkypixels themselves.

Any help or advice would be appreciated,

thanks a bunch,

Nick

Is it safe/ easily done to connect a Reed Switch such as this one:

https://www.sparkfun.com/products/10601

as on/off button for Blinky Tape?

Wanted to try out the AmbiTape project today and could not get it working. I am using the latest download from GitHub of the BlinkyTape examples, I have Control P5 installed and am using Processing 3.1.1.

It looks like the AmbiTape code uses a command that is no longer valid. When I try to run the code, I get the message "The size of this sketch could not be determined from your code. Use only numbers (not variables) for the size() command. Read the size() reference for more details.

I am brand new to Processing and unsure what to do to fix this error.

I have spent hours today cruising through Adafruit and Sparkfun, buried in one of their websites was your products! I just went to your website and they feel very close to what I am looking for. I need to create some wild light shows on a board game that are activated by minimal pressure such that when a game piece rests on a pressure point, a beautiful light show emerges and stops when pressure is removed. I am no wizard with code, Arduino or whatever so I am writing to get your advice on what I could set-up to create simple, easy, flat board game embedded pressure points to activate your products and make amazing fireworks! I am hoping to get recommendations on how to easily configure a pressure sensor to use for the BlinkyTape Control Board?

Thanks for any help.