Datasheet

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Another is to develop your own code for a more capable microcontroller or an FPGA that drives

multiple NeoPixel strips in parallel. One such project — OctoWS2811 for the Teensy 3.0

microcontroller — is shown later. This sort of thing is a complex undertaking and not

recommended for beginners. And even among more experienced programmers, there’s often an

unreasonable over-emphasis on data rates when the real bottlenecks lie elsewhere…don’t dwell

on this too much unless you can confirm it’s a problem.

Can I control NeoPixels using (Board X)?

We currently only offer an Arduino library. See the links later for other devices. For anything

beyond this, if considering writing your own library, understand that some devices are better

suited to the task than others. Read through the timing requirements shown below and

determine if the processor or device in question can synthesize a signal meeting those

specifications. An 8 MHz AVR can just barely keep up…anything slower may have trouble,

though some hardware-specific hacks (like clever use of SPI) might make it possible. In many

cases, assembly language is required.

Why not Raspberry Pi?

The Raspberry Pi running Linux is a multitasking system, and control may switch among multiple

running programs at any time. As such, it’s impossible to guarantee the strict 800 KHz signal

required by NeoPixels. You may be able to fudge it for short intervals, but it’s not something that

can be counted upon. This is why we use LPD8806 pixels for the Raspberry Pi light

painting (http://adafru.it/aPk) demonstration.

Third-Party Libraries

NeoPixel-compatible libraries have been developed for devices beyond Arduino. Please keep in

mind that Adafruit did not develop any of this code, does not know it inside and out, and can’t fix

bugs or offer technical help. This is Wild West stuff.

OctoWS2811 (http://adafru.it/cDM): specifically for the PJRC Teensy 3.0 microcontroller

board. Uses DMA to drive up to 8 NeoPixel strips concurrently with minimal processor load.

Multiple boards can be cascaded for still larger displays.

FadeCandy (http://adafru.it/cDN): also for Teensy 3.0. Doesn’t support as many pixels as

OctoWS2811, but adds smooth interpolation and other features for the color-persnickety.

LEDscape (http://adafru.it/cDO): specifically for BeagleBone Black. Although the

BeagleBone is a multitasking Linux system like the not-NeoPixel-compatible Raspberry Pi, this

code exploits hardware features specific to the BeagleBone Black to drive hundreds of meters

of NeoPixel strip with virtually no processor load.

WS2812 LED Driver (http://adafru.it/cDP) for Parallax Propeller.

xCORE NeoPixel test code (http://adafru.it/dcO) for the XMOS xCORE startKIT.

Some of these are 3.3V devices. See the “Powering NeoPixel” page for notes on controlling

5V NeoPixels from 3.3V microcontrollers.

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