Flip Dots

[fcaustic]

Those things you get on buses and sports score boards. Has anyone used them on a case mod? I imagine they could be used in conjunction with an arduino or similar to provide a large format (but low resolution) monochomatic display which could display temperature, digital clock, pretty patterns, etc.

The smallest ones I've found online are 10.2x10.2mm, using these you could fit a 50x50 display on the side of a large case.

http://www.flipdots.com/electromagne...ndicators.html

You could also probably salvage them from decommissioned buses.

There's a thread on the arduino forums about them:
http://www.arduino.cc/cgi-bin/yabb2/...num=1239447334

I like the electromagnetic mechanical aspect of them, in a world dominated by LEDs and LCDs something that has moving parts (and makes a bit of noise too) is nice for a change. If I had the money and technical know-how I'd do it myself, I don't (yet) so I thought I'd throw the idea out there to see if anyone else found it interesting.

[d_stilgar]

Those are kinda neat, and you could make a matrix pretty easily with a microcontroller.