Uploaded January 2021 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago

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In this video we're taking a look at gateware-ts, a TypeScript library for describing and building digital hardware for FPGAs in TypeScript. Specifically, we're building a driver for a 64x64 RGB LED Panel - the same as those used in large video wall displays.


If you want to try this project out for yourself, you can find the LED panels in many different places - including the 1bitsquared store mentioned in the video, but also sites like adafruit and other general electronics stockists have these kinds of panels available. If you don't mind the wait time, you can order them from China on sites like aliexpress - where they're usually a little cheaper.

00:00 - Introduction
05:38 - The LED Panel

11:43 - The icebreaker FPGA Board
14:51 - Writing the driver
52:18 - Testing the panel
54:16 - Creating a pattern on screen
58:58 - Testing the pattern

=[ 🔗 Links 🔗 ]=


- FPGA: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Field-programmable_gate_array


- gateware-ts: github.com/gateware-ts/gateware-ts
- gateware-ts documentation: gateware-ts.github.io/gateware-ts
- icebreaker FPGA: 1bitsquared.com/collections/fpga/products/icebreaker
- LED Panel: 1bitsquared.com/collections/fpga/products/led-panel
- Great Sparkfun article about driving LED panels: sparkfun.com/news/2650
- Verilog: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Verilog
- Summon FPGA Tools (script to download and build the OSS FPGA toolchain): github.com/open-tool-forge/summon-fpga-tools
- Prebuilt FPGA toolchain releases: github.com/YosysHQ/fpga-toolchain
- Yosys: http://www.clifford.at/yosys/
- NextPNR: github.com/YosysHQ/nextpnr
- Symbiflow: symbiflow.github.io
- nMigen (like gateware-ts, but for python): github.com/m-labs/nmigen


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💻 Github Repo: github.com/LowLevelJavaScript/led-panel-driver-in-gateware-ts