Ledcat is simple utility that aims to provide a standard interface for driving LED-devices and such.
Simply create a program that outputs 3 bytes of RGB for each pixel in your setup.
Note Prior to v0.3.0, Ledcat supported driving LED-strips such as the WS28xx, APA102, etc. via the spidev interface of Linux. This functionality has been removed as it required too much effort to maintain and using an ESP32 with something like WLED will result in a much better experience.
The easiest way to install Ledcat is to download a binary from Github.
Note: Hzeller's LED Matrix driver is not available from CI builds.
Install the Rust Language if you have not already.
Then, you can install ledcat directly using Cargo.
cargo install ledcatAlternatively, you can build and install Ledcat manually:
git clone https://github.com/polyfloyd/ledcat.git
cd ledcat
cargo build --release
cp target/release/ledcat /usr/local/bin/ledcat# Make a strip of 30 leds all red.
perl -e 'print "\xff\x00\x00" x 30' | ledcat --geometry 30 show# Receive frames over UDP.
nc -ul 1337 | ledcat --geometry 30 show# Load an image named "image.png", resize it to fit the size of the display and
# send it to a ledstrip zigzagged over the Y-axis.
convert image.png -resize 75x8! -depth 8 RGB:- | \
ledcat --geometry 75x8 --transpose zigzag_y show# A clock on a zigzagged two dimensional display of 75x8 pixels
while true; do
convert -background black -fill cyan -font Courier -pointsize 8 \
-size 75x8 -gravity center -depth 8 caption:"$(date +%T)" RGB:-
sleep 1;
done | ledcat --geometry 75x16 --transpose zigzag_y show# Show random noise as ambient lighting or priority messages if there are any.
mkfifo /tmp/ambient
mkfifo /tmp/messages
cat /dev/urandom > /tmp/ambient &
./my_messages > /tmp/messages &
ledcat --input /tmp/ambient /tmp/messages --exit never --geometry 30 show- show (emulates a LED bar in the terminal)
- Artnet DMX
- HexWS2811
- hub75
- LED Matrices on Raspberry Pi's (ARM+Linux only)