![\"IMG_1941\"](\"http:\/\/www.45rpmsoftware.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/IMG_1941.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nIt’s 7:01.24PM! \u00a0Of course, 5 pixels only gets us to 31. \u00a0Not enough. \u00a0There are a few ways around this, but I chose to implement an ‘add 30’ bit – it keeps telling the time simple (and for users who aren’t confident in binary then they’ll at least know which half of the clock the second or minute hand would be in).<\/p>\n
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\u2022oooo\r\nooooo\r\noo\u2022oo\r\nooooo\r\noo\u2022oo<\/pre>\nThe ‘lit’ bit on the top line indicates that the time is something ‘PM’. \u00a0The ‘lit’ bit on the middle line indicates that 30 needs to added to the number of minutes shown on the second line (which will show minutes 0-29 in binary).\u00a0\u00a0The ‘lit’ bit on the bottom\u00a0line indicates that 30 needs to added to the number of seconds\u00a0shown on the fourth\u00a0line (which will show seconds\u00a00-29 in binary).<\/p>\n
\noooo\u2022\r\nooo\u2022o\r\nooooo\r\noooo\u2022\r\noo\u2022oo<\/pre>\nIn this example, the micro:bit is displaying 1:02.31AM<\/p>\n
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\nSo you’d like to have a bash at this yourself? \u00a0Feel free – here’s the code, in Python (natch). If you make any improvements to it, please let me know what they are so that I can share with others.<\/p>\n
from microbit import *\r\n\r\ndef makeBinary(intValue,padding):\r\n number = intValue\r\n returnValue = \"\"\r\n brightness = 7 #value 0 to 8\r\n while number >0:\r\n bit = int(number % 2)\r\n if bit > 0:\r\n bit = brightness\r\n quotient = int(number \/ 2)\r\n returnValue = str(bit)+returnValue\r\n number = quotient\r\n for i in range(len(returnValue),padding):\r\n returnValue = \"0\"+returnValue\r\n return returnValue\r\n\r\ntimeAdvance = 0\r\nminuteAdvance = 0\r\nhourAdvance = 0\r\nsecondCounter = 0\r\nwhile True:\r\n if button_a.was_pressed():\r\n #advance hours\r\n hourAdvance = hourAdvance + 1\r\n if hourAdvance > 23:\r\n hourAdvance = 0\r\n timeAdvance = (hourAdvance*60*60*1000)+(minuteAdvance*60*1000)\r\n elif button_b.was_pressed():\r\n #advance minutes\r\n minuteAdvance = minuteAdvance + 1\r\n if minuteAdvance > 59:\r\n minuteAdvance = 0\r\n timeAdvance = (hourAdvance*60*60*1000)+(minuteAdvance*60*1000)\r\n else:\r\n #calculate and display time\r\n if (running_time()-secondCounter) > 1000:\r\n secondCounter = running_time()\r\n seconds = (running_time()\/1000)%60\r\n minutes = ((running_time()+timeAdvance)\/1000\/60)%60\r\n hours = ((running_time()+timeAdvance)\/1000\/60\/60)%24\r\n pmString = \"0\"\r\n addthirtyMString = \"00000\"\r\n addthirtySString = \"00000\"\r\n if hours>12:\r\n pmString = \"7\"\r\n hours = hours - 12\r\n if minutes>29:\r\n addthirtyMString = \"00700\"\r\n minutes = minutes - 30\r\n if seconds>29:\r\n addthirtySString = \"00700\"\r\n seconds = seconds - 30\r\n hourString = makeBinary(hours,4)\r\n minuteString = makeBinary(minutes,5)\r\n secondString = makeBinary(seconds,5)\r\n time = Image(pmString+hourString+\":\"+minuteString+\":\"+addthirtyMString+\":\"+secondString+\":\"+addthirtySString)\r\n display.show(time)<\/pre>\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I was very dismissive of the BBC\u00a0micro:bit when I first read about it. \u00a0A sub-RaspberryPi computer which cost more than the RaspberryPi Zero? \u00a0Really? \u00a0And if the measure of a computer’s power is what you can achieve with it, the BBC micro:bit doesn’t even stack up very well against its venerable forebear – the 1981 … <\/p>\n