feat(scroll): let users pick a crisp speed for their own panel

Whole-pixel motion was previously only available at multiples of the refresh
rate -- 100, 200, 300 px/s on a 100Hz panel. 100 px/s crosses a 256px panel in
2.6s, which is brisk for reading, and everything slower had to blend (blur) or
repeat frames unevenly (judder). There was no way to ask for 50 px/s and get
clean motion.

SwapOnVSync takes a framerate_fraction the display manager never passed. It
holds each frame for N panel refreshes; the panel keeps refreshing at its full
rate throughout, so holding costs nothing in flicker and only changes how often
a NEW image is presented. That turns 50 px/s into one whole pixel every second
refresh instead of half a pixel every refresh.

The crisp speeds are therefore refresh_hz / hold * pixels_per_frame, and that
ladder depends on the panel: a Pi Zero on a long chain has a different set of
good speeds from a Pi 4 on a short one. crisp_ladder() enumerates them and
solve_crisp() picks the best match for a requested speed.

solve_crisp weights motion quality rather than picking the numerically nearest
entry, which matters more than it sounds. Asked for 30 px/s, nearest-by-value
answers 28.6 -- 2px jumps at 14fps -- over 33.3, which is single-pixel motion
at 33fps and obviously better on the panel. The target is also clamped into the
ladder's range first, because relative error saturates near 1.0 for a target
far outside it and the quality penalty would otherwise answer "10000 px/s" with
the slowest entry.

configure() snaps to the ladder and applies the hold when given a display
manager. Without one the hold silently cannot happen and motion falls back to
fractional pixels, so it warns rather than failing quietly. set_frame_hold()
resets to 1 when scrolling stops, so one plugin's pacing cannot leak into
whatever is on screen next.

scripts/scroll_speeds.py is the user-facing part: it prints the ladder for the
configured rate, measures what the panel ACTUALLY manages (--measure, for
hardware that cannot reach its configured limit), highlights the nearest option
to a wanted speed, and demos one live. It never starts or stops the display
service itself -- doing that inside a script stranded the panel twice today.

Speeds below ~20 px/s remain stepped regardless. That is the pixel pitch, not a
software limit.

Also fixes the dirty-tracking test spy, which stubbed SwapOnVSync with a
single-argument function and would have masked the new call as a failed push,
and rewrites a configure() test that had started passing for the wrong reason:
it asserted a judder warning, which snapping now prevents, and was matching the
unrelated "hold could not be applied" warning instead.

183 tests pass on the Pi.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
This commit is contained in:
Chuck
2026-09-04 16:32:52 -04:00
co-authored by Claude Opus 5
parent 6031e70525
commit 6e8a9dd24b
6 changed files with 729 additions and 16 deletions
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#!/usr/bin/env python3
"""Show and try the scroll speeds your panel can display cleanly.
Motion looks smooth when the strip advances a WHOLE number of pixels per panel
refresh. Anything else has to blend two columns (which on pixel-font text reads
as shimmer) or repeat frames unevenly (which reads as judder). So the speeds
worth using are not arbitrary -- they are
refresh_hz / frame_hold * pixels_per_frame
for whole numbers of frame_hold and pixels_per_frame, and that ladder depends
on how fast YOUR panel actually refreshes. A Pi Zero driving a big chain will
have a completely different set of good speeds from a Pi 4 driving a small one.
# what can this panel do? (no hardware needed, uses your configured rate)
python3 scripts/scroll_speeds.py
# measure what the panel ACTUALLY manages, rather than what is configured
sudo systemctl stop ledmatrix
sudo python3 scripts/scroll_speeds.py --measure
sudo systemctl start ledmatrix
# what would a 60Hz panel offer?
python3 scripts/scroll_speeds.py --hz 60
# try one on the panel
sudo systemctl stop ledmatrix
sudo python3 scripts/scroll_speeds.py --demo 50
sudo systemctl start ledmatrix
This script never starts or stops the display service itself -- that is left to
you, so a crash here can never leave the panel dark.
"""
from __future__ import annotations
import argparse
import json
import os
import sys
import time
from pathlib import Path
sys.path.insert(0, str(Path(__file__).resolve().parent.parent))
from src.common import scroll_config # noqa: E402
CONFIG = Path(__file__).resolve().parent.parent / "config" / "config.json"
def load_hardware():
try:
with open(CONFIG, encoding="utf-8") as handle:
return (json.load(handle).get("display") or {}).get("hardware") or {}
except (OSError, ValueError):
return {}
def build_options(hardware, refresh_override=None):
from rgbmatrix import RGBMatrixOptions
o = RGBMatrixOptions()
o.rows = int(hardware.get("rows", 32))
o.cols = int(hardware.get("cols", 64))
o.chain_length = int(hardware.get("chain_length", 1))
o.parallel = int(hardware.get("parallel", 1))
o.brightness = int(hardware.get("brightness", 80))
o.hardware_mapping = hardware.get("hardware_mapping", "regular")
o.pwm_bits = int(hardware.get("pwm_bits", 11))
o.pwm_dither_bits = int(hardware.get("pwm_dither_bits", 0))
o.pwm_lsb_nanoseconds = int(hardware.get("pwm_lsb_nanoseconds", 130))
o.led_rgb_sequence = hardware.get("led_rgb_sequence", "RGB")
o.scan_mode = int(hardware.get("scan_mode", 0))
o.row_address_type = int(hardware.get("row_address_type", 0))
o.multiplexing = int(hardware.get("multiplexing", 0))
o.gpio_slowdown = int(hardware.get("gpio_slowdown", 2))
o.limit_refresh_rate_hz = (
int(refresh_override) if refresh_override is not None
else int(hardware.get("limit_refresh_rate_hz", 0))
)
return o
def open_matrix(hardware, refresh_override=None):
"""Construct the matrix, or explain why it will not open."""
if os.geteuid() != 0:
sys.exit("this needs root for GPIO access - rerun with sudo")
try:
from rgbmatrix import RGBMatrix
except ImportError:
sys.exit("rgbmatrix is not installed on this machine")
try:
return RGBMatrix(options=build_options(hardware, refresh_override))
except Exception as exc: # pragma: no cover - hardware dependent
sys.exit(
"could not open the panel ({}).\n"
"If the display service is running it owns the GPIO - stop it first:\n"
" sudo systemctl stop ledmatrix".format(exc)
)
def measure_refresh(hardware, seconds=6.0):
"""Actual refresh rate, by running uncapped and timing the swaps.
SwapOnVSync blocks until the panel's next refresh, so an unthrottled loop
runs at exactly the panel's rate. This is what an older Pi or a longer
chain will really give you, as opposed to whatever limit_refresh_rate_hz
optimistically asks for.
"""
matrix = open_matrix(hardware, refresh_override=0)
canvas = matrix.CreateFrameCanvas()
canvas = matrix.SwapOnVSync(canvas) # discard the first, it includes setup
frames = 0
started = time.perf_counter()
while time.perf_counter() - started < seconds:
canvas = matrix.SwapOnVSync(canvas)
frames += 1
measured = frames / (time.perf_counter() - started)
matrix.Clear()
return measured
def demo(hardware, target, seconds):
"""Scroll text at the crisp speed nearest `target`."""
from PIL import Image, ImageDraw, ImageFont
hz = float(hardware.get("limit_refresh_rate_hz") or scroll_config.DEFAULT_REFRESH_HZ)
choice = scroll_config.solve_crisp(target, hz)
print("asked for {:.0f} px/s -> {}".format(target, choice.describe()))
matrix = open_matrix(hardware)
canvas = matrix.CreateFrameCanvas()
W, H = canvas.width, canvas.height
font = None
for path, size in (
(str(Path(__file__).resolve().parent.parent / "assets/fonts/PressStart2P-Regular.ttf"), 16),
("/usr/share/fonts/truetype/dejavu/DejaVuSansMono-Bold.ttf", 26),
):
try:
font = ImageFont.truetype(path, size)
break
except OSError:
continue
if font is None:
font = ImageFont.load_default()
text = " {:.0f} px/s *** THE QUICK BROWN FOX JUMPS OVER THE LAZY DOG ***".format(
choice.pixels_per_second)
box = ImageDraw.Draw(Image.new("RGB", (8, 8))).textbbox((0, 0), text, font=font)
tw, th = box[2] - box[0], box[3] - box[1]
reps = max(2, (W * 3) // max(tw, 1) + 1)
strip = Image.new("RGB", (tw * reps, H), (0, 0, 0))
draw = ImageDraw.Draw(strip)
for i in range(reps):
draw.text((i * tw, (H - th) // 2 - box[1]), text, font=font, fill=(255, 210, 60))
offset = 0
frames = 0
started = time.time()
while time.time() - started < seconds:
window = strip.crop((offset, 0, offset + W, H))
if window.width < W:
whole = Image.new("RGB", (W, H), (0, 0, 0))
head = strip.crop((offset, 0, strip.width, H))
whole.paste(head, (0, 0))
whole.paste(strip.crop((0, 0, W - head.width, H)), (head.width, 0))
window = whole
canvas.SetImage(window)
canvas = matrix.SwapOnVSync(canvas, choice.frame_hold)
offset = (offset + choice.pixels_per_frame) % strip.width
frames += 1
elapsed = time.time() - started
print(" {} frames in {:.1f}s = {:.1f} fps = {:.1f} px/s actual".format(
frames, elapsed, frames / elapsed, frames * choice.pixels_per_frame / elapsed))
matrix.Clear()
def print_ladder(hz, highlight=None):
print("")
print("Whole-pixel scroll speeds at {:.1f}Hz refresh".format(hz))
print("(the panel refreshes at {:.0f}Hz for every one of these - holding a "
"frame costs no flicker)".format(hz))
print("")
for entry in scroll_config.crisp_ladder(hz):
if entry.pixels_per_second > hz * 3:
break
mark = " <-- nearest to {:.0f}".format(highlight) if (
highlight is not None
and entry.pixels_per_second == scroll_config.solve_crisp(highlight, hz).pixels_per_second
) else ""
print(" " + entry.describe() + mark)
print("")
print("Set one in config.json as pixels per second, e.g.")
print(' "display_options": {{"scroll_pixels_per_second": {:.0f}}}'.format(
scroll_config.solve_crisp(highlight if highlight else hz / 2, hz).pixels_per_second))
def main():
ap = argparse.ArgumentParser(description=__doc__,
formatter_class=argparse.RawDescriptionHelpFormatter)
ap.add_argument("--hz", type=float,
help="refresh rate to compute the ladder for (default: your config)")
ap.add_argument("--measure", action="store_true",
help="measure the panel's real refresh rate (needs root, service stopped)")
ap.add_argument("--demo", type=float, metavar="PXPS",
help="scroll text at the crisp speed nearest this (needs root)")
ap.add_argument("--seconds", type=float, default=15.0, help="demo duration")
ap.add_argument("--want", type=float, metavar="PXPS",
help="highlight the entry nearest this speed")
args = ap.parse_args()
hardware = load_hardware()
configured = float(hardware.get("limit_refresh_rate_hz") or 0)
if args.demo is not None:
demo(hardware, args.demo, args.seconds)
return
if args.measure:
measured = measure_refresh(hardware)
print("measured panel refresh: {:.1f}Hz".format(measured))
if configured:
print("configured limit_refresh_rate_hz: {:.0f}".format(configured))
if measured < configured * 0.95:
print(" -> the panel cannot reach the configured rate; the ladder")
print(" below uses what it actually manages")
print_ladder(measured, args.want)
return
hz = args.hz or configured or scroll_config.DEFAULT_REFRESH_HZ
if not args.hz and not configured:
print("no limit_refresh_rate_hz in config; assuming {:.0f}Hz".format(hz))
print("run with --measure to find your panel's real rate")
print_ladder(hz, args.want)
if __name__ == "__main__":
main()