Broken clock, like in Meow Wolf's House of Eternal Return. For Raspberry Pi and Sparkfun's Serial 7-Segment Display

bad-clock.py

#! /usr/bin/python

import smbus
import time
import random

bus = smbus.SMBus(1)
address = 0x71

chars = " \"'(),-01234567890ABCDEFGHIJLNOPQRSTUY_`cehiou"

def reset():
	# Clear the display
	bus.write_byte(address, 0x76)
	

def bright(val):
	bus.write_byte_data(address, 0x7a, val)


def colon(state):
	if state:
		out = 0b00010000
	else:
		out = 0b00000000
	bus.write_byte_data(address, 0x77, out)
	time.sleep(0.01)


def write_chars(buf):
	try:
		bus.write_byte_data(address, 0x79, 0)
		time.sleep(0.01)
		for c in buf:
			bus.write_byte(address, ord(c))
		time.sleep(0.01)
	except IOError:
		bus.write_byte(address, 0x76)


def switch_time(last, now):
	write_chars(last)
	for i in range(1, 30):
		if i % 2 == 0:
			write_chars(last)
		else:
			write_chars(now)
		time.sleep(3.0/i)

	for i in range(1, 80):
		out = [random.choice(chars) for _ in range(4)]
		write_chars(out)
		time.sleep(0.05)


last = '----'
reset()
while True:
	try:
		now = time.strftime("%H%M")
		if now != last:
			switch_time(last, now)
		last = now
		print(now)

		bright(50)
		write_chars(now)
		colon(True)
		time.sleep(1)
	
		colon(False)
		time.sleep(0.3)
		bright(250)
		time.sleep(0.1)
		bright(50)
		time.sleep(0.6)
	except IOError:
		pass