Galactic Unicorn offers 53x11 bright RGB LEDs driven by Pico W's PIO in addition to a 1W amplifier + speaker, a collection of system and user buttons, and two Qw/ST connectors for adding external sensors and devices. Woha!
- :link: [Galactic Unicorn store page](https://shop.pimoroni.com/products/galactic-unicorn)
Galactic Unicorn ships with MicroPython firmware pre-loaded, but you can download the most recent version at the link below (you'll want the `galactic-unicorn` image).
The easiest way to start displaying cool stuff on Galactic Unicorn is using our Galactic Unicorn module (which contains a bunch of helpful functions for interacting with the buttons, adjusting brightness and suchlike) and our PicoGraphics library, which is chock full of useful functions for drawing on the LED matrix.
Add a [SCD41 sensor breakout](https://shop.pimoroni.com/products/scd41-co2-sensor-breakout) to make an unsubtle carbon dioxide detector. Press A to reset the high/low values.
Random LEDs blink on and off mimicing the look of a movie super computer doing its work in the eighties. You can adjust the brightness with LUX + and -.
A pretty, procedural fire effect. Switch between landscape fire and vertical fire using the A and B buttons! You can adjust the brightness with LUX + and -.
Reads data from the on board light sensor and displays the brightness level of the environment. The display is by default set to auto brightness i.e reacts to the brightness of the environment.
A collection of copies of classic terminal styles including C64, MS-DOS, Spectrum, and more. Images and text are drawn pixel by pixel from a pattern of Os and Xs. You can adjust the brightness with LUX + and -.
Some good old fashioned rainbows! You can adjust the cycling speed with A and B, stripe width with C and D, hue with VOL + and -, and the brightness with LUX + and -. The sleep button stops the animation (can be started again with A or B).
These examples require `WIFI_CONFIG.py` and `network_manager.py` (from the `common` directory) to be saved to your Pico W. Open up `WIFI_CONFIG.py` in Thonny to add your wifi details (and save it when you're done).
Updates one pixel every five minutes to display the most recent #Cheerlights colour. Discover the most popular colours over time, or use it as an avant garde (but colourful) 53 hour clock! Find out more about the Cheerlights API at https://cheerlights.com/
Requires `WIFI_CONFIG.py` from the `common` directory. It also needs the `micropython-phew` and `microdot` libraries (you can install these using Thonny's 'Tools > Manage Packages').
Here are some cool Galactic Unicorn community projects and resources that you might find useful / inspirational! Note that code at the links below has not been tested by us and we're not able to offer support with it.
- :link: [Galactic Unicorn MQTT scroller (and 3D printed case)](https://github.com/ucl-casa-ce/Galactic-Unicorn-MQTT-Scroller)