Adafruit Matrix Portal S3 Controls Large LED Matrices with CircuitPython
Update to previous board improves performance and adds BLE support.
Adafruit sells large individual LED matrix panels. They also offered a dedicated board called Matrix Portal to make driving them easier. However, supply issues have made those difficult to build. So, Adafruit introduced Matrix Portal S3, an update based on an ESP32-S3 module.
The Matrix Portal S3 is an add-on board for HUB75-based LED matrix panels. It has an ESP32-S3 module with a dual-core processor, 8 megabytes of flash, 2 megabytes of PSRAM, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth LE (BLE.)
The original Adafruit Matrix Portal used a Microchip SAM D51 microcontroller for the matrix and an ESP32 for Wi-Fi. Since the SAM D51 has been challenging to obtain, Adafruit decided to redesign the Matrix Portal to employ the dual-core ESP32-S3.
Both include features like an IS3DH accelerometer, a GPIO breakout strip, a NeoPixel, an I2C STEMMA QT connector, and other usability features.
There are two connectors for the LED panel. A 2x10 socket connects first snuggly onto the HUB75 port on the back of the matrix. And if you want to use the board with the cables that come with the matrices (from Adafruit), there is also a 2x8 IDC plug connector.
While the original and new S3 have very similar feature sets, they have at least two significant differences.
First, the ESP32-S3 supports native USB. It is possible to act as a USB HID or music device. And, like other ESP32-based boards, it has a large arrive of IO/protocol options.
Another difference to the SAM D51-based Matrix Portal is that the ESP32-S3 does not have a digital-to-analog converter. If you need that capability, Adafruit recommends using an I2S amplifier for audio.
Last, a potentially significant difference is that the ESP32-S3 contains a parallel output drive peripheral. Matrix Portal S3 uses this feature to drive the matrix without bit-banging! In other words, there is more CPU time available for your code.
You can program the Matrix Portal S3 with the Arduino IDE or CircuitPython. Keep in mind, however, that CircuitPython does not support BLE on the ESP32-S3. It only supports Wi-Fi. The Arduino IDE supports both.
Matrix Portal S3 is now in stock and available to ship. The cost is $19.95 USD before shipping and does not include an LED matrix. It comes programmed with a demo for a 32 x 64 LED matrix.