Each new generation of the Raspberry Pi brings improvements over the last, and the Raspberry Pi 5 is no exception. However, along with the great new features and enhanced performance can also come some incompatibility with the way things were done on prior versions of the hardware. One such incompatibility with the Pi 5 was the ability to drive HUB75 compatible RGB Matrices like the older Pi's could.

The new Adafruit Blinka Raspberry Pi5 PioMatter library brings this capability to the Raspberry Pi 5 by way of the PIO peripherals. 

Hardware Requirements

You'll need a Raspberry Pi 5, we recommend the official Raspberry Pi 5V power supply for it. There are a variety of matrix panels and power supplies to choose from depending on how big or small you're project will be.

Each panel requires up to 4A of power at max brightness with all pixels on. Keeping things a bit dimmer, or not using all the pixels at once will save power. I've had success running 2 panels off of one 4A power adapter, the matrices are still plenty bright for indoor projects.

If you're driving more than 2 panels, you'll need another 4A adapter. The female DC power adapter makes it easy to power additional matrices separate from the two that can be powered from the Bonnet's terminal blocks.

The library supports both the RGB Matrix Bonnet, and the RGB Matrix HAT. Only one is needed though, choice is up to you.

Parts