VFD Tube Clock
By Andrew Gregory. Posted
This article was originally published as part of HackSpace magazine, which has since been incorporated into Raspberry Pi Official Magazine.
This clock is an updated version of an older kit by Cambridgeshire-based Neon Things. The update isn’t to the VFD tubes, which are ancient bits of Soviet display kit now found on internet auction sites. The update is instead to the software that runs the clock. Whereas the previous version of this clock ran on an Arduino, this uses CircuitPython, making it considerably more user-friendly for anyone with Python as a first language.
Even better, thanks to I2C, you can connect this clock to anything you want, turn it into a temperature readout, stock price monitor, or anything else that uses four seven-segment displays.
Program a robot arm, with Raspberry Pi and Python code
Features Editor Andrew trawls the internet for Cool Stuff while keeping the magazine running smoothly.
Subscribe to Raspberry Pi Official Magazine
Save up to 37% off the cover price and get a FREE Raspberry Pi Pico 2 W with a subscription to Raspberry Pi Official Magazine.
More articles
Kuensa portable music sequencer
We like the look of where this device is going.
Read more →
Cyberdeck
We can’t imagine the looks you’d get using this machine on your daily commute, but apparently the maker of this wonderful machine does just that.
Read more →
Programming station
Spot the microcontroller: we can see an Arduino Uno, Arduino Nano, a pair of ESP32 boards, and a Raspberry Pi Pico, all waiting to be played with.
Read more →