**This is a (currently quick&dirty) port of the messagetorch project to OpenWrt for the Omega Onion.

The project originated on particle.io spark core - see details in this particle forum post and in the sources on github.

For running messagetorch on Onion Omega, you need to install the ws2812-draiveris kernel driver (source on github). To allow experimenting for those Omega users who don't have a OpenWrt buildroot, here's a installable package. [Update: For those who want to experiment with the SK6812 RGBW LEDs, there's a newer version of the ws2812-draiveris driver, which supports SK6812 with the "rgbw" flag)

You can install it from the Onion console (--force-depends may be needed when kernel version does not match exactly -> experimental, might crash, make backups!)

cd /tmp
wget http://plan44.ch/downloads/experimental/kmod-ws2812-draiveris_3.18.29%2B0.1-9_ar71xx.ipk
opkg install /tmp/kmod-ws2812-draiveris_3.18.29+0.1-9_ar71xx.ipk --force-depends

To activate the driver for 256 LEDs with data pin connected to GPIO7:

insmod ws2812-draiveris gpios=7 leds_per_gpio=256 # for WS2812
insmod ws2812-draiveris gpios=7 leds_per_gpio=256 rgbw=1 # for SK6812

Now you can install messagetorch (again, installable package available for convenience)

cd /tmp
wget http://plan44.ch/downloads/experimental/messagetorch_0.1-1_ar71xx.ipk
opkg install /tmp/messagetorch_0.1-1_ar71xx.ipk

Assuming a "torch" with 18 windings of 13 LEDs each, start the torch with

messagetorch -W 13 -H 18 "Hello Omega"

Once running, you can remote control it by sending UDP packets. The following is from a Mac OS X command line (nc options might vary on other platforms, nc on omega itself does not have the -u option):

echo -n 'New Text' | nc -w 1 -u my.omegas.ip.address 4442

Or you can change many parameters, for example the mode

echo -n '/param mode=2' | nc -w 1 -u my.omegas.ip.address 4442

See function handleParams() in the source code for supported parameters. Most of them are for tuning the fire animation and text display, but there's also a configurable clock:

echo -n '/param clock_interval=300' | nc -w 1 -u my.omegas.ip.address 4442

This will show the current time as a scrolling message once every 5 minutes (300 seconds).

Have fun!