This is a fun article, I enjoyed reading about the reverse engineering aspect.
These days you can easily buy 5 metres of dirt cheap addressable LED strip and control them with an Arduino and FastLED. You don't get same learning experience though!
These days you can easily buy 5 metres of dirt cheap addressable LED strip and control them with an Arduino and FastLED. You don't get same learning experience though!
2) Library: http://fastled.io/
3) Have fun ;)
On fastled.io, check the "community" link for tons of examples. This is a great time of year to find fun/cool projects as well.
I'd recommend a Teensy board over an arduino. It's many times faster, which is crucial for long strips and timing.
Paul (creator of Teensy) has some other really cool writeups as well, including building a giant TV out of the LED strips.
https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipOOcHCF-EgPoRngivJNbxA_...
There are some pitfalls, such as the ESP32 using 3.3V logic whereas most LED strips use 5V logic, but once you figure out how to use them they can be very powerful little beasts.