I wanted to have a cool mortarboard for graduation. I wanted to make it easy for my family to see me. I wanted to prove that I learned something while at college. When I discovered the wonders of the relatively cheap RGB matrix panels avalible on sites like sparkfun, I knew what I had to do.
To use this code you will need a SmartMatrix compatible LED board, a SmartMatrix Sheild, a Teensy, and a 5v power source with decent current.
You can run the board just using the USB power from the Teensy, but the colors will be off as the board will be essentially in a constant state of brown-out. If you go this route, I reccomend not going above about 30% of max brightness.
Connect the Teensy to a computer via the micro USB port. Open MortarBoard.ino in the Arduino IDE and compile to the device.
Note that you will also need Teensyduino installed.
(Comic is XKCD #74)