It seems that really supporting RGBW in fastLED is a major task, and may take some while (when Dan and Mark have time again; my sympathies to them in their loss). I get and respect that, and the eventual result will be awesome. In the meanwhile…
Has anyone implemented a work-around? I can picture a few options:
- Allocate an array (eg) 80 LEDs for 60 real ones; treat it as 60x4; use only custom functions to store data in it, taking the 4 byte stride into account and optionally making use of the W channel. Use fastLED to handle outputting the array (across architectures). (ie: Stock Output, Custom Input of LEDs array).
- Modify fastLED to insert a 0 white value, so RGBW pixels can at least be used with fastLED even if only in RGB mode (all the RGB fastLED pixel function would still work). I think Dan said this would be a trivial patch, albeit obviously not the long term ideal. (ie: Custom Output, Stock Input of LEDs array).
- (switch to Adafruit, sigh)
Anybody else finding a way to deal with this? Other libraries or approaches?