Redstone Computer Guide #1 : Screens

Hello builders!​

Today, we will see how to build a Redstone screen.

But first, what’s a screen? A screen is a display which connects different entries (wires) to its attributed pixel or segment.
Basically, it allows to switch on or off each segment or pixel with one wire.

Screens alone aren’t very useful since they’re only controlled by levers (by hand), but in the next tutorial, we will build a machine which will control screens: a digital pistonless clock.

Here, all the screen are pistonless to avoid lag and because I hate pistons.

There are 3 main types of screen: 7-segments, 16-segment and pixel screen.



7-segments screen:
The simplest screen is also the most useful, it allows to display digits and that’s it.
How to build it:

Spoiler

1 - Make this pattern with lamps and another block type (here black wool). The lines are only here to help you with block positions:


2 - Then place repeaters on top of blocks as below:


3 - It’s now finished, you can just connect each repeater to a lever if you wish to control it by hand, like so:


Now, each lever controls one of the segments like this:

16-segments screen:
This screen is the most complex, but allows to display in a compact way letters and numbers.
How to build it:

Spoiler

This screen is a bit hard to build so if you want you can look for a video which will explain it better than me (I didn't found any, but who knows) .
I designed this screen so it could be as compact and fast as possible (2 ticks max delay), so it must be one of the easiest 16-segment screens to build.

Here's an example of a (a bit less compact) 16-segments screen in action :

Anyway, to build it :

1 - Make this pattern with lamps and another block type (here black wool). The lines are only here to help you with block positions:


2 - Then make this kind of cross 1 block behind the screen with torches facing toward the screen on each like below:


You should obtain this on the front of the screen:


3 - Then, put 12 repeaters on top of blocks as highlighted in violet on the image below:


4 - In each of the following steps, put the blocks as highlighted in violet on the image:


5 -


6 -


7 -


8 - Put redstone on top of the blocks placed in the previous step:


Do not forget to do the same on the other side (by symmetry):


9 -


10 -


11 - Put these blocks without forgetting the redstone and torches:


12 - Put this on both side (by symmetry):


13 -


14 -


15 - Put these blocks with redstone on top:


16 -


17 -


18 - Put this on both side (by symmetry):


And that's it, your 16-segments screen is now finished! You can put levers on each entry as below if you want to control it by hand:


If you switch all levers on, you should obtain:


Here's the attribution of the segments and entries (or levers)

Pixel screen:
This screen can display images, but isn't compact at all, and needs a lot of wires to control it.
How to build it:

Spoiler

Each pixel is 2 blocks wide, 2 blocks tall, so for a 4 x 4 screen, we will obtain a screen of the size below (lamps are lit up here only to help distinguishing the different pixels):


And here is a 8 x 8 screen for instance


1 - First, start by the first pixel by doing a 2 x 2 lamps square like so:


2 - Then, put the torches which will control the pixel in this configuration as highlighted in violet:


3 - Next, connect the torches to one wire as below:


4 - You have now finished the first pixel, now, do the second one as the first, but stop here:


5 - Then, put the redstone in this configuration, so both wires don't communicate:


6 - You can now connect the wire to a torch like so:


7 - Then, repeat the guide (or stack) by pairs on the next pixels until the desired width is reached (here 4 pixels so 2 pairs):


8 - Now stack (or repeat) them upwards until the desired height is reached (here 4 pixels):


Your pixel screen is now finished! You can put levers on the entries if you want to control it by hand:


The entries are linked to the pixel in the same position on the screen.

That's it for my first tutorial, little disclaimer: do not try to make too big redsone creations on Brawl, there is a high chance that it won't work due to an actualisation glitch. I'm just doing these guides for sh*t and giggles, it's normal is it seems quite random. Feel free to ask any question or point out a mistake in the comments, I'll try to answer or edit the thread.

Thanks for reading!​

 

My bad, fixed. Tank you for pointing it out!