Description
Hello
I've observed very slow display update for 14-segement backpack (https://www.adafruit.com/product/1910) controlled by raspberry pi pico W (using latest circuit python uf2)
According to the test code provided below update of all 4 characters takes about 13-14 ms and scales more or less linearly with each new character added ( the single call of display.set_digit_raw takes about 3-4 ms ) which makes integrating this display pretty hopeless for any code that needs to update something else quickly as the code is blocking, especially if someone want's to chain a few of those...
import board
import busio
from adafruit_ht16k33 import segments
import supervisor
i2c = busio.I2C(board.GP21, board.GP20)
display = segments.Seg14x4(i2c)
start_msecs = supervisor.ticks_ms()
display.print("ABCD")
stop_msecs = supervisor.ticks_ms()
print("elapsed time = ", stop_msecs - start_msecs)Wondering what might be the reason for such slow I2C implementation - is it pico W related or circuit python in general ?
I have tested the displays with regular Arduino UNO and your library (https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit_LED_Backpack) and the equivalent update (4 characters via writeDigitRaw()) takes only 1 ms, or 1850 micro seconds, if simple micros() before-after measurement can be trusted.
Any insights and ideas how to overcome this are much appreciated !