VGA Monitor Output from an Arduino
One of the coolest things about programming on a platform for the first time is making something graphical or somehow otherwise tangible to the eye. Terminal apps generally aren't very exciting because they're just text, but making an application with its own window & graphics is much more exciting for the beginner. If it's a microcontroller, making that LED blink is a first big step toward future fun. However, there is a lot more to do when it comes to making graphical output from microcontrollers -- output on 7-segment displays, an LED matrix, LCD touchscreens, or the pinnacle & mainstay of computer displays -- the monitor. Having taken a class in FPGA design and becoming fascinated with video output without needing an operating system, I decided to look into what it'd take to use the Arduino to produce VGA output. It turns out the hardware requirements can be somewhat hard to come by these days: A nice, old, tolerant CRT monitor -- my LCD m...