
Let's build a circuit that displays an image on a VGA monitor [video] - marbu
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7rce6IQDWs
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exar0815
I can only recommend the "Veronica"-Series of Quinn Dunki, where she builds a
complete graphics card for her 8-Bit-computer, as well as the computer itself

[http://quinndunki.com/blondihacks/?page_id=1761](http://quinndunki.com/blondihacks/?page_id=1761)

~~~
jaak
Not to take away from Quinn Dunki's accomplishments, one big difference is the
Veronica used an ATmega 324PA - basically an 8 bit 20 MIPS RISC CPU.

Generating a VGA signal is trivial for this powerful chip. Entire retro game
consoles have been built with similar ATmega chips alone

Ben Eater is building a VGA card from discrete components, a somewhat more
difficult task. The first part covers building the H/V timing sync circuit (no
programmable clock source here!). It's worth taking a look if you're into this
kind of thing.

~~~
mrob
>Ben Eater is building a VGA card from discrete components

From 7400 series devices, which are very simple integrated circuits by modern
standards, but still integrated circuits.

~~~
tyingq
_" From 7400 series devices, which are very simple integrated circuits by
modern standards"_

So it's clear, a 74xx is just a bunch of NAND gates. Nothing at all higher
level than that.

~~~
metaphor
Except they're not. He's using 74161 counters; that's a MSI device, not just
primitive combinatorial logic and flip flops.

~~~
tyingq
Ahh, good catch. I was distracted with the 7400 description. Though a 4 bit
counter isn't terribly high level either.

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Lowkeyloki
Depending on the definition of the word "image" in this context, I'd love to
see people play the electronics component version of code golf to see what the
fewest number of basic components would be required to put an "image" on a
screen. No SOACs allowed.

~~~
forgotmypw3
Let's just cut out the middle and build the minimum required board to project
an image onto a retina. Or a signal into optic nerve ))

~~~
makapuf
Id try with a led illuminating the back of a pcb ? Still, nice project. The
code golf fewest components to display a face is tempting ...

~~~
nitrogen
Laser, spinning mirror, and a mask to draw a mouth at the bottom and two
eyelids at the top.

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atum47
I've been following ben eater for about 2 years now. I've learned so much from
his well explained well illustrated videos. Right now it's kinda hard for me
to get my hands on every component he uses, but soon I'll take a shot at
building a 8 bit computer as well. I'll may start with a full adder built with
transistors only.

~~~
lnsru
Hi, I don’t know your background, but why are you not building your 8 bit
computer in FPGA? There are many nice cheap boards like MAX1000 from Arrow or
Lattice. It’s really cool learning project! Transistor only design will have
many problems: transistors are bigger than you think and small ones in VML0806
package are almost impossible to solder by hand.

~~~
atum47
I'm a software engineer undergrad, I do most high level stuff. I took digital
circuits on college, cause I like electronics. One day watching videos on
YouTube I saw ben eater project and loved it. I thinker with Arduino and
Raspberry pi, but never built anything cool like that. I just want to give it
a try, I guess

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tyingq
Somewhat related, here's a video card for a MAC SE done with a BeagleBone and
it's microcontroller like PRU secondary processors: [https://trmm.net/Mac-
SE_video](https://trmm.net/Mac-SE_video)

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TheRealPomax
Why isn't this titled "let's build a video card [youtube]"?

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mepian
Because it's not a video card yet, it's a circuit that syncs the monitor.

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peter_d_sherman
Designing a VGA card precursor on breadboards -- Brilliant!

Should be the very first video any would-be VGA card designer views... (I want
to design one in the future...)

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rkagerer
Am I the only one frustrated with how difficult YouTube makes it to find Part
2? Am I missing something obvious?

~~~
xorfish
Part 2 isn't out yet

~~~
rkagerer
Thanks. It took way too long for me to figure that out :-).

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glouwbug
Why not with an AVR?
[https://youtu.be/sNCqrylNY-0](https://youtu.be/sNCqrylNY-0)

