What is VGADuino:

VGADuino is a shield that is made for arduino with all the libraries and samples that the user can easily stack on the arduino board and start programming. It can connect Arduino to any kind of TV or Monitor with VGA 15 Pin connector. The user will be able to show text, numbers, draw lines, tables, shapes and even small images on the screen. You can use the TV or Monitor as a big display for arduino.

In this version (VGADuino-II) I used NXP-LPC1756 ARM chip as a main microcontroller and XILINX XC95144XL CPLD for refreshing the display and taking care of the sync signals. There is also a SD Ram to keep the screen's pixel color data.

VGADuino-II's Resolution:

The screen refresh rate in VGADuino-II is 800x600 60hz but the actual pixels are 400x300 60hz that means we have 400 pixels horizontally and 300 pixels vertically.

VGADuino-II's colors:

VGADuino-II has a SD RAM on the board that keeps the screen's data. in this version each pixel is a byte that means each pixel has 256 colors which is a standard 8bit RGB format. (3bits for R, 3bits for G and 2bits for B).

VGADuino-II's Communication:

VGADuino-II communicates to the Arduino board through UART port with automatic baud rate detection and the predefined AT-Commands and all the functioned written in it's Arduino library.

VGADuino-II's Fonts:

VGADuino-II has 11 different built-in fonts with different sizes based on standard ASCII characters which are accessible with the AT-Commands and it's Arduino libraries. so the user needs to set the font and sends the string that wants to be shown on the screen. there are also commands to change the foreground and background color of the text.

VGADuino-II's Pixels:

As its been mentioned before VGADuino-II has 400x300 pixels resolution and each pixel is accessible individually so user can set each pixel with a 8bit color data through the Arduino functions and draws graphs or even show small bitmap images.

The new VGADuino-II's features are:

• Internal functions to draw shapes like line, rectangle, circle and etc with AT-Commands and arduino libraries
• 11 Different font sizes with standard ASCII characters support
• 256 color, 8bit RGB format
• Having access to each pixel individually
• Standard VGA DB15 output
• Screen resolution: 800x600 60hz, actual pixels:400x300 60hz