Arduino as a VGA monitor

Other Hardware Displays
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Hi, I'm completely new in terms of creating a post on forums, please if I make any mistake let me know.

The problem I have is, I have a Debian server installed in a old PC, it only has VGA video output so I want to be able to use an Arduino Mega 2560 with a TFT shield (ILI9486 driver) for display de video data.

I've been searching a lot on internet about this topic but I only found that de VGA protocol is based on I2C for send the data plus 2 signals for VSync and HSync.

I want to know if this is even possible or if anyone from this forum has some information or knowns related projects.

Thanks :slight_smile:

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I think that it is not possible.

Buy a ready-made VGA compatible display, use one from the electronic recycler,
or buy a driver board for some TFT you can salvage from broken laptops/monitors.

1 Like
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Do you want to mirror your server monitor display via Arduino Mega on a TFT?

Please be aware

  • VGA has been extended by I2C to allow data communciation between monitor and the connected graphics board/computer regarding DDC information (Display Data Channel)
    see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VGA_connector
  • It does not send any video data via I2C but on the respective R/G/B lines plus vertical and horizontal synchronisation (vertical for each frame, horizontal per video line).

So you had to read (convert from analog to digital) the three serial RGB lines plus the syncs and "convert" them to I2C commands controlling the graphics controller of the TFT ... And be also aware that if you succeeded you only had a whole bunch of pixel colors, no characters!

At least the VGA reading was discussed here: https://copyprogramming.com/howto/is-it-possible-to-read-vga-with-an-arduino#is-it-possible-to-read-vga-with-an-arduino
which refers to http://forum.arduino.cc/index.php?topic=107375.0

In addition VGA signals are analog (see Wikipedia VGA)

Unlike the cards that preceded it, which used binary TTL signals to interface with a monitor (or composite, in the case of the CGA), the VGA introduced a video interface using pure analog RGB signals, 0.7 volts peak-to-peak max. In conjunction with an 18-bit RAMDAC this produced a color gamut of 262,144 colors.

Use a cheap old VGA monitor.

If you can live with a number of limited relevant data, you might send them via serial port from the server to the Mega. The Mega can then display the information on the TFT. That's feasible.

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An Uno is quite capable of generating simple graphics in VGA format, but it is not the proper device for reading them.

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