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Display output is definitely a problem that modern hobby computer and gaming projects run into. And a FPGA is one solution. The Gameduino takes this approach.
by erik 8y ago
Display output is definitely a problem that modern hobby computer and gaming projects run into. And a FPGA is one solution. The Gameduino takes this approach.
There are downsides to the FPGA approach though. Even the cheapest FPGA can easily end up being more expensive (and more powerful) than the system CPU, putting you in a tail-wagging-the-dog scenario. And if you want your project to have a reasonable lifespan, continued FPGA availability can be a problem.
Many projects just drive video directly from the CPU, but that works better when you have something more powerful than the ESP8266 used here. It would be really nice if there was a simple display chip that this sort of project could take advantage of, but I don't know if FPGAs are the answer.
- Lerc 8y agoI was wondering about an ESP32 as a display device. Elsewhere in this thread there are links to video being driven via the ESP32. I have this crazy idea of a 8-bit avr with an xmem interface connected to ESP32 GPIO. Assuming the higher clock rate of the ESP32 is enough for it to bitbang pretend to be an SRAM it could give the AVR of 64k of 'video ram'. It's a bit weird delegating a more powerful processor to a subsystem, but at this level I don't think it is so much about the practicality as the aesthetic.