In message , Mailing List Account writes > How difficult is it to use a monitor with a microcontroller or >microprocessor? As an example i'd like to use a VGA monitor, in 320x200, >black and white (and eventually color), I couldn't find any schematics at >all, do I need a CRT controller or can I do it all from a micro? You can do it with a CPU, a handful of TTL/CMOS chips and some SRAM, as was done with the early home computers like the TRS-80 which I had. These days I'd be inclined to do all the logic in something like a Lattice CPLD (they have an application note describing a fairly sophisticated graphics controller). I've been thinking of doing something like this myself. Don Lancaster wrote a couple of excellent books about building your own computer video system that you might be able to find in a library. There's always the ClockPIC software for the 16C84, which simply uses the PIC and three resistors as a DAC, to generate composite video for a mono TTL monitor, giving a large-format clock display. I tried it the other day, and it works quite well. This might give you some ideas. Leon -- Leon Heller: leon@lfheller.demon.co.uk http://www.lfheller.demon.co.uk Amateur Radio Callsign G1HSM Tel: +44 (0) 118 947 1424 See http://www.lfheller.demon.co.uk/rcm.htm for details of a low-cost reconfigurable computing module using the XC6216 FPGA