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Is there a monitor that uses serial port for interfacing??

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arunb

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Hi,

I want to interface a PIC mcu with a monitor, are there monitors/terminals that use serial port ???

Any links would be helpful, I am thinking there might be a technical term that describes such a monitor...maybe that's why a search on google is not fruitful...

thanks
arunb
 
Hi,

I want to interface a PIC mcu with a monitor, are there monitors/terminals that use serial port ???

Any links would be helpful, I am thinking there might be a technical term that describes such a monitor...maybe that's why a search on google is not fruitful...

Not a monitor, 'dumb terminal' is what you're looking for, but most have probably long since gone for scrap.
 
I have two =) I cherish them like children <smirk> Never use the things though =\
You could check e-bay, stuff like that comes up all the time.

I found this auction if you want to bid on it.

**broken link removed**

Something seems a little funny though, 30 bucks seems way to cheap for that.
 
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I have two =) I cherish them like children <smirk> Never use the things though =\
You could check e-bay, stuff like that comes up all the time.

I found this auction if you want to bid on it.

**broken link removed**

Something seems a little funny though, 30 bucks seems way to cheap for that.

Wish I had one. I like the old "Adam 5" terminals.
 
The Wyse terminals seem to be the only one's still kicking around, they emulate pretty much any terminal standard out there.
 
Hmmm, my LCD monitors (and just about all PC monitors I think) boot up in dos 80x35 char mode.

How much work would it be to drive a computer monitor vga ega etc from serial just in 80x25 char mode??

I'd be interested in a project like that.

(EDIT)
Darn I just checked it's the video card that generates the character set, not the monitor. Monitor cable needs hsync, vsync and RGB voltages.


Driving a VGA monitor witrh FPGA chip here (pong game);
http://www.fpga4fun.com/PongGame.html

VGA specs here;
http://martin.hinner.info/vga/
 
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There are a lot of projects out there that use micro controller to directly control low PC monitors (albiet in very low resolution) I've seen CGA projects EGA should be possible, not gonna bet on VGA, but it depends on the extra hardware outside the micro controller you use.
 
There are a lot of projects out there that use micro controller to directly control low PC monitors (albiet in very low resolution) I've seen CGA projects EGA should be possible, not gonna bet on VGA, but it depends on the extra hardware outside the micro controller you use.

Depends on what you want it to do - there's a VERY old audio spectrum analyser project on the PICList that directly drives a VGA monitor.
 
The Parallax Propeller is very easy to interface with NTSC, PAL, and VGA. It should be pretty easy to create a simple dumb terminal with one of those that displays on a monitor.
 
The Propeller chips are 13 bucks a piece though.
The Mega used in the one link I sent is only 4 bucks each. I'm sure there's a hell of a learning curve on the propeller chips to, that's one of the reason the PS3 isn't doing as well as it should be right now, great hardware, pain in the ass to program for.
 
Probably super-obvious, but there are a million different types of text-based LCD displays that take a serial input.

As for VGA, it's pretty trivial to drive a video output with an FPGA.
 
Yeah, if you have an FPGA, and know how to program in VHDL. I'd hardly call that trivial.
 
There seems to be a definite market for a little PCB what takes serial from a Micro and will drive a monitor, pref a nice LCD...

This of how many how many automation and display projects you could make with a PIC driving a nice big LCD on the wall?

Darn if I wasn't so busy at the moment i'd look into that...
 
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