Land Boards' FabGL-Compatible ESP32-VGA Brings Video, Audio Output, PS/2 Input to the ESP32-WROOM
Built as part of a project to create a low-cost ANSI terminal, the design includes inputs and outputs well-suited to retrocomputing.
Land Boards' Doug Gilliland has released PCBs for his latest retrocomputing-inspired design: the ESP32-VGA, which adds a VGA video output plus PS/2 connectors for a keyboard and a mouse to the popular Espressif ESP32-WROOM microcontroller module — and which boasts full support for the FabGL library.
Fresh from the release of an I2C-connected push-button front panel board, designed to bring the user interface of computers like the Altair 8800 to makers at a very low cost and with a minimum of complexity, Gilliland's latest design is a graphics card for the ESP32-WROOM which offers a 2:2:2 VGA video output.
"FabGL has a great library for doing VGA with the ESP32," Gilliland explains, referring to Fabrizio Di Vittorio's popular GPL-licensed FabGL graphics library and game engine for the platform. "I wanted an inexpensive ANSI terminal and it's really hard to beat the cost of this approach."
The card, which accepts the Feather-style ESP32-WROOM development board on a set of female headers, supports all the FabGL libraries. It also offers built-in connectivity for input devices, taking a keyboard and/or mouse on a pair of PS/2 ports. The design incorporates monaural sound, plus multiple power options including a 5V DC jack — and pulls through each of the unused pins of the ESP32-WROOM as ground, voltage, signal (GVS) pin trios.
The board is available to buy as an unpopulated PCB from the Land Boards Tindie store priced at $15; technical information can be found on the Land Boards wiki.