Sunday 22 September 2013

Arduino 80x25 Text TV Out Shield and Library

This is an old post, preserved for reference.
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[Update: Please see the new version which supports multiple fonts and 'medium resolution' graphics]

I've update the library used to generate 80x25 characters of text output to a TV or video monitor on and Arduino. This now uses the latest update to Grant Searles code which incorporates his 4-bit and 8-bit modes and the I2C version I had previously forked the library to add has now been rolled into the main library.
I've also build a shield to make using this even easier. This is currently a prototype, if there is any interest in this, I could put together a PCB version.
Grant is currently expanding the capabilities and adding as many character options as we can think of, soon it will support 80 character or 40 character text, single or double line height and a choice of two fonts. That's what all the DIP switches are for, to select the initial state of the display. Once the video processor is on the shield, That leaves you free to do what you want with the rest of the Arduino.