MOD-VGA and MOD-VGA-32
USER’S MANUAL
Document revision B, June 2016
Designed by OLIMEX Ltd, 2012
All boards produced by Olimex LTD are ROHS compliant
OLIMEX© 2016
MOD-VGA user's manual
DISCLAIMER
© 2016 Olimex Ltd. Olimex®, logo and combinations thereof, are registered trademarks of Olimex Ltd.
Other product names may be trademarks of others and the rights belong to their respective owners.
The information in this document is provided in connection with Olimex products. No license, express
or implied or otherwise, to any intellectual property right is granted by this document or in connection
with the sale of Olimex products.
The Hardware project is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 United States
License. You may reproduce it for both your own personal use, and for commertial use. You will have to
provide a link to the original creator of the project http://www.olimex.com on any documentation or website.
You may also modify the files, but you must then release them as well under the same terms. Credit can be
attributed through a link to the creator website: http://www.olimex.com
The software is released under GPL.
It is possible that the pictures in this manual differ from the latest revision of the board.
The product described in this document is subject to continuous development and improvements. All
particulars of the product and its use contained in this document are given by OLIMEX in good faith.
However all warranties implied or expressed including but not limited to implied warranties of
merchantability or fitness for purpose are excluded. This document is intended only to assist the reader in the
use of the product. OLIMEX Ltd. shall not be liable for any loss or damage arising from the use of any
information in this document or any error or omission in such information or any incorrect use of the
product.
This evaluation board/kit is intended for use for engineering development, demonstration, or evaluation
purposes only and is not considered by OLIMEX to be a finished end-product fit for general consumer use.
Persons handling the product must have electronics training and observe good engineering practice
standards. As such, the goods being provided are not intended to be complete in terms of required design-,
marketing-, and/or manufacturing-related protective considerations, including product safety and
environmental measures typically found in end products that incorporate such semiconductor components or
circuit boards.
Olimex currently deals with a variety of customers for products, and therefore our arrangement with the user
is not exclusive. Olimex assumes no liability for applications assistance, customer product design, software
performance, or infringement of patents or services described herein.
THERE IS NO WARRANTY FOR THE DESIGN MATERIALS AND THE
COMPONENTS USED TO CREATE MOD-VGA. THEY ARE CONSIDERED
SUITABLE ONLY FOR MOD-VGA.
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OLIMEX© 2016
MOD-VGA user's manual
Table of Contents
DISCLAIMER............................................................................................................. 2
CHAPTER 1: OVERVIEW........................................................................................5
1. Introduction to the chapter.......................................................................................................5
1.1 Features.....................................................................................................................................5
1.2 Target market and purpose of the board...............................................................................6
1.3 Organization.............................................................................................................................6
CHAPTER 2: SETTING UP THE MOD-VGA BOARD.........................................7
2. Introduction to the chapter.......................................................................................................7
2.1 Electrostatic warning...............................................................................................................7
2.3 Requirements........................................................................................................................... 7
2.4 Powering the board..................................................................................................................8
2.5 Running an example using Olimex OLIMEXINO-328........................................................8
CHAPTER 3: MOD-VGA BOARD DESCRIPTION.............................................. 9
3. Introduction to the chapter.......................................................................................................9
3.1 Layout (top view).....................................................................................................................9
3.2 Layout (bottom view).............................................................................................................10
CHAPTER 4: The XILINX SPARTAN-3 XC3S200 FPGA................................... 11
4. Introduction to the chapter..................................................................................................... 11
4.1 The XILINX SPARTAN-3 XC3S200 FPGA........................................................................ 11
CHAPTER 6: CONNECTORS, HARDWARE, PINOUTS...................................13
6. Introduction to the chapter.....................................................................................................13
6.1 FPGA programming options.................................................................................................13
6.1.1 SPI_PGM pinholes..............................................................................................................13
6.1.2 JTAG pinholes.....................................................................................................................14
6.2 UEXT connector.....................................................................................................................14
6.3 Audio connector..................................................................................................................... 15
6.4 VGA video connector.............................................................................................................15
6.5 Arduino shield connector...................................................................................................... 16
6.6 Keyboard connector.............................................................................................................. 17
6.7 Jumper description................................................................................................................17
6.7.1 5V/3V....................................................................................................................................17
6.7.2 SJ1........................................................................................................................................17
CHAPTER 8: SCHEMATICS..................................................................................18
8. Introduction to the chapter.....................................................................................................18
8.1 Eagle schematic......................................................................................................................18
8.2 Physical dimensions...............................................................................................................20
CHAPTER 9: REVISION HISTORY AND SUPPORT........................................ 21
9. Introduction to the chapter.....................................................................................................21
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OLIMEX© 2016
MOD-VGA user's manual
9.1 Document revision................................................................................................................. 21
9.2 Board revision........................................................................................................................ 21
9.3 Useful web links and purchase codes...................................................................................22
9.4 Product support..................................................................................................................... 23
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OLIMEX© 2016
MOD-VGA user's manual
CHAPTER 1: OVERVIEW
1. Introduction to the chapter
Thank you for choosing the MOD-VGA video shield from Olimex! This document provides a
user’s guide for the Olimex MOD-VGA. As an overview, this chapter gives the scope of this
document and lists the board’s features. The document’s organization is then detailed.
The MOD-VGA development board enables code development of applications running on the
FPGA from the SPARTAN-3A family, manufactured by XLINIX.
MOD-VGA is an open-source, open-hardware project and all documentation is available to the
customer. It is tested and working with OLIMEX AVR boards.
1.1 Features
MOD-VGA is a game adapter for the Arduino – or anything else with an SPI interface – built as a
single shield that stacks up on top of the Arduino and has plugs for a VGA monitor and stereo
speakers. The board is based on the open-source, open-hardware GAMEDUINO project by
excamera.
For more information on the original project please visit
http://excamera.com/sphinx/gameduino/.
Video output is 400x300 pixels in 512 colors
all color processed internally at 15-bit precision
compatible with any standard VGA monitor (800x600 @ 72Hz)
background graphics
•
512x512 pixel character background
•
256 characters, each with independent 4 color palette
•
pixel-smooth X-Y wraparound scroll
•
foreground graphics
•
each sprite is 16x16 pixels with per-pixel transparency
•
each sprite can use 256, 16 or 4 colors
•
four-way rotate and flip
•
96 sprites per scan-line, 1536 texels per line
•
pixel-perfect sprite collision detection
Audio output is a stereo 12-bit frequency synthesizer
•
64 independent voices 10-8000 Hz
•
per-voice sine wave or white noise
•
sample playback channel
•
•
•
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