<![CDATA[Let's make a Pi Pico 2 powered video card.]]>Let's make a Pi Pico 2 powered video card.

This is going to be a long thread that either ends in glorious triumph or hilarious failure.

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/topic/3321b5e1-d1cf-4755-94c9-e31554305b3d/let-s-make-a-pi-pico-2-powered-video-card.RSS for NodeMon, 25 May 2026 11:25:27 GMTSat, 16 May 2026 15:59:27 GMT60<![CDATA[Reply to Let's make a Pi Pico 2 powered video card. on Tue, 19 May 2026 23:25:47 GMT]]>@gloriouscow this is a fundamental experience of outputting video out of an FPGA lol

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://infosec.exchange/ap/users/115754436941818773/statuses/116603823556354274https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://infosec.exchange/ap/users/115754436941818773/statuses/116603823556354274Tue, 19 May 2026 23:25:47 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Let's make a Pi Pico 2 powered video card. on Tue, 19 May 2026 22:55:58 GMT]]>There's a lot of ways I could just change the way the card works that would probably be absolutely fine and would be less of a pain in the ass to implement and debug, but there's something pleasing about matching the schematics.

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://oldbytes.space/users/gloriouscow/statuses/116603706280692133https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://oldbytes.space/users/gloriouscow/statuses/116603706280692133Tue, 19 May 2026 22:55:58 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Let's make a Pi Pico 2 powered video card. on Tue, 19 May 2026 22:29:46 GMT]]>its still kind of weird seeing like, readable text on a monitor, and knowing this isn't IBM or Tseng Labs or Cirrus Logic it's just GloriousCow.

I made a video card?? you can just do that? isn't it illegal?

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://oldbytes.space/users/gloriouscow/statuses/116603603313252479https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://oldbytes.space/users/gloriouscow/statuses/116603603313252479Tue, 19 May 2026 22:29:46 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Let's make a Pi Pico 2 powered video card. on Tue, 19 May 2026 22:27:37 GMT]]>We're getting there. Still have an issue with alignment of glyphs and attributes.

I'm not sure how, since my latch signals for characters and attributes match the simulation. But baffling bugs are the best kind of bugs.

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]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://oldbytes.space/users/gloriouscow/statuses/116603594812981740https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://oldbytes.space/users/gloriouscow/statuses/116603594812981740Tue, 19 May 2026 22:27:37 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Let's make a Pi Pico 2 powered video card. on Tue, 19 May 2026 18:23:12 GMT]]>@gloriouscow i love this sentence.

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.social/users/mavu/statuses/116602633739568842https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.social/users/mavu/statuses/116602633739568842Tue, 19 May 2026 18:23:12 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Let's make a Pi Pico 2 powered video card. on Tue, 19 May 2026 17:44:27 GMT]]>It helps not to wire your DRAM address pins backwards.

Still major issues to iron out.

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]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://oldbytes.space/users/gloriouscow/statuses/116602481369456906https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://oldbytes.space/users/gloriouscow/statuses/116602481369456906Tue, 19 May 2026 17:44:27 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Let's make a Pi Pico 2 powered video card. on Tue, 19 May 2026 16:12:10 GMT]]>solution: MOAR SIGNALS

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://oldbytes.space/users/gloriouscow/statuses/116602118486802183https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://oldbytes.space/users/gloriouscow/statuses/116602118486802183Tue, 19 May 2026 16:12:10 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Let's make a Pi Pico 2 powered video card. on Tue, 19 May 2026 15:57:07 GMT]]>Then you find yourself in the frustrating situation where all your signals match but your video card still emits tutti frutti.

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://oldbytes.space/users/gloriouscow/statuses/116602059334001092https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://oldbytes.space/users/gloriouscow/statuses/116602059334001092Tue, 19 May 2026 15:57:07 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Let's make a Pi Pico 2 powered video card. on Tue, 19 May 2026 15:30:09 GMT]]>I found a pretty decent way of checking my work against the digital simulation.

We can just run the card in a test harness in iVerilog, and export a CSV of signal states, so we can do a direct comparison against a CSV dumped from Digital.

This is a whole lot easier than using the oscilloscope lol.

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]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://oldbytes.space/users/gloriouscow/statuses/116601953269834536https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://oldbytes.space/users/gloriouscow/statuses/116601953269834536Tue, 19 May 2026 15:30:09 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Let's make a Pi Pico 2 powered video card. on Tue, 19 May 2026 03:44:18 GMT]]>@gloriouscow precisely.

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://floofy.tech/ap/users/116437150030599301/statuses/116599177791661568https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://floofy.tech/ap/users/116437150030599301/statuses/116599177791661568Tue, 19 May 2026 03:44:18 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Let's make a Pi Pico 2 powered video card. on Tue, 19 May 2026 00:44:27 GMT]]>@gloriouscow That is gorgeous. Iā€™d totally make a floor mat with that pattern.]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://deep13.social/objects/42b4222e-9a2d-4d1b-b3b7-5a2dc0d3f0a0https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://deep13.social/objects/42b4222e-9a2d-4d1b-b3b7-5a2dc0d3f0a0Tue, 19 May 2026 00:44:27 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Let's make a Pi Pico 2 powered video card. on Tue, 19 May 2026 00:36:48 GMT]]>@lucybarky col-arf-ul?

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://oldbytes.space/users/gloriouscow/statuses/116598440507148126https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://oldbytes.space/users/gloriouscow/statuses/116598440507148126Tue, 19 May 2026 00:36:48 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Let's make a Pi Pico 2 powered video card. on Tue, 19 May 2026 00:32:19 GMT]]>@gloriouscow sometimes my headspace looks like this

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://floofy.tech/ap/users/116437150030599301/statuses/116598422864868517https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://floofy.tech/ap/users/116437150030599301/statuses/116598422864868517Tue, 19 May 2026 00:32:19 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Let's make a Pi Pico 2 powered video card. on Tue, 19 May 2026 00:29:42 GMT]]>@ChuckMcManis digital can export your simulation to Verilog but it's quite ugly. I'm wanting to make something you can actually read that isn't just thirty chips tied together

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://oldbytes.space/users/gloriouscow/statuses/116598412556322387https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://oldbytes.space/users/gloriouscow/statuses/116598412556322387Tue, 19 May 2026 00:29:42 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Let's make a Pi Pico 2 powered video card. on Tue, 19 May 2026 00:28:25 GMT]]>The final version should probably not do this

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://oldbytes.space/users/gloriouscow/statuses/116598407500927379https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://oldbytes.space/users/gloriouscow/statuses/116598407500927379Tue, 19 May 2026 00:28:25 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Let's make a Pi Pico 2 powered video card. on Tue, 19 May 2026 00:28:12 GMT]]>@gloriouscow Xilinx's old ISE tool had a 'schematic' mode where you could draw schematics and it would poop out HDL for that.

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://chaos.social/users/ChuckMcManis/statuses/116598406658742443https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://chaos.social/users/ChuckMcManis/statuses/116598406658742443Tue, 19 May 2026 00:28:12 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Let's make a Pi Pico 2 powered video card. on Tue, 19 May 2026 00:25:48 GMT]]>I made it worse

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]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://oldbytes.space/users/gloriouscow/statuses/116598397242057975https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://oldbytes.space/users/gloriouscow/statuses/116598397242057975Tue, 19 May 2026 00:25:48 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Let's make a Pi Pico 2 powered video card. on Mon, 18 May 2026 23:52:12 GMT]]>Good enough, ship it

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]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://oldbytes.space/users/gloriouscow/statuses/116598265090921217https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://oldbytes.space/users/gloriouscow/statuses/116598265090921217Mon, 18 May 2026 23:52:12 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Let's make a Pi Pico 2 powered video card. on Mon, 18 May 2026 23:10:06 GMT]]>@gloriouscow šŸ˜†

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://defcon.social/users/970uts1d3/statuses/116598099554500773https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://defcon.social/users/970uts1d3/statuses/116598099554500773Mon, 18 May 2026 23:10:06 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Let's make a Pi Pico 2 powered video card. on Mon, 18 May 2026 23:09:08 GMT]]>@gloriouscow šŸ˜†

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://defcon.social/users/970uts1d3/statuses/116598095749646109https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://defcon.social/users/970uts1d3/statuses/116598095749646109Mon, 18 May 2026 23:09:08 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Let's make a Pi Pico 2 powered video card. on Mon, 18 May 2026 23:08:06 GMT]]>@970uts1d3 that's fine, I understand less than 1/8 of what i post

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://oldbytes.space/users/gloriouscow/statuses/116598091715783400https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://oldbytes.space/users/gloriouscow/statuses/116598091715783400Mon, 18 May 2026 23:08:06 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Let's make a Pi Pico 2 powered video card. on Mon, 18 May 2026 23:07:09 GMT]]>@gloriouscow I realized I only understand about 1/8 of all the things you say here. But I'm 100% here for this content.

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://defcon.social/users/970uts1d3/statuses/116598087953816464https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://defcon.social/users/970uts1d3/statuses/116598087953816464Mon, 18 May 2026 23:07:09 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Let's make a Pi Pico 2 powered video card. on Mon, 18 May 2026 22:00:37 GMT]]>the nice thing is i can just export things to GPIO pins, and then just look at the signal in the simulation and on my scope, and just visually check that they're doing the same thing

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://oldbytes.space/users/gloriouscow/statuses/116597826332436637https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://oldbytes.space/users/gloriouscow/statuses/116597826332436637Mon, 18 May 2026 22:00:37 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Let's make a Pi Pico 2 powered video card. on Mon, 18 May 2026 21:30:55 GMT]]>Now I get to translate this hot mess into Verilog.

Yay.

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]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://oldbytes.space/users/gloriouscow/statuses/116597709584728468https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://oldbytes.space/users/gloriouscow/statuses/116597709584728468Mon, 18 May 2026 21:30:55 GMT