The propeller is a great chip, it is simple once you get used to it and works very well for simple applications, but its video output could be better:

• Only 4 colors per area (exactly like NES graphics), only 6 bit color selections
• VGA resolution capped at NTSC resolution because of memory limitations
• Hard to get parallel interface

The solution? An FPGA.

This isn't the first time I have tried to make graphics devices using FPGAs and a parallel interface. Earlier on my #Z80 overpowered compute (possibly before I discovered HaD) I was trying to make... well a Z80 computer, but I overlooked some things and learned some hard lessons. So I had to literally start over. Well anyways I made a semi-nice graphics card designed to interface with the Z80 that also has a VGA connector and 8-bit DAC. It features a Mercury Board that stacks into a makeshift DIP64 socket.

Here is this old board:

I will improve it next time, promise!

And some weird test program I was trying to write for it I found:

Here is the bit configuration of the DAC:

0 red 0

1 red 1

2 grn 0

3 grn 1

4 blu 0

5 blu 1

6 brightness 0

7 brightness 1

This will be a better design than before.