CHUSBIE552

Wednesday 27 May 2015

Pi Supply Gert VGA666 Software Setup and Test


This is how to Set up the Gert VGA666 for Pi Supply I have a previous post on assembling the components if you haven't already done so please check it out here.

Installing and Configuring software 


Be aware that you are changing the where the Pi is going to output it video if you have the option I would recommend setting up over an SSH connection.

Firstly you'll need to download the required software to run the Gert VGA 666. Make sure your Pi has an internet connection.
git clone https://github.com/fenlogic/vga66.git


Then you will need to copy the driver file into /boot/ and rename it.
cd vga666/setup/
sudo cp dt-blob-dpi.bin /boot/
sudo mv /boot/dt-blob-dpi.bin /boot/dt-blob.bin

Now the final step is to add it to your raspberry pi configuration.

So to open the configuration file.
sudo nano /boot/config.txt
The you'll need to add.
 enable_dpi_lcd=1
display_default_lcd=1
This will enable the VGA output. Then you can set the output resolutions by adding
dpi_group=2
dpi_mode=82
 For 1080p @60Hz or.
dpi_group=2
dpi_mode=86
 For 1366 x 768 @60Hz





These are the two screen modes I have tried myself please now the resolution values are the same as setting the resolution for the HDMI output, a full list can be found here.

Problems you may run into 

The first time that I tried this the VGA work for about 10 seconds of boot time the the text turned yellow and then vanished dropping my screen into power saving.


I was using a Rasbian image that had some of the GPIO setup for various tasks so it was 'grabbing' some of the GPIO for other tasks this was fixed with a fresh burn of Raspbian.




In conclusion 

This is great add-on to the Raspberry Pi and the documentation makes for interesting reading as it goes into an explanation of how it generates and analogue signal from the GPIO header, and makes for great learning and soldering practice.

This is in no way the perfect solution for VGA output on the Raspberry as it will have the occasional slight shimmer on the display and it uses huge chuck of you GPIO to drive it. So if your you are looking for a VGA output from your Raspberry Pi I'd recommend a good HDMI to VGA adapter.

So I award this 3 of 5 Sparks it was fun to assemble the documentation could be a little clearer but as a learning exercise it's fantastic.

3 comments:

  1. Do you know if this can drive two screens, with both screens running in portrait mode? I can do this with one hdmi screen using "display_rotate" in /boot/config.txt.

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    Replies
    1. I know it is possible to drive an HDMI and VGA monitor at the same time but rotation I'm not sure on I'd suggest adding something along the lines of dpi_display_rotate= 90?

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  2. hello,
    can you tell me how i can drive two monitors via hdmi and vga?i was able to make my own vga666 and it works but i only drive vga and if i want to go back to hdmi i always have to edit config.txt again.

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