OSD IC required

Hi David,

If you want a micro to drive VGA monitor.

For Composite video

These guys might have stock of both

This works well, and the source is local.

Wont directly do mirror text, but fills all the other criteria.

Hi David, Someone has already mentioned noPC as a possible solution. This product as well as many others are designed for VGA, not for genlocking PAL/NTSC monitors.

If VGA is suitable you may consider the Thumbnail VGA module if you are adding a component to your PCB.

Unlike another VGA unit out there this one does not require special communications framing etc. You can communicate at megabaud rates if you like or use the SPI or I2C bus. The CPU is a 32-bit ARM7 running at

BTW, there is an updated version in the pipeline with on-board external RAM (vs on-chip RAM) offering much higher resolutions and speed.

David wrote:

Nice stuff Peter. But Forth? *gasp*

Dave :)

:) Forth, yes! But why gasp? :)

Consider Forth a command line interpreter then at it's simplest level, but one that you can extend with simple text. So instead of simply sending long strings of gobbledygook you can define your own "command" which just becomes another Forth word and then pass parameters to your command. In the slave terminal mode the text received is processed character by character and displayed. It is possible to escape to the Forth command line interpreter with and delimit with to run the "command" and return to character mode terminal.

You define (using ....):

: BOLD ( scale -- ) 2 * X* 4 * Y* RED PEN WHITE PAPER ;

For then on you send a command:

and then your text:

ALERT

BTW, the Forth is multitasking so you can by the same method create tasks that might just display a clock readout and perform an alarm function, all independently of the host.

Could it be simpler or more versatile?

Because Forth is, well, Forth. How many people using it worldwide these days, a few hundred? :->

I have inherited a TMS320 based DSP design which uses a custom Forth compiler/interpreter/operating system. It's oh-so-maintainable - NOT! Forth is often called a "Write Only" language, because once you've written it you can't read the damn thing again! Forth is big in Germany, I've heard that half a dozen die-hard uni professors turn up to the yearly conference. I believe they have their own t-shirts and everything :->

Yep, by using a language that everyone else uses! :-P

A few people still believe Forth is the ultimate language and will eventually take over the world. It's nice to have something to believe in! :->

Seriously though, nice projects.

Regards Dave :)

Ok Dave, it's like this. Can you put aside your many misconceptions about Forth and how many you think might be using it and see it for what it is. I don't ask anyone to write Forth, but neither do I cowtow to the majority. Everyone uses Microsoft but do you think they make the best O/S?

Using expressions such as "Forth is often called a "Write Only" language..." doesn't lend any credence to the statement. Any software in any language that is poorly written will be "Write Only". I don't really want to get caught up in any discussions though. There was a message posted today referring to this so called "write only" statement. Here is the easily available "google groups" link to it:

Anyway, if you can do it simpler and easier, then I'm certainly not stopping you, though I still have not seen it done easier and simpler with such an efficient use of memory and resources despite the heckles.

Can you refute the simplicity of extending the "command line interpreter"?

Is a simple stack based language too difficult to grasp? :)

David L. J>> David L. J>>> Nice stuff Peter.

The OSD device I am looking for would ideally have composite video (1V) out.

It will be interfaced to a PIC18F6720 8-bit microcontroller.

I am looking for IC only that will solder onto the main application PCB.

There will be several modes of operation.

1. Incoming video is bypassed via a switch and routed directly to composite video out.
2. Incoming Video has text overlayed onto the image and appears on output
3. Graphics and text are created by the micro and the OSD IC is used to generate comosite vide out in stand-alone mode.

Regards

David