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Raspberry Pi Pico Powers VGA Breakout Kit for Z80 RC2014 Boards
The team at Z80 Kits has unveiled a new VGA breakout kit that uses our favorite microcontroller, the Raspberry Pi Pico. According to the details provided by Z80 Kits, the RC2014 Pi Pico VGA Terminal is a custom PCB designed to provide VGA output for any RC2014 model board.
The Pico is used to generate VGA output which should work with most standard VGA monitors. In addition to the VGA support, it also accepts keyboard input via USB. Many USB keyboards will work with the Pi Pico VGA Terminal, but the Z80 Kit team reported compatibility issues with some—your mileage may vary.
The Pi Pico VGA Terminal is designed to operate using Port A or Port B on boards using the enhanced bus. The Pico is programmed to convert the RC2014 serial out to the VGA port, and to convert USB keyboard input to serial.
The firmware update process is straightforward as it’s mostly a drag and drop process. The Pi Pico VGA Terminal needs to be loaded on a PC in bootloader mode. It will appear as a storage device where you can drop the new UF2 firmware file.
Ash Hill is a contributing writer for Tom's Hardware with a wealth of experience in the hobby electronics, 3D printing and PCs. She manages the Pi projects of the month and much of our daily Raspberry Pi reporting while also finding the best coupons and deals on all tech.
