- The conception of the raw GPU has shown random seeds each time the system was trying with written memory
- Inapgpu fought against environmental noise from simple USB cables
- A 12 MHz counter on an upgrade to 20 MHz caused constant instability
A dark project on GitHub shows how a equipment lover tried to build what he called the “worst video card of the second World”, a graphics card in text mode using only TTL doors.
By working under Leoneq handle, he published the “Inapgpu” repository to document his experience.
His goal was to surpass Ben Eater’s “worst video card” by making something less practical.
A minimum design that always exceeded the real limits VGA
Despite the deliberately use of raw methods, it could not reduce the output under a basic VGA resolution.
The project specifications list the VGA output at 800 x 600 (in fact SVGA) @ 60Hz, with an accessible resolution of 400 x 300 in monochrome.
The equipment was built from 21 integrated circuits, including counters, NAND doors and an EPROM working with a small SRAM.
By dealing with an EPROM of 1 MIBIT as a 1 -bit memory, Leoneq could load up to four characters of 255 characters each.
However, the use of three-state stamps and basic counter-arrangement led to visual artefacts and poor stability.
Even when you use a low -capacity memory and avoiding a microcontroller, the design has still not been able to degrade in something below VGA.
Leoneq admitted that the assembly process was clumsy, based on 0.12 mm thread on a protoboard rather than a printed circuit card.
He described the result as terrible and warned others “to use the FPGA instead” to avoid similar frustrations.
The HSYNC chronometer was led by a 12 -bit counter valued for only 12 MHz at 15V, but it pushed it to 20 MHz to double the Ben Eater pixel clock.
He compared only the “those” of accounts instead of complete numbers, a shortcut which introduced repeated signals without breaking the display.
The unconventional approach maintained the functional card, but it also revealed synchronization errors and an unstable outing.
It was never a viable graphics card because the image seeds occurred whenever he wrote in memory, because he could not write and read simultaneously.
In addition, the environmental noise, even from a nearby USB cable, distorted the display.
In addition, the characters lacked clarity due to the Roma power and the reading limits, while the unexplained lines appeared in the background.
Leoneq openly labeled the image as ugly and described the whole effort as a “enormous waste of time”.
Although the project has shown that a raw collection of TTL doors could generate an usable VGA signal, it also shows why modern designers prefer programmable logic like FPGA.
The Leoneq benchmark provides conversion tools and test code for Arduino Mega, but effort looks more like a technical joke than a practical product.
