In my previous Instructable I have shown how to build a retro 8-bit computer running BASIC, by means of two Arduino, and with an output signal in B&W for a TV screen.

Now I will show how to build the same computer, but with the output signal in color for a VGA monitor!

You can input the variables and the BASIC program with a PS2 keyboard, and it generates the output for a VGA monitor with a text resolution of 24 columns x 10 rows of 5x6 pixels characters, in four colors. You can see it in action in the upper video. The program can then be saved on the Arduino EEPROM, and you can still control the I/O pins directly via Basic dedicated commands.

This project can also be used to print simple text messages on the monitor, as shown in the third picture in this page.

One Arduino is the "master", and it runs Tiny Basic Plus, a C implementation of Tiny Basic, with a focus on support for Arduino. It also control a PS2 keyboard. The output is then sent via the serial port to the second Arduino which generates the VGA output thanks to the VGAx library.

The idea to use one or more Arduino to create an old style PC running a dialect of Basic is not new but, as far as I know, none of them has a color output. In some projects available on the net, people used LCD displays, while in others, to allow the use of monitors, it has been used the TVout library, which is B&W. Furthermore in many of these projects special shields or hardware has to be build. Here you need just two Arduino, few resistors and the connector for the PS2 keyboard and the monitor, as shown in the above pictures.