Alternative video output options?

Question

A couple months ago I reviewed the Atmel SAMA5D3 Xplained in a Road Test I participated in. The only thing that did not satisfy me was the lack of video output options. When I first tested the board I used terminal to access the board. I have since obtained a LCD Module and Adapter Board but at 4.3'' I find the screen a little small. I know there are larger LCD options out there, however I still dislike the lack of output options and want a much larger screen option. With the board still being rather new, there is a lack of information out there pertaining to tutorials and such, which is a little disappointing.

I was wondering if anyone has found a way to output the board to a larger monitor such as a computer monitor or TV without use of terminal or the on board LCD connector.

or even the option of use such screens using the on board LCD connector if output is otherwise impossible.

shabaz · Answer

Hi Cory,

The board is not intended for desktop use, so this probably explains why it doesn't have HDMI and so on. However, generally for development you might want to use SSH (it is way faster than trying to run a desktop on resource-constrained boards). You could in theory also do remote desktop options (like VNC or RDP server) however they can be a bit sluggish (certainly for VNC - RDP fares better from experience), if you can get the software compiled for the board.

shabaz · Answer

Hi Cory,

I just looked a little deeper and it appears the Atmel chip can handle actually very large displays - up to 2048x2048 according to the datasheet. It requires a parallel bus TFT display, which would not be easy to wire up - plus would need to provide the supplies for the CCFL or LED backlight. But feasible.