vga-simulator

Simulate display output of a VGA core by running a testbench.

Original VGA Simulator: https://ericeastwood.com/blog/vga-simulator-getting-started/

Adapted from pvieito/VGASimulator.py

Prerequisites

• This project was tested on Python 3.11.2. It is not guaranteed to work on other versions.
• Install dependencies:

pip install Pillow

Setup

Paste the contents of log_signals.vhdl into your VGA core testbench file. The process will write a text file with timestamped signal values.

The default filename is vga_out.txt.

Usage

Run ./vga_sim.py --help for usage instructions.

Or, run via the Python interpreter: python vga_sim.py --help

❯ ./vga_sim.py --help
usage: Draws images from a corresponding HDL simulation file.

positional arguments:
  filename              Output file from your testbench
  width                 Screen width in pixels (default: 640)
  height                Screen height in pixels (default: 480)
  px_clk                Pixel clock frequency in MHz (default: 25.175)
  hbp                   Length of horizontal back porch in pixels (default: 48)
  vbp                   Length of vertical back porch in pixels (default: 33)

options:
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit
  --max-frames MAX_FRAMES
                        Maximum number of frames to draw. Default: Draw all frames (default: -1)

Examples

The default configuration of the simulator is 640x480 @ 60Hz (standard). Simply run ./vga_sim.py vga_log.txt or, python vga_sim.py vga_log.txt.

Output images can be saved by using the save command in your image viewer.

To customize resolution/framerate/etc., use the positional command-line arguments specified in ./vga_sim.py --help.

Testing

To run unit tests, simply run python -m unittest in the root directory of the project. Test discovery will automatically detect and run tests.

Contributing

Found a bug? Submit an issue in the Issues pane.

Want to contribute? Draft a pull request with your proposed changes.