VGA has five years to live

[ChuckT]

This news will have an effect on microcontrollers as VGA will be less popular and current microcontrollers may not be fast enough to drive HDMI video.

Say Goodbye to VGA Graphics as Intel and AMD Partner for the Execution

http://www.technewsworld.com/story/VGA- ... 1291926599

VGA Given 5 Years to Live

http://www.technewsworld.com/story/VGA- ... 71420.html

(I fixed the link.)

[kc5tja]

ChuckT wrote:

http://it.tmcnet.com/topics/it/articles/125118-say-goodbye-vga-graphics-as-intel...

Bad link -- the server responds with "Bad Request" when clicked on.

[kc5tja]

Quote:

Both Intel and AMD will also stop supporting low-voltage differential signaling (LVDS) by 2013.

Umm...I'd like to see them try this, since HDMI uses LVDS as its signaling technique.

[ChuckT]

I fixed the link.

[ElEctric_EyE]

I really hate to say it, as I'm not anti 5V even though it may so at times, but VGA is 5V tech and as such, it's being outpaced by faster and less power hungry tech. But the article is mainly talking about laptop PC's...

There's still going to be VGA (640x480+) type displays (LCD, TFT) available for a long time I think. Some companies are coming around with LCD tech, with controllers, for this lower RES market. And they're cheap!

There's no VGA connector, but a 8/16 bit interface with R/W, O2, and CS, very fast too @50+MHz.

[kc5tja]

Actually, it's 3-bit serial (1 for red, 1 green, 1 blue) clocked very, very fast. HDMI is just DVI with a new connector.

[ElEctric_EyE]

Are you talking about a specification or a product?...

Oh, you're talking about what Intel & AMD are doing?

[Oneironaut]

Just thought it would be fun to revive this prediction, now that 5 years has passed.

Being in a position where I replace several workstations, servers, and monitors every month, I say...

VGA Lives on!!

Have yet to see a single new computer or monitor without the ability to plug in a 15 pin analog VGA port.

I will report back on this in the year 2020 (seriously).

Brad

[GARTHWILSON]

Oneironaut wrote:

Just thought it would be fun to revive this prediction, now that 5 years has passed.

Being in a position where I replace several workstations, servers, and monitors every month, I say...

VGA Lives on!!

Perhaps not in all resolutions? Our son convinced me to replace the huge high-res CRT monitor I was using with this Linux computer a couple of years ago with a thin one on the basis that the power savings would pay for it in a year (although I have not seen the corresponding $10/month reduction in the bill-- or any reduction at all for that matter), and then I also tried on on my DOS machine where I use 1024x768. The newer thin flat-screen monitor would not do 1024x768 though, so it went back down to 640x480 which of course was illegible, so I had to keep the big CRT monitor.

Some will always be saying that something has only a short time to live though, and in some ways they'll be right but in other ways they won't. There are still a couple of companies making professional-grade analog recording tape for studios. In fact, someone is still making brand-new 8" floppy discs (and 5.25", and 3"). RS-232's death was announced long ago, yet it lives on (which I'm glad for). Photographic film, I'm not so sure about.

[BigDumbDinosaur]

ChuckT wrote:

VGA Given 5 Years to Live

Funny! We have a half dozen machines in our shop right now getting hardware updates and guess what? The PCI-E video cards we are using all have both digital and analog outputs. What happened?

Oh, don't forget that SCSI and TIA-232 (aka RS-232) was declared dead so many times I can't count that high.

[BigDumbDinosaur]

GARTHWILSON wrote:

Perhaps not in all resolutions? Our son convinced me to replace the huge high-res CRT monitor I was using with this Linux computer a couple of years ago with a thin one on the basis that the power savings would pay for it in a year (although I have not seen the corresponding $10/month reduction in the bill-- or any reduction at all for that matter), and then I also tried on on my DOS machine where I use 1024x768. The newer thin flat-screen monitor would not do 1024x768 though, so it went back down to 640x480 which of course was illegible, so I had to keep the big CRT monitor.

Not sure what sort of monitor you got. The Viewsonics that we ship with our workstations all support 1024×768 just fine and in fact, support everything from 640×480 to 1920×1080.

As for the power consumption angle, there is about a 5:1 difference between a 19 inch CRT unit and a modern LED-backlit monitor. Whether you will notice that or not in your electric bill remains to be seen. In larger office installations that we have converted from CRT to LED/LCD, the client always sees a reduction in electricity consumption, and not just because the monitors use less power.

[kc5tja]

BigDumbDinosaur wrote:

ChuckT wrote:

VGA Given 5 Years to Live

Funny! We have a half dozen machines in our shop right now getting hardware updates and guess what? The PCI-E video cards we are using all have both digital and analog outputs. What happened?

Oh, don't forget that SCSI and TIA-232 (aka RS-232) was declared dead so many times I can't count that high.

And, yet, for the last three years, none of my equipment at home or what we use at the office have VGA ports, and none support SCSI except as a software protocol over SATA, Thunderbolt, or Ethernet. If they're not dead, they absolutely are on life-support.

[Oneironaut]

Often DVI-D has an analog channel, so until you pull the cable, you can't know for sure if you are free of VGA!



Brad

kc5tja wrote:

BigDumbDinosaur wrote:

ChuckT wrote:

VGA Given 5 Years to Live

Funny! We have a half dozen machines in our shop right now getting hardware updates and guess what? The PCI-E video cards we are using all have both digital and analog outputs. What happened?

Oh, don't forget that SCSI and TIA-232 (aka RS-232) was declared dead so many times I can't count that high.

And, yet, for the last three years, none of my equipment at home or what we use at the office have VGA ports, and none support SCSI except as a software protocol over SATA, Thunderbolt, or Ethernet. If they're not dead, they absolutely are on life-support.

[kc5tja]

My Dell monitors only have digital pins. In fact, none of my computers even have DVI outs anymore (only HDMI), so I can't even use them anymore without adapters (and that means reduced resolutions). No analog. Even on our TV in the living room, DVD is HDMI out, TV is HDMI in. The only analog that supports is S-Video.

Like I said, VGA is on life support.

[BigDumbDinosaur]

kc5tja wrote:

BigDumbDinosaur wrote:

ChuckT wrote:

VGA Given 5 Years to Live

Funny! We have a half dozen machines in our shop right now getting hardware updates and guess what? The PCI-E video cards we are using all have both digital and analog outputs. What happened?

Oh, don't forget that SCSI and TIA-232 (aka RS-232) was declared dead so many times I can't count that high.

And, yet, for the last three years, none of my equipment at home or what we use at the office have VGA ports, and none support SCSI except as a software protocol over SATA, Thunderbolt, or Ethernet. If they're not dead, they absolutely are on life-support.

SAS is steadily growing—all of our current server production uses SAS hardware, the lone exception being the DVD drive, which is SATA.

We use several different types of video cards for PC workstation purposes, all of which come with both VGA and DVI outputs, the latter with the analog pins as well.