Arduino Etch-A-Sketch With VGA Screen Unveiled (video)

Rob Cai has used and Arduino Uno development Board together with an old VGA display to create an awesome digital representation of the iconic Etch-a-Sketch mechanical drawing toy invented by André Cassagnes.

The digital Arduino Etch-a-SketchConsists of a couple of wooden boxes which have been equipped with two potenziometers, two buttons, few resistors and a DSUB15 (VGA) connector together with a few lines of code. Check out the demonstration video below to learn more.

Cai explains a little more about the inspiration behind the Arduino Etch-a-Sketch project, and has kindly published step-by-step instructions to the Instructables website allowing you to create your very own if desired.

When I was a child I have spent a lot of time playing with “Etch a Sketch”, a classical game where you can draw sketches on a plastic board turning two wheels. Recently I realized that not only it can be reproduced in colors with an Arduino on a VGA monitor, but that I already have all the necessary hardware. All I need are few lines of code!
The hardware is indeed the same of my first Instructables: VGA Pong with Arduino Uno. The only needed components are two potenziometers, two buttons, few resistors and a DSUB15 (VGA) connector. As usual, no supporting IC or special shields! You can see it running on this video.
I used Arduino IDE 1.6.4. and the VGAx library done by Sandro Maffiodo aka Smaffer and publish on GitHub here. This library allows to use four color with a resolution of 120 x 60 pixels. One button is to clear the screen, the second to choose the color. One wheel moves the cursor horizontally and the other vertically. Sound is available too.