# Making a VGA Driver in SystemVerilog

> How to build a VGA driver using SystemVerilog on an FPGA board.
- Title: Making a VGA Driver in SystemVerilog · Lukaswerner | Shortify
- Summary: How to build a VGA driver using SystemVerilog on an FPGA board. A student created a working VGA driver in SystemVerilog for an FPGA board, displaying an…
- Keywords: systemverilog, vga, fpga, de10-lite, color, transparency, asterix, alpha channel, technology, startups, Making, Driver
- Source: Lukaswerner — https://lukaswerner.com/post/2026-10-20@bottom-up-vga
- Read time: 1 min
- Topics: systemverilog, vga, fpga, de10-lite, color, transparency, asterix, alpha channel, technology, startups
## What Is VGA?
VGA is a display standard from the IBM PS/2 in 1987 using cathode ray tubes.
## Screen Refresh Rate
The VGA driver needs a 25.175 MHz clock to send pixels in time for 60Hz refresh.
## Implementation Approach
The DE10-lite FPGA board has a 50MHz clock that can be divided to 25MHz for VGA.
## Horizontal Timing
640 visible pixels plus 16 front porch, 96 sync pulse, and 16 back porch equals 800 total pixels.
## Vertical Timing
480 visible pixels plus 33 front porch, 2 sync pulse, and 10 back porch equals 525 total pixels.
## Color Mapping
A simple table maps 4-bit inputs to 12-bit color outputs for limited switches.
## Image Display
The student loaded an Asterix image from ROM using a custom color mapping system.
## Transparency Support
The student implemented alpha channel mixing for transparency in the image display.
## Hardware Testing
The VGA driver works on a monitor with a beaver orange color display.
## Final Result
The student created a working VGA driver displaying an image with transparency support.
## Key takeaway

A student created a working VGA driver in SystemVerilog for an FPGA board, displaying an image with transparency support.