You just want to use a plain old LCD/LED VGA monitor hooked up to your Commodore 128 to give you 16-colors and 80-characters of text.  easily and cheaply.  Maybe you'd like to enjoy playing some 80-column games or programming assembly using Merlin 128 which requires 80-columns, or maybe you just want options.

This adapter is used to connect the rear 9-pin RGBI port on the Commodore 128 to a 15-pin VGA cable which then connects to a 15-kHz-capable VGA monitor.  This gives you 16-color output and 80-Columns (double the 40-columns of the VIC-II chip) of text using the VDC Chip inside the 128.

What are the requirements?

This solution requires a VGA monitor that can sync to a 15-kHz signal.  Normally, VGA uses a horizontal frequency of 31.5kHz.  But, the Commodore 128 basically outputs a CGA signal which is a 15-kHz digital RGBI standard.  It's this standard of the Commodore 128 that this solution is geared towards.

The good news is that there are both old and modern VGA monitors capable of displaying 15-kHz (Dell, Acer, Asus, BenQ, etc.).  Before purchasing, be sure to visit this link for a list of monitors that can support 15-kHz:  http://15khz.wikidot.com/  The screenshot above was taken from a 24" Dell P2416D which works perfectly as does a 19.5" Acer G206HQL 

This is a complete DIY soldering kit.  It Includes all the components tuned for great color separation, BOM / Soldering instructions, and the PCB - you just need to supply the soldering and a supported VGA Monitor.

* The last 2 pictures show what it will look like after you complete the assembly.

* This is a community project based on the hard work of Frank Buss (https://frank-buss.de/c128/vdc/index.html), C64iSTANBUL, and others.