VGA output from the iPad

Ah Ha! Finally got the VGA output attachment for the iPad to work. Well, to be honest, "Derek" at Best Buy did. I'm drawing for a great client next week out in Vegas, and now they've decided they want me to be able to have my iPad images show on the monitor in our booth. I'm cool with that - it'll be fun to see them that large, and will "draw" people over to the booth. Just one tiny thing... that "tech-y" stuff? That's on the other side of the brain for me. I knew the iPad would do what they wanted with the VGA attachment, and I knew the programs I draw in, ArtStudio and Sketchbook, had the ability to project on a screen, but exactly HOW do to get them to do it, I had no idea.

So, I made the first trip to Best Buy. On this trip I bought the VGA attachment and a VGA cord. You need both. The total for them was about $75 ( I got the 8 ft long VGA cord). I brought my new purchases home, and the first thing I did was to call my buddy Scott Sullivan, who with his lovely talented wife, Angie Jordan, are really pioneering the iPad caricatures. (Check out their website , www. digitalblacksmiths.com , and their videos on YouTube for lots of great info and art.) Scott told me what to do, how easy it all was. So, I plugged the VGA attachment to my ipad, the VGA cord to it, and then the other end of the cord I hooked up to my laptop, and... nothing. I called Scott AGAIN ( thanks for your patience with me, buddy! ). Oh... it seems that neither of the laptops I have actually have VGA OUT. Neither does my shiny big iMac 27". Neither do ANY televisions in my house. I knew in THEORY this was all supposed to work, but I didn't want my client to be disappointed when I am there in Vegas if I can't make it work.

So, I did the only logical thing. I went back to Best Buy. To Derek again, who'd sold me the stuff the day before. I told him my issue, and said ( nicely ), that if he couldn't make this work, I was going to return the merchandise for a refund. He wasn't at all flustered, being the tech-y, left brained kind of guy he is.

He took the VGA cord and plugged it into the back of a monitor they had on display in the store...
...right into what, for me, had been a very elusive VGA output port. For the right brained artsy types of you out there like I am, it seems most VGA ports are now color coded BLUE. As you can see from the first photo of this post, once we had it hooked up, my iPad did exactly what it was supposed to do. Success!

I hope this helps anyone else out there looking to do the same thing....