ESP32 Terminal

Don't you think it's a waste of money to have a monitor and keyboard always attached to your server, only to display `htop` of some other status dashboard?

That's why I made this tiny terminal emulator. It uses the Makerfabs ESP32-S3 Parallel TFT with Touch 3.5'' ILI9488.

Flashing the device

1. Clone the esp32 terminal repository

2. Open it in VS Code with Platformio

3. Build the project and flash the device

Use the VS Code/Platformio graphical interface or type

pio run -t upload

Configure the server

You have to configure the server to make this device a terminal `tty` device. All instructions are in the readme. The readme is quite long, but don't let that scare your away, it's mostly copy-and-paste of the commands. Some experience with the command line interface is recommended.

To start, type this on your Linux computer:

sudo systemctl enable --now [email protected]

Now you should see the login screen. To get colors or make it auto reconnect, follow the instructions in the readme.

Connect

When connected, you see the login screen.

To type things, it will show an on screen keyboard. Typing with fingers is hard (practice helps, though). Typing is easier with a capacitive touch pen.

When logged in, you can run any command, like `htop`, which shows the most important status.

With magnets, you can attach it to your server or server cabinet.

Now you can attach it to the server of to a server rack or cabinet.

During development I have leaned heavily on Claude.