Build Your Own Pocketable Offline Media Server
Jackson Studner’s Jcorp Nomad is a small, pocketable offline media server that you can take anywhere.
Here’s a scenario for you: you take your family camping and your kids are, predictably, less than impressed with the crackling fire and twinkling stars. They want to watch Bluey on their tablet, but there definitely isn’t any Wi-Fi or even cellular service out in the wilderness. What do you do? The answer is to prepare better next time by building Jackson Studner’s Jcorp Nomad offline media server.
Jcorp Nomad is a small, USB-powered gadget that serves media files through a web interface that is accessible via its own local Wi-Fi hotspot — no internet connectivity required. It is a pretty niche device, but one that could be very useful to people in situations where nothing else does the job. Simply load up a micro SD card with the media files (like music and movies) that you want. Then plug the Jcorp Nomad into a USB power source, such as a portable battery bank or a car adapter. Once it starts up, you can use any device (smartphone, tablet, laptop, etc.) to connect to Wi-Fi network, access the web interface through your browser, and start streaming the content.
Studner’s work went into the software development and Jcorp Nomad relies on affordable off-the-shelf hardware that is easy to find. To make your own, you need at least two things: a Waveshare ESP32-S3 development board with built-in 1.47” display and a micro SD card with a capacity of at least 16GB — though you’ll probably want more if you plan on using this for movies. You can also 3D-print the provided enclosure if you want some protection, which seems like a good idea.
You don’t need any programming experience to upload the code to the ESP32. All you need to do is use the code provided by Studner and the Arduino IDE. If you like, you can change the Wi-Fi name and password in that code. But you can also use the defaults if you prefer.
Once you have the ESP32 running that code, you can load up the micro SD card with your media. It does need to follow a specific folder and file structure, so be sure to adhere to the instructions provided. Each kind of media also needs to be in the proper format: MP4 for movies and TV shows, MP3 for music, PDF for books, and JPG for images.
Now you can easily access your media on any device, no matter where you are!