Jeff_T

[Chris Savage]

Just checking in to see how you're doing. You've been quiet lately. I hope all is well with you.

[Jeff_T]

@Chris Savage , I am just recovering from the holiday getting ready for the next one lol. Regards to all forum members I hope y'all being good.

I check in here every day but at the moment I don't have a lot going on, I have been toying around with ESP NOW using Arduino + Micropython, looking at DCC a little I am also looking at using the esp32 as a usb host but these things are only for personal interest, nothing serious.

What I am serious about is a contender that rivals the Rasberry Pi, or does it !! ?. I just need to let go of the money lol, but I will eventually.

I am talking about the ESP32 P4 and here are two links I am thinking of purchasing from, I will only buy from one source and I am leaning to the Waveshare option in particular the kit with the 10 inch display.

https://shop.m5stack.com/products/m5stack-tab5-iot-development-kit-esp32-p4?srsltid=AfmBOoo25IT7U7B1fUyuwou7C1mcYYsDqH_twuu_DPVoXQ-GQpZ8wkmQ

https://www.waveshare.com/esp32-p4-module-dev-kit.htm

[Chris Savage]

@Chris Savage , I am just recovering from the holiday getting ready for the next one lol. Regards to all forum members I hope y'all being good.

I think that's how many of us feel when the holidays seem stacked and various family are spread out.

I looked at your links. Very nice. Looks like a lot for minimal investment. Is there a particular project you're hoping to realize out of this platform?

As a note, not everything has to be a serious project. I rather enjoyed your posts documenting the experimenting you were doing. People sometimes find that interesting, enjoyable and good for project ideas.

[Jeff_T]

I don't have a particular project but I did get interested in model railway control, I started looking at electronic turnout control using servos and ESP NOW where many servos could be controlled using a wireless system so assembly and disassembly of a layout would be considerably easier. This led me to look at DCC which superimposes a signal onto the track to  control engines and accessories from a central controller. Of course these things have already been done and there are many variations of the theme available even an Arduino DCC controller. So I wanted to see if I could do something similar in Micropython at a significantly lower cost and I thought how cool it would be to have a 10 inch touch screen with an overlay of the track where you could set a point or several points and get a visual of the red/green signals and crossing gates etc. You can see I am getting carried away here lol but that is how my mind works and what keeps me happy. I will let you know when I eventually get my P4.

[Chris Savage]

I don't have a particular project but I did get interested in model railway control, I started looking at electronic turnout control using servos and ESP NOW where many servos could be controlled using a wireless system so assembly and disassembly of a layout would be considerably easier. This led me to look at DCC which superimposes a signal onto the track to  control engines and accessories from a central controller. Of course these things have already been done and there are many variations of the theme available even an Arduino DCC controller. So I wanted to see if I could do something similar in Micropython at a significantly lower cost and I thought how cool it would be to have a 10 inch touch screen with an overlay of the track where you could set a point or several points and get a visual of the red/green signals and crossing gates etc. You can see I am getting carried away here lol but that is how my mind works and what keeps me happy. I will let you know when I eventually get my P4.

Very ambitious. If it ever does become a project, feel free to start a thread in the member projects section. In the mean time, if you have successes at the various stages, you can post in the appropriate forum about your various experiments. I know I always keep track of the experiments others are doing. I often learn from them myself.

[Jeff_T]

@Chris Savage , I finally got the P4 with the 10 inch display. I'm having fun using the Waveshare examples and I am settling into a spot where I use Squareline Studio to create GUI's and then integrate them into Arduino IDE code that interfaces with the P4. Squareline Studio is like a front end for the lvgl library if your familiar with that. It's really nice to have a touch screen that is this large and touch responsive. Nothing serious as yet just enjoying the graphics, getting started was a little bit difficult, for me anyway, but I'm beginning to feel comfortable with still a long way to go.

[Chris Savage]

Squareline Studio is like a front end for the lvgl library if your familiar with that. It's really nice to have a touch screen that is this large and touch responsive.

I'm not familiar with it. The only GUIs I have created are on the PC, including using Visual Studio. So far, all of my microcontroller / microcomputer interfaces have been using text on LCD or 7-Segment Displays. I'd be interested to see any videos / photos you have of your demos.

[Jeff_T]

I'll try and put a video together. Squareline Studio is free to use for personal use and makes it easier to create GUI's for tft displays ranging from small to large. There are a lot of YouTube videos on the subject.

LVGL (Light and Versatile Graphics Library) is open source and was designed for use with microcontrollers, it's new to me also, I usually get by with the primitive shapes or uploaded images but using a larger screen I have found Squareline faster with better results.

The basic ESP32 P4 dev kit is only $20 from Waveshare, runs at ~400MHz has display and camera ports onboard I2S plus other features, I may buy another.

[Chris Savage]

LVGL (Light and Versatile Graphics Library) is open source and was designed for use with microcontrollers, it's new to me also, I usually get by with the primitive shapes or uploaded images but using a larger screen I have found Squareline faster with better results.

That's a good point. I have used the primitives on OLED screens of 128x64 or smaller, but I could see it taking much longer to draw the display that way on a higher resolution display, especially with complex graphics.

The basic ESP32 P4 dev kit is only $20 from Waveshare, runs at ~400MHz has display and camera ports onboard I2S plus other features, I may buy another.

Do you have a link for that?

[Jeff_T]

@Chris Savage https://www.waveshare.com/esp32-p4-module-dev-kit.htm?sku=30560

The basic kit is $19.99 and it looks like it comes with a small speaker and connector.

If you decide to get one then get one for me and we can share the cost of the goods and shipping.

If it's not on your wish list no worries I can wait a while before I get another.

[Chris Savage]

The basic kit is $19.99 and it looks like it comes with a small speaker and connector.

So, it does or does not come with the display?

[Jeff_T]

Unfortunately no, there are four dev kits associated with that particular board, here is a list of each kit

basic = $19.99 P4 + speaker
dev kit a =$29.99 P4 + speaker & camera
dev kit b $73.99 P4 + camera speaker & 7 inch touch screen
dev kit c $77.99 P4 + camera speaker & 10 inch touch screen

Waveshare have other options but this seemed the pretty good for the cost for me, I have the kit you have pictured but I thought having another basic board would be a good idea.

[Chris Savage]

Waveshare have other options but this seemed the pretty good for the cost for me, I have the kit you have pictured but I thought having another basic board would be a good idea.

Gotcha. Let me have a look again tomorrow and I will follow up within a day or two.

[Chris Savage]

dev kit c $77.99 P4 + camera speaker & 10 inch touch screen

I have the kit you have pictured but I thought having another basic board would be a good idea.

Okay, this weekend I am going to order some stuff. I am going to get kit c as well as an extra basic board for you to continue working on projects. I will let you know the ETA once I place the order and then I will arrange to send that to you.

[Jeff_T]

Awesome Chris, I have a pretty good handle on the graphics and yesterday I played the Starwars theme through the on board I2S but to have someone else to bounce ideas off will be great. I can definitely help you avoid some of the bloopers I made.