gCore - ESP32 Dev board for portable graphics gadgets
Posted: Sun Nov 06, 2022 11:47 pm
I designed a high-end development board using the ESP32 WROVER for my tCam project called gCore, short for "Gadget Core". It's meant to be used as a base to build portable battery powered devices that require a graphics or GUI.
It has all the features I always wanted but didn't find on other dev boards including the fastest graphics on a 480x320 pixel capacitive touch display (8-bit parallel port to LCD driven by native VSPI pins @ 80 MHz), high-speed 4-bit SDMMC interface to a Micro-SD Card, full power-path charging/power circuit (not just hanging load right off LiPo rails), RTC with power-on alarm, soft power control with critical-battery shutdown and hard power off capability, backlight dimming and internal voltage/current monitoring.
github repository: gCore
I used to to make a thermal imaging camera called tCam. But it can be used for a lot of things and I wrote an Arduino library and some demos. Group Gets is running a campaign if anyone is interested. It's a bit expensive now because all the extra features required extra chips, and they're building it in USA at low volume but I hope to reduce the cost over time. But if you're looking significantly better graphics performance than other boards, this board has it.
You can see a video showing off some of the features. And there are other demos and a port of Bodmer's TFT_eSPI driver which just screams in my github repositories.
You can do stuff like make a remote control for WiFi Light bulbs that wakes up when you pick it up and draws a control that's appropriate for the type of LED bulb you're controlling.
It has all the features I always wanted but didn't find on other dev boards including the fastest graphics on a 480x320 pixel capacitive touch display (8-bit parallel port to LCD driven by native VSPI pins @ 80 MHz), high-speed 4-bit SDMMC interface to a Micro-SD Card, full power-path charging/power circuit (not just hanging load right off LiPo rails), RTC with power-on alarm, soft power control with critical-battery shutdown and hard power off capability, backlight dimming and internal voltage/current monitoring.
github repository: gCore
I used to to make a thermal imaging camera called tCam. But it can be used for a lot of things and I wrote an Arduino library and some demos. Group Gets is running a campaign if anyone is interested. It's a bit expensive now because all the extra features required extra chips, and they're building it in USA at low volume but I hope to reduce the cost over time. But if you're looking significantly better graphics performance than other boards, this board has it.
You can see a video showing off some of the features. And there are other demos and a port of Bodmer's TFT_eSPI driver which just screams in my github repositories.
You can do stuff like make a remote control for WiFi Light bulbs that wakes up when you pick it up and draws a control that's appropriate for the type of LED bulb you're controlling.