Have you ever spotted something in a catalog or on a website and just known you had to build a project around that one part? That’s how [nilseuropa] felt about the Waveshare ESP32-S3-RLCD-4.2, which — as you might guess from the name — pairs an ESP32-S3 with a reflective LCD. With a screen reminiscent of a palmtop of yore, [nilseuropa] wanted a personal device, and needed something to run on it. That’s where Solar OS comes in.
Physically he’s paired the Waveshare board with a mini keyboard and put them together in a handsome 3D printed case with a battery. The slabtop form-factor was more for ease-of-creation than any preference; in the project’s reddit thread [nils] is reaching out for help making something cooler, possibly of the palmtop form-factor. He also describes some of the thinking behind his operating system.
H’s not starting entirely from scratch: it’s based on FreeRTOS and the ESP-IDE toolset. Right now all applications are built with the OS into a single binary, while the SD card on the Waveshare board handles persistent storage. The interface is pure text, with all applications launched via shell commands. That doesn’t mean you have to go back to your PC to add anything, however.
The system is user-programmable, with Python and Lua scripting as “first class citizens”, having access to the hardware through the Solar OS APIs.As for the applications built into the firmware, it looks like along with the serial terminal, you get quite a lot: an orthodox file manager à la Norton Commander, networking tools that include a web browser and chat client, MP3 player, image viewer, text editor, games, and more.
While they are obviously pretty niche projects, we do appreciate that there’s a growing collection of homebrew operating systems that you can run on your bespoke computing device.
I think i may be possible to add a PV element layer to the bottom layer of an LCD and get solar charging from the display from ambient light.
Just a thought i had looking at a glass PV element from a garden lamp….
I bought a version of this reflective LCD but with an easier connector, and it is slightly translucent.
There are solar watches that put their solar panel underneath a mother of pearl dial, so why can’t we do the same thing and get an ultra-efficient harvesting circuit?
My thoughts precisely…
If you think about that stack in a LCD panel the bottom layer is mostly made from Mylar mirrors.
Most people that want this sort of device would be impressed if part of the process involved adding the PV glass in lieu of the common reflective layer… than as it’s powered off it can recover even large cells over time just being in light.
The Display is a large part of all systems like this, It would be trick to figure out a thin layer PV to insert into a common display and add that option.
If enough hackers start doing it, China will add the function to commercially sold parts soon enough.
It just seems like lost real estate a crafty person can capitalize on adding solar recharge to the already watt sipping ESP32 setup.
Perhaps a multi battery setup if the device is outside a lot…
It really made the wheels spin as i read the story….