Waveshare ESP32-S3-LCD-1.47 is an ESP32-S3 USB dongle with Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, high-capacity Flash and PSRAM, and a 1.47-inch LCD. Additionally, it has an onboard microSD card slot used for storage and some RGB LEDs for visual feedback. All these features make this tiny device suitable for applications like interactive displays, IoT devices, hardware pentesting, and more.
Previously we have written about the LILYGO T-HMI a similar ESP32-S3-based development board built for HMI applications, as well as the ESP32-S3-Touch-LCD-4.3B and Waveshare ESP32-S3 LCD Driver Board, but it must be the first time we’ve come across a USB dongle-like ESP32-S3 board with an integrated display.
ESP32-S3-LCD-1.47 specifications:
- Wireless MCU – Espressif Systems ESP32-S3R8
- CPU – Dual-core Tensilica LX7 @ up to 240 MHz with vector instructions for AI acceleration.
- Memory – 512KB RAM, 8MB PSRAM
- Storage – 384KB ROM
- Connectivity – 2.4 GHz WiFi 4 and Bluetooth 5.0 LE with support for long-range, up to 2Mbps data rate, mesh network.
- Storage
- 16MB flash
- MicroSD card slot
- Display
- 1.47-inch TFT LCD display
- Resolution – 320×172 pixels
- 262K color
- Display controller – ST7789 display controller
- USB – Onboard USB Type-A male port (connects directly to laptop or desktop)
- Expansion – 2x 9-pin headers with 13x GPIO, UART, 5V, 3.3V, GND
- Misc
- Built-in RGB LED with clear acrylic panel
- Reset and Boot buttons
- Onboard ceramic antenna
- Power Supply – 5V via USB Type-A male port regulated by ME6217C33M5G LDO (Onboard 3.3V and 5V Pins can also be used for power)
- Dimensions – 36.37 x 20.32mm (not including the USB port)
The company also mentions that this board supports various low-power modes with flexible clock management for low-power operations, so basically, it’s a gimmicky way of saying you have to use the light sleep, deep sleep, and the flexible clock management system of the ESP32-S3 to enable power down modes. The board can be programmed with the ESP-IDF framework using VSCode and Arduino plus the open-source LVGL library for GUI development. More information and a software setup guide can be found on the Waveshare Wiki page.
The ESP32-S3-LCD-1.47 USB dongle/development board can purchased on AliExpress for $16.99 plus shipping, and it should soon show up on Amazon along with other Waveshare ESP32-S3 boards with a display. Finally, the board can also be found on the Waveshare’s official store for $12.99 plus shipping.
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It’s not clear if the USB port is connected to the SoC’s OTG (and can then be used to emulate any USB deivce, HID, display, storage, whatever). It’s not clear either if the display is only a display or integrates a touch sensor. We could for example imagine using this device for OTP or MFA validation and such things.
Finally I suspect that the 2172×320 resolution is incorrect. Based on the device dimensions, I think the most likely would be that the first “2” is the one wrong and that it would be 172×320.
I’ve just checked the schematics. The USB data lines are indeed connected to the ESP32-S3. There’s no touchscreen in this model.
The resolution has been updated to 320×172.
I think the famous “but can it run DOOM?” is going to become “but can it run Meshtastic?” 😂
Unfortunately it does not seem to come with a case, so probably the display is not properly mounted on the device. At least from what i can see from the pictures
Lilygo had a dongle with display previously.
https://www.cnx-software.com/2022/10/24/t-dongle-s3-usb-dongle-esp32-s3-color-display/
Looks like this could run Linux if they used a very similar (apparently?) ESP32-S3-N8R8:
https://community.element14.com/challenges-projects/element14-presents/project-videos/w/documents/28339/episode-623-how-to-run-linux-on-an-esp32
Give your computer a computer for Christmas!
Yes, Linux can run on ESP32-S3:
But if you check the comments, boot time was 3 hours when it was first tried:
https://www.cnx-software.com/2021/07/18/linux-5-0-esp32-processor/#comment-583795
Maybe things have improved since then.
Must have – a recent Hackaday article talks about running 200k parameter LLaMa on one
It does not seem to be Linux-based though. It’s just relying on the ESP-IDF framework..