¶ Info Displays
As of V1.13.3, the firmware supports the concept of informational (read-only) displays (that have no input) on ESP32 and MKS systems. Currently only one such display is supported:
- SSD1306-based I2C 128x64 pixel OLED displays (from AliExpress or Amazon)
These are two examples of 128x64 OLED screens. The left one is 1" and the right on 2.4" in size.
If using an MKS board, you will not be able to use the E1 stepper socket (usually used for focuser), since the I2C pin on the MKS is used for UART communications with that stepper controller.
Adding another display would be pretty easy, the firmware has abstracted it reasonably well...
¶ Firmware Configuration
To enable the info display, add the following lines to your local config file:
#define INFO_DISPLAY_TYPE INFO_DISPLAY_TYPE_I2C_SSD1306_128x64
#define INFO_DISPLAY_I2C_ADDRESS 0x3C
#define INFO_DISPLAY_I2C_SDA_PIN 20
#define INFO_DISPLAY_I2C_SCL_PIN 21
¶ Wiring
I2C devices just need 4 wires connected, 3.3V, Gnd, Clock (SCL) and Data (SDA).
Note that the OLED displays linked above require 3.3V so a step-down buck converted is needed for the MKS, since 3.3V is not available on that board. I believe the ATMega2560 has a 3.3V pin, as does the ESP32.
¶ Displayed Information
The display will show:
- Boot activity/progress
- Stepper activity per stepper
- Mount status
- RA and DEC coordinates
- Communication status
- Alive indicator
- Available memory
- Safe time remaining, Location, LST and Uptime
- Slew operations will also display a progress bar.