FreeTouchDeck

For interfacing with Windows/macOS/Linux using an ESP32, a touchscreen and BLE.

Version 0.9.18a remark: This version might be unstable due to current work on adding support for the ESP32-S3. Last stable is 0.9.17 which you can find in the Releases section.

Install Using The Web Installer (recommended!)

Easy installation without the need for the Arduino IDE, and downloading and editing libraries is now available using ESP Web Tools. Visit this url to install FreeTouchDeck to your board via your browser: (https://install.freetouchdeck.com/) Chrome, Edge, and Opera only at the moment.

User Guide

The User Guide will help you with installing and configuring if you want to build the project yourself: User guide

ESP32 TouchDown users

Make sure to uncomment the line //#define USECAPTOUCH!
And if you wish to use the speaker uncomment the line //#define speakerPin 26

If FreeTouchDeck came pre-installed, you can find how to set up the configurator here:
https://github.com/DustinWatts/esp32-touchdown/wiki/With-FreeTouchDeck-pre-installed

Helper app

I wrote a helper app for Windows/macOS/Linux that will help you start applications, run scripts and can auto-switch FreeTouchDeck to a page you choose when an application comes in to focus. You can find it here: https://github.com/DustinWatts/FreeTouchDeck-Helper

Delete the old clone and use the new

Mixing files of different versions may cause some unexpected behavior!

The FreeTouchDeck.ino and other files (for example in the data folder) rely on each other, they come as one. So when you download the new version, make sure that you only use the files that come with the current download, and not files from other versions. Best practise is to completely delete the old version and then download/clone the new version to make sure you do not accidently mix files from different versions. After downloading/cloning the latest version, make sure to also upload the "data" folder again using 'ESP32 Sketch Data Upload".

Hardware used

The hardware I currenlty use is:

For Resistive touch:

an ESP32 DEVKIT V1 (WROOM32) (Partition scheme: NO OTA with 2MB app and 2MB SPIFFS)
an 3.5" (480x320) TFT + Touchscreen with ILI9488 driver and XPT2046 resitive touch controller

For Capacitive touch:

an ESP32 TouchDown: https://www.esp32touchdown.com/

!- Library Dependencies -!

Adafruit-GFX-Library (tested with version 1.10.4), available through Library Manager
TFT_eSPI (tested with version 2.3.70), available through Library Manager
ESP32-BLE-Keyboard (latest version) download from: https://github.com/T-vK/ESP32-BLE-Keyboard
ESPAsyncWebserver (latest version) download from: https://github.com/me-no-dev/ESPAsyncWebServer
AsyncTCP (latest version) download from: https://github.com/me-no-dev/AsyncTCP
ArduinoJson (tested with version 6.17.3), available through Library Manager

If you use capacitive touch:

Dustin Watts FT6236 Library (version 1.0.2), https://github.com/DustinWatts/FT6236

Combiner PCB for an ESP32 DevKit C (38-pin only) + ILI9488 Touch Module:

https://github.com/DustinWatts/ESP32_TFT_Combiner

TFT_eSPI configuration

Before compiling and uploading the FreeTouchDeck.ino sketch, you will have to edit the user_setup.h file included with the TFT_eSPI library. This can be found in your Arduino skechtbook folder under "libraries". If you have not renamed the TFT_eSPI library folder, the file user_setup.h can be found in TFT_eSPI-master. Here you will have to uncomment the lines that apply to you hardware configuration. For example: if you have an TFT with an ILI9488 driver, you will have to uncomment that line under Section 1. Make sure all the other drivers are commented out!

The next section is Section 2. This also depends on what hardware you are using. For example for an ESP32 you'll have to uncomment the correct #define(s) under EDIT THE PIN NUMBERS IN THE LINES FOLLOWING TO SUIT YOUR ESP32 SETUP. Also if your TFT has the blacklight control pin available you will have to uncomment the lines found under #define TFT_BL and #define TFT_BACKLIGHT_ON.

"Section 3" can be left alone.

Support Me

If you like what I am doing, there are a number of ways you can support me.

Platform	Link
	You can follow me on Twitter: @dustinwattsnl
	You can subscribe to my channel on Youtube: /dustinWatts
	You can support me by becoming a patron on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/dustinwatts
	You can make a one time donation using PayPal.me: https://www.paypal.me/dustinwattsnl