This open source mouse-controlled ESP32 desktop runs in a terminal

This open source mouse-controlled ESP32 desktop runs in a terminal

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  • TinyDesk turns your ESP32 terminal into a mouse-controlled graphical desktop with ANSI/VT rendering.

  • It works entirely on ESP32; your computer only displays ANSI and sends keyboard/mouse – no desktop application required.

  • Includes draggable windows, taskbar, file manager, editor, shell, system monitor, as well as MQTT and Modbus tools.

Terminal is one of those things that people can do amazing things with it that you didn’t know were possible before. Such is the case with this open-source ESP32 project, which turns your terminal into a fully mouseable desktop. Best of all, it’s completely free, so there’s nothing stopping you from putting it on your own microcontroller.

TinyDesk adds a small desktop to your ESP32 terminal

It also looks very stylish

Above ESP32 subredditUser schikani0 showed TinyDesk. This is an open source project that allows you to run the desktop in the terminal and you can even use the mouse to control it:

The ESP32 controls the desktop and applications. The computer simply displays ANSI/VT output and returns keyboard and mouse input — there is no desktop application running on the computer behind the demo.

It has draggable/resizable windows, taskbar, start menu, file manager, text editor, terminal and system monitor. You can open, edit, and save a file, then execute shell commands without leaving the desktop. MQTT and Modbus tools are also included.

The project also has a version called TinyDesk Shell. It doesn’t load all the bells and whistles and keeps things in the shell, but to be honest, I think I’ll load it to the desktop every time. If you’d like to see it for yourself or put it on your own hardware, check out: TinyDesk website for all details and downloads.

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