Toboggan ESP32

ESP32-S3-BOX-3B embedded application that connects to a presentation server (Toboggan) via WiFi and WebSocket to display slides on a built-in screen with RGB LED status indicators.

Note: This is an educational and fun project created to explore Rust's capabilities across different platforms - from embedded systems to web browsers. While fully functional, it's designed primarily for learning and experimentation rather than production use. It's a playground to demonstrate how Rust can target everything from microcontrollers to iOS apps!

Hardware

Target Device: ESP32-S3-BOX-3B

• MCU: ESP32-S3 (Xtensa dual-core)
• Display: MIPIDSI 240x320 SPI
• RGB LED: GPIO 39 (red), 40 (green), 41 (blue)
• WiFi: Built-in 802.11b/g/n

Quick Start

Prerequisites

Install tools via mise:

mise install

This installs: ldproxy, espflash, espup, and esp-generate.

Configuration

Create .mise.local.toml (gitignored):

[env]
WIFI_SSID = "your-wifi-network"
WIFI_PASSWORD = "your-password"
TOBOGGAN_HOST = "192.168.1.100"
TOBOGGAN_PORT = "8080"

Build and Flash

# Build for release
cargo build --release

# Flash and monitor
cargo espflash flash --monitor --release

Architecture

• Multi-threaded: WiFi, API, WebSocket, and main display loop
• State machine: Booting → Connecting → Loading → Play/Paused/Done
• Message passing: Workers communicate via std::sync::mpsc channels
• LED indicators: Visual feedback for each application state

Key Crates

ESP32 Ecosystem

• esp-idf-svc - High-level Rust bindings for ESP-IDF services (WiFi, HTTP, WebSocket)
• esp-idf-sys - Low-level ESP-IDF bindings (auto-generated)
• embuild - ESP-IDF build integration for Cargo
• embedded-svc - Embedded service traits (WiFi, HTTP client, etc.)

Display & Graphics

• mipidsi - MIPI Display Serial Interface driver
• embedded-graphics - 2D graphics library for embedded systems

Utilities

• heapless - Static data structures (Vec, String) without heap allocation
• serde / serde_json - JSON serialization for WebSocket messages
• anyhow - Flexible error handling
• log - Logging facade

Resources

Official Rust ESP32 Documentation

• Rust on ESP Book - Comprehensive guide
• ESP-IDF Training - Hands-on exercises
• ESP Rust Board Support - HAL and PAC crates

Tools

• espflash - Flash utility (cargo espflash)
• espup - Toolchain installer
• esp-generate - Project generator

Community

• esp-rs GitHub Organization
• ESP32 Rust Community Matrix
• Awesome ESP Rust - Curated list of resources

License

Licensed under either of:

• Apache License, Version 2.0 (LICENSE-APACHE or http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0)
• MIT license (LICENSE-MIT or http://opensource.org/licenses/MIT)

at your option.