
Show HN: ESP8266 as a VNC Client Connecting to a Raspberry Pi - adysan
It&#x27;s been a while since this ESP8266 VNC Client library has been out.<p>https:&#x2F;&#x2F;github.com&#x2F;Links2004&#x2F;arduinoVNC<p>Today I finally got my ILI9341 display, so tried to set it up as a remote display for the Raspberry Pi. Here&#x27;s a demo video and photo.<p>https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=aVFWgACP6sw
https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.instagram.com&#x2F;p&#x2F;BDJwURSkdY_&#x2F;<p>On the Pi, all you need to do is start a TightVNC server, something like this<p><pre><code>  vncserver :1 -geometry 320x240 -depth 16 -name &quot;ESP VNC :888&quot; -alwaysshared -s 0 -nocursor -broadcast
</code></pre>
The ESP8266 connects instantly on boot up. Looking at the accuracy of the touch panel, doesn&#x27;t look very practical as an input device, but it could be fun as a remote display if setup correctly. Perhaps some sort of dashboard running on the RPi. You could even set it up to connect to multiple Raspberry Pi&#x27;s by using one of the ESP&#x27;s GPIO&#x27;s to to select one. The video refresh rate looks bad, I guess because I couldn&#x27;t find a way to setup hextile encoding with TightVNC. If you looks at his original demo video running the XVNC server on a Linux box, it looks much smoother (20-25fps). Overclocking the ESP to 160MHz might help too.<p>Finally, this library is an entrant in the 1st Annual ESP8266 Design Contest. If you think it&#x27;s kinda cool, please go and vote for it here: http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.esp8266.com&#x2F;viewtopic.php?f=50&amp;t=8832
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adysan
Ah I see, no links in the post. Here you go:

Library:
[https://github.com/Links2004/arduinoVNC](https://github.com/Links2004/arduinoVNC)

Video:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aVFWgACP6sw](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aVFWgACP6sw)

Photo:
[https://www.instagram.com/p/BDJwURSkdY_/](https://www.instagram.com/p/BDJwURSkdY_/)

Contest:
[http://www.esp8266.com/viewtopic.php?f=50&t=8832](http://www.esp8266.com/viewtopic.php?f=50&t=8832)

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swah
This is great - I didn't imagine the ESP was so powerful! Could be a great
low-fps security camera terminal...

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adysan
I think that's the exact idea Markus started this project with .

> The starting point to the project where to stream my Door cam to a Display
> in my living room. - See more at:
> [http://www.esp8266.com/viewtopic.php?f=152&t=8731#sthash.v8H...](http://www.esp8266.com/viewtopic.php?f=152&t=8731#sthash.v8HhG8gz.dpuf)

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alexchamberlain
What hardware are you using (other than the ESP8266 and ILI9341 of! )

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adysan
Nothing really, as for the ESP, I'm using a NodeMCU 1.0 dev kit, but that's
just for convenience of uploading the sketch. All you really need is the
display, ESP-12E and power.

And of course, you need something to host the VNC server at the correct screen
size, in this case it's a Raspberry Pi.

