jpmschweitzerandClaude Fable 5
b8974ec84f
Root cause of the dead data path (assoc/scan/RPC fine, zero data frames): esp-hosted 1.4.x is formally incompatible with IDF 5.5 (esp-hosted-mcu#47) and the factory C6 slave firmware was ancient (couldn't even answer a version RPC). Waveshare's examples pin 1.4.* — do not follow them. Fix: - host: espressif/esp_hosted ^2.12 (+ esp_wifi_remote 1.6) - slave: 2.12.11 network_adapter.bin embedded in the app (c6_ota.c streams it to the C6 over the SDIO RPC channel at boot when the reported version is < 2.x; ~10s, no wires, idempotent) - RAM diet for hosted 2.x's footprint (MEMPOOL_PREFER_SPIRAM, reduced WIFI_RMT buffers) — without it internal SRAM famine boot-loops in xTaskCreateStaticPinnedToCore before app_main - conservative 20MHz SDIO clock for first verified data path Verified on hardware: DHCP lease (even that healed), 8/8 pings to router and tower-of-joy at 1-5ms, WebSocket to the gateway connected, device registered at /devices as desklock-p4 with fw version. Also: wifi_diag.c L1 SoftAP diagnostic mode (DESKLOCK-DIAG) with review fixes, boot ping ladder in net.c, static-IP fallback, face_status() line, docs for the whole failure taxonomy. Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
DeskLock
A living-room visual/audio endpoint for Tatlock, the homelab butler. DeskLock gives Tatlock a face and a voice on a Waveshare round touch display: you talk to it, it listens, thinks, and answers — the first line of contact with the butler backend running on tower-of-joy.
Hardware
Waveshare ESP32-P4-WIFI6-Touch-LCD-3.4C
| Component | Details |
|---|---|
| SoC | ESP32-P4NRW32 — dual-core RISC-V @ 400 MHz + LP core |
| Memory | 32 MB PSRAM (in-package), 32 MB NOR flash |
| Display | 3.4" round IPS, 800×800, MIPI-DSI 2-lane, capacitive touch |
| Radio | ESP32-C6-MINI-1 (Wi-Fi 6 + BLE 5) over SDIO via ESP-Hosted |
| Audio in | Dual onboard microphones + ES7210 echo-cancellation ADC |
| Audio out | ES8311 codec, PH2.0 2-pin speaker connector (8Ω 2W recommended) |
| Flashing | USB-C (hold BOOT during reset for download mode) |
The device is currently connected over USB-C directly to tower-of-joy, so build/flash happens on this server.
Architecture
┌──────────────────────┐ WebSocket: PCM audio + JSON events
│ DeskLock device │◄───────────────────────────────────┐
│ (ESP32-P4) │ │
│ • LVGL face │ ┌──────────────────────────────┴───────────┐
│ • touch / wake word │ │ DeskLock Gateway (container, :8600) │
│ • mic capture + AEC │ │ thin orchestrator — no ML dependencies │
│ • TTS playback │ └───────┬──────────────────┬───────────────┘
└──────────────────────┘ │ │ OpenAI-format HTTP
│ ▼
HTTP (LAN) │ ┌─────────────────────────────┐
▼ │ Speaches (container, GPU) │
┌────────────────────┐ │ • STT: faster-whisper │
│ Tatlock (butler) │ │ • TTS: Kokoro / Piper │
│ tatlock.schweitz. │ │ also usable by Open WebUI, │
│ internal :8000 │ │ Home Assistant, … │
└────────────────────┘ └─────────────────────────────┘
Tatlock stays a text-only brain. The gateway orchestrates speech-to-text, chat, and text-to-speech; the Speaches container owns the actual STT/TTS models on the GPU, shared homelab-wide. The device firmware stays thin: audio transport, wake word, and face rendering only. Everything runs on the LAN — no cloud in the voice path.
See docs/architecture.md for the full design.
Repository layout
firmware/— ESP-IDF (C, LVGL 9) application for the ESP32-P4gateway/— Python FastAPI voice gateway, deployed as a container on tower-of-joysim/face/— browser simulator of the face (design source of truth; serve withpython3 -m http.serverand openindex.html, or use?state=…&nochrome=1for screenshots)docs/— architecture and design notes
Roadmap
Bring-up✅ — display, touch, audio, 200 MHz PSRAM, cathedral gong- Face + voice loop (in hardware test) — full LVGL face (7 states, rain, orbit, power ladder), Wi-Fi, WebSocket, touch-to-talk
- Voice (touch-to-talk) — tap to talk → gateway → Tatlock → spoken reply
- Wake word — esp-sr WakeNet on-device, echo cancellation, barge-in
- Polish — Tatlock-initiated notifications, presence, OTA updates