HPR4472: Cheap Yellow Display Project: Introduction to the Cheap Yellow Display

Hacker Public Radio

Hello, again. This is Trey. Several months ago, I heard Paul Asadoorian mention the Cheap Yellow Display on his podcast, Paul's Security Weekly ( https://www.scworld.com/podcast-show/pauls-security-weekly ). I didn't think much of it at the time, but then I heard it referenced again, and again. Then, finally, it was described, and I became interested. "Cheap Yellow Display" is the term used for the ESP32-2432S028R. Since this is somewhat challenging to say, and to remember, and since the board is yellow, and it can be obtained for as little as $12 USD, it has been given the nickname "Cheap Yellow Display". I will abbreviate this as CYD for the remainder of this episode. It is an ESP32 (with built in WiFi & Bluetooth) on a development board with one or more USB connectors, a MicroSD slot, a limited selection of GPIO pins, an RGB LED, a speaker, a light sensor, and best of all, a 2.8-inch (71mm) TFT touchscreen LCD display. The CYD runs on 5 volts DC. I am including some photographs of the CYD in the show notes. RandomNerdTutorials has produced a very good writeup about this board on their website ( https://randomnerdtutorials.com/cheap-yellow-display-esp32-2432s028r/ ). Brian Lough (AKA WitnessMeNow) has been building a community for the CYD on his GitHub site ( https://github.com/witnessmenow/ESP32-Cheap-Yellow-Display ) where he has instructions, examples, tutorials, downloadable tools, and much more. Beginning back in the 1970s, my father and I built electronics projects together. And I have had a love for doing so ever since. Over the last few years, I have built several Arduino based gadgets on different platforms, including a couple which run on breadboards sitting beside me on my desk (I will share more about one of those later).