Display Design · ANACHRON

A small display becomes a place for an image, an animation or a repeating visual idea. Anachron Display Lab V1 lets us prepare the content in Firefox, keep it in a local library and transfer it to the display over USB.

Inside Display Lab

Screenshots from the running local application, captured on 20 September 2026. Select an image to open it at full size.

Display Lab workspace with image framing, zoom, rotation and circular preview — The workspace with an ANACHRON logo loaded for preview. Framing controls sit beside the round display preview.

A closer view of the circular composition and the brightness control. This is the app’s preview, not a photograph of the physical screen.

Computer library showing a prepared movie card and transfer controls — The existing computer library: a prepared movie, its duration, frame rate and size, with controls to save it to the display or remove the computer copy.

The display we started with

The project uses the Waveshare ESP32-S3-Touch-AMOLED-1.43, with a 466 × 466 image area. It grew from the BCS Image Drop project into a separate application for preparing and storing visual material. The original BCS application remains separate.

From an idea to the screen

Drop in a picture, MP4 or GIF. Adjust the framing, zoom and rotation while watching the preview. Save a still picture, capture a movie frame or prepare the complete movie. Original files stay untouched.

Prepared pictures and movies have names and thumbnails in the computer library. Save an item to the display over USB, then select it for playback. Stored items can be selected again without uploading them again.

A display that remembers

The firmware stores several items in its media area and remembers the selected item across power cycles. Pictures remain on screen; silent movies repeat. The application shows available storage, allows individual items to be removed and provides brightness control.

Movie preparation currently supports 8, 10, 12 or 15 frames per second and clips up to 30 seconds. Actual playback depends on image complexity and available space. V1 has no playlist, touchscreen media selector or battery gauge.

Where the project stands

The project record dated 20 September 2026 documents installed firmware, successful USB transfers and two stored movies playing on the physical display. A reset retained the media and resumed the selected movie. Reported playback was around 12 frames per second, with some late frames on the more complex clip.

The local desktop launcher is called Anachron Display Lab V1. This page describes the project; it does not control the device or install firmware. More display experiments and design notes can grow here.