One of those cheap 12-15$ AliExpress DVD R/RW USB C drives did the trick for me.

While it definitely is a cool project, it’s a micropython one, so the target audience is similar but not the same.

Thanks! Good to see there’s an ESP32 community too. I just subscribed ^^

I didn’t know this exists! I’m currently using a dependency to load ELF files: https://components.espressif.com/components/espressif/elf_loader I guess it would make more sense to have the memory mapping done inside elf_loader, so that S3 devices can load to PSRAM and non-S3 devices can load into IRAM. Thanks for the tip!

There is indeed no way to create new virtual memory mappings. When a binary is loaded, it’s manually mapped into IRAM (instruction RAM).

The target audience for things like Lilygo T-Deck is probably the more technical side of the Flipper Zero audience. I can see how it could also become an end-user device (like Flipper Zero is to many people), but we’ll need more apps for that.

And sure, you could use a Raspberry Pi, but part of the fun/challenge of this project is that it hasn’t been done for ESP32 before (as far as I’m aware). Some differences: a Raspberry Pi draws more power, costs more, and generally doesn’t boot in under 2 seconds. I’m also not aware of compact Pi-based handhelds like the Lilygo T-Deck is to my project. edit: There’s the uConsole, but it’s twice the price, likely has 6+ months delivery time, is much larger, and weighs much more.