ESP32-S3 + GC9A01 1.28" round
240x240 round panel with CST816S single-touch. Popular for watch faces and gauges.
Building for it
A project is made for one toolchain, picked when you start it. All four can drive this board:
| Toolchain | |
|---|---|
| Arduino (C++) | Every board, every widget and every peripheral here. The most control, and the most to set up. Start a project |
| MicroPython | Change a screen by editing a file on the board. No compiler once it is flashed. Start a project |
| ESPHome | No compiler to install, and the panel can join Home Assistant as real entities. Start a project |
| ESP-IDF (C) | Espressif's own framework: esp_lcd, the component registry and idf.py, with nothing of Arduino in it. Start a project |
At a glance
| Part | Detail |
|---|---|
| Maker | Generic |
| MCU | ESP32-S3 Xtensa LX7 dual-core @ 240 MHz, 512 KB SRAM (+ 2-16 MB PSRAM on most modules) |
| Display | Galaxycore GC9A01 / GC9A01A, 240 x 240 px, SPI (4-wire serial), 16-bit colour |
| Touch | Hynitron CST816S (capacitive, I2C) |
| Backlight | GPIO 2, dimmable (PWM) |
| Memory | 8 MB flash, no PSRAM (N8) |
| Graphics library | GFX Library for Arduino |
Display pins
GC9A01 / GC9A01A on SPI (4-wire serial): SPI clock 80 MHz, host SPI2_HOST, BGR colour order, inversion on.
| Signal | Pin |
|---|---|
| SCK / CLK | GPIO 12 |
| MOSI / SDA | GPIO 11 |
| CS | GPIO 10 |
| DC / RS | GPIO 14 |
| RESET | GPIO 13 |
| Backlight | GPIO 2 |
Touch pins
CST816S: I2C address 0x15, 400 kHz.
| Signal | Pin |
|---|---|
| SDA | GPIO 8 |
| SCL | GPIO 9 |
| INT / IRQ | GPIO 7 |
| RESET | GPIO 6 |
Check your revision. The CST816S needs its RESET line wired or it will not answer on I2C.
Designing for it in LCD Wizard
- Choose ESP32-S3 + GC9A01 1.28" round on the Hardware tab (or use the button above) and every pin on this page is filled in. The export writes the sketch,
lcd_pins.h, the GFX Library for Arduino configuration,lv_conf.handplatformio.ini- a project that builds for this board as it comes. - The CST816S is capacitive and needs no calibration. The firmware resets it and checks it answers on every boot.
- The backlight is dimmable: give a slider or a button a Set backlight action.
- Screens are designed for 240 x 240 px in either orientation, with LVGL 9 or LVGL 8.
The parts
GC9A01 / GC9A01A. 1.28" round panel used for watch and gauge UIs.
CST816S. Single touch plus gestures. Standard on 1.28" round GC9A01 modules. Needs RST wired.
ESP32-S3. The only common Arduino target with a hardware RGB565 LCD peripheral. PSRAM is effectively required for RGB panels.
GFX Library for Arduino. Moshi Liu's library. Best QSPI/AMOLED and RGB coverage. Configured in code.
The pinout on one page
Every pin above, laid out to print and keep beside the bench. Generated from this preset, so it says exactly what the designer writes into lcd_pins.h.
Download the pinout (PNG)Open it as SVG
The same pins as data - board.json and pins.csv - are in the open pinout dataset on GitHub, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0.
Designs for this board
Clone any of them into the designer, or see every design for this board in the gallery.
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- Quick start - from an empty screen to firmware on the board
- Boards and displays - presets, controllers, pins and touch in the designer
- Flashing and configuration - PlatformIO, the Arduino IDE and first-boot checks
- Troubleshooting - a white screen, mirrored image or touch that misses