Set up your board

On the Waveshare S3

From firmware 1.1.2 the Waveshare S3's flash is laid out differently, so an S3 on any older version is erased when 1.1.2 goes on it, whichever button you press. An update would leave it with no accounts, closed, and its old accounts still readable in the flash, so the installer erases it first instead and says so before it starts. Back up first if there is anything on it you want to keep, with its backup window, and restore the backup once it is running again. The installer cannot ask a board in its download mode which version it runs, so a Waveshare started that way is erased even when it is already on 1.1.2 or later.

The Waveshare ESP32-S3-LCD-1.47 has no USB-serial chip: its plug goes straight to the ESP32-S3, which speaks USB itself. That saves a driver. It also means the installer may not be able to put it into its download mode by itself, and on the one computer it has been installed from so far, it could not. So do it by hand:

1. Plug it in, then hold BOOT, tap RESET, and let go of BOOT. The chip starts in its download mode, waiting to be written, instead of starting the BBS.
2. Choose the Waveshare in the card and press Install on a new board, or Update my board for one already running the BBS. Pick the port as usual.
3. When the installer says it has finished, press RESET. The chip's own USB can restart its processor but not the chip, so it stays in download mode until you do. Espressif's documentation for their flashing tool puts it this way: "The USB-Serial/JTAG peripheral can only trigger a core reset, which does not re-sample the state of the boot strapping pin."

If the installer says Failed to initialize. Try resetting your device or holding the BOOT button while clicking INSTALL., step 1 did not take: do it again and press the button again. If it says Your ESP32 board is not supported. or Your ESP32-S3 board is not supported., the board and the choice in the card do not match, and nothing was written.

Setting the Wi-Fi from this page is not yet confirmed on this board. Pressing RESET restarts the board's USB along with everything else, and the installer can lose the port when it does. If the Wi-Fi step does not appear:

• Press Update my board with the board running normally, without holding BOOT this time, and pick the port. The page should find the board and offer Connect to Wi-Fi, or Change Wi-Fi. Nothing that button offers can erase the board.
• Or, on a board that is already on a network, call it and use CONFIG network. It takes effect at the next restart.

Once it is on your network, the board's screen shows the address to dial.

On the Freenove camera board

The Freenove ESP32 camera board has the same chip as the ESP32 dev board. The installer reads the chip, finds the same thing on both, and cannot tell which board it is writing to, so the picture in the card is the only check. Choose the camera board for the long board with a camera on a ribbon in the middle and a USB-C socket at one end.

• The wrong image does not work properly on either board. The dev board's drives pins the camera uses; the camera board's finds no camera on a dev board. If you picked the wrong one, install again with the right choice.
• Nothing lights when it is listening. Its one LED shares a pin with the card slot, so it has no activity LED: find it by Telnet details at the end, or in your router's list of devices.
• It has a CH340 USB-serial chip, which Windows and macOS sometimes need a driver for: see when the board does not appear.

Two versions to choose from. The newest, 1.1.1, is chosen to start with: better photos and, with an OV2640 camera, photos up to 1600x1200 (what is new). 1.1.0 is beside it. The line under the buttons says which one you have chosen, and whether it is a preview, an early build out for testing.

On the ESP32-CAM

The ESP32-CAM needs its SD card out while it is installed or updated. It sits on its USB programmer board, which puts it into its flashing mode by itself, so there are no buttons to press.

Take the micro SD card out first, every time you install or update. The card holds one of the chip's start-up pins high, and with that pin high the board starts up as usual instead of taking new software. Some cards do not do it, but taking it out costs ten seconds.

1. Take the micro SD card out of its slot.
2. Install or update as above, and set the Wi-Fi when the installer asks.
3. Unplug the board, put the card back, and plug it in again. The board looks for its card as it starts, so it has to start again with the card in.

• If you forgot the card, the installer says Failed to initialize. Try resetting your device or holding the BOOT button while clicking INSTALL., and nothing is written. Take the card out and press the button again. Holding a button does not help here: the card is the cause.
• It has the same chip as the ESP32 dev board and the Freenove camera board. The installer cannot tell them apart, so the picture on the installer is the only check. Choose it for the small board with a camera, seated on a second board with a micro USB socket. If you picked the wrong one, install again with the right choice.
• Its activity light is the small red LED on the back. The bright white one on the front is the camera's flash, off until you turn it on.
• Its programmer has a CH340 USB-serial chip, which Windows and macOS sometimes need a driver for: see when the board does not appear.

On the Makerfabs 3.5"

From firmware 1.1.2 the Makerfabs' flash is laid out differently, so a Makerfabs on an older version is erased when 1.1.2 goes on it, whichever button you press. Back up first if there is anything on it you want to keep, with its backup window, and restore the backup once it is running again.

The Makerfabs ESP32-S3 Parallel TFT 3.5" installs like the ESP32 dev board, with no buttons to press, once two things are right:

1. Turn it over and find the version in the white lettering on the back. This build is for v1.0. The newer revision that Makerfabs sell now is wired differently, and this image does not start on it.
2. Plug the cable into the USB-C socket marked USB-TTL. It goes through a USB-serial chip, a CP2104, which puts the board into its flashing mode by itself. The socket marked USB is the chip's own, and the installer does not use it.
3. Choose the Makerfabs v1.0 in the card and install or update as above, and set the Wi-Fi when the installer asks.

If the back says v2.0, that board has its own build: pick the v2.0 choice in the card and follow its steps instead.

• It has the same chip as the Waveshare S3. The installer reads ESP32-S3 off either board and cannot tell them apart, so the picture and the name are the only check. Each board's image does not start on the other: if the board never shows an address on its screen after installing, check which board you chose and install again.
• Nothing lights when it is listening. Its one LED is the power light. Once it is on your network, its screen shows the address to dial.
• The CP2104 sometimes needs a driver on Windows and macOS: see when the board does not appear.

On the Waveshare 4.3B

The Waveshare ESP32-S3-Touch-LCD-4.3B plugs in through the ESP32-S3's own USB, like the Waveshare stick: if the installer says Failed to initialize., hold BOOT, tap RESET, let go of BOOT, and press the button again, and press RESET when it has finished.

• Same chip as the other ESP32-S3 boards, so the picture is the only check. If you picked the wrong one, install again with the right choice.

On the Waveshare 2"

The Waveshare ESP32-S3-Touch-LCD-2 plugs in through the ESP32-S3's own USB, like the Waveshare stick: if the installer says Failed to initialize., hold BOOT, tap RESET, let go of BOOT, and press the button again, and press RESET when it has finished.

• Same chip as the other ESP32-S3 boards, so the picture is the only check. If you picked the wrong one, install again with the right choice.

On the Waveshare ETH

The Waveshare ESP32-S3-ETH plugs in through the ESP32-S3's own USB, with no USB-serial chip, like the Waveshare stick: if the installer says Failed to initialize., hold BOOT, tap RESET, let go of BOOT, and press the button again, and press RESET when it has finished.

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Set up Wi-Fi on this board too. The cable is the more stable connection for callers; it does not replace Wi-Fi, which is the fallback if the cable drops and the radio sats talk over. In firmware 1.2.0 an ETH board on the cable cannot pair sats yet; from 1.2.1 it joins Wi-Fi beside the cable, so sats work, and callers still come in over the wire.

With the Ethernet cable in, the installer may skip the Wi-Fi step. The board takes its address on the cable, so when the installer asks, it may already be on a network, and the installer moves on without asking for your Wi-Fi. Set it straight away: press Update my board with the board running, pick the port, and choose Change Wi-Fi. Nothing that button offers can erase the board.

• Same chip as the other ESP32-S3 boards, so the picture is the only check.
• It has no screen, so find its address by Telnet details at the end, or in your router's list of devices.

On the Makerfabs 3.5" v2.0

The Makerfabs ESP32-S3 Parallel TFT 3.5" v2.0 is the revision Makerfabs sell today. Three things to get right:

1. Turn it over and find the version in the white lettering on the back. This build is for v2.0. If it says v1.0, use the v1.0 steps and the v1.0 choice in the card: the two are wired differently and neither image starts the other board.
2. Plug the cable into the USB-C socket marked USB-NATIVE, the chip's own. Read the label: on this revision both sockets say USB something, USB-TTL and USB-NATIVE, where the v1.0's say USB-TTL and USB. It is the opposite socket from the v1.0's, and it matters after installing as well, because it is where the board answers Update my board. USB-TTL will flash it, and then the board says nothing back, so the installer never recognises it.
3. Choose the Makerfabs v2.0 in the card and install or update as above, and set the Wi-Fi when the installer asks.

• It plugs in through the chip's own USB, like the Waveshare stick: if the installer says Failed to initialize., hold BOOT, tap RESET, let go of BOOT, and press the button again, and press RESET when it has finished.
• Same chip as every other ESP32-S3 board here, so the picture, the name and the version on the back are the only checks. If the screen never shows an address after installing, check which board you chose and install again.
• Nothing lights when it is listening. Its one LED is the power light. Once it is on your network, its screen shows the address to dial.

On the Guition 4"

The Guition ESP32-S3-4848S040 installs like the ESP32 dev board, with no buttons to press: its one USB-C socket goes through a CH340, which puts the board into its flashing mode by itself. Choose the Guition in the card, install or update, and set the Wi-Fi when the installer asks.

• Same chip as every other ESP32-S3 board here. The installer reads ESP32-S3 off all of them and cannot tell them apart, so the picture is the check. The square screen and the single USB-C socket are what tell this one apart; its case hides the board's own markings.
• Use an ordinary SD card. A 1 GB card of the oldest kind would not mount on the bench. A normal micro SD card of the sort sold today does.
• Nothing lights when it is listening, and there is no BOOT-hold reset on this board: the screen's bus uses that pin. Once it is on your network, its screen shows the address to dial.
• The CH340 sometimes needs a driver on Windows and macOS: see when the board does not appear.

Before you start

There is nothing to install and no account to make. The installer uses Web Serial, a feature built into the browser, so the browser is the one thing on your computer that has to be right.

• One of the boards in the card, each shown with its picture. The reference is an ESP32 dev board with 4 MB of flash: a bare ESP32-WROOM-32E, and any dev board with that module and a USB socket works, for about $15. There is a picture of each board on the tested boards page. A name with letters after it, such as ESP32-C3 or ESP32-S2, is a different chip, and the same page says which chips can run a board.
• Chrome or Edge, on a desktop or laptop. Other browsers are below this list.
• A USB cable that carries data. This is the most common reason the board never appears. Cables that come with phone chargers and battery packs are very often power-only: they fit, they light the board up, and there are no data wires inside them at all. If nothing shows in the list of ports, change the cable before you change anything else.
• Nothing else holding the port. A serial monitor, the Arduino IDE, pio device monitor, or a second tab of this page each keep the port to themselves. Close them first.
• Your Wi-Fi name and password, typed exactly: both are case-sensitive. The radio in every ESP32 is 2.4 GHz only, so the board cannot join a 5 GHz network. A network that runs both bands under one name is fine: the board finds the 2.4 GHz side by itself.

Other browsers

• Firefox can do it from version 151, released in May 2026, on a desktop or laptop. It asks your permission twice and the first prompt is a confusing one, so it is the harder road rather than a broken one.
• Safari cannot do this at all, and as of September 2026 neither can any browser on an iPhone or an iPad. On a Mac, use Chrome or Edge.
• Chrome on Android has had the same feature since version 148, in May 2026. Nobody has installed a board from a phone with this page yet, so treat it as untried.

If the installer says your browser cannot do it, the browser is the thing to change. Nothing else on this page will help.

When the board does not appear

In the order worth trying.

1. Change the cable. A charge-only cable is the cause more often than everything below put together. A cable you have used to move files off a phone is known good; one that came in the box with something is not.
2. Close whatever else is using the port. Serial monitors hold it open.
3. Try the other USB socket, and prefer one on the computer itself over a hub or a monitor.
4. Install the USB-serial driver. The ESP32 does not talk USB itself. A second chip on the board does, usually the small square one next to the USB socket. Most boards use a CP210x or a CH340; newer ones often use a CH9102. Linux usually has the driver built in; Windows and macOS sometimes need the download. The Waveshare S3 boards have no such chip and need no driver: hold BOOT and tap RESET first, as the section on the Waveshare S3 says.
5. On Linux, give yourself the serial port. Your user has to be in the group that owns it, which on most systems is dialout. Run sudo usermod -a -G dialout $USER, then log out and back in.
6. Hold the BOOT button while you pick the port, and let go once the page has read the chip. Boards that cannot be put into their flashing mode over the cable need this, and it does no harm on the ones that can.
7. Use a powered hub or a different port if the board drops off partway through. A board that disconnects at the same point every time is usually short of power rather than broken.

If you press the button and pick nothing, the installer shows its own list of these, with the same drivers linked.

The erase question

When you press Install on a new board and the page does not recognise the board, it shows a box headed Start fresh? with one checkbox, Erase everything first, and the box starts unticked. One of the two answers cannot be undone, so read this before you press the button.

• Tick it if this is a new board, or one that has been running something else. A full erase clears the chip completely: any other firmware, anything it had stored, the lot. It also gives the BBS a clean chip to lay its partitions out on, which a first install wants.
• Leave it unticked if the board already runs this BBS and you are moving it to a newer version. The firmware and the screens are rewritten and nothing else, and the upgrade page lists what is kept.

Update my board never shows this question and never erases, whether the page recognises the board or not: it always does the second of those two things, new firmware and screens, accounts left alone. So does Install on a new board for a board the page recognises, which it offers Update µnleashed BBS.

When the board already runs the version on offer, Install on a new board shows Erase User Data. Update my board does not offer it. It is not a small reset: it erases the whole chip, accounts, settings, mail and Wi-Fi included, and installs the BBS again from nothing. Nothing on this page can put back what an erase removed. If the board holds something you care about, copy it off first.

The one exception to the update rule is a release that moves a partition. That has happened three times: at 0.14 and 0.17 on every board, and at 1.1.2 on the Waveshare S3 and the Makerfabs (above). Those need the full erase and take the accounts with them. If it happens again, the release notes will say so plainly, along with what to do.

Where your Wi-Fi password goes

The board is told which network to join over the cable you installed it with: the name and password go from your computer to the board and nowhere else, and this site never sees them. The board keeps them as you typed them, on the part of the flash an update does not touch (which is why an update does not ask again), so a backup of its settings holds your Wi-Fi password too. Keep backups somewhere private.

After it boots

The board joins your network and listens for calls on port 6400. On a board with an activity LED, it holds on for a second once the board is listening; a board with a screen shows the address to dial instead. In your router's list of connected devices it is called unleashed.

Call it with any telnet client. If this is your first time, read what to expect on a first call: it takes two minutes.

On an ESP32-S3 board you need no app at all for your own first call: the ssh command is already in Windows Terminal, PowerShell, or Terminal on a Mac or Linux, and ssh -p 6422 yourhandle@unleashed.local gets you in, encrypted. More on connecting with SSH.

A new board starts closed. Until you open it, everybody who calls gets the busy message except the first caller, who signs up and takes the board over, as the sysop password below describes. Once it is set up, open it: CONFIG board, and turn Stop taking calls (Closed at 40 columns) off.

Choose a terminal

The sysop password

A new board has one password, the sysop's, and it is unleashed. The sysop is whoever runs the board: the person who can change every setting on it.

That password is written here, on a page anybody can read, so on its own it protects nothing, and the board treats it that way. It only works from your own network, from a computer on the same Wi-Fi or wired network as the board, and only until you change it. While it is still set, the board will not put itself on this directory.

You take the board over on your first call from your own network: sign up or log in, and the board asks for this password by itself, then for one of your own. Choose one you use nowhere else, because calls over telnet are not encrypted. The setup guide shows each screen of it.

Change it before anything else. Do not forward the port and do not turn on the directory listing until you have. "Only from your own network" is a guard, not a wall: the board goes by the address a call arrives from, and some routers rewrite forwarded traffic so that a caller from outside arrives with an address from inside. On a router like that, an open port and the default password would let a stranger in as the sysop. A password of your own closes that, whatever the router does.

Changing the Wi-Fi later

A new router, a new password, or the board moving to somebody else's house:

1. Plug the board into a computer with the same kind of cable.
2. Open this page and press Update my board, which cannot erase anything.
3. Pick the port. The page recognises the board and shows Change Wi-Fi, or Connect to Wi-Fi if the board is not on a network right now.
4. Choose the network and type the password, as before.

Nothing else on the board changes. The board only moves to the new network if it can get on it; if it cannot, it keeps the one it had.

If something goes wrong, reset rather than reflash

A mistake while setting a board up does not mean starting again. Most are put right with a reset, and your accounts and settings stay where they are.

• The wrong Wi-Fi network, or its password typed wrong. Do what Changing the Wi-Fi later says, above. This works while the board is failing to join one, because it listens on the cable for as long as it is running, and nothing on the board is erased.

• A network changed in CONFIG that does not work. If the board cannot get on it within a minute of starting, it goes back to the last network that worked, so a typo in CONFIG does not leave it stranded.
• The BOOT button. For a forgotten sysop password, or a board you want back to how it arrived. The order matters:

A factory reset also takes the board off this directory. The listing is tied to the board's settings, which the reset erases, so afterwards the directory sees a new board: three hours before it is listed again, like the first time. Restore a backup taken before the reset, within four days, and the listing carries on where it was.

1. Press and let go of RESET, which many boards label EN or RST.
2. Then press BOOT and keep holding it. Holding BOOT while RESET is let go starts the chip's own flashing mode instead, which is why RESET comes first.
3. Let go at the stage you want. On the ESP32 dev board the activity LED shows each stage. On a board with no plain activity LED, count the seconds while you hold. Every board also prints each stage on its serial console, for anybody watching one on the cable.

The LED, on a board that has one:

• Under 7 seconds, the LED blinks slowly, and letting go does nothing.
• 7 to 15 seconds, the LED flashes rapidly, as a warning. Letting go puts the sysop password back to the published default. Accounts, forums, mail and settings are kept, and you take the board over again as on the first call. Until you choose a new password, the board keeps itself off the directory.
• 15 to 20 seconds, the LED stays on. Letting go is a factory reset: the accounts, the settings, the Wi-Fi, the mail and the logs are wiped, and the screens, the firmware and the SD card are kept. The board starts again like a fresh install, waiting for this page's Wi-Fi step, and it is no longer on the directory unless you restore a backup.
• At 20 seconds the LED goes off and the reset is abandoned. Letting go does nothing.

The ESP32-CAM has no BOOT button reset: its camera uses that pin. On one, a forgotten sysop password needs the last step below.

Nor does the Waveshare 4.3B, whose pins all go to its screen and ports; the last step below is the way back there too.

Nor does the Guition 4 inch, whose screen uses that pin; the last step below is the way back there too.

• Last of all, press Install on a new board and tick Erase everything first. That puts the chip back to nothing before the firmware goes on, so it takes the accounts, the settings, the mail and the caller log with it. The erase question, above, has the details.

Doing it the other way

The browser is the short path, not the only one. The same firmware is a git clone and a pio run -t flashall away, which is the route you want once you start changing things. The steps are on the build page, and the hardware on the tested boards page. A dev board can take an SD card and lights as well.

The source is at github.com/rwmech/unleashed_BBS, GPL v3 or later. Anything this page installs, you can build yourself and check.

The installer on this page is ESP Web Tools 10.4.0, served from this site, with three changes made here: it always offers the board's telnet details instead of trying to open an address a browser cannot, its erase question is worded for somebody updating a board they already run, and the Update button never erases. Its licence and the libraries inside it.

Then

Every setting, page by page, all of it from the board with CONFIG.

Set up your BBS

For callers from outside your own network, forward port 6400 on your router, once the sysop password is yours. That page covers the common routers step by step, and says what it opens before it says how.

From firmware 1.2.2, try the board first: it can ask your router to set that forward up itself, so one keypress may save you the router's menu altogether. Let the board ask your router.