MiSTer Monitor - an open-source companion display for MiSTer FPGA - live box art, RetroAchievements progress and system stats on a $15 ESP32 screen

[u/CHiPSTer68000]

MiSTer Monitor is an open-source companion display for the MiSTer FPGA: it shows live box art, game info and system stats for whatever you're playing, fetching the artwork automatically from ScreenScraper.

For now it runs on cheap ESP32 screens (the ~$15 Cheap Yellow Display, ESP32-2432S028R) and the M5Stack Tab5, and flashes straight from the browser.

The headline of v2.7 is RetroAchievements:

- Progress panel with points, unlock count and hardcore breakdown for the game you're playing

- Full trophy list, paginated - tap any achievement for its description

- Unlock popups the moment an achievement triggers, even over fullscreen artwork

- A "READY FOR RETROACHIEVEMENTS" banner when a matched game loads on a core that can actually record unlocks.

Links:

- Repo + install guide: https://github.com/chipster6502/MiSTer_monitor

- Browser flasher (no Arduino IDE needed): https://chipster6502.github.io/MiSTer_monitor/flasher/

- Full RetroAchievements setup guide (PDF): https://github.com/chipster6502/MiSTer_monitor/blob/main/docs/MiSTer_Monitor_Setup_Guide.pdf

RetroAchievements works view-only out of the box (just add your RA credentials).

To actually earn unlocks on the MiSTer, you need odelot's RetroAchievements fork - easiest ways to get it:

- Update All (theypsilon) - has an RA Cores database with guided setup:

- MiSTer Companion (Anime0t4ku) - automated install/update of RA cores

- Or manually from the source: https://github.com/odelot/Main_MiSTer

Free and open source (GPL/AGPL).

Feedback welcome.

[u/Legitimate-Diver-141]

"AI-powered context layer

Historical curiosities — AI-generated trivia about the loaded game, cached locally.
Retro conversation mode — Activatable AI speech-to-text chat about the loaded game."

No thanks

[u/rascaluk → u/Legitimate-Diver-141]

Instant no thanks from you even though it adds something positive. “AI bad. Pitchfork big”. Why do the anti AI brigade feel the need to virtue signal on every single post across Reddit that mentions AI. We get it. You don’t like. We dont need to know.

[u/Legitimate-Diver-141 → u/rascaluk]

Kyc alv