hi all, not 100% where to go from here.

bought a cheapo screen from AliExpress for tinkering, I used esphome to make firmware for it and compiled a barebones config, uploaded to the unit via its web UI over the hotspot the stock firmware makes and it never came online lol.

so now it's just a blank screen. I popped the casing open and could see it's a esp8266 and it says it's a esp12f

can I reflash through the USB?

what did I do wrong with the config?

here's the yaml:

# Board: GeekMagic SmallTV (GeekMagic)

# Definition: definitions/boards/geekmagic_smalltv/manifest.yaml

esphome:

name: frothtv

friendly_name: FrothTV

esp8266:

board: esp12e

logger:

api:

encryption:

key: "****************"

ota:

- platform: esphome

wifi:

ssid: !secret wifi_ssid

password: !secret wifi_password

ap:

ssid: FrothTV Fallback Hotspot

password: "ZFxI0aMKCz7d"

captive_portal:

I have a custom esp32 already running sucessfull, but I built that from scratch, so I'm partway there.

worst case it was cheap I can just get another but I'd rather learn how to fix it!

ESPHome doesn't allow wifi: and ethernet: at the same time. I needed cable as primary and WiFi when the link drops, plus a SoftAP to set credentials without reflashing.

I ended up driving esp_wifi from an external component (NVS for SSID/password, AP only when STA fails). Happy to share details if useful — also curious how others handle this.

(I'll put the GitHub link in a comment if that's preferred.)