Story
Pocket Admin Toolkit v2
Pocket Admin Toolkit v2 turns a small 2.8-inch ESP32 touchscreen into a practical toolbox for Linux, networking and everyday system administration.
The first version started as a simple experiment: instead of leaving an ESP32 Bitcoin miner running without much practical use, I turned it into a compact admin toolkit.
Version 2 expands that idea with more tools, a cleaner interface and wireless diagnostics.
What is included?
Pocket Admin Toolkit v2 contains eight main tools:
-
CIDR Calculator — subnet, broadcast, host range, mask and available hosts
-
VLSM Planner — quickly divide a network into smaller subnets
-
World Clock / Time Converter — compare selected time zones offline
-
Cron Generator & Parser — create and understand cron expressions
-
Capacity Planner — estimate storage and backup requirements
-
chmod Calculator — visual Linux permissions calculator
-
Wireless Scanner — scan nearby Wi-Fi networks and BLE devices
-
Quick Reference — common HTTP status codes and TCP/UDP ports
The idea is simple: get quick answers directly from a small device without opening another browser tab, searching documentation or reaching for a laptop.
What can it help with?
For example:
-
How many usable hosts are available in a
/27? -
What is the broadcast address of a subnet?
-
How can a
/24be divided between several networks? -
What does a cron expression mean?
-
How much backup storage will be needed?
-
Which Wi-Fi channels are crowded?
-
What port is commonly used by a specific service?
Most tools work completely offline.
Wi-Fi and BLE are enabled only when using the Wireless Scanner. The device does not need to connect to detected Wi-Fi networks and does not require their passwords.
See it in action
The easiest way to see how Pocket Admin Toolkit v2 works is the video demonstration:
YouTube:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=In7P1azFg-0
The video shows the touchscreen interface and the main features in real use.
More details
A more detailed description of the project, design decisions and individual tools is available on my blog:
Project article:https://lepczynski.it/en/other/pocket-admin-toolkit-v2-for-esp32-more-admin-tools-in-your-pocket/
Source code
The complete source code is available on GitHub:
GitHub repository:https://github.com/lepczynski-cloud/crowpanel-Admin-Pocket-Toolkit
The project is built with C++ using the Arduino framework and PlatformIO and runs on the Elecrow 2.8-inch ESP32 CrowPanel.
Hardware
-
Elecrow CrowPanel 2.8-inch ESP32 display
-
ESP32-WROOM-32
-
320 × 240 touchscreen
-
Wi-Fi and Bluetooth Low Energy
-
USB-C cable for programming
Why this project?
A laptop or terminal can obviously do much more.
But Pocket Admin Toolkit v2 is designed for something different: fast access to small, useful admin tools on a dedicated device sitting next to the keyboard.
No cloud backend.
No account.
No API key.
No external server.
Just a small ESP32 touchscreen with useful tools for networking, Linux and system administration.
Watch the demo, read the full technical article, or build your own version from the source code.
