esp32-dali-clock is an ESP32 recreation of the “Dali” digital clock where the digits “melt” into one another.

The Dali clock was first written in 1979 by Steve Capps for the Xerox Alto and later ported to the Macintosh. Later, Jamie Zawinski re-implemented an X Windows version called xdaliclock. Jamie’s page has a full write up of the history, including a link to a super trippy film from the 1974s that inspired the clock.

My re-interpretation of the Dali clock includes colorful retro graphics and outputs composite video output for any NTSC or PAL television or monitor. Putting it together is ridiculously simple, requiring only two wires. All configuration is done via a web interface YouTube and clock’s time is synchronized via the Internet.

The project centers around an Adafruit HUZZAH32 board featuring an ESP32 processor.

You can get more information on this project from:

• YouTube
• GitHub repo
• Instructables