The Waveshare ESP32-S3 7-inch series is a family of all-in-one development boards that combine:

• ESP32-S3 microcontroller

• 7-inch TFT LCD (RGB parallel interface)

• Optional capacitive touch panel

• Onboard PSRAM (required for large framebuffers)

• USB-C for power and programming

These boards are designed for:

• Human-Machine Interface (HMI)

• Smart home control panels

• Industrial control systems

• IoT dashboards

• Embedded GUI applications using LVGL

Two commonly found product names are:

• Waveshare ESP32-S3-Touch-LCD-7B

• Waveshare ESP32-S3-LCD-7

Now let’s clarify the differences between the variants available on the market.

1️⃣ “7” vs “7B” – What Does It Mean?

This is one of the most common points of confusion.

🔹 ESP32-S3-LCD-7

This usually refers to:

• A 7-inch RGB LCD board

• May come in touch or non-touch versions

• Earlier hardware revision in some cases

• Basic display-focused configuration

It typically includes:

• ESP32-S3-WROOM or similar module

• RGB LCD interface

• External PSRAM

• Standard power and USB interface

🔹 ESP32-S3-Touch-LCD-7B

The “B” generally indicates a board revision.

In most cases, the 7B version includes:

• Improved PCB layout

• Better power regulation stability

• Refined RGB signal routing

• Integrated capacitive touch controller (commonly GT911 over I2C)

The “Touch” label explicitly confirms the presence of a capacitive touch panel.

Important note:
Not all “7” versions include touch. The word “Touch” in the product name is what guarantees it.

2️⃣ Touch vs Without Touch Versions

Another major difference in the lineup is the presence of a touch panel.

🔹 Touch Version

Features:

• Capacitive touch panel

• Typically uses GT911 touch controller (I2C interface)

• Multi-touch support

• Requires I2C initialization in firmware

These versions are ideal for:

• Interactive UI

• Control panels

• Kiosk-style interfaces

• LVGL-based applications

🔹 Without Touch Version

Features:

• Display only

• No touch controller

• Lower complexity in firmware

• No I2C touch driver needed

These are suitable for:

• Information display panels

• Monitoring dashboards

• Applications using external input (buttons, encoder, etc.)

3️⃣ Resolution Variants: 800×480 vs 1024×600

Although both are 7-inch panels, different versions may use different native resolutions:

🔹 800 × 480

• Lower framebuffer requirement

• More forgiving for PSRAM usage

• Common in embedded HMI projects

🔹 1024 × 600

• Higher pixel density

• Larger framebuffer (≈1.2MB at RGB565)

• Higher PSRAM bandwidth requirement

• More demanding RGB timing configuration

Resolution directly impacts:

• Framebuffer size

• DMA performance

• Pixel clock configuration

• LVGL buffer strategy

4️⃣ Common Hardware Characteristics

Across most 7-inch ESP32-S3 Waveshare boards, you will typically find:

• ESP32-S3 with dual-core Xtensa

• External PSRAM (often 8MB)

• RGB parallel LCD interface (not SPI)

• USB-C programming port

• Backlight control circuit

• Optional microSD slot (in some variants)

The RGB interface means:

• High pin count usage

• Precise timing configuration required

• Much higher performance than SPI displays

   

SquareLine Studio Overview 

SquareLine Studio is a professional UI design tool built specifically for:

LVGL (Light and Versatile Graphics Library)

It allows developers to design graphical user interfaces visually, instead of manually writing LVGL C code for every widget.

SquareLine Studio does not replace firmware development.
It generates LVGL-compatible UI source code that must be integrated into a microcontroller project.

What SquareLine Studio Actually Is

SquareLine Studio is:

• A drag-and-drop UI builder

• A code generator for LVGL

• A layout designer for embedded displays

• A project-based UI development environment

It generates:

• ui.c

• ui.h

• ui_events.c

• Font files

• Image assets

• Screen definitions

• Object hierarchies

It does not generate:

• Display drivers

• Touch drivers

• RGB timing configuration

• Hardware initialization code

• ESP-IDF project setup

Relationship with LVGL

SquareLine Studio is built around:

LVGL

LVGL is the graphics library that runs on the microcontroller.

The workflow is:

1. Design UI in SquareLine

2. Export LVGL-compatible code

3. Integrate exported files into firmware

4. Compile using framework (e.g., ESP-IDF)

SquareLine only creates the top-layer UI objects.
LVGL handles rendering and object management at runtime.

Supported Frameworks

SquareLine can export projects for:

• Generic LVGL

• Arduino

• ESP-IDF

• STM32 HAL

• Other supported MCU environments

For ESP32-S3 development, the common backend is:

ESP-IDF

However, SquareLine does not configure ESP-IDF internally.
It only generates compatible UI code.

Project Structure in SquareLine

When creating a new project, you define:

• Display resolution (e.g., 800×480 or 1024×600)

• Color depth (typically 16-bit RGB565)

• LVGL version

• Target export type

SquareLine does not require you to select a specific hardware board.
It only needs display parameters.

This is important:

SquareLine operates at the LVGL layer, not at the hardware driver layer.

Core Features

SquareLine Studio provides:

• Visual screen editor

• Widget library (buttons, labels, sliders, keyboard, etc.)

• Style editor

• Animation builder

• Event editor (callback configuration)

• Font converter

• Image converter

It significantly reduces development time compared to writing LVGL code manually.

What SquareLine Studio Is NOT

To avoid misunderstanding:

SquareLine Studio is not:

• An IDE like Visual Studio Code

• A firmware compiler

• A hardware configuration tool

• A board manager

• A driver installer

It does not “install” ESP32 boards.

It does not detect display hardware.

It does not manage PSRAM or RGB timing.

All hardware-level configuration must be done in the firmware project.

Where SquareLine Fits in the System

In an ESP32-S3 7-inch project, the stack typically looks like this:

Layer 1 → Hardware (RGB LCD + Touch Controller)
Layer 2 → ESP-IDF Drivers (esp_lcd, I2C, PSRAM)
Layer 3 → LVGL
Layer 4 → SquareLine-generated UI

SquareLine only operates at Layer 4.

That is its scope.

ESP32-S3 7-Inch Waveshare Is NOT Built-In in SquareLine Studio 

SquareLine Studio does not include a built-in board profile for the Waveshare ESP32-S3 7-inch series.

That includes:

• Waveshare ESP32-S3-Touch-LCD-7B

• Waveshare ESP32-S3-LCD-7

When you create a new project in SquareLine Studio:

• You will not find “ESP32-S3 7-inch Waveshare” in the board list.

• There is no official preset for 800×480 or 1024×600 specifically labeled for this hardware.

• There is no automatic driver configuration.

This is intentional — not an omission.

Why It Is Not Included (Technical Reality)

SquareLine Studio is built for:

LVGL UI generation

It is not a hardware configuration environment.

Board profiles inside SquareLine are simply:

• Resolution presets

• Color depth presets

• Export configuration templates

They are not hardware drivers.

Since the Waveshare ESP32-S3 7-inch boards use:

• RGB parallel interface

• Custom timing configuration

• PSRAM framebuffer allocation

• I2C touch controller (in touch versions)

All of that belongs to firmware level (e.g., ESP-IDF), not to SquareLine.

SquareLine has no mechanism to install RGB timing or PSRAM settings.

What This Means Practically

You cannot:

• “Install” the Waveshare ESP32-S3 board into SquareLine

• Download a board package

• Enable it from a board manager

• Select it from a built-in dropdown list

Instead, you must:

• Manually configure display resolution

• Match LVGL version

• Export UI

• Integrate it into your ESP-IDF project

SquareLine works generically with LVGL, not with specific RGB hardware boards.

How to Install a Custom ESP32-S3 7-Inch Waveshare Board in SquareLine Studio

 STEP 1- Close Squareline Studio

STEP 2- Download the Official ESP32-S3 Waveshare Board Resources

link : 

C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Programs\SquareLine Studio\

Inside the installation folder, look for:

after copy open squareline studio, select esspressif ,