Glossary

Glossary

The words this wiki uses, in plain terms.

Word	What it means
Label, tag, ESL	The e-paper shelf label itself. ESL means electronic shelf label. The wiki says "label"; the web page, the API and the code often say "tag". They are the same thing.
Access point (AP)	A small ESP32 board on your WiFi that talks to the labels by radio. It keeps what each label should show, draws the screens, and has the HTTP API and the dashboard. See Choosing a board.
Model	A kind of label, such as the SoluM 2.9". Each model has its own screen size, so a layout has a version per model. See Supported labels.
MAC	The label's unique address, 16 hex digits such as 000001C287FC3B1A. You use it to say which label to change. It is on the label's start screen and on the dashboard.
Layout	The design of a screen: where the text, price, lines and barcodes go. The AP fills it with your text. Made in the Label designer.
Template	A ready-made layout to start from, such as "Shelf price" or "Weather". See Label templates.
Fields	The pieces of text you send for a layout, for example the product name, the price and the unit price.
Poll	A label waking up and asking the AP "anything new?". By default every 60 seconds, so a change shows within about a minute.
Dashboard	The page on the AP that lists every label, what it shows, its battery and signal. See Dashboard.
API token	The password your software sends with every request to the AP. You choose it when you set up the AP. See WiFi and API token.
Jig	A holder with spring-loaded pins that touch the test pads inside a label, so it can be flashed. You need it once per label. See The flashing jig.
Flashing	Writing new firmware to a chip. The AP is flashed over USB, a label once in the jig.
OTA	"Over the air": updating firmware by radio or WiFi instead of a cable. Labels take new firmware this way after the first flash. See Updating labels.
Firmware	The program that runs on the AP or on a label.
802.15.4	The low-power radio standard the labels use, on 2.4 GHz like WiFi but separate from it.
Channel	Which of the 802.15.4 radio channels (11–26) the AP and its labels use. Two APs near each other should use different channels.
esl-client	A command-line tool for the AP: send content, back up, update. See esl-client.
Simulator	Runs the label firmware and the AP on a PC, to try things without hardware.

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