Owner’s Manual for the MandoPuter

In The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett, Din Djarin’s beskar gauntlet carries a small red display that flickers Mandalorian glyphs across his wrist whenever he pulls his arm up to read it. The MandoPuter is the working prop version of that display. This page is its owner’s manual.

Quick Start

Set up and operate in under 30 seconds:

1. Plug in USB-C. Connect a USB-C cable from your power bank to the MandoPuter. The display turns on automatically.
2. Wait for the loading screen. A Mythosaur sigil appears for a couple of seconds, then the unit drops into your last-used display mode and runs autonomously. No action required.
3. Cycle modes if needed. See Buttons below — single-press steps to the next mode, double-press steps to the previous one.

Buttons

Two buttons sit on opposite edges of the module. With the screen facing you, BOOT is on the right edge and RESET is on the left.

The unit remembers your selected mode, rotation, scale, anchor, and color theme across power-off.

Display Settings menu

Long-press BOOT (hold for about 2 seconds) to open the on-screen Display Settings menu. The menu has five rows:

Gestures inside the menu:

• Single-press moves the highlight to the next row (wraps).
• Long-press selects the highlighted row. On Scale / Rotation / Anchor this switches the row into edit mode (the row draws a hollow outline). On Colors it opens the color sub-menu. On Exit it closes the menu.
• In edit mode, single-press cycles the value and saves it immediately. Long-press or double-press returns to row navigation.
• Double-press from row navigation closes the menu (same as selecting Exit).

The firmware version appears under the menu title in white so it’s legible regardless of which color theme is active. Useful when reporting an issue so we know what’s running on your board.

Colors

Every display mode pulls from a shared three-slot color theme. Pick different hues for the three slots and every mode retints to match — Glyph Loop glyphs, Scanner radar sweep, Targeting hunter HUD, TargetAcq acquisition grid, Bounties dossier chrome, and the rest. No per-mode palette fiddling; one theme covers the whole unit.

Open the sub-menu by long-pressing the Colors row in Display Settings. You’ll see five rows:

The palette carries ten hues — enough to cover the spectrum without getting lost in near-duplicates:

RED · ORANGE · AMBER · YELLOW · GREEN · CYAN · BLUE · PURPLE · MAGENTA · WHITE

Gestures inside the color sub-menu:

• Single-press moves between rows.
• Long-press on a slot row (All / Primary / Secondary / Accent) enters edit mode for that slot. The row’s value text previews the color live as you cycle. On the Back row long-press commits and returns to Display Settings.
• In edit mode, single-press cycles through the ten hues with the live preview applied across every mode behind the menu. Long-press confirms the choice and returns to row navigation.
• Double-press in edit mode is cancel: it reverts just that slot’s in-flight edit to what it was when you entered edit mode, then returns to row navigation. Other slot changes from earlier in the same session stay intact.
• Double-press from row navigation commits every slot and returns to Display Settings — identical to long-pressing Back.

There is no “undo” for a slot you’ve already confirmed. If you don’t like the theme after leaving the sub-menu, just re-open it and cycle the slot to a different hue.

Display Modes

The MandoPuter ships with nine screen modes: one default (Glyph Loop), six scene-variants you can cycle for different contexts, and two optional modes that play content off an SD card if one’s inserted.

Every mode retints from the three-slot color theme. Mode descriptions below tag each visible element with the slot that drives it — useful when you’re picking a theme and want to predict what will change.

Glyph Loop default

The signature rolling Mandalorian glyph readout — drawn from on-screen reference in The Mandalorian. Randomized timing and occasional flicker between three-glyph groups give it the nervous, non-repeating quality of the prop as seen on screen. This is the default boot mode.

Colors: Glyphs = Primary · Glitch flash = Secondary

One for the scene

• 

  Scanner 02

  Radar sweep over a starfield with an outer HUD frame and a sporadic CONTACT alert when a blip lights up. Fits scouting and surveillance scenes.

  Colors: Radar sweep = Primary · HUD frame & range readouts = Secondary · CONTACT alert = Accent

• 

  Targeting 03

  Bounty-hunter HUD with a pulsing heat silhouette, range-finder dial, and live BPM / O₂ / T / ID readouts. Fits hunter and tracking scenes.

  Colors: Thermal bloom & labels = Secondary · Hot-core readout = Accent · CRT chrome = mono grey (not themed)

• 

  Telemetry 04

  Rebel-style tactical scanner — a wireframe terrain grid scrolling forward with contact blips that flash as the refresh line passes. Fits pilot or tactical-readout scenes.

  Colors: Wireframe grid = Primary · Acquired blips, refresh line & CONTACT alert = Secondary

• 

  Systems 05

  Six vertical subsystem power bars (CORE, AUX, COMM, JET, TRK, SHL) with animated fills and a cycling status ticker. Fits engineer or diagnostic scenes.

  Colors: Bar fills use tiered Primary/Secondary (bright = high power, med = mid, dim = low)

• 

  TargetAcq 06

  Legacy target-acquisition scope — grid background, concentric radar rings, and a jittering tracking box that locks onto a drifting target in a narrative acquisition arc. The original Targeting prototype, kept as a distinct mode. Fits lock-on and weapons-ready scenes.

  Colors: Everything monochrome from Primary (bright/med/dim tiers)

• 

  Vitals 07

  Medical-readout HUD inspired by Imperial diagnostic consoles. Left panel: a patient avatar over a column of seven loadout-equipment icons (helmet / blaster / jetpack / shield / mythosaur skull / comlink / datapad) and a column of red and white status pips. Right panel: three small gauges (pie, crosshair, molecular) above seven horizontal red bars flanked by tick-mark columns, with a white scan band that hops between rows at random — bars only resize when the band is over them. Fits medbay, diagnostic, and field-medic scenes.

  Colors: Bars + radar + tick marks = Primary · Avatar & status pips & loadout icons = Accent (white) · Scan band = Accent

Custom content SD card required

• 

  Bounties

  Dossier cards built from images in /IMAGES on your SD card, with optional name / reward / note metadata. File format →

  Colors: Name, reward, status = Primary · Frame & scanlines = Secondary · Notes & footer tagline = Accent

• YOUR IMAGES

  SD Images

  Slideshow of BMP or JPEG files from /IMAGES. Any image works — including the art you use for Bounties cards.

  Colors: Shows your source images unmodified — theme doesn’t apply.

SD card is optional. Glyph Loop + the four scene modes all work without a card. The two SD modes still appear in the cycle — enter one without a card and the unit shows an SD card missing alert.

Power

The MandoPuter has no internal battery — it runs from the USB-C power bank you connect. Small banks (2,000–5,000 mAh) typically last 8–12 hours at default brightness. Charge before every event.

Cables and switches

• USB-C cable quality matters. Cheap or damaged cables cause flicker or failed starts. If the display is dim or flickering, swap the cable before troubleshooting the module itself.
• Optional inline switch. A USB-C inline power switch sits between the bank and the module so you can power off without unplugging.

Updating Firmware

New firmware ships periodically with new modes, fixes, and refinements. Two install methods are available — pick whichever fits your kit:

• SD-card update — recommended. Drop one file on your card, power on, confirm. No computer, no cable. Requires firmware v0.1.9 or newer already on the unit.
• USB installer — alternative. Plug the unit into a Windows PC, run the installer. Works regardless of what version is on the unit, including the original shipped firmware. Use this if you don't have an SD card, if your SD-card update flow ever gets stuck, or if you're updating from a pre-v0.1.9 unit for the first time.

The current firmware version is shown in white under the title of the Display Settings menu. Compare it against the latest version on the Account page to see if you're due for an update.

Latest release: v0.1.12 — datapad icon replaces duplicate helmet in Vitals. Browse all firmware release notes for the full history.

SD-card update (recommended)

1. Log in to your account at foxheadworkshop.com/account. Open your MandoPuter order. Download the file labelled firmware.bin.
2. Save firmware.bin to your MandoPuter SD card. Place it at the root of the card (or in a /FIRMWARE/ folder — either path works). Do not rename the file.
3. Insert the SD card and power the unit on. The MandoPuter detects the file on boot and shows an update prompt with the current and incoming version numbers.
4. Confirm or skip.
   • Single-press BOOT to install. A progress bar appears. Don't unplug the power bank during the install — the unit takes ~10 seconds.
   • Long-press BOOT to skip just this boot. The file stays on the SD card; you'll be prompted again next power-on.
   • Wait 15 seconds with no input and the unit auto-skips and continues to the normal startup.
5. Done. After install the unit reboots automatically and briefly shows UPDATED TO vX.Y.Z over the loading screen. The firmware file on the SD card is renamed to firmware.installed.bin so it doesn't re-prompt — you can leave the SD card inserted normally afterwards.

USB installer (alternative)

For when the SD-card path isn't an option — no SD card on hand, the unit's running pre-v0.1.9 firmware that doesn't know how to read SD updates, or you just prefer to flash from a computer. The installer ships as a single zip with everything bundled (the flashing tool, the bootloader, the partitions, and the app firmware) so you don't need to install Python, Arduino, or any toolchain. ~15 MB total.

1. Download the installer zip. Log in at foxheadworkshop.com/account, open your MandoPuter order, and download the file labelled mandoputer-firmware-vX.Y.Z.zip. (It sits beside firmware.bin.)
2. Unzip it anywhere on a Windows PC. Desktop, Downloads, a flash drive — doesn't matter. Inside you'll see Install-Simple.cmd, a tools/ folder, a firmware/ folder, and a README.
3. Plug the MandoPuter into the PC with a USB-C cable. Use a known-good cable that carries data — many cheap USB-C cables are power-only and won't work. Wait ~5 seconds for Windows to recognise the device.
4. Double-click Install-Simple.cmd. A black command window opens, runs esptool.exe, and writes the new firmware. Each board takes ~15-20 seconds. The script tells you when it's done.
5. Unplug and reconnect to your power bank. The unit boots into the new firmware.

Mounting in the Gauntlet

1. Orient the module. Slide the unit screen-side out into the gauntlet window.
2. Secure with hook-and-loop. Velcro is strongly recommended over double-sided tape — it lets you pull the module out to change settings. The BOOT button is generally inaccessible once the module is mounted.
3. Route the USB-C cable. Run the cable to your power bank location. Keep it clear of articulated joints or velcro closures that could snag it.
4. Confirm display orientation before final install. Power on and check that text reads correctly. If the screen is rotated, remove the module, long-press BOOT to open the Display Settings menu, single-press to the Rotation row, and long-press to cycle through 0 / 90 / 180 / 270 degrees until it reads correctly. While you're in the menu, set the scale and anchor too if your gauntlet opening is smaller than the full panel.

SD Card Setup

The board includes a microSD card slot on its edge. No card is needed for normal operation — all five built-in modes work without one. Adding a card unlocks Bounties and SD Images, and is also how you install firmware updates.

File layout

Create an /IMAGES directory at the root of the card (capital letters, no subdirectories) and put your BMP or JPG/JPEG files there. The same directory feeds both SD-based modes.

Bounties metadata format

For each image in /IMAGES that should appear as a Bounties dossier, you can add a companion .txt file with the same base name (for example grogu.bmp + grogu.txt). The metadata file uses key=value, one field per line:

Lines starting with # are ignored as comments. Images without a matching .txt still appear with a full dossier — the firmware fills in randomized defaults for status, note, and reward so every card renders the complete layout. Any field you supply in a .txt overrides its default.

Troubleshooting

Safety and Handling

• Keep it dry. The board is not water-resistant. Avoid rain and high-humidity. If moisture gets on the board, power off and let it dry fully before reconnecting.
• Don’t press the display corners. The LCD ribbon is bonded directly to the board; pressure on the corners can crack the ribbon connection and permanently damage the screen.
• Transport in something padded. The acrylic cover protects against scratches but not direct impact. Use a padded pouch or wrap the module in soft fabric between events.