Three main categories: e-ink for always-on dashboards with zero power draw, LCD/OLED for color animations and live data, and LED matrix panels for sound-reactive or pixel art. Each serves a different desk vibe.

E-ink displays are popular for ambient dashboards showing GitHub stats, weather, or calendar data. They refresh a few times per hour without glare. LCD panels with ESP32 work better if you want live updating metrics or animations.

A built-in or external microphone captures audio. An ESP32 or similar controller runs FFT (Fast Fourier Transform) to break sound into frequency bands, then maps those bands to LED colors and brightness in real time.