Talk, type, and interrupt

Wait for the device to show Ready. On the LCD board, BOOT is TALK and PLUS is CANCEL. On the round touchscreen, hold the screen to talk and swipe down to cancel.

What you want to do	Control
Ask a question	Hold TALK, speak, and release to send
Interrupt a spoken reply	Hold TALK to start speaking
Discard a recording, close a card, or stop a turn	Tap CANCEL
Start a fresh conversation	Hold CANCEL for two seconds
Answer a confirmation question	TALK means yes; CANCEL means no
Type in the simulator	Enter a message in the text box and press Enter
Save the simulator's device screen	Press Ctrl+S

Long replies turn their own pages. Simulated boards with scroll buttons also accept Up and Down.

Try asking Hermes to show a reminder on the screen. The agent can use gadget_display to display a card. Devices with actions can also respond to requests such as "Turn the LED purple."

If speech is missing, check audio setup. For connection problems, use troubleshooting. To change Wi-Fi or install firmware updates, see Manage an existing gadget.

Device settings and hardware checks

Hold TALK and CANCEL together for one second to open or close device settings. On a touchscreen, hold the title bar for one second. Settings also work while the device is offline. Opening settings stops the current recording or reply.

Tap CANCEL to move to the next item, then tap TALK to change it. On a touchscreen, swipe down for the next item and tap to select. Boards with Up and Down buttons can move in either direction. Select Back to Hermes to leave.

Item	What it does
Speaker volume	Change volume in steps of 10 percent
Screen brightness	Choose 10, 25, 50, 75, or 100 percent when the display supports it
Talk mode	Choose hold-to-talk or tap-to-talk with silence detection
Microphone check	Show the live input level; nothing is saved or sent to Hermes
Speaker check	Play a short, quiet tone at the current volume
Display check	Show red, green, blue, white, and black bands
Input check	Show the last button pressed; release CANCEL to leave the check
Device information	Show the board, firmware, device ID, and available audio drivers
Battery and power	Show available power readings on boards with a power driver
Screen timeout	Choose always on, 30, 60, 120, or 300 seconds
Power off	Select twice to shut down a board with a power driver
Wi-Fi setup	Start phone-based setup on ESP32 boards

Volume, brightness, talk mode, and screen timeout survive restarts. Unavailable drivers show as unavailable. These checks help you test the hardware; a completed tone does not prove that a physical speaker produced sound.

Screen timeout is off by default. When enabled, a brightness-capable display dims halfway through the idle period, then goes dark. The first button press or touch wakes it without recording or answering a prompt. Incoming replies and prompts wake it too. Recording, playback, settings, pairing and updates keep it awake. The processor and Wi-Fi remain running; this is screen sleep. Use the board's Power off control to shut down the device.

Incoming confirmation prompts and firmware updates close settings. You cannot open settings during a prompt or update. The USB console also accepts settings, settings close, and set brightness 50.