remote control: show ascii strings to display from client

[linux-works]

my use-case is to have an ESP8266 or equiv be a web REST proxy for this.

it would be handy to have some way to display strings to the display as just display fields from serial clients. the ESP could then show bootup/dhcp (etc) progress and eventually the ip-addr or an error if it can't get an IP.

showing an IP (at least) is the very minimal in order for this to be deployed as a standalone REST controlled psu. that's my goal, to embed an ESP wifi module in and not need to have the ESP drive its own private display just to show its network status.

not sure what features are needed: color fg/bg and font, maybe? I would not give x,y - there should be a 'tray' (like there is an icon tray, now) for remote messages and those should probably not exceed one single screen line. that would really be enough to have the ESP do its status over serial, be 'headless' and be an effective network proxy.

before I start hacking my own tree, wondering if there was any work along this line?