Tronbyt: Saving the Tidbyt from the Inevitable Cloud Shutdown

We've all seen it happen before—companies create innovative hardware, but as soon as they decide it's not profitable anymore, the cloud servers go dark, and the devices become useless. The Tidbyt, a sleek, pixel-based smart display, is no exception. While it's a great device, it relies entirely on Tidbyt's backend services to function. What happens if those servers shut down?

Enter Tronbyt, an open-source alternative that ensures your Tidbyt keeps working long after the official servers go offline.

What is Tronbyt?

Tronbyt is a Flask-based server that lets you manage your Tidbyt-like displays completely locally. It offers a feature-rich web UI, better discoverability of apps, and, most importantly, complete independence from cloud dependencies.

The Original Purpose of Tronbyt

Originally named "Tidbyt Manager", Tronbyt was not originally created to save Tidbyts from a potential server shutdown. Its first goal was to provide an easy way for users to run their own Starlark scripts without needing cron jobs or custom setups. Early on, some Tidbyt users disliked the cloud-only nature of the device and wanted to run their own apps or apps that weren’t allowed on the official Tidbyt community repo. To address this, I built a web interface to manage and configure apps using the Pixlet tool, which then pushed them to the Tidbyt cloud. However, when Modal acquired the Tidbyt team and the risk of a full shutdown became real, Tronbyt's focus shifted to ensuring that Tidbyts wouldn’t be left stranded by a disappearing cloud service.

Advantages of Tronbyt :

• Local Control: No reliance on external servers means your device will continue to work indefinitely.
• Better App Discovery: The original Tidbyt app hides many community-developed apps. Tronbyt makes them more accessible.

• Community Support: Since it’s open-source, the community can extend its capabilities.
• Support for Custom Hardware: Tronbyt isn't limited to just Tidbyt hardware—it can run on any 64x32 LED matrix display, including Raspberry Pi-based setups.

Trade-offs

• No Mobile App Yet: All interactions are through the web UI.
• Higher Latency on Notifications: Push notifications rely on polling instead of MQTT.
• Some Built-in Apps Missing: Although the community is actively recreating them.
• OAuth-Dependent Apps Are Limited: Since Tidbyt stored OAuth credentials in the cloud, apps requiring them may not work.
• Pixlet Push Compatibility: Older tools that use pixlet push need updates to support alternative URLs.

Getting Started

Tronbyt is easy to set up and run. You can start it using Docker with a simple one-liner:

docker run -d -e SERVER_HOSTNAME=<YOUR_SETTING_HERE> -e SERVER_PORT=8000 -e PIXLET_RENDER_PORT1=5100 -e PRODUCTION=1 -p 8000:8000 ghcr.io/tronbyt/server

For a more robust setup, Docker Compose is recommended. Just grab the example .env file, configure your settings, and launch the server. The full installation guide is available on GitHub.

Firmware

Tronbyt requires custom firmware to be flashed onto the hardware, replacing the original Tidbyt software. A particularly clever part of this process is how WiFi credentials are inserted into the firmware. Instead of requiring manual input after flashing, the server modifies the firmware file to include the credentials before it’s even written to the device via good old string replace in python. To ensure this modification doesn't break the firmware, a final step uses esptool to correct the checksum, maintaining the integrity of the firmware file.  While you can still build and flash your hardware the old fashioned way with PlatformIO the web based interface is much easier.

Flashing Your Tidbyt to Tronbyt

To convert a Tidbyt into a Tronbyt, follow these steps:

1. Access the web app at http://localhost:8000.
2. Add your Tronbyt device.
3. Click on "Firmware," enter WiFi details, and generate a firmware file.
4. Use ESPHome firmware flasher to flash your device.
5. Add and configure your apps, then watch them display on your Tronbyt!...