I made a Tronbyt app for Umbrel: an easy way to self-host your Tidbyt

I’ve been a Tidbyt owner since the beginning and have both Gen 1 and Gen 2 displays. With the original Tidbyt service winding down, I’ve been looking at the different ways we can keep these great little displays useful for many years to come.

Tidbyt and Tronbyt in brief

If you’ve never come across one, a Tidbyt is a small LED pixel display for your desk or shelf, 64 pixels wide by 32 high, that shows things like the time, the weather, your calendar or the next train, using a library of apps written by the company and the community. Every Tidbyt gets its apps from Tidbyt’s own cloud service.

In November 2024 Tidbyt joined Modal, a cloud computing company. No new displays have been made since, and while the service has been kept running for people who already own one, nobody knows for how long.

Tronbyt is the community’s answer: a free, open-source server that you run yourself, plus firmware that points a Tidbyt at your server instead of Tidbyt’s. Your display then no longer depends on anyone else’s cloud. You can browse the apps available for Tronbyt displays in its app store: clocks, weather, sports scores, transport times and many more.

If you don’t have a Tidbyt, you can still buy hardware made for Tronbyt, such as the Tronbyt displays and boards from PixoHardware: its S3 Dev Kits come in a small version and a wide 128 × 64 version.

Why I made an Umbrel app

Personally, I think self-hosting and fully open-source software offer the most sustainable long-term model for the growing Tidbyt ecosystem, which is why I’ve chosen to use Tronbyt. To make self-hosting Tronbyt a little easier, I’ve made a Tronbyt app for umbrelOS, available through my Umbrel Community App Store.

What is Umbrel?

umbrelOS is a home-server operating system with a really nice web interface and an app store. Rather than having to manage Docker containers, compose files, ports and so on by hand, you install and manage your self-hosted server apps from your browser.

You don’t need to buy dedicated Umbrel hardware either. umbrelOS runs on both the Raspberry Pi 4 and Raspberry Pi 5, so if you’ve already got a Pi lying around, you may already have everything you need to run Tronbyt. Umbrel has a very straightforward installation guide for the Raspberry Pi.

I used to run Umbrel on a Pi 4 and now use an older Umbrel Home. For the mostly lightweight server apps I run, it has been great: one small machine runs Tronbyt alongside a whole collection of other self-hosted services.

And just to be clear, I have no connection to Umbrel. I’m simply a long-time user who likes the platform and thought it would be a good way to make self-hosting Tronbyt more accessible.

Why run Tronbyt on Umbrel?

Once umbrelOS itself is installed, virtually everything is managed through the browser. For Tronbyt that means:

• no need to understand Docker just to get Tronbyt running;
• simple installation and management from your browser;
• one small server can run Tronbyt alongside lots of other self-hosted apps;
• Umbrel’s built-in backups can protect your app’s data and settings;
• a Pi 4 or Pi 5 makes a relatively inexpensive, low-power home server, particularly if you already own one.

I’ve been running the app with both my Gen 1 and Gen 2 Tidbyts, and so far it has been working very well. It also supports Tronbyt’s own S3 and S3 Wide displays, the MatrixPortal S3 and LED panels driven by a Raspberry Pi, and it can make the firmware that turns a Tidbyt into a Tronbyt.

Updates that keep coming

I’ve set up a GitHub Action that automatically publishes an updated Umbrel app two days after each new Tronbyt server release.

The two-day delay is intentional: it gives each release a little time for any obvious problems to appear before it reaches the Umbrel app, while still keeping updates essentially automatic. It also means updates shouldn’t depend on me remembering to maintain the app forever. If I get hit by the proverbial bus, new Tronbyt releases should keep flowing through automatically!

Why I chose the self-hosted route

There are now several ways to keep Tidbyt displays going, which I think is a really positive development.

Niblet is likely to be a great option for many people, particularly those who aren’t very technical or simply don’t want the hassle of running a server themselves. Not everyone wants another Raspberry Pi sitting around the house, and they shouldn’t have to become a sysadmin just to keep using their Tidbyt.

For me, though, Tronbyt’s fully open-source, self-hosted approach is the model I prefer for the long term. There’s no dependency on any particular hosted service continuing to exist. The code is available to the community and can be maintained, improved or forked in the future. I think that’s a particularly strong foundation for a growing community of Tidbyt apps and displays.

The trade-off has always been that self-hosting needs more technical knowledge. My hope is that packaging Tronbyt for Umbrel removes much of that barrier: once Umbrel is installed, running Tronbyt is much closer to installing any other app.

How to install it

1. Open the App Store on your Umbrel, click ••• at the top right, then Community App Stores.
2. Paste https://github.com/saltedlolly/umbrel-app-store and click Add.
3. Open the saltedlolly App Store and install Tronbyt.

Tronbyt has its own sign-in (you create your account on your first visit) rather than using Umbrel’s, because the displays themselves connect to the server directly and can’t sign in through a browser. From there you can add your displays and choose apps from Tronbyt’s app store.

So if you’ve got a Raspberry Pi 4 or 5 lying around and have been wondering what to do with your Tidbyt, this might be worth a try. I’d love to hear from anyone who tries it, particularly people running it on a Raspberry Pi or with different Tidbyt generations. Leave a comment below, or report a bug or make a suggestion on GitHub.

Support my work

The Tronbyt app is free, like all my apps for Umbrel and Tronbyt, and I build them in my spare time. If you find them useful, please consider sponsoring me on GitHub or buying me a coffee on Ko-fi. It helps me keep them updated and make new ones. More ways to support my work →

The Tronbyt app for Umbrel is an independent project, not made or endorsed by Umbrel, Tronbyt or Tidbyt. Community app stores aren't official Umbrel services: please back up your data and test any app before relying on it.