TRMNL has native devices and DIY/ BYOD devices.
Native devices are sold on our website, while DIY / BYOD devices are made up of components found elsewhere.
Third party products like Raspberry Pi, Kobo Readers, Kindle, and Android tablet have something in common -- they can render a TRMNL dashboard, either from our native web application or an open source BYOS server client.
Here are some things to know as you set up a BYOD device.
Device models are WIP
To support a new device, we need a handful of attributes about its hardware. These are used as parameters inside the screen generation engine to ensure a perfect fit that leverages the best resolution and other capabilities.
(integer) "width" # in pixels
(integer) "height" # in pixels
(integer) "color_depth"
(string) "format" # png, bmp
(integer) "colors"
(integer) "scale_factor", default: 1
(integer) "offset_x", default: 0
(integer) "offset_y", default: 0
(integer) "rotate", default: 0
(integer) "device_type" # brand family, e.g. Kindle
(string) "name" # friendly identifier
For example, here's our Kindle 6th gen Paperwhite adapter:
{
id: 5,
keyname: 'amazon_kindle_paperwhite_6th_gen',
name: 'Amazon Kindle PW 6th Gen',
width: 1024,
height: 768,
colour_depth: 8,
colours: 256,
scale_factor: 1,
rotate: 90,
offset_x: 0,
offset_y: 0,
format: 'png',
device_type: :kindle
}
If you don't see a compatible dropdown option for your hardware, just send us a live chat or email team@usetrmnl.com and we'll help you figure it out.
BYOD device support is a labor of love
We are committed to open sourcing as much of our platform as we can. Learn more about this commitment here, and see a summary of our ecosystem here.
That said, supporting a growing library of 3rd party hardware has its challenges, and we ask that the community help us stay efficient + productive by:
posting Issues on the various GitHub repos
joining our developer-only Discord > #byod / #byos channels
volunteering to test out your used hardware on new builds
In exchange we can offer community recognition, complimentary TRMNL devices, and other perks.