Show HN: LumiBridge – 448x64 LED display with SDR ship tracking

← Tim Vasil

Features

This is a personal hardware + software project, inspired by TheFlightWall ,

with the goal of pulling as much interesting live data from the internet as possible to showcase on a wide LED display over my living room fireplace.

It started with a simple question, “What’s that ship passing by in San Diego Bay? ,” but now answers all sorts of questions including “What’s the best time to walk the dog today?” and “What are the trending streaming shows?”

I built the display from seven 64 × 64 LED panels, driven by a Raspberry Pi. That gives me 448 × 64 pixels to work with, which is an interesting constraint (and aspect ratio) for 40+ apps!

Nonetheless, I was able to take advantage of a 30 fps frame rate (on a 100+ Hz panel refresh) with full 24-bit color to craft some pretty slick visuals and animations, including map imagery that zooms and pictures of baseball players during live games.

The intro splash screen as LumiBridge boots, with sound.

The Home screen alternates between app icons and a dashboard of live updates.

Let the apps take turns. Autoplay gives priority to timely updates, like an approaching trolley or a ship entering the bay. It resumes after the remote has been idle, so the display can mostly look after itself.Use a remote, browser or voice. The media remote handles everyday navigation. The web interface adds a live preview and configuration tools, while speech-to-speech AI lets me ask questions or tell the display what to show.See several apps at once. The Home screen switches between app icons and a dashboard of small live previews.Keep it comfortable in the living room. Brightness follows local sunrise and sunset, with separate day, twilight and night levels. Scheduled on and off times use gradual fades.Receive ship data directly. A software-defined radio and VHF antenna pick up AIS broadcasts from ships on the bay. Aircraft positions come from an online ADS-B feed.Make room for the next idea. Each app is a Python plugin with its own settings. Panel mapping is separate from the apps, and a simulated display lets me develop on a laptop without the hardware.

Photos

LumiBridge framed and ready for mounting, showing the play-by-play of a Padres game along with real-time prediction market odds of victory.

Early assembly on the dining table: daisy-chaining displays and contemplating power hookups.

From behind, near the end of the build: panels secured to steel rails, and the rails secured to the frame.

Lumi’s close up close to finished: all parts secured inside the frame.

Apps

Select an app for screenshots, capabilities, configurability, and data sources. Home and Autoplay come first; the rest are alphabetical. Use the arrow keys to browse between apps.

Home Autoplay Birds Books Cameras Cars Chats Clocks Commits Crafts Currents Drives ETAs Events Fires Flicks Forecasts Games Goals Locks News Odds Photos Polls Pumps Quakes Rates Scores Settings Stars Stats Stocks Takeoffs Temps Tests Tickets Timers Tunes Visitors Waves Wikis

No app matches that.

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Capabilities

Apps report a priority from 0 to 1. An approaching trolley or a ship entering the bay can take precedence over less timely content.

Urgent content can interrupt after the current app has had its minimum screen time. Red flashes at the edges draw attention to imminent events.

Start Autoplay from Home or by holding

Settings and setup

Apps included in the rotation

Default and maximum time per app

Minimum seconds before an urgent app may interrupt, and the interrupt threshold (0-1)

Fade between apps, in seconds (0 for a hard cut)

Idle minutes before autoplay starts on its own (0 = never)

Whether to enter autoplay automatically when the server starts

Current app priorities and display history

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Capabilities

Each sighting includes a photo, species name, count, time and location, with up to four species per page.

Rare sightings are labeled, with unconfirmed reports marked separately. Show them first or limit the display to rarities.

Search near the display or another location. Each species appears once, even when it has several reports.

Settings and setup

Search location: the display, a place name or a US ZIP code

Search radius in km and how many days back

Columns per page: one full-width card, or two to four per page

Time per page

Minutes between refreshes

Show photos, rarities first, or rarities only

Font

eBird API key via environment or config.yaml

Data sources

Cornell Lab eBird API Nearby sightings and rarity reports; requires an API key.Wikipedia API Species photos from Wikipedia articles.

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Capabilities

Browse fiction, nonfiction, audiobooks and free books, with covers and chart positions.

Open a book’s details for its author, genres, ratings and summary. Books on both charts appear as one entry.

Press

Settings and setup

Which cards run and in what order (listings, top and new per kind)

Region for Apple’s charts

Books per list

Age limit for new releases

Time per view

Minutes between refreshes

Font

NYT Books API key via environment or config.yaml

Data sources

Apple Books charts RSS Charts for paid books, free books and audiobooks.iTunes lookup and search API Book details and search results.NYT Books API Best-seller lists; requires an API key. Apple charts provide a fallback without one.

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Capabilities

Rotate through cameras with a slow pan and fade, or show several together.

Snapshots refresh while the app is on screen. Cameras reported offline are omitted.

These are still images, not a live video feed.

Settings and setup

Which cameras to show, or all of them

Layout: rotate full screen one at a time, or grid with all cameras at once

Snapshot refresh interval in seconds

Show or hide the camera name

Seconds per camera, fade style (cross-fade, through black, through white) and fade seconds

Ring Partner API credentials and a guided account-linking command

Diagnostics listing each camera’s status and last snapshot

Data source

Ring Partner API API Camera snapshots through a linked Ring account.

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Capabilities

Each vehicle shows its battery level, range, location and whether it’s charging, driving or parked.

Additional details include temperature, mileage, lock status and Sentry Mode.

Sleeping cars retain their last reading, labeled as asleep. Waking them for fresh data is optional, since doing so uses battery.

Settings and setup

Link or unlink a Tesla account

Discover vehicles and check which to show

Units: miles or kilometers

Seconds per vehicle when cards page

Poll interval in seconds

Wake sleeping vehicles for fresher data (off by default)

Home location and home radius in miles

Diagnostics: status, battery and last poll per vehicle

Data sources

Tesla Fleet API API Vehicle readings through a linked Tesla account.Tesla compositor Unofficial Vehicle images from the undocumented service used by Tesla’s configurator.

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Capabilities

Speak through a microphone and hear the answer through the speaker, with a transcript on the display.

Voice commands can switch apps and adjust display settings. The microphone stays open briefly after switching apps so you can follow up.

Hold

Settings and setup

Gemini Live model

Voice, or the model default

Allow interruptions while Lumi speaks, for use with a headset or echo-canceling microphone

Persona: a paragraph about the household, neighborhood, or tone of voice

How long the microphone stays open after a voice command switches apps

Idle time before the conversation goes to sleep

Type a line into the live conversation, copy or clear the transcript

Gemini API key via environment or config.yaml

Data sources

Google Gemini Live API Voice conversations and display commands; requires a Gemini API key.Microphone and speaker Device Audio input and output on the Pi, connected to the Gemini voice session.

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Capabilities

Show saved locations as analog or digital clocks, with sunrise, sunset and local sky colors.

The world map labels each city with its time and pans to include locations that don’t fit together.

Time zones account for daylight saving time. Sunrise and sunset are calculated locally.

Settings and setup

Locations: search a city to add, drag to reorder, and edit each title

Look: classic clocks side by side, or world map

Style: analog, digital (12-hour), or 24-hour

Show seconds (sweeping hand or seconds digits)

Font

Data sources

Local computation Local System time, time-zone data and locally calculated sunrise and sunset, with a bundled world map.Open-Meteo geocoding API Coordinates for place-name searches, without an API key.

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Capabilities

Browse contribution graphs by year, with totals and current and longest streaks.

An activity feed includes commits, pull requests, issues, comments and releases, along with activity from followed users and watched repositories.

Show your own account or another user’s public activity.

Settings and setup

GitHub username, or blank for the token’s own account

GitHub personal access token in the environment or config

Choose and reorder cards (heatmap, activity)

Seconds per card

Refresh interval in minutes

Display font

Diagnostics showing fetch status

Data sources

GitHub GraphQL API Contribution history; requires a personal access token.GitHub REST events API Repository and user activity, using the same token.

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Capabilities

Ship cards show the name, flag, heading, speed and vessel type. Aircraft cards add altitude, aircraft type and route.

A map shows the surrounding traffic, then zooms in on individual ships and planes.

Local AIS reception can be combined with an online ship feed. Aircraft positions come from an online ADS-B feed; configured alert zones identify traffic worth interrupting for.

Settings and setup

Ships, aircraft, or both

Mode: cards, map overview, or mix (alternate), plus the map style

Time per ship or aircraft, with a separate duration for alerts

Center point and radius for aircraft; minimum altitude; minimum knots for a ship to count as moving

Alert zones for ships and aircraft

Overview, closeup and mix-switch seconds, and the closeup map zoom

Refresh interval and age limit for ship and aircraft readings

Ship tracking bounds and API keys in config.yaml; feed and source health shown on the tab

Data sources

AIS-Catcher Radio Ship positions decoded from the radio and VHF antenna.aisstream.io API Optional AIS data from other receivers; requires an API key.adsb.lol API Aircraft positions from a community ADS-B network.Route and aircraft lookups Unofficial Route information from adsb.lol’s VRS data and aircraft types from adsbdb.com.Map tiles Unofficial Esri World Imagery, CARTO, OpenStreetMap or OpenTopoMap, depending on the selected style.

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Capabilities

See the generation mix, including how much comes from renewables, alongside power flowing to batteries or out of state.

Charts show demand and generation through the day, plus forecasts and electricity prices for the selected pricing location.

Grid alerts appear across the views, and older data is marked as stale.

Settings and setup

Which cards show (mix, today, price) and their order, with drag to reorder

Pricing node: NP15, ZP26 or SP15 hub, or the PG&E, SCE or SDG&E load area

Seconds per card

Refresh interval in minutes

Font

Diagnostics showing the latest reading, demand, renewable share and price

Data sources

CAISO Today’s Outlook Unofficial Generation, demand and grid status from the files behind CAISO’s website.CAISO OASIS API Electricity prices for the selected pricing location.

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Capabilities

See travel times in both directions, with congestion compared to a typical trip at that hour.

Check later departure times to see how historical traffic might affect the drive.

Nearby US border crossings show vehicle and pedestrian waits. Autoplay can prioritize drives that are taking longer than usual.

Settings and setup

Destinations by address or place name, dragged into order, each with a label and its own origin

Departure times to forecast, and how long a forecast holds before snapping back to now

Rows per page and seconds per page

Refresh minutes on screen, idle, and for forecasts, plus the daily request budget

Minutes worse than usual before joining autoplay, or always join

Border waits on or off, the radius in miles, and refresh minutes

Font

TomTom API key

Data sources

TomTom Routing API Current and forecast drive times; requires an API key. Requests are limited by a configurable daily budget.CBP Border Wait Times Unofficial Vehicle and pedestrian waits from the feed behind CBP’s website.

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Capabilities

Combine related stops into one board, with a countdown to the next departure and a list of those that follow.

Separate columns keep buses, trolleys and other transit modes easy to scan. Live estimates and delays are marked.

Departures approaching the warning window are highlighted. The app leaves Autoplay when there are no more departures to show.

Settings and setup

Data provider, server, and API key

Find stops around a location (with radius) or by the stop code on the sign

Cards that combine stops, with labels and optional route filters

Transit modes to show as columns: light rail, subway, rail, bus, ferry, cable, monorail

Approach warning minutes and departure horizon minutes

Seconds per card and display font

Refresh seconds on screen and refresh minutes off screen

Data sources

OneBusAway (San Diego MTS) API Live arrivals for MTS stops; requires an API key.Transitland API An alternative transit provider; requires an API key and refresh settings appropriate to its request allowance.

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Capabilities

Event cards include the title, time, location and description, with dates marked on a month calendar.

The list view lets you browse by event or date and open details with

Connect iCloud calendars, including accepted shared calendars, or add iCal feeds from Google Calendar and other providers.

Settings and setup

Layout: cards (one event at a time) or table (chronological list)

Seconds per event, days ahead to show, and minutes between refreshes

Which discovered Apple calendars to show

iCal feeds to add or remove, each with an optional display name

A display name and color per calendar

Font

Apple ID and app-specific password in config.yaml

Per-calendar fetch status and upcoming counts in diagnostics

Data sources

iCloud CalDAV API iCloud calendars, using an Apple ID and app-specific password.ICS feeds iCal Calendar feeds, including Google Calendar’s private iCal links.

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Capabilities

Browse individual fires, a regional map or a list ordered by distance, with reported containment and available incident details.

Larger fires include mapped perimeters. Optional satellite hotspots show recent detections.

An activity chart shows how hotspot detections have changed over time.

Settings and setup

Home location to center on (search a place or US zip)

Nearby radius and region radius in km

Minimum acres to show and whether to include prescribed burns

Hotspot days window for satellite detections

Optional NASA FIRMS map key for hotspots

Choose, reorder and hide cards (local, region, list, activity)

Map style, units (miles or km), seconds per view, refresh minutes and font

Diagnostics table listing each fire with containment, distance and start time

Data sources

NIFC WFIGS API Reported wildfire incidents and perimeters from the National Interagency Fire Center.NASA FIRMS API Optional satellite hotspot detections; requires a map key.Map tiles Unofficial OpenStreetMap for the background map.

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Capabilities

Browse trending titles and recent releases available in the selected region.

Each title includes artwork, a synopsis, ratings and streaming services. Optional OMDb data adds IMDb, Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic scores.

Press

Settings and setup

Which cards run and in what order (movies, TV, trending, new)

Region for streaming availability, from the countries TMDB covers

Titles per list (up to TMDB’s page of 20)

Age limit for new releases

Time per view

Minutes between refreshes

Font

TMDB key (required) and OMDb key (optional) via environment or config.yaml

Data sources

TMDB API Titles, artwork and streaming availability; requires an API key. Streaming-provider data is credited to JustWatch.OMDb API Optional IMDb, Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic ratings; requires an API key.

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Capabilities

Show a seven-day forecast and hourly conditions for up to eight locations.

A walkability score combines feels-like temperature, rain, wind, air quality, UV and dew point. Press

Hourly views also cover temperature, wind, UV, air quality, humidity and pressure. Animated radar joins the rotation when rain is nearby.

Settings and setup

Up to 8 locations: the display’s own, a 5-digit US zip, or a city by name

Optional label per location that overrides the place name

Drag locations into the order the display cycles through

Seconds per view

Forecast refresh minutes

Display font

Radar map style

Diagnostics per location

Data sources

Open-Meteo API Weather forecasts and air-quality data, without an API key.Zippopotam.us API Coordinates for US ZIP codes.RainViewer API Recent rain radar imagery.Map tiles Unofficial OpenTopoMap for the background map.

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Capabilities

Play Dr. Lumi, Snake, Breakout, Pong, Lum-Man, Hermie’s Adventure, Sudoku, Tic-Tac-Toe, Connect 4 and, yes, DOOM.

The menu shows AI-played demos. Opponent and difficulty options vary by game, with some supporting two people sharing the remote.

High scores and records are saved. Leave a game and it pauses until you return.

Settings and setup

Choose games and their order

Opponent or difficulty per game, including two-player mode for the board games

Pong’s winning score and Hermie’s maze generator

Dr. Lumi starting level and music choice

DOOM gamma and music volume

Seconds per demo card on the menu

View and reset high scores, plays and time played per game or all at once

Data sources

doomgeneric Local DOOM runs on the Pi through this portable port of Chocolate Doom, with a LumiBridge platform layer for the display, remote and sound.Freedoom Local The free game data DOOM plays by default, downloaded once at setup. An original DOOM WAD can be dropped in instead.

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Capabilities

Move, Exercise and Stand rings appear beside hourly activity, steps and workout details.

Several people can appear side by side, each with their own goals.

Health Auto Export sends updates from each phone. The display keeps the latest data through restarts and flags phones that haven’t reported for a day.

Settings and setup

People to include, with an ID and display name

Move goal in calories, exercise goal in minutes and stand goal in hours per person

Display font

Web-sized view of today’s rings, chart and workouts per person

Freshness indicator showing how recently each person’s phone reported

Data source

Health Auto Export Phone Apple Health data sent by an automation on each person’s phone to the display over the local network.

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Capabilities

Schlage WiFi and Tuya or Smart Life locks share one display, with distinct states for locked, unlocked and jammed.

Select a door with

Battery warnings flag low charge, and stale readings turn gray.

Settings and setup

Schlage account email and password

Tuya cloud project credentials, device ids and regional API base

Rename any door for the screen

Seconds per page

Refresh interval in minutes

Display font

Diagnostics table of each door’s source, state, battery and last change

Data sources

Schlage Unofficial Lock readings and commands through an unofficial client, using the account’s email and password.Tuya Cloud API Smart Life locks through Tuya’s API; requires cloud-project credentials.

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Capabilities

Use up to four rows, each with its own sources, colors and animation.

Headlines can scroll, slide up, appear as captions or use individual cards, with the outlet identified alongside.

Filter out older stories. In card mode, pausing can show a QR code to the article.

Settings and setup

Add, remove and reorder news rows

News sources for each row, including custom RSS feeds

Animation, text color, background color, scroll speed and seconds per page per row

QR code to the article when paused, for card rows

Font, with anti-aliased or crisp pixel text

Refresh minutes, headlines per source and maximum story age in hours

Add your own fonts by dropping files into the app’s fonts folder

Data sources

Publisher RSS and Atom feeds RSS Headlines from selected publishers and custom feed URLs.Google News RSS RSS Feeds for AP, CNN and the Desert Sun.Favicons and lead images Unofficial Outlet icons from Google’s favicon service and article images from news feeds.

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Capabilities

Follow markets from Polymarket, Kalshi and Manifold, with labels distinguishing real-money and play-money markets.

See a single probability or compare the leading outcomes of an event, with history charts.

Combine matching questions from different markets to compare their odds. Use

Settings and setup

Search Polymarket and Kalshi together, or paste a market link, to add a market or event

Add a whole event or just one of its outcomes as its own card

Drag the market list to set the rotation order

Tick two to four entries to merge them into one card with an optional label

Seconds per view and refresh interval in minutes

Default chart zoom

Font

Data sources

Polymarket API Market odds from the Gamma API and, where used, price history from the CLOB API.Kalshi API Market odds and available history from public API endpoints.Manifold API Market probabilities from its public API.

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Capabilities

Photos fill the display, panning across images that don’t fit its proportions.

Choose the order and time per image, with crossfades or transitions through black or white.

Uploads are resized for the display and kept across deployments.

Settings and setup

Upload images

Reorder images

Delete images

Seconds per image

Fade style (cross-fade, through black, through white)

Fade duration in seconds

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Capabilities

Seat bars show ratings from safe seats through toss-ups, with party totals and a majority marker.

Group the display by forecaster to compare chambers, or by race to compare forecasters.

Views cover Senate, House, governor and presidential races, with animated transitions between forecasts.

Settings and setup

Card layout: one forecaster per card or one race per card

Which races appear (Senate, House, Governor, President) and their order

Which forecasters to include, chosen from those found on the enabled races

Time per card and transition duration

Refresh interval in minutes

Font

Data sources

270toWin Unofficial Forecast data read from election pages; depends on their page structure.Polymarket gateway Unofficial Market data used by 270toWin’s Polymarket view.

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Capabilities

Maps compare state prices, with historical gas-price snapshots and the least and most expensive states.

Track gas prices by grade for selected metro areas or states, including changes and record highs.

The display can automatically select the nearest metro area.

Settings and setup

Choose and reorder cards (map, ev, metros)

Add metro areas or whole states to track, or the one nearest the display

Which grades to chart (regular, mid-grade, premium, diesel)

Seconds per card

Refresh interval in minutes

Display font

Diagnostics table of today’s prices by place

Data sources

AAA Gas Prices Unofficial Gas and EV charging prices read from AAA’s website; depends on its page structure.Open-Meteo geocoding API Coordinates for place-name searches, without an API key.

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Capabilities

Local views show magnitude, time, depth and distance, with markers sized by magnitude and colored by age.

Compare nearby activity with significant earthquakes worldwide, or chart activity over the selected period.

USGS tsunami messages, PAGER alerts and felt reports appear when available.

Settings and setup

Places of interest, each a searched place or US zip, or the display’s own location

Search radius, minimum magnitude and days to look back

Worldwide feed: significant quakes this month or magnitude 4.5+ this week

Which cards show (local, world, activity, list) and their order

Map style and distance units in miles or kilometers

Seconds per view and refresh interval in minutes

Font

Data sources

USGS FDSN event service API Earthquakes around saved locations.USGS summary feeds API Worldwide earthquake reports.Map tiles Unofficial OpenTopoMap for the background map.

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Capabilities

Follow inflation, interest rates, mortgages, unemployment, Treasury yields, gas and home prices.

Individual charts and a summary dashboard show the latest readings and changes, with ranges from one year to the full available history.

Reference lines show targets and rate ranges. Optional release dates and Fed-decision market odds add context to what’s coming next.

Settings and setup

Which indicators show and their order, with gas and home prices off by default

Starting chart range

Seconds per card and refresh interval in minutes

Font

Toggle the next Fed meeting’s odds on the fed funds card

Optional FRED API key so monthly indicators show their next release date

Data sources

FRED graph CSV Unofficial Historical economic data from the St. Louis Fed’s chart exports.FRED API API Optional release dates; requires an API key.Kalshi API Market odds and available history from public API endpoints.

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Capabilities

Follow selected MLB teams, with recent and upcoming games and live play-by-play.

Live views include pitcher and batter photos, along with game-win odds when a Polymarket market is available.

Division standings provide context beyond the current game.

Coming soon: Scores for additional sports

Settings and setup

Up to 12 MLB teams to follow, dragged into the order they cycle

Hours before and after now that define the recent and upcoming game window

Seconds per card

Refresh minutes, live refresh seconds and standings refresh minutes

Show or hide division standings

Font

Diagnostics for each feed with status, size and last fetch

Data sources

MLB Stats API API Schedules, scores, standings and play-by-play from MLB’s undocumented API.MLB headshots Unofficial Pitcher and batter photos from MLB.Polymarket API Market odds from the Gamma API and, where used, price history from the CLOB API.

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Capabilities

Use

Set brightness, speaker volume and microphone gain, plus the default font and map style used by apps.

Audio device selections and volume are saved for the next startup.

Settings and setup

Brightness, volume and mic gain sliders

Speaker and microphone, which can be different devices

Volume control backend: automatic, macOS or ALSA

ALSA mixer control, automatic or a specific one

System default font

System default map style

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Capabilities

An ISS map shows its position and ground track, with altitude, speed and upcoming passes for the selected location.

During a pass, the display shows its direction and elevation. Predictions indicate whether a pass should be visible.

A sky view includes planets, the Moon, bright stars and constellations. ISS positions are calculated locally from saved orbital data.

Settings and setup

Observer location, defaulting to the display’s own

Mode: ISS, Sky or Mix

Seconds per view and font

Map style for the ISS map

Minimum pass elevation, so horizon-hugging passes are skipped

Constellations on or off, sky field of view and starting azimuth

A list of upcoming ISS passes with local times

Data sources

Where The ISS At API Orbital data used to calculate ISS positions and passes locally.CelesTrak Unofficial A fallback source for ISS orbital data.Map tiles Unofficial Esri World Imagery for the world map.

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Capabilities

Gauges show CPU load, temperature, memory, disk use and network traffic.

Ping charts track latency and packet loss for selected hosts, with history from five minutes to 24 hours.

A network view lists discovered devices. History builds while the app runs, including outages overnight.

Settings and setup

Which of the three cards show and in what order, with drag to reorder

Ping targets as host or IP plus a label, with Cloudflare, Google, HackerNews and the BBC preset

Seconds per card and the default ping history window

Ping interval and how many minutes of history to keep

Device discovery interval and age limit for saved readings

Full-scale Mbps for the network gauge and the temperature gauge’s min and max

Font, plus a diagnostics table of per-target latency, loss and the devices last seen

Data sources

The Pi itself Local CPU, temperature, memory, disk and network readings through psutil.Ping Device Latency and packet-loss measurements for selected hosts.LAN scan Device Local device discovery using the network neighbor table and name lookups.

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Capabilities

Browse saved stocks and indices, with price changes and highs and lows over the selected period.

Use

The heatmap sizes companies by market cap and colors them by price change.

Settings and setup

Up to 12 symbols, typed as a ticker or company name and picked from search suggestions

View: cards, heatmap, or both (heatmap first, then the cards)

Default time range the cards open on

Seconds per view

Refresh minutes while the market is open

Display font

Fetch diagnostics: request counts, failures, rate limits, and per-range data recency

Data sources

Yahoo Finance Unofficial Historical prices from Yahoo’s undocumented chart service.Yahoo quote Unofficial Market capitalization for the heatmap, also from an undocumented service.

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Capabilities

Flight rows show the airline, destination or origin, gate, time and status. Delays and cancellations are highlighted.

Arrivals can include baggage claim information. A separate security board shows TSA waits and PreCheck status.

Choose which boards and airlines appear. The current data source is San Diego International Airport.

Settings and setup

Airport (provider) picker

Which boards to show and in what order: departures, arrivals, security

Limit to specific airlines by two-letter code

Hours ahead to include and minutes to keep departed/landed flights

Seconds per board

Refresh rate on screen (seconds) and off screen (minutes)

Flip animation on or off

Display font

Data sources

San Diego airport flight board Unofficial The feed behind San Diego International Airport’s arrivals and departures widget; undocumented and subject to change.TakeoffTimer Unofficial TSA wait estimates from its widget feed.

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Capabilities

Nest and Cielo thermostats appear together, with current and target temperatures, humidity and operating mode.

Use

The display reflects the adjustment immediately, then checks it against the next reading.

Settings and setup

Link or unlink a Nest account and a Cielo account

Discover thermostats, then check which to show and drag them into order

Rename each thermostat for the display

Units: Fahrenheit or Celsius

Temperature step per remote press

Poll interval in seconds

Gauge minimum and maximum temperature

Diagnostics: mode, ambient, setpoint, humidity and last poll per thermostat

Data sources

Google Nest API Thermostat readings and controls through Google’s Smart Device Management API; requires a Device Access project.Cielo Unofficial Thermostat readings and controls through an unofficial account integration.

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Capabilities

A labeled grid shows each panel’s logical position, making mapping mistakes easier to spot.

A brightness ramp helps reveal uneven response or clipping.

Other views show the remote controls and replay the startup animation with sound.

Settings and setup

Panel layout and chain mapping in config.yaml, which these cards verify

Display driver, frame rate and brightness schedule in config.yaml

Open from Home or the web interface; excluded from Autoplay

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Capabilities

Browse Ticketmaster events by date, with artwork, venue and event details.

Combine several locations, each with its own search radius, and choose how far ahead to look.

Press

Settings and setup

Add, label and remove Ticketmaster locations (address, city or US zip)

Search radius in miles for each location

Days ahead to look for events

Seconds per event

Refresh interval in minutes

Display font

Toggle the QR code to the ticket page when paused

Diagnostics table showing each location’s fetch status

Data source

Ticketmaster Discovery API Events near saved locations; requires an API key.

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Capabilities

Add items on the display, then use the remote to set times, reset or remove them, and change their colors.

Timers keep running and alarms remain set when another app is showing. Finished timers and alarms flash until cleared.

Settings and setup

Display font (config.yaml)

Include in or leave out of the autoplay rotation

Position in the launcher grid

Alarms, timers and stopwatches themselves are created on the display with the remote

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Capabilities

Browse Apple’s album, song and podcast charts, with artwork, chart positions and available release details.

New chart entries are marked. Optional Last.fm data adds listener counts, tags and summaries.

Press

Settings and setup

Choose and reorder cards for albums, songs and podcasts

Region whose Apple Music and Apple Podcasts charts are shown

Items per card

Age limit for new releases

Seconds per item

Refresh interval in minutes

Display font

Optional Last.fm key for popularity details

Data sources

Apple Music and Podcasts charts RSS Album, song and podcast charts from Apple’s feeds.iTunes lookup API Track counts, labels and runtimes.Deezer API Additional music details when unavailable from iTunes.Last.fm API Optional listener counts, tags and summaries; requires an API key.

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Capabilities

See recent active users, longer-term trends, top pages and traffic sources.

Each site gets its own set of views. Use

Connect GA4 properties using a service account with Viewer access.

Settings and setup

Upload or paste the service account key, and see the email to grant Viewer access in GA4

Properties to show, each a GA4 property ID and label, up to 12

Which cards run and in what order (realtime, trend, pages, sources)

Opening horizon: today, yesterday, 7 days, 30 days or a year

Time per card

Seconds between realtime refreshes

Font

Data source

Google Analytics Data API API GA4 reports using a service account with Viewer access to each property.

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Capabilities

For each saved spot, see tide predictions and swell forecasts on a shared time axis.

High and low tides are labeled with times and heights, alongside water temperature and available water-quality grades and advisories.

Sunrise, sunset and Moon phase add context, with wind direction and wave period on the swell view.

Settings and setup

Up to 8 coastline spots: the display’s own location or a beach/city by name

Optional label per spot that overrides the place name on the display

Drag spots into the order the display cycles through

Seconds per view

Refresh minutes

Display font

Diagnostics: tide station, water-quality grade and last fetch per spot

Data sources

NOAA Tides and Currents API Tide predictions and water temperature from nearby stations.Open-Meteo Marine API Swell, wave period and wind for saved locations.Heal the Bay Unofficial Beach water-quality grades from the feed behind the Beach Report Card map.

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Capabilities

Browse the featured article, On This Day and Did You Know, with random articles mixed in.

Each card includes an image when available and introductory text. Press

Unseen daily items come first; Autoplay skips the app once its daily items have been shown.

Settings and setup

Toggle the featured article, On this day, and Did you know sections

Frequency of random articles (0 disables them)

Which language Wikipedia to read

Seconds per article

Display font

Diagnostics: today’s items, their images, and which have been shown

Data source

Wikimedia REST API Daily Wikipedia features and random article summaries.

Remote control

I use an ordinary 2.4 GHz media remote for everyday control. The buttons follow a common pattern across apps, with a few shortcuts for Home, Autoplay and voice chat.

Display on / off Turns the display off or returns to the app that was showing.

Home screen Hold: autoplay Returns to Home from any app; press again for the first page. Hold to start Autoplay.

Next / prev card Usually moves between cards or pages. Some apps use these buttons to adjust a selected value, such as a thermostat’s target temperature.

Scroll / zoom Changes the selection or view within an app, such as a chart’s time range or the selected thermostat.

Confirm Hold on Home: move an icon Opens an app or confirms an action. On Home, hold OK and use the arrows to move an icon.

Cancel / close Closes the current view or returns to the first card. On Home, switches between icons and the live dashboard.

Pause display Hold: ask by voice Pauses the display, indicated by a glow at the edges. On Home, adds or removes an app from Autoplay. Hold to open Chats.

Adjust setting Volume by default Opens Settings and adjusts the last-used control. Use left/right to select another setting and BACK to return to the app.

Schematics

These diagrams show the frame dimensions, panel layout, and connections for power, data and the Pi’s peripherals.

The display: seven P3 panels edge to edge inside a custom-ordered wooden frame.

Back side: power

The 5 V supply (heaviest part) is in the middle, driving 7 panels through four 15 A runs protected with fuses. The Pi is on one side. Its USB-C brick and the power supply's cord plug into a single flat-plug extension cord.

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MeanWell LRS-350-5 5 V · 300 W

Fuse block 4 × 15 A

Raspberry Pi 4 Triple matrix bonnet

USB-C, 5.1 V

single extension cord

5 V, four fused runs at 15 A 120 V mains

Back side: data

Three HUB75 chains from the triple bonnet. Each ribbon runs up the left margin and along the rail to the chain’s first panel, the one nearest the Pi, and short ribbons daisy-chain from there away from the Pi: 7 to 6, 5 to 4, and 3 to 2 to 1.

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Raspberry Pi 4 Triple matrix bonnet three HUB75 outputs

chain: 7 → 6 chain: 5 → 4 chain: 3 → 2 → 1

One 16-pin ribbon per chain from the bonnet to the chain’s first panel, the one nearest the Pi,

then short ribbons daisy-chain away from it, HUB75 out to HUB75 in.

Chains of 2, 2 and 3: panels 7–6, 5–4, and 3–2–1.

HUB75 ribbon, data

Back side: compute

The Pi at the far left with what hangs off it: the USB sound card with its speakers and microphone, and the remote’s 2.4 GHz receiver. The software-defined radio and its VHF antenna sit outside the frame on a USB extension, away from the LEDs’ interference. The antenna decides what the radio hears: this VHF whip for ships by AIS, or an ADS-B antenna at 1090 MHz for aircraft instead, on the same dongle; a second dongle would hear both.

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Raspberry Pi 4 1 GB · 64 GB microSD Triple matrix bonnet

USB-C brick, 5.1 V

USB sound card speaker out · mic in

2.4 GHz receiver for the remote

Speaker

voice

Remote

2.4 GHz

USB 3.0 extension, 3 m, out through the frame

Outside the frame,

clear of the LEDs

ships · AIS, 162 MHz

VHF antenna, 136–174 MHz

Nooelec RTL-SDR v5 100 kHz–1.75 GHz

or an ADS-B antenna, 1090 MHz,

for aircraft instead of ships

USB coax, SMA to PL-259 speaker wire over the air

The Pi connects to the USB audio hardware and the remote’s receiver. A USB extension places the radio and VHF antenna outside the frame, away from LED interference. This setup receives ship broadcasts locally and gets aircraft positions online.

Bill of materials

Here are the parts I used, with their purchase prices in mid-2026. Honestly the build turned out to be much more expensive than I anticipated,

but I like to tell myself it was overbuilt for quality and safety!