After registering your kit’s MAC address at trmnl.com, you’ll receive what the service calls a “description code,” a much shorter identifier that’s easier to remember than a full MAC address. From there, you can install plugins to display content on a schedule throughout the day.
The options are wide. The marketplace contains standard fare like Google Calendar, weather, and stock quotes, along with more niche offerings like rotating data on Ferengi Acquisition Rules on trip to the stars.
The TRMNL Cloud Plugin Marketplace.
The TRMNL Cloud Plugin Marketplace.
If you’re looking for a simple solution that “just works,” it’s hard to fault the package that trmnl.com has created. I’m a fan of any service that offers a one-time licensing fee instead of another ongoing subscription, and I think $50 is a fair price for the people behind the platform to be compensated for their work. After all, it does all the rendering; the device simply displays information extracted from the APIs.
We need an Ars plugin!
SenseCraft
On the Seeed side, there is SenseCraft, a marketplace similar to trmnl.com but without the licensing fee. The website offers a browser-based update tool that promises to “update the official firmware from the browser. No coding. No terminal. Just clicks.”
The process was as simple as I promised: once I discovered I needed a USB-C to USB-C cable. I connected the board to my PC via the built-in USB-C port, opened the website in a Chromium-based browser (sorry, Firefox), selected my device from a drop-down menu, and clicked “Flash.” Once the device rebooted, setup followed essentially the same process as with TRMNL, minus the credit card. The downside to free access is that Seeed is based in China and operates under its own privacy policy. It’s up to you, but it’s certainly nice to have options.
