Hubitat to Tidbyt is possible (in a roundabout kind of way)

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For some reason, this little box keeps calling my name! Anybody using one and more important, anybody using it with Hubitat??

Thanks

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Hey Bryan, I'm the creator of Tidbyt and actually a fellow Hubitat user. While I've got both devices at home (lol), we're not using them "together" per se.

But lately at Tidbyt we've been focusing a bit more on home automation use cases. Would love to hear what how you'd like Tidbyt to be able to integrate with Hubitat.

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Wow, now THAT's a response! Welcome to the Hubitat community. I've been watching Tidbyt evolve since the Kickstarter but wanted to see it become a 'real' product before purchasing. Been bit by that bug a few times!

For me, the number one thing I would like to see is the ability to send a one-time message straight to the device from Hubitat. Adding a graphic would be a huge plus.

ie. The front door is open, Amy just came home, Time to take out the trash, etc.

After looking at the dev documents, the second thing would be an easier way to install the dev tools! A simple .exe for Windows and/or a simple one-line install for Linux. Better yet would be an app for Linux/Android, so I could code on my Chromebook :wink:.

Thanks again for the response and I look forward to seeing where Tidbyt goes from here.

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One other thing I thought about was somehow sending text data from Tidbyt to Hubitat via the MakerAPI. But that would be on an app by app bases.

ie. The Bruins score, Hubitat takes over and flashes the lights gold color.

Easy to do on the Hubitat side, just need to figure out how to strip and send the string on the Tidbyt side.

Just thinking out loud :upside_down_face:

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After lots of trial and error, I have a workaround! Complicated but it works!

With this setup, I can send anything to Tidbyt the second it happens. No waiting for the right app to scroll around with new data. It breaks into the rotation to display the data I just sent, then continues on with the rotation as usual.

3 Pieces needed. Hubitat Elevation Hub, an always on Windows PC and a Tidbyt.

Hubitat:

  • makerAPI
  • PC Controller app
  • Tidbyt Messenger app (my custom app)

Always on PC:

  • EventGhost
  • Pixlet
  • A custom batch file

Tidbyt:

  • It just sits there, looking pretty, waiting for data :upside_down_face:

How it works (in a nutshell):

  • Something happens in Hubitat that I want to be notified of (motion in the driveway, Bruins score a goal, time to feed the dogs, etc)
  • My custom app in Hubitat recognizes this and uses the PC controller app to send a command to the always on PC (using Eventghost). Eventghost then runs a batch file that 'renders' the .star file (using Pixlet).
  • The .star file reads the attributes from the custom apps device on Hubitat (using the makerAPI) containing the info I want displayed on the Tidbyt. The .star file can also do any formatting, graphics, etc.. needed to make it look nice.
  • Now the batch file will 'serve' the webp image created to Tidbyt!

Simple, right! lol

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I just bought a Tidbyt and was just thinking it would be nice to use this thing with Hubitat. I'll look at this.

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Gotta say I was pretty excited to come across this product, think about the potential with using as a display for hubitat. Then to come across this post where someone else had the same idea and then to have the creator of the Tidbyt reply himself I was so hopeful…and then the thread (and the dream) died :frowning:

Just wanted to see if we can’t get this thread going with some commentary from the Tidbyt guy about what we can do short of this workaround. I think there is a solid use case for this display here that is only half worked out.

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Agreed!

Even something as simple as displaying simple text. Static or scrolling... that interrupts the regular scroll for x amount of seconds.

As far as integrating into rules... could be a push message destination? Just like when i send a push notification to my phone?

Something like this could be a nice start.

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Any updates to this? It is a neat device, I could see pushing messages to it from Hubitat as well as using it for status of things like the garage door, door locks, hub statistics, and so on.

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It would be great to telnet to it or something

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Would be great to have an integration!

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Any way you can put together a little guide on how you did this?

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Update 8/27/23: Ok so I originally I thought Pixlet would only run on Linux and Mac OS but now see there's a Windows version of Pixlet so step 1 is no longer needed. Oh Well!

I can say this method does indeed work. It requires you have a Windows computer running EventGhost and Windows Subsystem for Linux 24x7. Here are some pointers I found helpful.

  1. To install Pixlet on Windows, you need to install Linux in your Windows computer using Windows Subsystem for Linux, aka WSL. I found the following link helpful however still needed to do some more googling and some trial and error. Is Pixlet only available on MacOS and Linux? - #28 by AmillionAir - Developers - Tidbyt. Be prepared to know some Linux commands and access the subsystem as a drive letter accessible in Windows explorer because you will need to upload your
    STAR files to that location and here is where you execute the Pixlet related Render and Push commands.

  2. I was already familiar with EventGhost. There's a learning curve but you can figure it out. It essentially allows you to use a Hubitat rule to send an event to a Windows computer and pass a variable that determines which batch file to run on that computer. That batch file runs the proper Pixlet script using WSL. The instructions for doing this an a video tutorial csn be found here: [RELEASE] PC Controller - Send and receive commands to/from your windows PC (EventGhost)

  3. For my first use, I have a Hubitat rule listening for when my alarm system gets activated in Stay Mode. Stay Mode simply means Im at home while the alarm system is engaged so I dont want to accidentally trigger the alarm by opening a door before disabling the alarm system. When the rule detects this Armed Stay Mode condition it sends an EventGhost event to my always on Windows computer which in turn runs a WSL script executes a Pixlet command which displays a jpg image of a padlock and the words "Armed Stay" on my Tidbyt that lets me know visually that my alarm system is enabled. The Hubitat rule checks for this condition every 30 seconds. When the condition is not met, because the alarm system is no longer armed, the image is no longer sent to my Tidbyt.

  4. Now you will need to teach yourself how to use Pixlet. I found some example .STAR files online I could tweak for my using. Specifically this one which simply renders a 32x64 bit JPG image. I was able to upload my 32x64 jpg to the Hubitat local folder using the built in file manager. You may not realize this but Hubitat provides 1gb of storage space for files that become locally accessable using HTTP: See
    Displaying Images Using Pixlet - Developers - Tidbyt and
    File Manager | Hubitat Documentation.

Once you make it work and see your first image rendered in your Tidbyt, you may get a little rush like me. :slight_smile:

Good luck!

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This looks awesome, thank you!

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Getting Tidbyt 2, really hope hubitat can use as i saw home assistant integration happening

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Where did you see this??