iDotMatrix panels are cheap LED pixel displays, 16×16, 32×32 or 64×64. The phone app controls them over Bluetooth Low Energy. This project controls them from a computer instead, and adds a Wi-Fi bridge.
It started as a fork of the community python3-idotmatrix-library, which reverse-engineered the protocol. I reworked it into a Python package with modules for text, images, GIFs, clock, countdown, stopwatch, effects, scoreboard, graffiti and system commands. It also has a picture-frame mode that watches a folder, and a work/rest timer with a small web interface.
The ESP32 bridge#
The repository also has Rust firmware for an ESP32. The board joins the Wi-Fi network, shows up as idotmatrix.local and exposes a small HTTP API. It keeps the rendering and timer state and sends updates to the panel over Bluetooth. Any computer on the network can then drive the display without its own Bluetooth.
Licence: GPL. Source on GitHub.