Feature/trmnl

src/content/post/trmnl/index.md

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+---
+title: "TRMNL: My New ePaper Dashboard"
+description: ""
+publishDate: "2026-04-06"
+---
+
+<div style="position: relative; width: 100%; padding-top: 56.25%; margin-bottom: 1.5em;">
+  <iframe 
+    src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/D0wQ8gCxCvw?si=xdFaZu__ZaTw-a99" 
+    title="YouTube video player"
+    frameborder="0"
+    allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share"
+    referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin"
+    allowfullscreen
+    style="position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%;"
+  ></iframe>
+</div>
+
+I've been eyeing the TRMNL X - it looks like some sweet hardware. But I'm cheap. When I learned it was possible to transform an old Kindle into a TRMNL, I had to try it before shelling out for the real thing. I had an old Kindle sitting on a shelf, so off I went. Here are my notes on the process.
+
+**Things That Didn't Work Well**
+
+I tried a few things that didn't work for me:
+
+1. **[Terminus](https://github.com/usetrmnl/terminus)** -- TRMNL's open source Bring Your Own Server (BYOS). After spinning it up, I discovered it doesn't currently support plugins, which was a dealbreaker for me.
+
+2. **[TRMNL's trmnl-kindle code](https://github.com/usetrmnl/trmnl-kindle)** -- This code kind of works, but the Kindle OS was still drawing its clock over my dashboard, another dealbreaker.
+
+3. **[Nick Winans' Umami plugin](https://github.com/Nicell/trmnl-umami)** -- Following the longstanding tradition of blogging about blogging, I wanted to display my web analytics on my dashboard. Nick's plugin was a helpful starting point, but it didn't seem to work with Umami Cloud.
+
+**What I Landed On**
+
+After some tinkering, I settled on three open source tools that now power my setup:
+
+1. **[LaraPaper](https://github.com/usetrmnl/larapaper)** -- A TRMNL BYOS alternative that supports plugins. This replaced Terminus.
+
+2. **[trmnl-kindle](https://github.com/amarder/trmnl-kindle)** -- My modified version of TRMNL's Kindle code, tweaked so the Kindle OS doesn't draw on my dashboard.
+
+3. **[trmnl-umami](https://github.com/amarder/trmnl-umami)** -- A custom Umami Analytics plugin, built on Nick's work.
+
+![A screenshot of trmnl-umami](umami.png)
+
+**A Word of Warning**
+
+The software I've posted still has many rough edges:
+
+1. trmnl-kindle crashes when I try to start it via KUAL.
+2. trmnl-kindle has not been optimized to extend battery life.
+3. trmnl-umami only supports full layout (not half or quadrant layouts).
+
+If you're interested in using any of this, please reach out. Knowing someone else wants to use it would motivate me to fix these issues.
+
+**Overall**
+
+I'm very happy with my new dashboard. It gives me a dedicated place to glance at things I'd otherwise pull out my phone to check: weather, web analytics, finances. Now I can see all of that without getting sucked into my phone.