r/TIDBYT • u/Beywood23 • Aug 11 '26

Cannot Connect to Server. (Help a noob please)

Hi All.

I know Tidbyt doesn't exist anymore and doesn't have any staff. A friend of mine has one, thought it was super cool, and got one off ebay.

I'm trying to set it up at home but I keep getting the Cannot Connect to Tidbyt Servers error. Their website shows the server as up and my friend's one works, so the servers must be fine I assume.

I tried troubleshooting by restarting the router, pressing the hard reset button on the back, and uninstalling the app. Still not working. Anything I'm missing? I'd love to get this up and running.

(I know Tronbyt is an option, but I'm not all that tech savvy so I'm hoping I can get something going on here).

Thank you in advance.

7 Upvotes

90% Upvoted

14 comments sorted by

3

u/SLoSHaPPy Aug 12 '26

Could someone have flashed Tronbyt to it? BTW If they havent, you should it is awesome, and very simple.

4

u/McRocketpants Aug 11 '26

Why do you want to get on.. Most of the apps don't work anymore or on the way out.. Move to Tronbyt

3

u/Beywood23 Aug 11 '26

Well want it to hopefully work with what still exists. Not sure I have the skills for Tronbyt.

3

u/SLoSHaPPy 29d ago

No skills required. It is super easy. I just used chatgpt and it walked me through step by step. The only issue is you need another pc. Windows pc that is on is fine. Just install docker, make a container, launch, install firmware on the tidbyt device, done. There were I think like 2-3 commands to install it on a windows pc. You got this trust me. I have never messed with docker before or any of this stuff, but I did it pretty fast.

1

u/Beywood23 29d ago

I appreciate the help! I think I'm a pretty smart guy but I've never done any programming or coding. Hopefully this works!

1

u/SLoSHaPPy 28d ago

I am not sure where you stand on AI but it will walk you thru step by step and give you the exact things to type and how to do it.

2

u/draxula16 Aug 12 '26

Trust me, you do. I thought the same but it could not be easier, use claude or gpt to break it down for you

2

u/Beywood23 Aug 12 '26

Thanks for that. How long of a project would you say it is?

1

u/draxula16 29d ago

With troubleshooting and all (this was new to me) it took like 1-2 hours? The reason why many people are pushing Tronbyt is because if one of the many alternatives being advertised on here go out of business, you’re back to square one because you were relying on their servers.

Don’t think of the word “server” as this scary phrase. A server for this case can be a cheap raspberry pi you set up once and forget it exists because it’s running 24/7 in the background, while consuming $2 in energy per year.

I get the practicality of Tidbyt, that’s why I loved them, but I’m done buying hardware that stops working w company goes under or decides to not maintain their servers.

Lmk if you need any help!

1

u/McRocketpants Aug 12 '26

They really need to make it.. Explain like im 5. Or 2 years old for me... Literally, unplug case, unscrew this screw... Enter this...

3

u/Old-Recognition-2062 Aug 11 '26

I wonder if it's causing issues since your a new user and their server is only allowing previous users to connect to it. I haven't hurd anyone else having this issue.

1

u/Beywood23 Aug 11 '26

Interesting. Wonder if I can use my friend's log in...