Fire TV Smart Display & Open Source Dashboard

Danboard: Standalone Fire TV Smart Display & Family Calendar

An open-source, zero-subscription smart display and calendar dashboard engineered specifically for Amazon Fire TV (as well as Android TV and web browsers). Runs 100% standalone on device hardware with direct Google Calendar iCal sync, live Open-Meteo weather, and 4K rotating landscape photography.

View Repository on GitHub Quickstart Guide

The Friction: Proprietary Hardware & Subscription Fatigue

Smart family calendars and wall displays (such as Skylight Calendar, DAKboard, and Hearth Display) solve a genuine household coordination problem. But the modern ecosystem comes with significant friction:

Mandatory Monthly Subscriptions: Paying $10 to $20/month indefinitely just to display calendars and weather data you already own.
Proprietary & Fragile Hardware: $300+ single-purpose screens with locked-down operating systems that become e-waste when vendor cloud servers shut down.
Fragile Home Server Setups: DIY alternatives typically require a Raspberry Pi, Docker container, or an always-on desktop computer running 24/7 on the local network.

The Danboard Engineering Goal Build a zero-subscription, 100% standalone smart display dashboard that runs directly on cheap, ubiquitous Amazon Fire TV stick hardware (~$25-$40) already plugged into living room TVs, requiring zero local servers, zero background computers, and zero ongoing costs.

Architecture & Key Innovations

⚡

100% Standalone on Fire TV

Compiled into a lightweight ~4.2 MB Android APK using Capacitor and Android WebView. Executes entirely on the Fire TV Stick hardware with zero server dependency.

📅

Direct iCal & RRULE Parsing

Connects directly to Google Calendar secret iCal addresses. Uses ical.js for client-side recurrence expansion, bypassing browser CORS restrictions natively on Android.

🌦️

Zero-Key Open-Meteo Weather

Direct client integration with Open-Meteo for live temperatures, humidity, wind speeds, and a 3-day forecast without requiring API keys, accounts, or billing quotas.

🖼️

4K Landscape Photo Wallpapers

Cycles curated high-resolution landscape photography with smooth crossfade transitions, auto-contrast vignettes, and an optional rotating family photo frame widget.

📺

24/7 Smart Display Mode

Configured with Android's FLAG_KEEP_SCREEN_ON window flag so your Fire TV screen stays active without dimming, timing out, or falling into ambient sleep.

🔔

Native Ring Doorbell PiP

Because it runs natively within Fire OS, Alexa and Ring Doorbell automatically overlay Picture-in-Picture camera video feeds when someone rings the front door.

Quick Start & Installation

1. Visual Web Preview (Mac / PC)

Test and configure calendars comfortably from your computer browser before deploying to your TV:

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/danielherrington/danboard.git
cd danboard

# Install dependencies and start Vite dev server
npm install
cd client && npm install && cd ..
npm run dev
                

Open http://localhost:5173 in your browser. Press S to open the Settings modal and configure Google Calendar iCal feeds, coordinates, and display options.

2. Fast Fire TV Deployment via ADB over Wi-Fi

Once configured, push the compiled APK directly over your home Wi-Fi to your Fire TV Stick:

# 1. Connect to Fire TV over Wi-Fi (enable ADB Debugging in Fire TV Settings)
adb connect 192.168.1.X:5555

# 2. Install the standalone APK
adb install dist-apk/Danboard.apk
                

Danboard appears immediately under Your Apps & Channels on Fire OS, booting straight into your full-screen family dashboard.

Open Source & Free Forever

Danboard is completely open source under the MIT license. Fork it, customize your widgets, or contribute new display integrations.

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