01 / License
No vendor lock-in.
Open source under GPLv3. The code is the spec. Your sign outlives the company.
A phone-controlled LED sign platform
Free
your sign.
A phone-controlled LED sign platform you actually own.
§01 / The problem
Every commercial LED sign ships locked to its vendor's software.
The software is almost always Windows-only, badly designed, and vendor-specific. One example: ThinkSign Smart LED Manager Pro — control software for a popular line of American LED signs. Windows-only, requires a specific static-IP dance to talk to the sign, and useless on a Mac without Parallels gymnastics.
Vendors disappear. Signs become e-waste. Heroic Robotics' PixelPusher was a beloved 2013 Kickstarter for networked LED control — funded, shipped, used in art installations around the world. The company is now defunct, their npm package last published eleven years ago, and their hardware is unusable today because it required a companion computer they no longer support.
The alternatives are worse. Professional controllers like Novastar, Linsn, and Colorlight cost $100–$500 and still need vendor-specific Windows software, designed for professional installers. Cloud signage platforms like OptiSigns, ScreenCloud, Screenly, and Yodeck charge $10–$30 per screen per month, require internet, and lock your content into their cloud.
§02 / The shape of it
A ~$20 Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W that drives any display.
HDMI, HUB75 LED panels, WS2812B strips, composite video, even old TVs via RF modulator. It creates its own WiFi network. You connect your phone, a captive portal opens in the browser, and you upload videos, images, and text slides.
$ no app
$ no account
$ no subscription
$ no internet
A complete build lands between $55 and $115 depending on output mode. The browser does the heavy lifting — video decoding happens on your phone via ffmpeg.wasm, so the board itself stays cheap and simple.
Content is just files on the SD card; playlists and schedules are plain JSON. No database. Nothing much to break.
§03 / Six advantages
What you get when your sign stops answering to someone else.
02 / Fleet
Manage a flock.
One browser tab manages every openMarquee device you own. Upload once, sync to all your signs.
Ships with the MVP release
03 / Network
No internet required.
The sign is its own network. Works in basements, shipping containers, and rural churches.
04 / Price
No subscription.
One-time hardware cost of $55–$115 depending on output mode. No monthly fee, ever.
05 / Client
Phone-first.
No app install, no App Store, no account. Just open your phone's browser.
06 / Hardware
Five output modes, one codebase.
HDMI, HUB75 panels, addressable LED strips, composite video, RF. Same firmware. A config flag switches between them.
HDMIHUB75WS2812BCompositeRF modulator
HDMI first · other modes ship with the MVP release
§04 / What "coming soon" means
The UI works today. The launch is an SD-card image a stranger can flash.
The core browser UI — slide editor, playlists, scheduling, AI-generated backgrounds, live preview — works today on dev hardware. What's next: hardware bring-up on the Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W, the captive-portal WiFi network, and an SD-card image a stranger can flash and use. That last milestone is the real launch.
We'll update this page when it ships. The full source will be on GitHub under GPLv3 so you can follow along, file bugs, or hack on it.
Browser UI
▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓░░ dev-ready
Pi bring-up
▓▓▓▓░░░░░░ in progress
SD image
▓░░░░░░░░░ queued