BB Eco
One app for every Brainboxes device
Discover, monitor, configure, and upgrade every BB, ED, ES, and SW device from a single cross-platform desktop app.
BB-Eco is in public beta. Features and download URLs may change before the 1.0 release. Use it on production networks at your own discretion, and please share feedback.
BB-Eco is a single desktop app and command-line tool for discovering, monitoring, configuring, and upgrading every Brainboxes networked device from one place — across Windows, macOS, and Linux.
What it replaces
If you've used Boost.IO for ED devices, Boost.LAN for ES devices, or per-device web configuration for BB and SW, BB-Eco brings all of that under one roof:
| Task | Before | With BB-Eco |
|---|---|---|
| Find devices on a subnet | Boost.IO (ED), Boost.LAN (ES), or per-device manual entry — all Windows-only | Auto-discovery on Windows, macOS, and Linux |
| Configure a device | Per-device web UI, one at a time | Embedded web UI plus reusable config templates |
| Upgrade firmware | Boost.IO (ED), Boost.LAN (ES), or per-device CGI tools | Single click, with preflight safety checks |
| Bulk operations across many devices | Manual, one device at a time | Bulk apply templates, bulk firmware upgrade |
| Install Windows virtual COM ports for ES and ED | Boost.LAN (ES), Boost.IO (ED) | Coming after the 1.0 release — keep using Boost.LAN / Boost.IO for now |
Supported device families
| Family | Discovery | Configure | Upgrade |
|---|---|---|---|
| ED Ethernet Remote I/O | ✓ SSDP / UPnP | ✓ Web UI + templates | ✓ BOOTP/TFTP |
| ES Ethernet-to-Serial | ✓ SSDP / UPnP | ✓ Web UI + templates | ✓ BOOTP/TFTP |
| BB Industrial Edge Controllers | ✓ SSDP / UPnP and mDNS | ✓ Web UI | ✓ Linux package manager |
| SW Industrial Ethernet Switches | ✓ SSDP / UPnP (managed models) | Coming soon | Coming soon |
Tutorials
Three articles take you from no software installed to your first firmware upgrade in under fifteen minutes.
- Install BB-Eco — desktop app installer for Windows (macOS / Linux coming soon), plus the standalone CLI for scripts and headless servers
- Discover your first device — plug in a device and watch it appear in the dashboard, or run
bb-eco discoverfrom the terminal - Upgrade your first device — apply the latest firmware safely (desktop or
bb-eco upgrade)
How-to guides
Recipes for everyday workflows once the basics are in place.
Firmware
- Bulk-upgrade firmware across many devices — one workflow, dozens of devices
- Recover an ED device stuck in bootloader — for ED devices that didn't complete an upgrade
Configuration
- Detect configuration drift across your fleet — audit live devices against your templates
Installation and offline use
- Migrate from Boost.IO and Boost.LAN to BB-Eco — what changes, what doesn't, and how to run them side-by-side during the transition
- Upgrade the BB-Eco app — switch between stable and beta channels, force an update check, roll back
- Run BB-Eco without internet access — air-gapped factory floors and Cyber Essentials admin accounts
Discovery and troubleshooting
- Use BB-Eco as a network discovery tool — see every device on the LAN, not just Brainboxes
- Site survey: inventory a Brainboxes deployment — turn an unfamiliar site into a complete asset inventory in fifteen minutes
- General troubleshooting with BB-Eco — read logs, copy lines, email support
- BB-Eco finds no devices on my network — layered checklist for discovery problems
Reference
- BB-Eco CLI reference — every command, subcommand, and option, auto-generated from the live CLI
- BB-Eco template JSON format — the file format for
bb-eco template export/apply/diff
Explanation
- Why BB-Eco exists — the four-tool problem and what unified cross-platform management changes
- How BB-Eco works — the desktop-app + sidecar architecture and the protocols on the wire
- Configuration as code with BB-Eco — declarative JSON templates, version control, drift detection
- Discovery, the device cache, and VPN sessions — administer remote sites over a VPN; cached devices auto-reconnect on the next session
What a typical device card looks like
Every Brainboxes device on your LAN gets a card like this — model and description, network identity (MAC + IP + interface type), current firmware version, and a one-glance call-out (the Update pill) when newer firmware is on the channel. Click the card and the detail panel slides in with the full Info / Web Config / Firmware tabs.
Why BB-Eco
- One tool, every family. Stop switching between Boost.IO Manager (ED), Boost.LAN (ES), per-device web UIs, and family-specific recovery tools.
- Cross-platform. Native installers for Windows, macOS (Apple Silicon), and Linux — engineering laptops are no longer Windows-only.
- Safe firmware upgrades. Pre-flight compatibility checks, network connectivity validation, and elevated-privilege isolation prevent the most common upgrade mistakes.
- Built for scale. Bulk operations across hundreds of devices, configuration-as-code templates, and a scriptable CLI for CI pipelines and air-gapped sites.
Where it fits in your toolbox
BB-Eco is a device management application — it sits between you and your hardware. For developers integrating Brainboxes devices into their own software, the Brainboxes.IO .NET API and the Python, Java, and Node-RED SDKs remain the right place to start.
Get involved
The beta is open and we want your feedback. Hit a bug, missed a device, want a feature? Contact us — every report shapes the 1.0 release.