3 ms·

Other commentators have mentioned that the display in other devices cannot be read, and from the website it's clear to see the company focuses solely on ChLCD (

by i336_ 10y ago

Other commentators have mentioned that the display in other devices cannot be read, and from the website it's clear to see the company focuses solely on ChLCD (cholesteric LCD) technology. This would depend on whether the "read from LCD" capability is an intrinsic part of the ChLCD itself or a manufacture-time option, or if it's a separate capacitative or optical-barrier touch layer. I just did a bit of digging, and I found some info on repairing the Boogie Board Rip on iFixit: https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Boogie+Board+Rip+Internal+Antenna+Replacement/30235 https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Boogie+Board+Rip+Internal+Anten... - this shows what looks like some kind of touch layer, along with a bunch of extra electronics. There's also a smartphone showing a 1:1 copy of what's on the Jot on the fourth image as you scroll down at https://myboogieboard.com/ewriters/jot-8.5 https://myboogieboard.com/ewriters/jot-8.5.

godelski 10y ago
The jot uses a phone app and the phone's camera to get the picture. So I don't think there is any way to read the screen on that device. However the sync has a button which you can save the screen image and later upload it to your computer. What I'm wondering is on this device if you could do the reverse. I know being able to record the screen's state doesn't mean you can reproduce it. Just wondering if you can in this case. I know nothing about ChLCD and that type of stuff. So this isn't really clear to me.
- i336_ 10y ago
  Oooooh. Thanks for that information about the Jot. That's remarkably good advertising showing the smartphone on the webpage like that, I have to admit. Regarding the Sync, I suspect it contains the same electronics as the Rip in order to do the sync thing, and a touch panel. Based on the other comments I've read in this thread that explain how "writing" on screen (and "ink" showing up) is entirely mechanically driven, ie, the pressure on the surface of the display displaces the crystals and makes whatever you draw stay on the screen. Applying a voltage for a short moment somehow causes the crystals to reset. I'm not sure why the display itself wasn't made writable. It's entirely possible Kent Displays simply couldn't find a viable way to market a (MCU-)writable version of this technology, and so they went in this direction instead; it's also possible that ChLCD (developed up to the point Kent have it at) doesn't have the capability to be addressed reliably. I have no idea. I based my hunches above about how the Boogie Board resets on something I saw on TV a while ago, which I just determined is classified variously as "switchable privacy glass", "electrified privacy glass" or "intelligent glass". I learned (from the house-construction TV show) that it's essentially a single, gigantic (!) LCD "pixel", and I saw (in one of the construction stages) how simply plugging it into the wall and turning the wall switch on was what made it go from opaque to transparent. Obviously it's a fair jump from this to the Boogie Board reset mechanism, but it seems reasonable that some of the same ideas are used in both.

by i336_ 10y ago

godelski 10y ago

The jot uses a phone app and the phone's camera to get the picture. So I don't think there is any way to read the screen on that device. However the sync has a button which you can save the screen image and later upload it to your computer. What I'm wondering is on this device if you could do the reverse. I know being able to record the screen's state doesn't mean you can reproduce it. Just wondering if you can in this case. I know nothing about ChLCD and that type of stuff. So this isn't really clear to me.

i336_ 10y ago
Oooooh. Thanks for that information about the Jot. That's remarkably good advertising showing the smartphone on the webpage like that, I have to admit. Regarding the Sync, I suspect it contains the same electronics as the Rip in order to do the sync thing, and a touch panel. Based on the other comments I've read in this thread that explain how "writing" on screen (and "ink" showing up) is entirely mechanically driven, ie, the pressure on the surface of the display displaces the crystals and makes whatever you draw stay on the screen. Applying a voltage for a short moment somehow causes the crystals to reset. I'm not sure why the display itself wasn't made writable. It's entirely possible Kent Displays simply couldn't find a viable way to market a (MCU-)writable version of this technology, and so they went in this direction instead; it's also possible that ChLCD (developed up to the point Kent have it at) doesn't have the capability to be addressed reliably. I have no idea. I based my hunches above about how the Boogie Board resets on something I saw on TV a while ago, which I just determined is classified variously as "switchable privacy glass", "electrified privacy glass" or "intelligent glass". I learned (from the house-construction TV show) that it's essentially a single, gigantic (!) LCD "pixel", and I saw (in one of the construction stages) how simply plugging it into the wall and turning the wall switch on was what made it go from opaque to transparent. Obviously it's a fair jump from this to the Boogie Board reset mechanism, but it seems reasonable that some of the same ideas are used in both.