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I'm sad too. I'm actually really worried about my pebble breaking, so have been looking into making a homebrew smartwatch. My biggest issue right now is findin

by rtpg 9y ago

I'm sad too. I'm actually really worried about my pebble breaking, so have been looking into making a homebrew smartwatch. My biggest issue right now is finding a screen with similar specs to the Pebble Time in terms of resolution and power usage. If anyone has any advice on how I could get wearable screens like JDI[0] has (without having to buy 100 of them) I'd love to hear it! I'm not super well versed in electronics procurement [0]:http://www.j-display.com/english/product/wearable.html http://www.j-display.com/english/product/wearable.html

ClassyJacket 9y ago
...Buy everyone's old Pebbles? :p
memmcgee 9y ago
I don't have this, but this book is supposed to be good for procurement: https://www.crowdsupply.com/sutajio-kosagi/the-essential-guide-to-electronics-in-shenzhen https://www.crowdsupply.com/sutajio-kosagi/the-essential-gui...
- janekm 9y ago
  It won't help for the screen... Those are made by Sharp and would be exceedingly hard to get hold of in Shenzhen.
Robelius 9y ago
Making a homebrew smartwatch sounds like a fun side-project. Any chance you would be willing to share your progress so far? I'm a student with an interest in electronics manufacturing so making one would be more of a learning experience. Also, for a one-off screen have you looked at contacting a manufacturer on something like Alibaba? They are usually more than willing to send a discounted/free one-off sample of a product.
- rtpg 9y ago
  I wish I had much progress! I looked at a pebble teardown, and saw that it didn't seem to involve very complex production strategies. From that I decided to try building a list of components! I know how to do some microcontroller programming so wasn't too worried about that part, but felt like getting an efficient screen was important. I've had a hard time finding power efficient screens that I can purchase in very small quantites so I've been stuck there. I've been trawling around parts websites but I almost always end up on things like screens for RasPis. EDIT: Got some luck on Alibaba searching for "sunlight readable". Going to contact some suppliers to see if I can get something
throwanem 9y ago
Massdrop or a similar platform might make a good option for organizing a group buy. You need to find enough other people with the same desire for a given part or item, but everything else seems pretty well handled; I know plenty of folks who've participated in Massdrop buys for keyboards, Cherry-stem keycaps, and the like, and haven't heard any complaints about the service. (Haven't used it myself, though - I'm just going to get two sets of PBT caps off eBay when this year's keyboard-cleaning cycle comes around - so can't speak to it personally.)

by rtpg 9y ago

ClassyJacket 9y ago

...Buy everyone's old Pebbles? :p

memmcgee 9y ago

I don't have this, but this book is supposed to be good for procurement: https://www.crowdsupply.com/sutajio-kosagi/the-essential-guide-to-electronics-in-shenzhen https://www.crowdsupply.com/sutajio-kosagi/the-essential-gui...

janekm 9y ago
It won't help for the screen... Those are made by Sharp and would be exceedingly hard to get hold of in Shenzhen.

Robelius 9y ago

Making a homebrew smartwatch sounds like a fun side-project. Any chance you would be willing to share your progress so far? I'm a student with an interest in electronics manufacturing so making one would be more of a learning experience. Also, for a one-off screen have you looked at contacting a manufacturer on something like Alibaba? They are usually more than willing to send a discounted/free one-off sample of a product.

rtpg 9y ago
I wish I had much progress! I looked at a pebble teardown, and saw that it didn't seem to involve very complex production strategies. From that I decided to try building a list of components! I know how to do some microcontroller programming so wasn't too worried about that part, but felt like getting an efficient screen was important. I've had a hard time finding power efficient screens that I can purchase in very small quantites so I've been stuck there. I've been trawling around parts websites but I almost always end up on things like screens for RasPis. EDIT: Got some luck on Alibaba searching for "sunlight readable". Going to contact some suppliers to see if I can get something

throwanem 9y ago

Massdrop or a similar platform might make a good option for organizing a group buy. You need to find enough other people with the same desire for a given part or item, but everything else seems pretty well handled; I know plenty of folks who've participated in Massdrop buys for keyboards, Cherry-stem keycaps, and the like, and haven't heard any complaints about the service. (Haven't used it myself, though - I'm just going to get two sets of PBT caps off eBay when this year's keyboard-cleaning cycle comes around - so can't speak to it personally.)