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Paperd.Ink – A hackable e-paper display
- sk0g 7y agoI've wanted an e-ink display for a while, to display persistent-ish information for a while, like the Premier League table, local weather forecasts, and upcoming events from my Google Calendar, all in one screen. Unfortunately, they tend to be quite pricey and small, and I can't find pricing on this anywhere.
- yewenjie 7y agoThis is an amazing idea that I am coming across for the first time! I wonder if there is already some implementation of it for Kindle! Edit: just found out this project. https://github.com/pjimenezmateo/kindle-wallpaper https://github.com/pjimenezmateo/kindle-wallpaper
- robertlangdon 7y agoHey, Thanks for the info, will definitely check it out. You can fill in our form if you'd like. Take care!
- lilSebastian 7y agoPlease stop spamming this same sentence in response to comments.
- dh-g 7y agoI built one of these with a kindle + rust - https://github.com/davidhampgonsalves/life-dashboard https://github.com/davidhampgonsalves/life-dashboard The version of the e-reader is important if you want to access deep sleep / RTC for lower power usage.
- yewenjie 7y agoThis is awesome! I love how this is independent of setting up your own server. I wish there were a little bit of more documentation though - I am unsure if this will work on my kindle (PaperWhite 2015).
- halfdan 7y agoIt says crowdfunding coming soon. Most likely the price is TBD.
- robertlangdon 7y agoWe're looking at a selling price of around $59 currently. We're checking for financing options in addition to crowdfunding.
- drno123 7y agoI saw this product a couple of days ago: https://sync-sign.com/eink-for-developers-turn-key-solution/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMInZioxNbO5wIVxKiaCh2LqQ1HEAAYASAAEgIkXPD_BwE https://sync-sign.com/eink-for-developers-turn-key-solution/... I am not affiliated with that company in any way.
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- sircastor 7y agoThis reminds me of that old SNL commercial for Newton post-it notes.
- dan1234 7y agoLast time I looked into this, for a potential project, I found Waveshare seem to be the leaders for the hacker/hobby space. They’ve got a nice 12.5” display (1304x984) @ $170, which is pricey but big enough for league tables. https://www.waveshare.com/product/displays/12.48inch-e-paper-module-b.htm https://www.waveshare.com/product/displays/12.48inch-e-paper...
- missosoup 7y agoThe refresh times on waveshare panels are bad enough to make them useless for most interesting applications. That particular panel takes 16s to refresh.
- robertlangdon 7y agoHi, Paperd.Ink has a refresh rate of 4s for full refresh and <1s for partial. We're working on lowering it further.
- dan1234 7y ago16s would be for a full refresh though. If you're making an information based display you might only need to change a small area per update, which would be faster (though I couldn't find. any refresh speed in the datasheet).
- numpad0 7y agoWaveShare supplied code only allows full resolution full refresh with half tones and everything. IIRC someone figured how to expedite it but that someone had to.
- Fnoord 7y agoBecause it has 3 colors. Sometimes you can put them in two colors. For the Pwnagotchi project, the consensus has been that the Waveshare B&W v2 is the best [1]. Based on my own experience (I have one) I can say it has a high enough refresh rate, and little ghosting (none is impossible as costs too much battery to do full refresh). Also, the UPS Lite, also from China (AliExpress or whatever), is excellent. Do keep in mind this is a specific/different project, with a much smaller screen, meant to be portable (for on the go). [1] https://pwnagotchi.ai/installation/#color-vs-black-white-e-ink-displays https://pwnagotchi.ai/installation/#color-vs-black-white-e-i...
- IshKebab 7y agoTry Inkplate. Uses a good screen (recycled Kindle) and has a battery charger built in. Very cheap. Only just funded though: https://www.crowdsupply.com/e-radionica/inkplate-6 https://www.crowdsupply.com/e-radionica/inkplate-6
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- chedabob 7y agoI bought a Nook e-reader off ebay a while back for something like this. You can root it and it's just Android 2.2 underneath. Not a fantastic dev platform, but my plan was to just have it display images, and all the real work is done on a server somewhere.
- mauricesvay 7y agoWebsite looks down, so here's a video of the product https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=srrAUOsWHMs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=srrAUOsWHMs
- robertlangdon 7y agoThanks for the help. We're working on fixing the issue.
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- missosoup 7y agohttp://web.archive.org/web/20200216074239/https://paperd.ink/ http://web.archive.org/web/20200216074239/https://paperd.ink... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=srrAUOsWHMs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=srrAUOsWHMs Enclosure doesn't look great.
- tobr 7y ago> Enclosure doesn't look great. Wow, that’s an understatement. It looks dirty and ragged.
- robertlangdon 7y agoThanks for the feedback, its 3D printed and we're actively looking out for better options.
- tobr 7y agoFriendly advice: don’t post the same link in response to every comment. It looks like spam. EDIT, for context: User robertlangdon originally included the same typeform.com link in every comment, but has now edited most of the comments to remove these links.
- robertlangdon 7y agoOh I am so sorry, my bad. I'll be careful. Edit: After user tobr's useful advice, I've edited and removed links from most comments, hope that's fine. Our website will be up asap.
- Reventlov 7y agoWell, it's 3d printed, so, yeah, probably shitty because printed on the faster settings.
- robertlangdon 7y agoHey, Yes it 3D printed, we wanted to test the prototype. If you have any suggestions do let us know. Thanks!
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- SrslyJosh 7y agoThis is a cool idea, but I think the capacitive touch buttons are a mistake. I have two different appliances that have them, and the lack of tactile feedback is really irritating, especially when a button press doesn't result in instant visual/audio feedback from the device. (Makes you wonder whether or not you actually activated the button.) I strongly suggest using actual buttons.
- GordonS 7y agoI also really dislike buttons without feedback - you press them, and get nothing back. I often end up pressing them far harder than I probably should; the lack of tactile feedback seems to trick me into doing this.
- codebje 7y agoMy Magic Trackpad's haptic feedback has died, so now my trackpad has no feedback. Sometimes I'm absentmindedly staring at the screen trying to click the desk, because it feels almost the same as the trackpad now. Tactile feedback is very important!
- mellosouls 7y agoThis is cool, but e-ink displays have generally had 3 major differentiators from normal screens: 1. Comfort reading for long periods. 2. Ability to read outside in the sun. 3. Battery duration. Of those, by far the most important is the first, and this product is specifically targeted away from that. The third isn't a big deal for a stationary item that can be wired or plugged in. I wish you well, but I don't immediately see the problem it's solving - though there may well be some sort of gap in markets dealing with outdoor products, eg garden centres and the like.
- pcl 7y agoI really like the ambient nature of e-ink displays. I don’t want something emitting light and dragging my attention to it, but I do want to be able to glance at the clock or the bus schedule etc. This looks like a product well-suited to that sort of use case.
- 74ls00 7y ago4. Aesthetics Some of us just prefer the look of e-ink displays.
- lwhi 7y agoHow about energy usage generally? Reduction seems to be an important trend considering drives to try to reduce green house gas emissions.
- robertlangdon 7y agoUPDATE: Unfortunately our website crashed and we're fixing it. Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=srrAUOsWHMs&t=3s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=srrAUOsWHMs&t=3s User Research Typeform: https://prasad463729.typeform.com/to/cmp81P https://prasad463729.typeform.com/to/cmp81P Hackaday: https://hackaday.io/project/168668-paperdink https://hackaday.io/project/168668-paperdink Github: https://github.com/rgujju/paperdink https://github.com/rgujju/paperdink Specs: Monochrome, 4.2", 400x300 resolution We're looking at a selling price of $59 currently however there's a lot of scope to improve further. Looking at crowdfunding and other options for funding. Lastly, this is the first time we've posted on HN so please bear with me if there were any novice mistakes (like spamming link/lines in every comment, which has been rectified now). Thanks for all the support and feedback coming in!
- mkl 7y agoHi, this looks interesting. What are the specs? Physical size and pixel resolution width * height? Number of levels of grey? I spotted a couple of typos in the initial message in the setup screen: "Lets setup" should be "Let's set up". ("let's" = "let us", but "lets" = "allows", and "setup" is the noun but "set up" is the verb form.)
- robertlangdon 7y agoHave updated the specs. Thanks for pointing out, typos seem to be a careless mistake.
- omk 7y agoAre you guys located in Pune? Could help you demonstrate this product at a small scale IOT meetup in in the city if you are interested. Left a comment on your YouTube.
- robertlangdon 7y agoCan you write to me on prasad[at]paperd[dot]ink? Or let me know what's the best way to connect
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- jmiskovic 7y agoHere's some hopefully constructive feedback. The RGB LED looks jarring against monochrome e-ink screen. It also gives impression of cheap electronics, and rough 3d printed case doesn't help. The e-ink feels elegant, solid (no flickering) and timeless, while LED is nervous, overly bright and loud. If you really need a LED, put a white one. Maybe try to prototype audiophile hi-fi style case. Something wooden or even black glass. It would raise the price but there is obviously large interest. The site doesn't give any information on programming, only that UART-USB is included. Is it serving web page? Can it execute user binaries? Is some GUI toolkit supported? Without providing this info you can hardly claim it's hackable.
- rotronic 7y agoIf you checkout their hackaday and github page it seems to be programmable with arduino. [EDIT] links: https://github.com/rgujju/paperdink https://github.com/rgujju/paperdink https://hackaday.io/project/168668-paperdink https://hackaday.io/project/168668-paperdink
- robertlangdon 7y agoThat was surely insightful. We'll test with a white LED. And we're working on the binaries and GUI, it seems like current hardware won't be able to serve web pages.
- playpause 7y agoWhy do you need an LED at all?
- bsdubernerd 7y agoFully agree. A white LED might be better, as long as is for notifications only. There's no need for having a constant light otherwise (that's the beauty of eink)
- robertlangdon 7y ago
- fake-name 7y agoThis looks a lot like it's just a waveshare e-ink display in a case with a esp32. Is there something more there? If that's the case, ALL the work here is going to be software, and I don't see any yet. IIRC, that calendar display is example code from somewhere (the weather icons, in particular).
- rotronic 7y agoYup pretty much. But everything is open source. checkout their github page https://github.com/rgujju/paperdink https://github.com/rgujju/paperdink
- robertlangdon 7y agoThanks. The code is the example code for our product. but it does not have any other example code. It uses open source libraries and icons. https://hackaday.io/project/168668-paperdink https://hackaday.io/project/168668-paperdink
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- solarkraft 7y agoUnfortunately all of this is hampered immensely by the still way too high price of E-Ink displays. What are you going to build with this, a price tag? I'd love to make some stuff using E-Ink displays that you can read from a few meters away, but screens at 8 or more inches are virtually unobtainable. :(
- robertlangdon 7y agoYou're right, price is a big issue. We want to be able to provide affordable and useful e-paper displays and are actively working towards the vision.
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- mellosouls 7y agoI remember a similar looking project from a few years ago fwiw: https://mpetroff.net/2012/09/kindle-weather-display/ https://mpetroff.net/2012/09/kindle-weather-display/ Another, inspired by that: https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2020/02/turn-an-old-ereader-into-an-information-screen-nook-str/ https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2020/02/turn-an-old-ereader-into-an... A little off topic, but for anybody interested in doing something for themselves, there are various "smart mirrors" that aren't e-ink, but use a tablet screen behind a mirror. Eg. https://www.instructables.com/howto/smart+mirror/ https://www.instructables.com/howto/smart+mirror/
- bitxbit 7y agoI would like to see something drag and drop from iOS/Android.
- bfishadow 7y agoLove it. You guys could run a kickstarter campaign.
- no_wizard 7y agoThis looks amazing I can think of some really cool applications like a nice PDF reader that formats technical docs correctly What’s the status on Color e-ink nowadays? Are we far away from that? I feel like that’s the holy grail, along with true multitouch on one (last I checked all e ink displays were resistive touch displays)
- Rebelgecko 7y agoEink that supports yellow and red exists, but from what I've seen the refresh times are atrocious (like 10-30 seconds)
- wizzwizz4 7y agoWe have tri-colour e-ink – perhaps interleaving WYK WMK WCK would allow the necessary colour range?
- robertlangdon 7y agoColored ones are quite expensive so we started with monochrome
- ronyfadel 7y agoWhat irks me is that this has been on the front page of HN for the past 10 hours, but the website is still down (and OP said they were going to fix it). What would it take to replace the page with a static html page containing basic info and the Youtube video until the HN hug of death settles? 10 minutes of work?
- dmje 7y agoThe video looks great and I'd really like to know more. It's frustrating that the website has been down all day, though. Seems kind of odd in the world of Netlify / CloudFlare even if it's been HN'd.... :-/
- nandkeypull 7y agoThere's also this 6" ESP32-based e-paper platform from Crowd Supply for $99: https://www.crowdsupply.com/e-radionica/inkplate-6 https://www.crowdsupply.com/e-radionica/inkplate-6
- leoh 7y agoI really feel like the E-Ink invention has been mismanaged. These things should literally be everywhere by now and performing all kinds of functions. I want one as a second screen and to do most of my development on it. Maybe have a second one for pulling up documentation. Does anyone know why it has taken so long for these to go to market except, basically, for e-readers? Someone I know uses one of these as their main screen. They said it was like their computer was speaking in an inside voice as opposed to shouting at them.
- sircastor 7y agoI remember reading a bit about it. Supposedly the company that produced the displays was pretty stingy with the technology. Unwilling to sell predict to you unless you were manufacturing in very large numbers (like e-readers) That's hearsay of course, take it with a grain of salt
- robertlangdon 7y ago>speaking in an inside voice as opposed to shouting at them Now that's a way to put it! We were also perplexed while doing research initially as to why aren't these displays used more widely. One of the issues was cost and limited suppliers. So thought this might be a good thing to work on
- robertlangdon 7y agoUPDATE 2: We're live again. Could not resolve issue with the current hosting service provider yet so made a temporary website and routing everything there, which took its time own again to connect to the domain. Hopefully this isn't too late. It was really frustrating but many lessons learnt. Thanks everyone for all the reviews and feedback!
- dh-g 7y agoInteresting project, but if you have an old kindle / kobo that is not being used they make a good development platform with similar hardware. The mobileread forums will get you started.
- dilippkumar 7y agoHere's hopefully some constructive feedback: Showing the battery state in Volts is almost completely unhelpful because of the non-linear discharge curve. An approximate of the battery capacity is more useful (even if not perfectly accurate) than the voltage itself.
- robertlangdon 7y agoYou're right, it's on our list for updates
- dang 7y agoIt looks like a great project, but please don't put Show HN in titles until it's ready for users to try out. This is in the Show HN rules: https://news.ycombinator.com/showhn.html https://news.ycombinator.com/showhn.html.