10 ms·

I built a picture frame with a greyscale e-paper that runs on battery for years

175 points by clash 6y ago

clort 6y ago
The title reads like a blog post (great for HN!), but the site link is just a company selling frames. Their byline is: Digital artwork for your living room. New every day. So surely somebody did build a picture frame but this is not an article about that.
- clash 6y ago
  Owner here. I initially created it for myself, but there was a lot of interest, so I made a kit available so that everybody can build one, too.
  - mark-r 6y ago
    Do you get the source to the code that runs it, or is that a black box?
    - donohoe 6y ago
      I found this https://github.com/framelabs-eu/imageserver https://github.com/framelabs-eu/imageserver
  - clort 6y ago
    Thanks for responding. I was quite interested really in the concept that the title seemed to indicate, I was expecting a blog post at least, and surely something along those likes would do better on HN
michaelhoffman 6y ago
The picture frame runs for years, unlike their web site. "502 Bad Gateway"
- littlestymaar 6y ago
  Appearing on HH's front page can put quite a load on an usually low-traffic website and put it on its knees quickly.
  - spurgu 6y ago
    Yeah especially since it's Wordpress with Woocommerce so enabling caching isn't super straightforward, although it looks like there hasn't even been any attempt made.
LeoPanthera 6y ago
Mirror. https://web.archive.org/web/20201212192629/https://framelabs.eu/en/ https://web.archive.org/web/20201212192629/https://framelabs... Looks like a commercial product though. This should probably be a "Show HN".
codeulike 6y ago
I wanted to make something like this, I think it's a great idea. People might be in for a rude awakening if someone figures out how to hack it remotely though, lol
- clash 6y ago
  I am working on providing feeds with "Picture of the day" for the device. I agree that that service should run hardened software to prevent your scenario from happening. If you run the device in local mode though, WiFi is never enabled.
  - zhoujianfu 6y ago
    Hey! I’ve wanted to make (or buy) one of these for years! (A battery-powered eink picture frame with no power cord.) I hope you get your site back up soon! And eventually branch into color eink and larger (wall-hangable) sizes!
graepp 6y ago
This is an advertisement linking to a broken storefront in case anyone was wondering. Maybe the creator can share more about the design of this device (ex/ what embedded device you're using (ESP32?), is an ASIC driving the display, epaper supplier, etc.)? Have you considered using E INKs Kaleido coloured epaper?
- 1996 6y ago
  > a broken storefront not everybody cares about the selling part more than the building part...
Keeo 6y ago
I actually built one myself, but used raspberry pi so it needs usb cable for power. It works well but contrast on the display is not that good for photos. Would work well for text or like smart home panel. https://imgur.com/a/HraSGsj https://imgur.com/a/HraSGsj
- clash 6y ago
  Nice work. Getting rid of the cable was actually the most important feature for me. It is almost impossible to spot that this is actually an electronic device if one doesn't notice the small button at the bottom.
- mewse 6y ago
  I've built something very similar as well. For me, I found that the display I'm using works reasonably well for photos, but you need to slightly boost the contrast of the image before updating the display, to compensate for the darkness of the display. If you're using PIL in python, this is just something like "image = PIL.ImageEnhance.Contrast(image).enhance(1.3)" I do that immediately before dithering into 16-greys, and get entirely acceptable photo displays that way.
  - Keeo 6y ago
    I am using simple shell script and imagemagick to convert folder full of images and then randomly rotate the pictures. I tried playing with contrast but after dithering and that did not produce good results.
marapuru 6y ago
Nice idea and cool how you made it into a product. Could you provide us with a tad more technical specs? Since the website is down and it isn't archived yet would be good to see some of that tech specs here.
- clash 6y ago
  It is a 9.7" screen with 1200x825 pixels, which make it 150 ppi. It has WiFi built-in to load pictures from remote sources and also features a small local storage for up to 100 pictures. The battery should last for around 7000 changes of the picture. The frequency of picture changes can be adjusted and also defines how many years it will take for the battery to run out. Pictures are dithered and contrast/brightness can be adjusted during upload, which can be done via the device's WiFi hotspot. Or you can configure it to connect to your local WiFi for easier access.
  - jfim 6y ago
    Is the battery user replaceable? If so, what kind of battery is it?
clash 6y ago
Until the page is accessible again, here are some pictures and a picture transition: https://www.instagram.com/framelabs.eu/ https://www.instagram.com/framelabs.eu/
interestica 6y ago
If you can get an old Kobo eReader it actually had software built in for an image based slideshow that was accessible. It's a good but small eink screen. I had a few set up for it. But the dream would have been to have them networked and remotely accessible to update the content. I believe they were running on Linux so it would probably be doable.
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
hnsanket 6y ago
This is cool! How hackable is this? I'd love to get one and maybe hack it a bit, and try few other use cases
- clash 6y ago
  The device ships with sample code included. So if you want to try your own use case, this is possible. I will also add it to https://github.com/framelabs-eu https://github.com/framelabs-eu shortly.
rgovostes 6y ago
I am building something like this, but the pandemic has prevented me from collaborating with my frame maker. The e-ink panel I have has a fairly fragile ribbon cable we are trying to hide inside the frame with some clever cuts. I am not sure how the panels for Kindles allow them to have such small margins. The biggest problem I have is fitting a battery into the frame -- I was trying to find a low profile USB battery pack that could output 5V for RPi Zero. Maybe I should wire up some battery cells directly to evenly distribute the weight?
- baybal2 6y ago
  Look up a single sheet battery.
- dole 6y ago
  PiSugar or UPS Lite?
- 1996 6y ago
  Simply use a cellphone or phablet battery; samsung galaxy batteries are flat and cheap, so if they don't provide enough mAh, use more than one
baybal2 6y ago
I worked on a number of digital photo frames, including on ones like that. E-ink is not the most suitable thing for it in its current form. First, large size EPD cost an arm, and a leg, and custom one costs even more. Second, there are no 8 bit EPD controllers as of now a mortal can buy, which means grays look very bad. Third, there are inherent physical limitations which make increasing gray resolution of EPDs quite hard. The precision you want, the slower would the refresh rate be. If somebody is old enough to remember, (saying this as a 30 years old is indeed amusing to myself) the last active matrix monochrome LCDs had 8 bit, and more of gray resolution, but they are all discontinued now, or cost an arm, and a leg as "medical imaging" specialty.
- rriepe 6y ago
  Despite all this, E-ink's biggest problem is that Amazon owns all the tech and doesn't want to ever see it succeed.
  - jfim 6y ago
    Can you elaborate on that? As far as I know, E ink corporation and related patents are owned by a Taiwanese electronics manufacturer [0]. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E_Ink#Company_history https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E_Ink#Company_history
    - rriepe 6y ago
      I thought Amazon held them, my bad. I was interested in this space around the time of the Kindle Fire release. It seemed to me like they just didn't want to chase a form factor that couldn't sell 90% of their media. So maybe there is a way, but no will.
  - icedistilled 6y ago
    you mean being relegated being used for price tags in whole foods isn't succeeding? I really want some of those and the ability to updated them.
    - 6y ago
tomcooks 6y ago
.. and i am selling it that's why i am posting here the company website ? Misleading title, add "Show HN" and if you mention building something please show how.
jonplackett 6y ago
We killed it.. https://web.archive.org/web/20201212192629/https://framelabs.eu/en/ https://web.archive.org/web/20201212192629/https://framelabs...
scottrogowski 6y ago
I had this idea years ago! I'm glad someone finally did it. One thought. From a philosophical point of view, I would want this to be something that "lasts forever". So it would be nice if it were solar powered and ran off of an SD card rather than being web-based. Just an opinion from an HN extremist - take it in context. Still, it's scratching an itch for me. Your website is down so I didn't see how much it costs but I'll check back in a bit. Also, get behind a CDN ASAP!!
- clash 6y ago
  Thanks for your input. I was thinking about a way to have it powered by ambient energy. It is hard to integrate the solar cell in a way that it does not distract from the actual picture, though.
  - WrtCdEvrydy 6y ago
    Could try extracting energy from radio waves with a wire antenna around the frame (it's not a lot, but for charging some sort of battery it could work)
- jamez 6y ago
  I published this yesterday, in case you are interested: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25461853 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25461853
j3th9n 6y ago
It looks like you could use some turbocharged WordPress hosting, hit me up if you want a fast website that can handle HN. ;-)
gedy 6y ago
I planned to do similar with an Inkplate[1] I purchased [1] https://inkplate.io/ https://inkplate.io/
conductr 6y ago
I love this and have wanted it forever. I was actually ready to buy but I have no use for the 9.7” size in regards to an actual art display. It’s just way to small for anything but family photos, which I like to be in color and on my desk.
fbelzile 6y ago
Very cool. This reminds me of another HN post where someone made an E Ink frame to display the New York Times front page everyday: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22831323 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22831323
Risse 6y ago
I also built a similar frame, but instead it shows informal stuff like calendar events, weather etc. https://polso.info/raspberry-pi-e-ink-photo-frame-video-and-full-source-code https://polso.info/raspberry-pi-e-ink-photo-frame-video-and-...
- dallamaneni 6y ago
  Wow! That is awesome! Thanks for sharing :)
gfxgirl 6y ago
"True Minimalism" No, true minimalism would be doing without this needless frame. I actually think it's cool though I'd want one much much MUCH larger. My comment is mostly about the smug comment at the end. It's not minimalism to clutter your life with a superfluous gadget
svennek 6y ago
I found the image server, in the spirit of using your device for fun and interesting things (say nothing of privacy).. Why would you need the online converter, if you selfhost the image-server? (potential customer here, but wanna use it not for pictures but for "daily status")
- clash 6y ago
  The images need to be processed before they can be shown: • Cropping • Scaling • Contrast + brightness adjustment • Compression That is what the online converter provides. But I get your point. I will add example code on how to convert an image on your local machine.
- miniatureape 6y ago
  I would like if you could just set a url pattern that sent over some device specific id and the resolution as parameters and it would poll it on some configurable frequency.
antoniuschan99 6y ago
I thought this project looked really cool. Maybe it'll give you some ideas! https://onezero.medium.com/the-morning-paper-revisited-35b407822494 https://onezero.medium.com/the-morning-paper-revisited-35b40...
hinkley 6y ago
I bought my first arduino because I wanted information radiators I could just hang on an office wall, without a network cable for sure. And without a power cord if at all possible. I never got far. I could probably build now what I wanted then, but I’m not sure anyone would find it compelling, least of all me.
Animats 6y ago
What's with the E-Ink cost problem? Those displays have been overpriced for 20 years now. Lack of demand?
avipars 6y ago
sales post
jayFu 6y ago
I've setup multiple "Photo frames" with Raspberry Pi zero connected with screen of different size, which fetches the photos stored on local hard drive hosted with Lomorage running on Raspberry Pi 4. Check it out, https://www.reddit.com/r/raspberry_pi/comments/fj3li8/digtal_photo_frames_setup_using_raspberry_pi_zero/ https://www.reddit.com/r/raspberry_pi/comments/fj3li8/digtal...
WhyNotHugo 6y ago
Looks pretty neat. I only wish it were USB-C. If the battery really lasts years, I won't have any micro-USB laying around when I next need to charge it. I only had two of those cables left, and had to throw one out this week since it stopped working.

175 points by clash 6y ago

The title reads like a blog post (great for HN!), but the site link is just a company selling frames. Their byline is: Digital artwork for your living room. New every day. So surely somebody did build a picture frame but this is not an article about that.

clash 6y ago
Owner here. I initially created it for myself, but there was a lot of interest, so I made a kit available so that everybody can build one, too.
- mark-r 6y ago
  Do you get the source to the code that runs it, or is that a black box?
  - donohoe 6y ago
    I found this https://github.com/framelabs-eu/imageserver https://github.com/framelabs-eu/imageserver
- clort 6y ago
  Thanks for responding. I was quite interested really in the concept that the title seemed to indicate, I was expecting a blog post at least, and surely something along those likes would do better on HN

michaelhoffman 6y ago

The picture frame runs for years, unlike their web site. "502 Bad Gateway"

littlestymaar 6y ago
Appearing on HH's front page can put quite a load on an usually low-traffic website and put it on its knees quickly.
- spurgu 6y ago
  Yeah especially since it's Wordpress with Woocommerce so enabling caching isn't super straightforward, although it looks like there hasn't even been any attempt made.

LeoPanthera 6y ago

Mirror. https://web.archive.org/web/20201212192629/https://framelabs.eu/en/ https://web.archive.org/web/20201212192629/https://framelabs... Looks like a commercial product though. This should probably be a "Show HN".

codeulike 6y ago

I wanted to make something like this, I think it's a great idea. People might be in for a rude awakening if someone figures out how to hack it remotely though, lol

clash 6y ago
I am working on providing feeds with "Picture of the day" for the device. I agree that that service should run hardened software to prevent your scenario from happening. If you run the device in local mode though, WiFi is never enabled.
- zhoujianfu 6y ago
  Hey! I’ve wanted to make (or buy) one of these for years! (A battery-powered eink picture frame with no power cord.) I hope you get your site back up soon! And eventually branch into color eink and larger (wall-hangable) sizes!

graepp 6y ago

This is an advertisement linking to a broken storefront in case anyone was wondering. Maybe the creator can share more about the design of this device (ex/ what embedded device you're using (ESP32?), is an ASIC driving the display, epaper supplier, etc.)? Have you considered using E INKs Kaleido coloured epaper?

1996 6y ago
> a broken storefront not everybody cares about the selling part more than the building part...

Keeo 6y ago

I actually built one myself, but used raspberry pi so it needs usb cable for power. It works well but contrast on the display is not that good for photos. Would work well for text or like smart home panel. https://imgur.com/a/HraSGsj https://imgur.com/a/HraSGsj

clash 6y ago
Nice work. Getting rid of the cable was actually the most important feature for me. It is almost impossible to spot that this is actually an electronic device if one doesn't notice the small button at the bottom.
mewse 6y ago
I've built something very similar as well. For me, I found that the display I'm using works reasonably well for photos, but you need to slightly boost the contrast of the image before updating the display, to compensate for the darkness of the display. If you're using PIL in python, this is just something like "image = PIL.ImageEnhance.Contrast(image).enhance(1.3)" I do that immediately before dithering into 16-greys, and get entirely acceptable photo displays that way.
- Keeo 6y ago
  I am using simple shell script and imagemagick to convert folder full of images and then randomly rotate the pictures. I tried playing with contrast but after dithering and that did not produce good results.

marapuru 6y ago

Nice idea and cool how you made it into a product. Could you provide us with a tad more technical specs? Since the website is down and it isn't archived yet would be good to see some of that tech specs here.

clash 6y ago
It is a 9.7" screen with 1200x825 pixels, which make it 150 ppi. It has WiFi built-in to load pictures from remote sources and also features a small local storage for up to 100 pictures. The battery should last for around 7000 changes of the picture. The frequency of picture changes can be adjusted and also defines how many years it will take for the battery to run out. Pictures are dithered and contrast/brightness can be adjusted during upload, which can be done via the device's WiFi hotspot. Or you can configure it to connect to your local WiFi for easier access.
- jfim 6y ago
  Is the battery user replaceable? If so, what kind of battery is it?

clash 6y ago

Until the page is accessible again, here are some pictures and a picture transition: https://www.instagram.com/framelabs.eu/ https://www.instagram.com/framelabs.eu/

interestica 6y ago

If you can get an old Kobo eReader it actually had software built in for an image based slideshow that was accessible. It's a good but small eink screen. I had a few set up for it. But the dream would have been to have them networked and remotely accessible to update the content. I believe they were running on Linux so it would probably be doable.

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]

hnsanket 6y ago

This is cool! How hackable is this? I'd love to get one and maybe hack it a bit, and try few other use cases

clash 6y ago
The device ships with sample code included. So if you want to try your own use case, this is possible. I will also add it to https://github.com/framelabs-eu https://github.com/framelabs-eu shortly.

rgovostes 6y ago

I am building something like this, but the pandemic has prevented me from collaborating with my frame maker. The e-ink panel I have has a fairly fragile ribbon cable we are trying to hide inside the frame with some clever cuts. I am not sure how the panels for Kindles allow them to have such small margins. The biggest problem I have is fitting a battery into the frame -- I was trying to find a low profile USB battery pack that could output 5V for RPi Zero. Maybe I should wire up some battery cells directly to evenly distribute the weight?

baybal2 6y ago
Look up a single sheet battery.
dole 6y ago
PiSugar or UPS Lite?
1996 6y ago
Simply use a cellphone or phablet battery; samsung galaxy batteries are flat and cheap, so if they don't provide enough mAh, use more than one

baybal2 6y ago

I worked on a number of digital photo frames, including on ones like that. E-ink is not the most suitable thing for it in its current form. First, large size EPD cost an arm, and a leg, and custom one costs even more. Second, there are no 8 bit EPD controllers as of now a mortal can buy, which means grays look very bad. Third, there are inherent physical limitations which make increasing gray resolution of EPDs quite hard. The precision you want, the slower would the refresh rate be. If somebody is old enough to remember, (saying this as a 30 years old is indeed amusing to myself) the last active matrix monochrome LCDs had 8 bit, and more of gray resolution, but they are all discontinued now, or cost an arm, and a leg as "medical imaging" specialty.

rriepe 6y ago
Despite all this, E-ink's biggest problem is that Amazon owns all the tech and doesn't want to ever see it succeed.
- jfim 6y ago
  Can you elaborate on that? As far as I know, E ink corporation and related patents are owned by a Taiwanese electronics manufacturer [0]. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E_Ink#Company_history https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E_Ink#Company_history
  - rriepe 6y ago
    I thought Amazon held them, my bad. I was interested in this space around the time of the Kindle Fire release. It seemed to me like they just didn't want to chase a form factor that couldn't sell 90% of their media. So maybe there is a way, but no will.
- icedistilled 6y ago
  you mean being relegated being used for price tags in whole foods isn't succeeding? I really want some of those and the ability to updated them.
  - 6y ago

tomcooks 6y ago

.. and i am selling it that's why i am posting here the company website ? Misleading title, add "Show HN" and if you mention building something please show how.

jonplackett 6y ago

We killed it.. https://web.archive.org/web/20201212192629/https://framelabs.eu/en/ https://web.archive.org/web/20201212192629/https://framelabs...

scottrogowski 6y ago

I had this idea years ago! I'm glad someone finally did it. One thought. From a philosophical point of view, I would want this to be something that "lasts forever". So it would be nice if it were solar powered and ran off of an SD card rather than being web-based. Just an opinion from an HN extremist - take it in context. Still, it's scratching an itch for me. Your website is down so I didn't see how much it costs but I'll check back in a bit. Also, get behind a CDN ASAP!!

clash 6y ago
Thanks for your input. I was thinking about a way to have it powered by ambient energy. It is hard to integrate the solar cell in a way that it does not distract from the actual picture, though.
- WrtCdEvrydy 6y ago
  Could try extracting energy from radio waves with a wire antenna around the frame (it's not a lot, but for charging some sort of battery it could work)
jamez 6y ago
I published this yesterday, in case you are interested: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25461853 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25461853

j3th9n 6y ago

It looks like you could use some turbocharged WordPress hosting, hit me up if you want a fast website that can handle HN. ;-)

gedy 6y ago

I planned to do similar with an Inkplate[1] I purchased [1] https://inkplate.io/ https://inkplate.io/

conductr 6y ago

I love this and have wanted it forever. I was actually ready to buy but I have no use for the 9.7” size in regards to an actual art display. It’s just way to small for anything but family photos, which I like to be in color and on my desk.

fbelzile 6y ago

Very cool. This reminds me of another HN post where someone made an E Ink frame to display the New York Times front page everyday: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22831323 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22831323

Risse 6y ago

I also built a similar frame, but instead it shows informal stuff like calendar events, weather etc. https://polso.info/raspberry-pi-e-ink-photo-frame-video-and-full-source-code https://polso.info/raspberry-pi-e-ink-photo-frame-video-and-...

dallamaneni 6y ago
Wow! That is awesome! Thanks for sharing :)

gfxgirl 6y ago

"True Minimalism" No, true minimalism would be doing without this needless frame. I actually think it's cool though I'd want one much much MUCH larger. My comment is mostly about the smug comment at the end. It's not minimalism to clutter your life with a superfluous gadget

svennek 6y ago

I found the image server, in the spirit of using your device for fun and interesting things (say nothing of privacy).. Why would you need the online converter, if you selfhost the image-server? (potential customer here, but wanna use it not for pictures but for "daily status")

clash 6y ago
The images need to be processed before they can be shown: • Cropping • Scaling • Contrast + brightness adjustment • Compression That is what the online converter provides. But I get your point. I will add example code on how to convert an image on your local machine.
miniatureape 6y ago
I would like if you could just set a url pattern that sent over some device specific id and the resolution as parameters and it would poll it on some configurable frequency.

antoniuschan99 6y ago

I thought this project looked really cool. Maybe it'll give you some ideas! https://onezero.medium.com/the-morning-paper-revisited-35b407822494 https://onezero.medium.com/the-morning-paper-revisited-35b40...

hinkley 6y ago

I bought my first arduino because I wanted information radiators I could just hang on an office wall, without a network cable for sure. And without a power cord if at all possible. I never got far. I could probably build now what I wanted then, but I’m not sure anyone would find it compelling, least of all me.

Animats 6y ago

What's with the E-Ink cost problem? Those displays have been overpriced for 20 years now. Lack of demand?

avipars 6y ago

sales post

jayFu 6y ago

I've setup multiple "Photo frames" with Raspberry Pi zero connected with screen of different size, which fetches the photos stored on local hard drive hosted with Lomorage running on Raspberry Pi 4. Check it out, https://www.reddit.com/r/raspberry_pi/comments/fj3li8/digtal_photo_frames_setup_using_raspberry_pi_zero/ https://www.reddit.com/r/raspberry_pi/comments/fj3li8/digtal...

WhyNotHugo 6y ago

Looks pretty neat. I only wish it were USB-C. If the battery really lasts years, I won't have any micro-USB laying around when I next need to charge it. I only had two of those cables left, and had to throw one out this week since it stopped working.