6 ms·

The KindleBerry Pi

156 points by damaru 14y ago

jamesmcn 14y ago
I'd love to have a 24" or 30" USB-driven eInk screen or three for fairly static stuff like documentation. Running a terminal on an eInk display is probably less painful than repeatedly bashing your toes into a cinder block. Probably. An iPhone would probably make a far better portable screen. Cool hack, though.
- pja 14y ago
  The e-ink datasheet[1] says that they don't make them any bigger than 12" sadly: [1].http://www.eink.com/sell_sheets/pearl%20sell%20sheet.pdf http://www.eink.com/sell_sheets/pearl%20sell%20sheet.pdf
- noveltyaccount 14y ago
  Quick buy some Kindle DXs while you still can.
joshu 14y ago
I wonder if the screen is fast enough. I would love to work on an actual non-glowing screen.
- vidarh 14y ago
  My first thought was the same - if it performs like the "page flip" on the Kindle, I'd jump off a high building within minutes. But I've no idea if most of that delay is down to the screen or some combination of processing power and/or conserving power.
  - damaru 14y ago
    yeah it's actually not bad, the refresh is only on the character itself so it's workable. If you have a hacked kindle you can test with a terminal emulator, it give you a good idea of how fast the typing be.
  - teraflop 14y ago
    The full-page flashing refresh on the Kindle is a software measure to get rid of the afterimage that would otherwise remain on the screen. Here's what it looks like when it's disabled: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQJGfU8fEUg http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQJGfU8fEUg
- damaru 14y ago
  I was thinking if they did make 20inches e-ink - I would love to have that for my shell only workload. Would be nice for the eyes, light and minimal!
- joezydeco 14y ago
  Depends on what you want to do, and if you can override the clear-screen page blanking. As a benchmark, here's someone running a Playstation 1 emulator on an e-ink Nook: http://boards.openpandora.org/index.php?/topic/9877-psx-emulation-on-a-nook-ebook-reader-with-e-ink-display/ http://boards.openpandora.org/index.php?/topic/9877-psx-emul...
  - joshu 14y ago
    That's absurdly cool.
- jlgreco 14y ago
  In my experience tinkering around at home with my kindle a year or two ago, the eink display is fast enough that using Vim on it feels about the same as a noticeably slow but still usable ssh session. With a real keyboard attached, it is something that I could see myself using.
- austinc 14y ago
  Pixel Qi makes some sort of sunlight-readable display for netbooks: http://pixelqi.com/products http://pixelqi.com/products I hope these take off, because I also would love to not be staring into a lamp for hours per day.
  - sliverstorm 14y ago
    I wish they would, but Pixel's been offering those for years now and nothing's really come of it.
- mhd 14y ago
  Well, quite a few Unix editors might still have the necessary hacks for low-baud terminal connections, which probably help in this case, too. Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose.
chm 14y ago
I bought my Raspberry Pi a week ago, and I thought about the exact same thing! I have a Kindle 4, though. Nice work!
kqr2 14y ago
VNC viewer for the kindle: http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=150434 http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=150434 How to use your Kindle DX as a display: http://www.pcworld.com/article/259582/how_to_use_a_kindle_dx_as_a_pc_display.html http://www.pcworld.com/article/259582/how_to_use_a_kindle_dx...
- damaru 14y ago
  I tried the vnc over the raspberry from the kindle and it wasn't really satisfying for what it worth. The e-ink display size and refresh rate is ok for shell action, but not so interesting for the X window...
whichdan 14y ago
I would love to use this as a novel way to force myself to learn vim.
orangethirty 14y ago
Fantastic hack. I've been meaning to find an excuse to play with the Pi, and well, this is it.
damaru 14y ago
Simon Sharwood provided a quite deep and comprehensive review of my post: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/09/11/kindleberry_pi/ http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/09/11/kindleberry_pi/ The part I prefer the most is when he uses 'long suit' instead of 'strong suit'.
darklajid 14y ago
I was hoping for a lower level hack, but it _is_ neat. That said, I still have a couple of broken laptops here and want to check out if I can connect the lcd displays to my Raspberry Pi in the future. When I don't fail at basic googling skills to get past all the inverse projects (replacing a broken screen instead of reusing a working screen from a laptop).
- alexchamberlain 14y ago
  If you get it working, please post here: http://raspberrypi.stackexchange.com/q/848/86 http://raspberrypi.stackexchange.com/q/848/86

156 points by damaru 14y ago

I'd love to have a 24" or 30" USB-driven eInk screen or three for fairly static stuff like documentation. Running a terminal on an eInk display is probably less painful than repeatedly bashing your toes into a cinder block. Probably. An iPhone would probably make a far better portable screen. Cool hack, though.

pja 14y ago
The e-ink datasheet[1] says that they don't make them any bigger than 12" sadly: [1].http://www.eink.com/sell_sheets/pearl%20sell%20sheet.pdf http://www.eink.com/sell_sheets/pearl%20sell%20sheet.pdf
noveltyaccount 14y ago
Quick buy some Kindle DXs while you still can.

joshu 14y ago

I wonder if the screen is fast enough. I would love to work on an actual non-glowing screen.

vidarh 14y ago
My first thought was the same - if it performs like the "page flip" on the Kindle, I'd jump off a high building within minutes. But I've no idea if most of that delay is down to the screen or some combination of processing power and/or conserving power.
- damaru 14y ago
  yeah it's actually not bad, the refresh is only on the character itself so it's workable. If you have a hacked kindle you can test with a terminal emulator, it give you a good idea of how fast the typing be.
- teraflop 14y ago
  The full-page flashing refresh on the Kindle is a software measure to get rid of the afterimage that would otherwise remain on the screen. Here's what it looks like when it's disabled: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQJGfU8fEUg http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQJGfU8fEUg
damaru 14y ago
I was thinking if they did make 20inches e-ink - I would love to have that for my shell only workload. Would be nice for the eyes, light and minimal!
joezydeco 14y ago
Depends on what you want to do, and if you can override the clear-screen page blanking. As a benchmark, here's someone running a Playstation 1 emulator on an e-ink Nook: http://boards.openpandora.org/index.php?/topic/9877-psx-emulation-on-a-nook-ebook-reader-with-e-ink-display/ http://boards.openpandora.org/index.php?/topic/9877-psx-emul...
- joshu 14y ago
  That's absurdly cool.
jlgreco 14y ago
In my experience tinkering around at home with my kindle a year or two ago, the eink display is fast enough that using Vim on it feels about the same as a noticeably slow but still usable ssh session. With a real keyboard attached, it is something that I could see myself using.
austinc 14y ago
Pixel Qi makes some sort of sunlight-readable display for netbooks: http://pixelqi.com/products http://pixelqi.com/products I hope these take off, because I also would love to not be staring into a lamp for hours per day.
- sliverstorm 14y ago
  I wish they would, but Pixel's been offering those for years now and nothing's really come of it.
mhd 14y ago
Well, quite a few Unix editors might still have the necessary hacks for low-baud terminal connections, which probably help in this case, too. Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose.

chm 14y ago

I bought my Raspberry Pi a week ago, and I thought about the exact same thing! I have a Kindle 4, though. Nice work!

kqr2 14y ago

VNC viewer for the kindle: http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=150434 http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=150434 How to use your Kindle DX as a display: http://www.pcworld.com/article/259582/how_to_use_a_kindle_dx_as_a_pc_display.html http://www.pcworld.com/article/259582/how_to_use_a_kindle_dx...

damaru 14y ago
I tried the vnc over the raspberry from the kindle and it wasn't really satisfying for what it worth. The e-ink display size and refresh rate is ok for shell action, but not so interesting for the X window...

whichdan 14y ago

I would love to use this as a novel way to force myself to learn vim.

orangethirty 14y ago

Fantastic hack. I've been meaning to find an excuse to play with the Pi, and well, this is it.

damaru 14y ago

Simon Sharwood provided a quite deep and comprehensive review of my post: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/09/11/kindleberry_pi/ http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/09/11/kindleberry_pi/ The part I prefer the most is when he uses 'long suit' instead of 'strong suit'.

darklajid 14y ago

I was hoping for a lower level hack, but it _is_ neat. That said, I still have a couple of broken laptops here and want to check out if I can connect the lcd displays to my Raspberry Pi in the future. When I don't fail at basic googling skills to get past all the inverse projects (replacing a broken screen instead of reusing a working screen from a laptop).

alexchamberlain 14y ago
If you get it working, please post here: http://raspberrypi.stackexchange.com/q/848/86 http://raspberrypi.stackexchange.com/q/848/86