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PaperLike: 13.3″ E Ink Monitor by Dasung Tech

524 points by notsony 12y ago

CPAhem 12y ago
I would get one of them. Much of what I do on a second screen is just reading manuals or patents.
PhoenixWright 12y ago
Initially I thought this would work great for development but then I thought of all the different colors in my IDE. Regardless I think this is an interesting idea to reduce eyestrain when looking at code, even if imperfect.
- noblethrasher 12y ago
  It could work if IDEs ever get richer typography. I experimented with a monochromatic color scheme for my F# projects. Basically, I wanted the code to look like a page from a beautifully typeset math book. It got pretty close, but for want of italics, which VS does not support.
  - detaro 12y ago
    Can you share a screenshot/mockup of how that was supposed to look?
    - wtallis 12y ago
      The CLRS Algorithms textbook typesets its pseudocode with keywords in bold, variables in italics, function names in small caps, and the rest in plain. You could go even further with a bit of grayscale shading or a complementary pair of serif and sans serif typefaces, but like any syntax highlighting scheme it would be very language-specific.
    - noblethrasher 12y ago
      Sure. This is pretty close to what I had: https://github.com/noblethrasher/typography/blob/master/fs-typeset-screenshot.png https://github.com/noblethrasher/typography/blob/master/fs-t... (the typeface is Adobe Garamond Pro). But, it would be nice if VS supported italics, various font weights, and small caps.
      - MichaelGG 12y ago
        Wow, that looks way better than I thought it would. I'm saddened to hear that after all the effort into the new VS text system it isn't capable of doing all you wanted.
      - anon4 12y ago
        Once you're doing typesetting like that, I think it would be even better if you start replacing keywords with special symbols and reformatting the lines to some canonical representation. That would make it way easier to read.
  - seanmcdirmid 12y ago
    Fortress? I'm playing around with rich IDE typography right now (but with color), it especially pops out at higher DPIs. http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/projects/liveprogramming/typography.aspx http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/projects/liveprogramming...
    - noblethrasher 12y ago
      Thanks… I actually got the idea to start using proportional typefaces from a comment that you made. Another thing that I tried was to extract each font variant into a separate file, and then to force VS to use those explicitly for different code element types, but that didn't work.
      - seanmcdirmid 12y ago
        Cool. You might want to try a san serif font; serif fonts aren't really in fashion right now :)
        noblethrasher 12y ago
        It's funny, but for me languages have typographic affinities. Of the ones that I regularly use:, F# feels like it should be Garamond, C# and JavaScript feel fine in pretty much any monospace sans serif typeface, and VB is most congruent with "fun" typefaces like comic sans (I don't mean that as a dig).
    - vanderZwan 12y ago
      Hey, you're actually the author of these articles! I remember seeing them before. Got an RSS feed to make it easy to keep up with your articles?
- Zaheer 12y ago
  Although this would be perfect for documentation
DiabloD3 12y ago
If they can produce a color one that is 65" or larger, then I'll buy it.
- jacquesm 12y ago
  23 bits and 61.7" to go then.
  - Dylan16807 12y ago
    This screen has at least 3-4 bits and color in 15 is good enough for a lot of uses.
- DiabloD3 12y ago
  Not sure why I'm being downvoted. I want to buy one, I'm completely serious. It doesn't have to be fantastically high res, it doesn't even need to do color well or have a good bit-depth, having 2 or 3 bits of RGB is good enough.
Animats 12y ago
It looks like it accurately reproduces the visual experience of bad newspaper printing on cheap paper.
shna 12y ago
After a long day at work, I get home with my eyes "burned". I sit on the couch and the ceiling lamp hurts my eyes. I turn it off and can only stand the dim light. I think this monitor is perfect for people like me. (Recently started using f.lux, it's helping though)
- sbrother 12y ago
  You should go see an optometrist. This was me as well until about a month ago; turns out I am slightly farsighted and my eyes were straining to focus on my computer monitor all day. Now I wear an appropriate pair of computer/reading glasses and my eyes don't hurt anymore.
- frozenport 12y ago
  Probably won't help. We can be scientific about this: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22762257 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22762257 RESULTS: Results suggested that reading on the two display types is very similar in terms of both subjective and objective measures. CONCLUSIONS: It is not the technology itself, but rather the image quality that seems crucial for reading. Compared to the visual display units used in the previous few decades, these more recent electronic displays allow for good and comfortable reading, even for extended periods of time.
  - DanBC 12y ago
    Please do not use 4 spaces to indicate quoted text. Or, if you do, please make sure you add line-breaks. EDIT: using four spaces to indicate quoted text means mobile users have to horizontally scroll the line of text in order to read it. http://imgur.com/v9gbR6m http://imgur.com/v9gbR6m
    - deleted 12y ago
      [deleted]
  - sireat 12y ago
    Here's link to abstract and full pdf for free: http://www.jemr.org/online/5/3/5 http://www.jemr.org/online/5/3/5 Interesting study but by no means conclusive and has a few flas as they only measured 6 female participants reading 300 words at a time on each device.(10 inch ipad, two sony e-ink devices of 6 inch variety) Number and sex of participants might not be that crucial here but 300 words at a time seems very low amount. Anecdotally, I can read just fine and quickly on a most glossiest of LCDs for a few minutes. If I have to read for an hour or longer give me e-ink screen any time.
limaoscarjuliet 12y ago
The refresh delay makes scrolling reminiscent of Matrix's white rabbit scene: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Smwrw4sNCxE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Smwrw4sNCxE
- the8472 12y ago
  Now all we need to do is to add some scanline filter to the browser and illuminate it with green LEDs
jamessantiago 12y ago
I love the idea of an e-ink monitor. This would be a great performance display for a headless server. Weather and news display connected to an arduino? Low power systems that expend just enough power to display some information then shutdown while allowing the display to retain its static display? It might not be the most versatile of displays but use of this should really be in the "right tool for the right job" mindset.
- detaro 12y ago
  If you are looking for something for those purposes, some e-readers used rootable android as their OS, which would make displaying custom stuff relatively easy.
  - rtpg 12y ago
    do you know of which ones exactly? I was looking into using an old kindle for such a think, but couldn't figure out a straightforward way of pushing data onto it
    - ForHackernews 12y ago
      Kindle is one of the harder ones. The Barnes and Noble Nook is android-based and easily rootable: http://forum.xda-developers.com/nook-touch http://forum.xda-developers.com/nook-touch
      - polshaw 12y ago
        NB it runs android 2.1 though. Is there even a VNC viewer that runs on an android version that old?
        walterbell 12y ago
        For devices which do have a VNC viewer, is it possible to periodically (e.g. every 15 mins) wake up the device, refresh the screen via VNC, then power off or switch into very low power state running only the timer?
mintplant 12y ago
For a cheaper alternative, try kindlevncviewer. http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=150434 http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=150434
- voltagex_ 12y ago
  Updated version: http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=228167 http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=228167
T3mp35t 12y ago
This would be a great addition to small dev boards like the raspberry pi, beagle bone, or galileo since it mentions it doesn't even need to run off of its own power source. It scrolled nicely and seemed to refresh the screen well in the videos. This would also come in handy for console monitors.
- breakingcups 12y ago
  Agreed, but the Raspberry Pi does not conform to the USB specification because it can not deliver more than 100mA-150mA over its bus. I wonder how much this screen will draw.
- freehunter 12y ago
  It would, but I don't see people dropping $1k on a screen for a $35 computer.
trurl 12y ago
I was first intrigued, but when I saw the price I couldn't really see it being all that useful. It is possible to buy a 4K display with a similar 150dpi resolution for less. So the only advantage I can see here is lower power consumption?
- sebastianavina 12y ago
  power consumption is enough.
  - ekianjo 12y ago
    and the portability that goes with it.
- seanmcdirmid 12y ago
  Also no back light; that alone makes reading much easier.
  - runeks 12y ago
    This is really the killer feature as I see it. Instead of external light making screen content harder to see, it actually makes it more visible. I think there are plenty of uses for this technology. Current displays are a huge power hog because they have to compete with/outshine ambient light. With this technology, we use ambient light to make the display content visible, instead of trying to outshine it by cranking up the backlight.
    - seanmcdirmid 12y ago
      I wish E-Ink would get more attention because of this. Forget power consumption as the killer feature...it would look more natural and you wouldn't be shining a bright light in your face all the time.
      - grumblestumble 12y ago
        I'm pretty sure a generation from now kids will not be able to comprehend that we once used additive light displays. It's really a poor reflection on the way markets work that the "good enough" of backlit displays has stifled the correct way to do it for so long.
ChuckMcM 12y ago
Nice, a bit pricier than I would like but it certainly has appeal. I use tablets as off monitor reading stands for their high dpi screens. Personally I think a 300 ppi version of this screen would be just killer, even if it didn't do all the fancy scrolling and you just threw up pages on it which could stay there with no additional power applied.
vijucat 12y ago
Impressive refresh rate! I'd love to try using an IDE such as Eclipse on such a screen. I suppose IDEs can have an e-ink mode where instead of colors, they use multiple fonts, italics, bold fonts, and other decorators to highlight syntax.
- ekianjo 12y ago
  > Impressive refresh rate! Yeah, and apparently no need to go to the black state required on current e-ink screens?
  - JamesMcMinn 12y ago
    That's mostly to prevent image retention ("burn in"), which the display does unfortunately seems to have.
  - wlesieutre 12y ago
    JamesMcMinn, your posts are being marked as dead. Not clear why, try getting in touch with the mods if you read this.
    - throwaway_f 12y ago
      HN hell banning real name accounts now? Unbelievable. This site forces people to communicate like they're being watched by their professor, and it still passive aggressively bans people who merely dissent once and a while. Just wait until an alternative site emerges. One that doesn't have a concept of crimethink for the sake of "preserving the community".
  - pvidler 12y ago
    Apart from the point in the first video when they click on a link and you can still see the smudge of the text column on the newly cleared screen. A close look at the text column while scrolling makes it look dirty compared to the rest of the screen as well.
- rasz_pl 12y ago
  > Impressive refresh rate! YES, but sadly you can see afterimages, or image burn on the screen, I hope they have some self erase/calibration procedure buildin.
deleted 12y ago
[deleted]
lhl 12y ago
A few years ago I used to pine for an E-Ink (or later, a Mirasol) display so that I could have sunlight-visible portable computing, but sadly the iPad basically wiped that market away. While the standalone monitor is neat, I think the biggest use-case would still be for a portable/outdoor terminal. That being said, with MEMS-IGZO devices finally coming from Sharp/Qualcomm (Pixtronix) this year (they've been showing it off since 2013 [1], but have announced a 1H 2015 release in JP [2]) that boasts some impressive specs [3]: 220ppi, 120% NTSC color gamut, 8000:1 contrast ratio, 50% power consumption of an LCD. It is also sunlight readable and has switchable low power/low refresh grayscale and color modes. It's not bistable, but is looking like a really good e-reader/tablet option. Personally, I'm still looking forward to the revamped SMI Mirasol [4] but that's probably years out... (basically, the perennial story of cool display tech) [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGVKRTosykg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGVKRTosykg [2] http://www.sharp.co.jp/corporate/news/141006-a.html http://www.sharp.co.jp/corporate/news/141006-a.html [3] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBkIRil7f_A https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBkIRil7f_A [4] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VMDaJB2y4vc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VMDaJB2y4vc
- semperfaux 12y ago
  While that Sharp tablet looks very interesting, I'd be wary of the fact that they also produce the AQUOS series. I'm currently using a Crystal and it is far and away the single worst touchscreen experience I've had (yes, the G1 did indeed boast more reliable touch performance). I had it replaced once thanks to the fact that the hardware was known to be defective (well, known to Sharp and Softbank, at least; they didn't bother telling people) but both new and old suffer positively abysmal touch recognition and performance. Sample size of one, of course, but buyer beware. I'd wait for feedback from the trenches before even considering a Sharp product in this category.
  - lhl 12y ago
    Hmm, I played around with one of those at Yodabashi the other day and it seemed fine. Did a quick search for some reviews [1] and none of them mention anything about the touchscreen being bad - seems like a standard 5-finger capacitive multitouch. I wonder if you just've just had bad luck. I searched for "bad" and "terrible" touchscreen and didn't find any results. If it was something widespread, it'd be all over the Android forums. [1] https://www.google.com/#q=sharp+aquos+crystal+review https://www.google.com/#q=sharp+aquos+crystal+review
technomancy 12y ago
It says it connects as a display over USB... I wonder if this requires specialized drivers or if there's a standard?
- Someone 12y ago
  http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/DisplayLink http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/DisplayLink, http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/DisplayPort#USB_Type-C http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/DisplayPort#USB_Type-C, http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_High-Definition_Link http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_High-Definition_Link. The latter, I think, uses USB connectors but not USB signalling. I also don't know how well OSes support either of these. It seems video interfacing remains an area of innovation, which means a) getting a new type of connector on every computer you buy, and b) huge confusion in the market for mere mortals (no, I don't know what a HDMI connector looks like, and I don't know either whether it is better or worse than displayport, thunderbolt, etc)
- Sanddancer 12y ago
  No standard for this use case, so it's going to need a driver of some sort or another. Also, be ready for it to be CPU hungry, as you're going to be without the benefit of any sort of graphics acceleration.
stardotstar 12y ago
Are there any tablets that offer E-ink display? I own a kindle and browsing the internet is a big pain on the stock browser of the device
- steveridout 12y ago
  The Onyx Boox T68 6.8 inch e-reader runs Android 4.0: http://www.the-ebook-reader.com/onyx-boox-t68.html http://www.the-ebook-reader.com/onyx-boox-t68.html
  - mbrock 12y ago
    Have you tried using this as an ssh terminal? Saw they have a bigger version too that also supports Bluetooth keyboards. https://onyx-boox.com/shop/onyx-boox-m96-universe-97-inch-e-ink-pearl-display-e-book-reader-google-play-ivona-text-speech-bluetooth-4-0-low-energy-powered-android-4-0-4/ https://onyx-boox.com/shop/onyx-boox-m96-universe-97-inch-e-... Something like this could be a very, very cool development setup for me. I'm interested if anyone has tried it and whether there are any downsides.
thomasfl 12y ago
I've been looking for an e-ink like monitor for years. The bright light from todays screens has a strong hypnotising effect, that ruins your concentration and makes you more awake at night.
- Cthulhu_ 12y ago
  You can tone down the brightness/contrast for those, and/or install an application like F.lux that changes the colour temperature based on the time of day / season. I've been using that one for years now and I haven't had any problems with eye strain or sleeplessness. Note that I don't remember if I actually had problems with that before though.
headmelted 12y ago
I'd love to eventually see a low-end Chromebook built around one of these displays. You're already volunteering for a limited experience in exchange for convenience there, and I can see the battery life outweighing the negatives with the display. (And you probably have a phone or tablet with a higher resolution screen in your pocket/bag/whatever anyway.) Obviously it's cost prohibitive right now, but as throwawaymsft said earlier it's very likely the price would plummet at scale. Clearly it would need to if the display is to find a market, and I expect they know that.
- jkot 12y ago
  Similar devices are around for 3 years now. PixelQi offered 10" display compatible with most netbooks for $220. It even offered color backlight color mode. In real life the benefits are not that great, screen is still polished glass and reflects everything.
  - DennisP 12y ago
    I don't have any glare problems with my Kindle Paperwhite, even in bright sunlight. I would dearly love to have a laptop using a display like this, so I can write code in the park on nice days.
  - michaelbuddy 12y ago
    saying pixel Qi "displays" were around or available is an overstatement. For a short while you could pick up the screen as a hacker kit. Just the glass and ribbon cable. It wouldn't be clear to build a housing and then make it run via USB, which is really the best way to use as a portable secondary monitor if you think about it. That and the screen quality was never really good. Dark mode was really silvery. I had the OLPC with the pixel qi screen and it was neither good as either screen, lit or not. Sadly they never became anything for the consumer. I'm not sure why either because they claimed they were in this great niche where they could pump out a lot of product because their build process was right inline with LCDs except for minor tweaks. If you want to say they've existed you they have since maybe 2005 / 2006. Doesn't mean they have been accessible to anyone for mainstream use. This chnese e-ink display could get traction but they need to cut the price in half. the best innovation on e-ink lately is the yotaphone. Makes the most sense, solves problems and is accessible in price.
hf 12y ago
A monitor like this would be the end-all-be-all for my scientific workflow woes. The paper du jour on the e-ink and the journal and ipython on what I call "the lightbulb" (read: TFT). I have already been fantasising about and doing a spot of research into building one on my own by using an Arduino (I wouldn't need as high a refresh rate as this little marvel) and one of PervasiveDisplays'[0]. I gave up convinced there was no sane way to actually connect this contraption to my laptop, and the USB solutions mentioned below do not instill hope. [0] http://www.pervasivedisplays.com/ http://www.pervasivedisplays.com/ They seem to be doing a bit of open-source advocacy, too: http://repaper.org http://repaper.org
- simi_ 12y ago
  You sound like you might benefit from Flux: https://justgetflux.com/ https://justgetflux.com/
  - cauterized 12y ago
    Flux minimizes blue light but not total light hitting your eyes. Even with it, backlit displays tire the eyes and inspire wakefulness far more than front-lit surfaces.
sravfeyn 12y ago
(semi-offtopic) Isn't there some kind of glass slab that turns any light emitting display into a color e-ink like display? Isn't there a theoretical model at least?
- darkmighty 12y ago
  There isn't. You can try sensing the incoming light with some kind of transparent light sensor matrix, like MIT's BiDi screen [1], which enables mimicking a diffuse reflector (i.e. paper) under ambient lightning, but there's no linear material that will do that. [1] http://web.media.mit.edu/~mhirsch/bidi/bidiscreen.pdf http://web.media.mit.edu/~mhirsch/bidi/bidiscreen.pdf -- this prototype goes even further and can mimic the illumination of an arbitrary 3D object, actually. Quite amazing.
minthd 12y ago
In the past,the niche in the population who suffers headache/nausea/etc from lcd refresh rate would have loved this. But some lcd makers solved this, like viewsonic in[1], so this niche is gone. [1]http://www.amazon.com/ViewSonic-VA2455sm-SuperClear-Flicker-Free-ViewMode/dp/B00O23HKFO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1422263427&sr=8-1&keywords=ViewSonic+VA2455sm http://www.amazon.com/ViewSonic-VA2455sm-SuperClear-Flicker-...
- KaiserPro 12y ago
  Unless you have a rubbish backlight, I don't see how an LCD panel can flicker? (actually I can see why, turn of dynamic contrast, and crank the brightness up, turn off energy saving. That'll stop the PWN on the backlight) The refresh rate of a panel is not what it can display, the only real practical effect is on screen tearing. (I worked for a VFX company, trust me I've tested it.) Even really fast displays take 5 ms to get from grey-white-grey.
  - minthd 12y ago
    I'm talking about the PWM, and if you need to use PWM at 100% , for some it would be much too bright.There are some options to correct it(contrast, or apps like flux), but they usually really hurt color reproduction.And sometimes even them don't lower brightness enough.
    - KaiserPro 12y ago
      If you stick with HP zr range of monitors, you'll not have that problem
qznc 12y ago
Maybe there is a market among Harry Potter fans? Seems good enough to build a gallery of animated paintings. That would be an awesome demo for Dasung Tech.
codeulike 12y ago
This will keep its picture while the power is off, right? So it could be a black and white 'canvas' that you hang in your lounge and change the picture every now and then.
- bamie9l 12y ago
  If it was to be a static(ish) picture could you not combine many smaller displays and get the same effect?
4ad 12y ago
I wanted a display like this for years. In fact, I even did a lot of research to build my own. The biggest hurdle was getting a manufacturer to sell me a big-enough panel at reasonable cost. Absolutely nobody wanted to do anything less than 1k units (understandable, I guess), and I wanted only a few units. I hope they will make larger versions too. The refresh rate on this display is pretty impressive, but I would be happy even with much slower refresh rate. My needs are humble, I use Unix and Plan 9, and most of the time I write programs in acme. I don't need scrolling, and I certainly don't need color. I love how easy it is to read (for me) text on an e-ink display and how little fatigue I get. Retina displays significantly improved the experience on regular displays, but it's still significantly behind in the eye-strain department.
- aguki 12y ago
  > I wanted a display like this for years. In fact, I even did a lot of research to build my own. The biggest hurdle was getting a manufacturer to sell me a big-enough panel at reasonable cost. Absolutely nobody wanted to do anything less than 1k units (understandable, I guess), and I wanted only a few units. This guy claiming access to 13.3" panels, and he quoted me $2800 for a single 13.3" dev kit along SDK when I PMed him several months back. https://www.reddit.com/r/hwstartups/comments/2e5o61/i_have_easy_access_to_133_and_97_eink_screenssdk/ https://www.reddit.com/r/hwstartups/comments/2e5o61/i_have_e...
  - walterbell 12y ago
    Sony has a 13" 150ppi e-ink display for $1000 direct.
MegaLeon 12y ago
The refresh rate on that monitor looks absolutely fantastic. I am wondering why the development of e-ink displays isn't pushing to get rid of it and implement it some ultrabooks / chromebooks. Would make for some very long lasting battery time.
7952 12y ago
I would love something like to work with Chromecast and display tabs from my browser. Being able to hang a tab up around the house or office would be endlessly useful. The problem with most devices that try to solve this problem is that they try and create a new app ecosystem when it is completely uneccessary to do so.
transfire 12y ago
Unfortunately this technology is not quite there yet. Which makes me sad. A few years ago I was very hopeful that Mirasol tech would be a game changer. Until we get 13" flexible passive displays at low prices the reign and deluge of real paper will continue.
Rainymood 12y ago
This is what I have literally been waiting for ever since I got my Kindle. I really want a 13/15 inch laptop with an e-ink screen. It's just so much better to look at, especially before bed.
- _asummers 12y ago
  You should try f.lux [0]. When you're getting towards your bedtime, it turns your blue light off or down, giving a much softer color on your monitor. [0] https://justgetflux.com/ https://justgetflux.com/
ja27 12y ago
I still want something like a 11" or 24" e-ink panel in a photo frame for the wall. Show a nice dashboard at times or rotate artwork on it.
- luka-birsa 12y ago
  We offer a bunch of E-Ink digital singnage solutions which can be used as a photo frame for the wall in sizes between 9.7" and 32". Check out http://www.visionect.com/technology/ http://www.visionect.com/technology/
  - neindanke 12y ago
    You say you offer, do you mean you have products that we can buy today? If so, what is the price for your 32" product and can we see detailed specs and a youtube video of it in action?
    - neindanke 12y ago
      Hmm... I'm guessing the lack of response means that by "offer", you meant you "can" develop such a product in future.
alexhektor 12y ago
hm. have it be powered by your mobile phone and maybe add touch input? Battery, CPU + touch input with streaming from any mobile device to it would also be nice, not sure if this could be made responsive enough, though.
gcdgcd 12y ago
It is so expensive. Hope amazon will release a cheaper usb kindle monitor.
ArtB 12y ago
Is there an e-ink reader with a 8.5"x11"/A4 screen that'll display PDFs? All I want is to be able to bring all my tech ebooks with me to work and be able to look things up/brush up on things on the commute/flight etc.
- deleted 12y ago
  [deleted]
- WettowelReactor 12y ago
  Sony has one that comes close: https://pro.sony.com/bbsc/ssr/show-digitalpaper/resource.solutions.bbsccms-assets-show-digitalpaper-digitalpaper.shtml?PID=I:digitalpaper:digitalpaper https://pro.sony.com/bbsc/ssr/show-digitalpaper/resource.sol...
  - jkestner 12y ago
    A little smaller, a lot cheaper: http://www.amazon.com/Kindle-DX-Wireless-Reader-3G-Global/dp/B002GYWHSQ http://www.amazon.com/Kindle-DX-Wireless-Reader-3G-Global/dp...
    - walterbell 12y ago
      How is the PDF reading experience?
      - vdp 12y ago
        It's actually quite good if you "root" the device and install koreader[1](the original developer is the same guy who wrote the vnc viewer for kindle, that was mentioned in this thread), or its librerator fork[2]. In contrast to Amazon's practically unusable PDF reader, these open source projects support custom zoom levels, 2-column mode for academic articles etc. Another option is to use k2pdfopt[3]. [1] https://github.com/koreader/koreader https://github.com/koreader/koreader [2] https://github.com/kai771/kindlepdfviewer/tree/librerator https://github.com/kai771/kindlepdfviewer/tree/librerator [3] http://www.willus.com/k2pdfopt/ http://www.willus.com/k2pdfopt/
netcan 12y ago
I have an old kobo e-reader that's been in flight mode since day 1. It's amazing the difference I feel between reading on a tablet and an ereader. The ereader doesn't really feel like a "device," more like a book. On a tablet, I'm googling (Can you really ride from Winterfell to Kings Landing in a week? How fast do ravens fly? Lets see what the internet thinks.). They might be related to the book. They might not. Emails, HN, news… Watching TV before bed keeps me up. Roaming the internet for half a Saturday on it makes me feel crap. Doing those with a book relaxes me, improves my sleep and my energy levels. Tablet reading is more like TV than like a book. Anyway… I wonder if bringing that to a writing device could be some sort of improvement, at least for a subset of uses. Something that's designed to write. Editing as a secondary. Something that will feel different when you sit down to write on it. It's not research or email time. It's writing time. Change the pace. Focus. As a second screen running your normal software… I'm iffy. As a purpose built device that is significantly different than our laptop, but possibly superior at certain tasks, I'd like to see one of these.
- walterbell 12y ago
  Could be combined with distraction-free writing and note-taking software (Scrivener, etc.) Edit: scrivener for linux has a free beta, http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2014/08/29/scrivener-on-linux-try-it-youll-like-it/ http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2014/08/29/scrivener-on-li...
- totalrobe 12y ago
  I was thinking this would be fantastic for reading textbooks or code documentation. My eyes get fatigued after reading for any length on a tablet or lcd, but a traditional ebook reader is far too slow and small for scanning through textbooks.
  - jobigoud 12y ago
    I read textbooks on my Kobo Aura HD all the time. I upgraded from a Kobo Glo exactly for that purpose. I would like it even bigger so that research papers in PDF could all be full page without panning. Textbooks in epub are good. Allowed me to finally leave all paper books behind.
agentultra 12y ago
I'd get one of these or a device like it that can be oriented to an A4-ish size. I'd just run a full-screen emacs session in it (and subsequently would be forced to figure out how to highlight code with such a limited palette). I really enjoy E-Ink displays for reading for any amount of time over LCDs; even high-density panels (though they make it easier to read for longer periods than their predecessors, E-Ink still wins due to limited color range and not being back-lit by a thousand tiny suns). Can't wait to see more of these on the market!
txu 12y ago
If I don't care about syntax highlighting, it's definitely going to help ease eye strain after programming for long hours.
- moonchrome 12y ago
  you can have syntax highlighting in grayscale :|
miles 12y ago
Thanks to MobileRead users NiLuJe and hawhill, the Kindle can be used as a second display: https://tinyapps.org/docs/e-ink-monitor.html https://tinyapps.org/docs/e-ink-monitor.html Here's one in action: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQQvQx2ep1o https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQQvQx2ep1o The refresh rate isn't really fast enough to use a mouse/trackpad comfortably, but for keyboard-based work like vim, it is swell.
UncleChis 12y ago
I've dreamed for this screen for a long time. I would love to have side-by-side an E-ink screen for coding and reading papers and a normal screen for any normal things that require color (e.g., videos) A related story: I got terrible headache more than a year ago. My doctors could not figure it out. Migraine, stress, etc. you name them! Nothing helps. Eventually I ended up buying a pair of computer glasses and I've been wearing any time I look at LCD-like screen: TV, computer, tablet. It's miracle, I don't experience that type of headache ever since.
jensen123 12y ago
This monitor would make it a lot easier for me to fall asleep at night! The bluish light from normal monitors supresses melatonin, and thus disturbs sleep - making it hard to fall asleep at night, and hard to get up in the mornings...
sun_jh 12y ago
I think the best usage scenario for an e-ink screen is the portable devices scenario, but I don't think 13.3" is made to be portable. And this monitor is not touchable, so we can image a man holding the monitor in his left hand to read, and a smart phone in the other hand to turn page(if the monitor can be compatible with smart phone). And another thing I have to say is it's to expensive for me. I can buy two e-ink readers with this price, one for me and one for my wife so she won't complain to me how boring to look after a baby all day. But the refresh rate really surprised me, and I hope the company can do more market research for the next production.
nightwolf9ss 12y ago
I have kindle ereader and pixel qi screen on a netbook, I cannot wait for something like this, it would be very useful for me,many people have eye problems with LCD screens.

524 points by notsony 12y ago

I would get one of them. Much of what I do on a second screen is just reading manuals or patents.

Initially I thought this would work great for development but then I thought of all the different colors in my IDE. Regardless I think this is an interesting idea to reduce eyestrain when looking at code, even if imperfect.

noblethrasher 12y ago
It could work if IDEs ever get richer typography. I experimented with a monochromatic color scheme for my F# projects. Basically, I wanted the code to look like a page from a beautifully typeset math book. It got pretty close, but for want of italics, which VS does not support.
- detaro 12y ago
  Can you share a screenshot/mockup of how that was supposed to look?
  - wtallis 12y ago
    The CLRS Algorithms textbook typesets its pseudocode with keywords in bold, variables in italics, function names in small caps, and the rest in plain. You could go even further with a bit of grayscale shading or a complementary pair of serif and sans serif typefaces, but like any syntax highlighting scheme it would be very language-specific.
  - noblethrasher 12y ago
    Sure. This is pretty close to what I had: https://github.com/noblethrasher/typography/blob/master/fs-typeset-screenshot.png https://github.com/noblethrasher/typography/blob/master/fs-t... (the typeface is Adobe Garamond Pro). But, it would be nice if VS supported italics, various font weights, and small caps.
    - MichaelGG 12y ago
      Wow, that looks way better than I thought it would. I'm saddened to hear that after all the effort into the new VS text system it isn't capable of doing all you wanted.
    - anon4 12y ago
      Once you're doing typesetting like that, I think it would be even better if you start replacing keywords with special symbols and reformatting the lines to some canonical representation. That would make it way easier to read.
- seanmcdirmid 12y ago
  Fortress? I'm playing around with rich IDE typography right now (but with color), it especially pops out at higher DPIs. http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/projects/liveprogramming/typography.aspx http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/projects/liveprogramming...
  - noblethrasher 12y ago
    Thanks… I actually got the idea to start using proportional typefaces from a comment that you made. Another thing that I tried was to extract each font variant into a separate file, and then to force VS to use those explicitly for different code element types, but that didn't work.
    - seanmcdirmid 12y ago
      Cool. You might want to try a san serif font; serif fonts aren't really in fashion right now :)
      - noblethrasher 12y ago
        It's funny, but for me languages have typographic affinities. Of the ones that I regularly use:, F# feels like it should be Garamond, C# and JavaScript feel fine in pretty much any monospace sans serif typeface, and VB is most congruent with "fun" typefaces like comic sans (I don't mean that as a dig).
  - vanderZwan 12y ago
    Hey, you're actually the author of these articles! I remember seeing them before. Got an RSS feed to make it easy to keep up with your articles?
Zaheer 12y ago
Although this would be perfect for documentation

DiabloD3 12y ago

If they can produce a color one that is 65" or larger, then I'll buy it.

jacquesm 12y ago
23 bits and 61.7" to go then.
- Dylan16807 12y ago
  This screen has at least 3-4 bits and color in 15 is good enough for a lot of uses.
DiabloD3 12y ago
Not sure why I'm being downvoted. I want to buy one, I'm completely serious. It doesn't have to be fantastically high res, it doesn't even need to do color well or have a good bit-depth, having 2 or 3 bits of RGB is good enough.

Animats 12y ago

It looks like it accurately reproduces the visual experience of bad newspaper printing on cheap paper.

shna 12y ago

After a long day at work, I get home with my eyes "burned". I sit on the couch and the ceiling lamp hurts my eyes. I turn it off and can only stand the dim light. I think this monitor is perfect for people like me. (Recently started using f.lux, it's helping though)

sbrother 12y ago
You should go see an optometrist. This was me as well until about a month ago; turns out I am slightly farsighted and my eyes were straining to focus on my computer monitor all day. Now I wear an appropriate pair of computer/reading glasses and my eyes don't hurt anymore.
frozenport 12y ago
Probably won't help. We can be scientific about this: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22762257 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22762257 RESULTS: Results suggested that reading on the two display types is very similar in terms of both subjective and objective measures. CONCLUSIONS: It is not the technology itself, but rather the image quality that seems crucial for reading. Compared to the visual display units used in the previous few decades, these more recent electronic displays allow for good and comfortable reading, even for extended periods of time.
- DanBC 12y ago
  Please do not use 4 spaces to indicate quoted text. Or, if you do, please make sure you add line-breaks. EDIT: using four spaces to indicate quoted text means mobile users have to horizontally scroll the line of text in order to read it. http://imgur.com/v9gbR6m http://imgur.com/v9gbR6m
  - deleted 12y ago
    [deleted]
- sireat 12y ago
  Here's link to abstract and full pdf for free: http://www.jemr.org/online/5/3/5 http://www.jemr.org/online/5/3/5 Interesting study but by no means conclusive and has a few flas as they only measured 6 female participants reading 300 words at a time on each device.(10 inch ipad, two sony e-ink devices of 6 inch variety) Number and sex of participants might not be that crucial here but 300 words at a time seems very low amount. Anecdotally, I can read just fine and quickly on a most glossiest of LCDs for a few minutes. If I have to read for an hour or longer give me e-ink screen any time.

limaoscarjuliet 12y ago

The refresh delay makes scrolling reminiscent of Matrix's white rabbit scene: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Smwrw4sNCxE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Smwrw4sNCxE

the8472 12y ago
Now all we need to do is to add some scanline filter to the browser and illuminate it with green LEDs

jamessantiago 12y ago

I love the idea of an e-ink monitor. This would be a great performance display for a headless server. Weather and news display connected to an arduino? Low power systems that expend just enough power to display some information then shutdown while allowing the display to retain its static display? It might not be the most versatile of displays but use of this should really be in the "right tool for the right job" mindset.

detaro 12y ago
If you are looking for something for those purposes, some e-readers used rootable android as their OS, which would make displaying custom stuff relatively easy.
- rtpg 12y ago
  do you know of which ones exactly? I was looking into using an old kindle for such a think, but couldn't figure out a straightforward way of pushing data onto it
  - ForHackernews 12y ago
    Kindle is one of the harder ones. The Barnes and Noble Nook is android-based and easily rootable: http://forum.xda-developers.com/nook-touch http://forum.xda-developers.com/nook-touch
    - polshaw 12y ago
      NB it runs android 2.1 though. Is there even a VNC viewer that runs on an android version that old?
      - walterbell 12y ago
        For devices which do have a VNC viewer, is it possible to periodically (e.g. every 15 mins) wake up the device, refresh the screen via VNC, then power off or switch into very low power state running only the timer?

mintplant 12y ago

For a cheaper alternative, try kindlevncviewer. http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=150434 http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=150434

voltagex_ 12y ago
Updated version: http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=228167 http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=228167

T3mp35t 12y ago

This would be a great addition to small dev boards like the raspberry pi, beagle bone, or galileo since it mentions it doesn't even need to run off of its own power source. It scrolled nicely and seemed to refresh the screen well in the videos. This would also come in handy for console monitors.

breakingcups 12y ago
Agreed, but the Raspberry Pi does not conform to the USB specification because it can not deliver more than 100mA-150mA over its bus. I wonder how much this screen will draw.
freehunter 12y ago
It would, but I don't see people dropping $1k on a screen for a $35 computer.

trurl 12y ago

I was first intrigued, but when I saw the price I couldn't really see it being all that useful. It is possible to buy a 4K display with a similar 150dpi resolution for less. So the only advantage I can see here is lower power consumption?

sebastianavina 12y ago
power consumption is enough.
- ekianjo 12y ago
  and the portability that goes with it.
seanmcdirmid 12y ago
Also no back light; that alone makes reading much easier.
- runeks 12y ago
  This is really the killer feature as I see it. Instead of external light making screen content harder to see, it actually makes it more visible. I think there are plenty of uses for this technology. Current displays are a huge power hog because they have to compete with/outshine ambient light. With this technology, we use ambient light to make the display content visible, instead of trying to outshine it by cranking up the backlight.
  - seanmcdirmid 12y ago
    I wish E-Ink would get more attention because of this. Forget power consumption as the killer feature...it would look more natural and you wouldn't be shining a bright light in your face all the time.
    - grumblestumble 12y ago
      I'm pretty sure a generation from now kids will not be able to comprehend that we once used additive light displays. It's really a poor reflection on the way markets work that the "good enough" of backlit displays has stifled the correct way to do it for so long.

ChuckMcM 12y ago

Nice, a bit pricier than I would like but it certainly has appeal. I use tablets as off monitor reading stands for their high dpi screens. Personally I think a 300 ppi version of this screen would be just killer, even if it didn't do all the fancy scrolling and you just threw up pages on it which could stay there with no additional power applied.

vijucat 12y ago

Impressive refresh rate! I'd love to try using an IDE such as Eclipse on such a screen. I suppose IDEs can have an e-ink mode where instead of colors, they use multiple fonts, italics, bold fonts, and other decorators to highlight syntax.

ekianjo 12y ago
> Impressive refresh rate! Yeah, and apparently no need to go to the black state required on current e-ink screens?
- JamesMcMinn 12y ago
  That's mostly to prevent image retention ("burn in"), which the display does unfortunately seems to have.
- wlesieutre 12y ago
  JamesMcMinn, your posts are being marked as dead. Not clear why, try getting in touch with the mods if you read this.
  - throwaway_f 12y ago
    HN hell banning real name accounts now? Unbelievable. This site forces people to communicate like they're being watched by their professor, and it still passive aggressively bans people who merely dissent once and a while. Just wait until an alternative site emerges. One that doesn't have a concept of crimethink for the sake of "preserving the community".
- pvidler 12y ago
  Apart from the point in the first video when they click on a link and you can still see the smudge of the text column on the newly cleared screen. A close look at the text column while scrolling makes it look dirty compared to the rest of the screen as well.
rasz_pl 12y ago
> Impressive refresh rate! YES, but sadly you can see afterimages, or image burn on the screen, I hope they have some self erase/calibration procedure buildin.

deleted 12y ago

[deleted]

lhl 12y ago

A few years ago I used to pine for an E-Ink (or later, a Mirasol) display so that I could have sunlight-visible portable computing, but sadly the iPad basically wiped that market away. While the standalone monitor is neat, I think the biggest use-case would still be for a portable/outdoor terminal. That being said, with MEMS-IGZO devices finally coming from Sharp/Qualcomm (Pixtronix) this year (they've been showing it off since 2013 [1], but have announced a 1H 2015 release in JP [2]) that boasts some impressive specs [3]: 220ppi, 120% NTSC color gamut, 8000:1 contrast ratio, 50% power consumption of an LCD. It is also sunlight readable and has switchable low power/low refresh grayscale and color modes. It's not bistable, but is looking like a really good e-reader/tablet option. Personally, I'm still looking forward to the revamped SMI Mirasol [4] but that's probably years out... (basically, the perennial story of cool display tech) [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGVKRTosykg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGVKRTosykg [2] http://www.sharp.co.jp/corporate/news/141006-a.html http://www.sharp.co.jp/corporate/news/141006-a.html [3] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBkIRil7f_A https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBkIRil7f_A [4] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VMDaJB2y4vc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VMDaJB2y4vc

semperfaux 12y ago
While that Sharp tablet looks very interesting, I'd be wary of the fact that they also produce the AQUOS series. I'm currently using a Crystal and it is far and away the single worst touchscreen experience I've had (yes, the G1 did indeed boast more reliable touch performance). I had it replaced once thanks to the fact that the hardware was known to be defective (well, known to Sharp and Softbank, at least; they didn't bother telling people) but both new and old suffer positively abysmal touch recognition and performance. Sample size of one, of course, but buyer beware. I'd wait for feedback from the trenches before even considering a Sharp product in this category.
- lhl 12y ago
  Hmm, I played around with one of those at Yodabashi the other day and it seemed fine. Did a quick search for some reviews [1] and none of them mention anything about the touchscreen being bad - seems like a standard 5-finger capacitive multitouch. I wonder if you just've just had bad luck. I searched for "bad" and "terrible" touchscreen and didn't find any results. If it was something widespread, it'd be all over the Android forums. [1] https://www.google.com/#q=sharp+aquos+crystal+review https://www.google.com/#q=sharp+aquos+crystal+review

technomancy 12y ago

It says it connects as a display over USB... I wonder if this requires specialized drivers or if there's a standard?

Someone 12y ago
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/DisplayLink http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/DisplayLink, http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/DisplayPort#USB_Type-C http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/DisplayPort#USB_Type-C, http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_High-Definition_Link http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_High-Definition_Link. The latter, I think, uses USB connectors but not USB signalling. I also don't know how well OSes support either of these. It seems video interfacing remains an area of innovation, which means a) getting a new type of connector on every computer you buy, and b) huge confusion in the market for mere mortals (no, I don't know what a HDMI connector looks like, and I don't know either whether it is better or worse than displayport, thunderbolt, etc)
Sanddancer 12y ago
No standard for this use case, so it's going to need a driver of some sort or another. Also, be ready for it to be CPU hungry, as you're going to be without the benefit of any sort of graphics acceleration.

stardotstar 12y ago

Are there any tablets that offer E-ink display? I own a kindle and browsing the internet is a big pain on the stock browser of the device

steveridout 12y ago
The Onyx Boox T68 6.8 inch e-reader runs Android 4.0: http://www.the-ebook-reader.com/onyx-boox-t68.html http://www.the-ebook-reader.com/onyx-boox-t68.html
- mbrock 12y ago
  Have you tried using this as an ssh terminal? Saw they have a bigger version too that also supports Bluetooth keyboards. https://onyx-boox.com/shop/onyx-boox-m96-universe-97-inch-e-ink-pearl-display-e-book-reader-google-play-ivona-text-speech-bluetooth-4-0-low-energy-powered-android-4-0-4/ https://onyx-boox.com/shop/onyx-boox-m96-universe-97-inch-e-... Something like this could be a very, very cool development setup for me. I'm interested if anyone has tried it and whether there are any downsides.

thomasfl 12y ago

I've been looking for an e-ink like monitor for years. The bright light from todays screens has a strong hypnotising effect, that ruins your concentration and makes you more awake at night.

Cthulhu_ 12y ago
You can tone down the brightness/contrast for those, and/or install an application like F.lux that changes the colour temperature based on the time of day / season. I've been using that one for years now and I haven't had any problems with eye strain or sleeplessness. Note that I don't remember if I actually had problems with that before though.

headmelted 12y ago

I'd love to eventually see a low-end Chromebook built around one of these displays. You're already volunteering for a limited experience in exchange for convenience there, and I can see the battery life outweighing the negatives with the display. (And you probably have a phone or tablet with a higher resolution screen in your pocket/bag/whatever anyway.) Obviously it's cost prohibitive right now, but as throwawaymsft said earlier it's very likely the price would plummet at scale. Clearly it would need to if the display is to find a market, and I expect they know that.

jkot 12y ago
Similar devices are around for 3 years now. PixelQi offered 10" display compatible with most netbooks for $220. It even offered color backlight color mode. In real life the benefits are not that great, screen is still polished glass and reflects everything.
- DennisP 12y ago
  I don't have any glare problems with my Kindle Paperwhite, even in bright sunlight. I would dearly love to have a laptop using a display like this, so I can write code in the park on nice days.
- michaelbuddy 12y ago
  saying pixel Qi "displays" were around or available is an overstatement. For a short while you could pick up the screen as a hacker kit. Just the glass and ribbon cable. It wouldn't be clear to build a housing and then make it run via USB, which is really the best way to use as a portable secondary monitor if you think about it. That and the screen quality was never really good. Dark mode was really silvery. I had the OLPC with the pixel qi screen and it was neither good as either screen, lit or not. Sadly they never became anything for the consumer. I'm not sure why either because they claimed they were in this great niche where they could pump out a lot of product because their build process was right inline with LCDs except for minor tweaks. If you want to say they've existed you they have since maybe 2005 / 2006. Doesn't mean they have been accessible to anyone for mainstream use. This chnese e-ink display could get traction but they need to cut the price in half. the best innovation on e-ink lately is the yotaphone. Makes the most sense, solves problems and is accessible in price.

hf 12y ago

A monitor like this would be the end-all-be-all for my scientific workflow woes. The paper du jour on the e-ink and the journal and ipython on what I call "the lightbulb" (read: TFT). I have already been fantasising about and doing a spot of research into building one on my own by using an Arduino (I wouldn't need as high a refresh rate as this little marvel) and one of PervasiveDisplays'[0]. I gave up convinced there was no sane way to actually connect this contraption to my laptop, and the USB solutions mentioned below do not instill hope. [0] http://www.pervasivedisplays.com/ http://www.pervasivedisplays.com/ They seem to be doing a bit of open-source advocacy, too: http://repaper.org http://repaper.org

simi_ 12y ago
You sound like you might benefit from Flux: https://justgetflux.com/ https://justgetflux.com/
- cauterized 12y ago
  Flux minimizes blue light but not total light hitting your eyes. Even with it, backlit displays tire the eyes and inspire wakefulness far more than front-lit surfaces.

sravfeyn 12y ago

(semi-offtopic) Isn't there some kind of glass slab that turns any light emitting display into a color e-ink like display? Isn't there a theoretical model at least?

darkmighty 12y ago
There isn't. You can try sensing the incoming light with some kind of transparent light sensor matrix, like MIT's BiDi screen [1], which enables mimicking a diffuse reflector (i.e. paper) under ambient lightning, but there's no linear material that will do that. [1] http://web.media.mit.edu/~mhirsch/bidi/bidiscreen.pdf http://web.media.mit.edu/~mhirsch/bidi/bidiscreen.pdf -- this prototype goes even further and can mimic the illumination of an arbitrary 3D object, actually. Quite amazing.

minthd 12y ago

In the past,the niche in the population who suffers headache/nausea/etc from lcd refresh rate would have loved this. But some lcd makers solved this, like viewsonic in[1], so this niche is gone. [1]http://www.amazon.com/ViewSonic-VA2455sm-SuperClear-Flicker-Free-ViewMode/dp/B00O23HKFO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1422263427&sr=8-1&keywords=ViewSonic+VA2455sm http://www.amazon.com/ViewSonic-VA2455sm-SuperClear-Flicker-...

KaiserPro 12y ago
Unless you have a rubbish backlight, I don't see how an LCD panel can flicker? (actually I can see why, turn of dynamic contrast, and crank the brightness up, turn off energy saving. That'll stop the PWN on the backlight) The refresh rate of a panel is not what it can display, the only real practical effect is on screen tearing. (I worked for a VFX company, trust me I've tested it.) Even really fast displays take 5 ms to get from grey-white-grey.
- minthd 12y ago
  I'm talking about the PWM, and if you need to use PWM at 100% , for some it would be much too bright.There are some options to correct it(contrast, or apps like flux), but they usually really hurt color reproduction.And sometimes even them don't lower brightness enough.
  - KaiserPro 12y ago
    If you stick with HP zr range of monitors, you'll not have that problem

qznc 12y ago

Maybe there is a market among Harry Potter fans? Seems good enough to build a gallery of animated paintings. That would be an awesome demo for Dasung Tech.

codeulike 12y ago

This will keep its picture while the power is off, right? So it could be a black and white 'canvas' that you hang in your lounge and change the picture every now and then.

bamie9l 12y ago
If it was to be a static(ish) picture could you not combine many smaller displays and get the same effect?

4ad 12y ago

I wanted a display like this for years. In fact, I even did a lot of research to build my own. The biggest hurdle was getting a manufacturer to sell me a big-enough panel at reasonable cost. Absolutely nobody wanted to do anything less than 1k units (understandable, I guess), and I wanted only a few units. I hope they will make larger versions too. The refresh rate on this display is pretty impressive, but I would be happy even with much slower refresh rate. My needs are humble, I use Unix and Plan 9, and most of the time I write programs in acme. I don't need scrolling, and I certainly don't need color. I love how easy it is to read (for me) text on an e-ink display and how little fatigue I get. Retina displays significantly improved the experience on regular displays, but it's still significantly behind in the eye-strain department.

aguki 12y ago
> I wanted a display like this for years. In fact, I even did a lot of research to build my own. The biggest hurdle was getting a manufacturer to sell me a big-enough panel at reasonable cost. Absolutely nobody wanted to do anything less than 1k units (understandable, I guess), and I wanted only a few units. This guy claiming access to 13.3" panels, and he quoted me $2800 for a single 13.3" dev kit along SDK when I PMed him several months back. https://www.reddit.com/r/hwstartups/comments/2e5o61/i_have_easy_access_to_133_and_97_eink_screenssdk/ https://www.reddit.com/r/hwstartups/comments/2e5o61/i_have_e...
- walterbell 12y ago
  Sony has a 13" 150ppi e-ink display for $1000 direct.

MegaLeon 12y ago

The refresh rate on that monitor looks absolutely fantastic. I am wondering why the development of e-ink displays isn't pushing to get rid of it and implement it some ultrabooks / chromebooks. Would make for some very long lasting battery time.

7952 12y ago

I would love something like to work with Chromecast and display tabs from my browser. Being able to hang a tab up around the house or office would be endlessly useful. The problem with most devices that try to solve this problem is that they try and create a new app ecosystem when it is completely uneccessary to do so.

transfire 12y ago

Unfortunately this technology is not quite there yet. Which makes me sad. A few years ago I was very hopeful that Mirasol tech would be a game changer. Until we get 13" flexible passive displays at low prices the reign and deluge of real paper will continue.

Rainymood 12y ago

This is what I have literally been waiting for ever since I got my Kindle. I really want a 13/15 inch laptop with an e-ink screen. It's just so much better to look at, especially before bed.

_asummers 12y ago
You should try f.lux [0]. When you're getting towards your bedtime, it turns your blue light off or down, giving a much softer color on your monitor. [0] https://justgetflux.com/ https://justgetflux.com/

ja27 12y ago

I still want something like a 11" or 24" e-ink panel in a photo frame for the wall. Show a nice dashboard at times or rotate artwork on it.

luka-birsa 12y ago
We offer a bunch of E-Ink digital singnage solutions which can be used as a photo frame for the wall in sizes between 9.7" and 32". Check out http://www.visionect.com/technology/ http://www.visionect.com/technology/
- neindanke 12y ago
  You say you offer, do you mean you have products that we can buy today? If so, what is the price for your 32" product and can we see detailed specs and a youtube video of it in action?
  - neindanke 12y ago
    Hmm... I'm guessing the lack of response means that by "offer", you meant you "can" develop such a product in future.

alexhektor 12y ago

hm. have it be powered by your mobile phone and maybe add touch input? Battery, CPU + touch input with streaming from any mobile device to it would also be nice, not sure if this could be made responsive enough, though.

gcdgcd 12y ago

It is so expensive. Hope amazon will release a cheaper usb kindle monitor.

ArtB 12y ago

Is there an e-ink reader with a 8.5"x11"/A4 screen that'll display PDFs? All I want is to be able to bring all my tech ebooks with me to work and be able to look things up/brush up on things on the commute/flight etc.

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WettowelReactor 12y ago
Sony has one that comes close: https://pro.sony.com/bbsc/ssr/show-digitalpaper/resource.solutions.bbsccms-assets-show-digitalpaper-digitalpaper.shtml?PID=I:digitalpaper:digitalpaper https://pro.sony.com/bbsc/ssr/show-digitalpaper/resource.sol...
- jkestner 12y ago
  A little smaller, a lot cheaper: http://www.amazon.com/Kindle-DX-Wireless-Reader-3G-Global/dp/B002GYWHSQ http://www.amazon.com/Kindle-DX-Wireless-Reader-3G-Global/dp...
  - walterbell 12y ago
    How is the PDF reading experience?
    - vdp 12y ago
      It's actually quite good if you "root" the device and install koreader[1](the original developer is the same guy who wrote the vnc viewer for kindle, that was mentioned in this thread), or its librerator fork[2]. In contrast to Amazon's practically unusable PDF reader, these open source projects support custom zoom levels, 2-column mode for academic articles etc. Another option is to use k2pdfopt[3]. [1] https://github.com/koreader/koreader https://github.com/koreader/koreader [2] https://github.com/kai771/kindlepdfviewer/tree/librerator https://github.com/kai771/kindlepdfviewer/tree/librerator [3] http://www.willus.com/k2pdfopt/ http://www.willus.com/k2pdfopt/

netcan 12y ago

I have an old kobo e-reader that's been in flight mode since day 1. It's amazing the difference I feel between reading on a tablet and an ereader. The ereader doesn't really feel like a "device," more like a book. On a tablet, I'm googling (Can you really ride from Winterfell to Kings Landing in a week? How fast do ravens fly? Lets see what the internet thinks.). They might be related to the book. They might not. Emails, HN, news… Watching TV before bed keeps me up. Roaming the internet for half a Saturday on it makes me feel crap. Doing those with a book relaxes me, improves my sleep and my energy levels. Tablet reading is more like TV than like a book. Anyway… I wonder if bringing that to a writing device could be some sort of improvement, at least for a subset of uses. Something that's designed to write. Editing as a secondary. Something that will feel different when you sit down to write on it. It's not research or email time. It's writing time. Change the pace. Focus. As a second screen running your normal software… I'm iffy. As a purpose built device that is significantly different than our laptop, but possibly superior at certain tasks, I'd like to see one of these.

walterbell 12y ago
Could be combined with distraction-free writing and note-taking software (Scrivener, etc.) Edit: scrivener for linux has a free beta, http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2014/08/29/scrivener-on-linux-try-it-youll-like-it/ http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2014/08/29/scrivener-on-li...
totalrobe 12y ago
I was thinking this would be fantastic for reading textbooks or code documentation. My eyes get fatigued after reading for any length on a tablet or lcd, but a traditional ebook reader is far too slow and small for scanning through textbooks.
- jobigoud 12y ago
  I read textbooks on my Kobo Aura HD all the time. I upgraded from a Kobo Glo exactly for that purpose. I would like it even bigger so that research papers in PDF could all be full page without panning. Textbooks in epub are good. Allowed me to finally leave all paper books behind.

agentultra 12y ago

I'd get one of these or a device like it that can be oriented to an A4-ish size. I'd just run a full-screen emacs session in it (and subsequently would be forced to figure out how to highlight code with such a limited palette). I really enjoy E-Ink displays for reading for any amount of time over LCDs; even high-density panels (though they make it easier to read for longer periods than their predecessors, E-Ink still wins due to limited color range and not being back-lit by a thousand tiny suns). Can't wait to see more of these on the market!

txu 12y ago

If I don't care about syntax highlighting, it's definitely going to help ease eye strain after programming for long hours.

moonchrome 12y ago
you can have syntax highlighting in grayscale :|

miles 12y ago

Thanks to MobileRead users NiLuJe and hawhill, the Kindle can be used as a second display: https://tinyapps.org/docs/e-ink-monitor.html https://tinyapps.org/docs/e-ink-monitor.html Here's one in action: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQQvQx2ep1o https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQQvQx2ep1o The refresh rate isn't really fast enough to use a mouse/trackpad comfortably, but for keyboard-based work like vim, it is swell.

UncleChis 12y ago

I've dreamed for this screen for a long time. I would love to have side-by-side an E-ink screen for coding and reading papers and a normal screen for any normal things that require color (e.g., videos) A related story: I got terrible headache more than a year ago. My doctors could not figure it out. Migraine, stress, etc. you name them! Nothing helps. Eventually I ended up buying a pair of computer glasses and I've been wearing any time I look at LCD-like screen: TV, computer, tablet. It's miracle, I don't experience that type of headache ever since.

jensen123 12y ago

This monitor would make it a lot easier for me to fall asleep at night! The bluish light from normal monitors supresses melatonin, and thus disturbs sleep - making it hard to fall asleep at night, and hard to get up in the mornings...

sun_jh 12y ago

I think the best usage scenario for an e-ink screen is the portable devices scenario, but I don't think 13.3" is made to be portable. And this monitor is not touchable, so we can image a man holding the monitor in his left hand to read, and a smart phone in the other hand to turn page(if the monitor can be compatible with smart phone). And another thing I have to say is it's to expensive for me. I can buy two e-ink readers with this price, one for me and one for my wife so she won't complain to me how boring to look after a baby all day. But the refresh rate really surprised me, and I hope the company can do more market research for the next production.

nightwolf9ss 12y ago

I have kindle ereader and pixel qi screen on a netbook, I cannot wait for something like this, it would be very useful for me,many people have eye problems with LCD screens.