I was thinking of putting together a little "Anki" device for my kid using such a device. Anyone have any other ideas for a small eInk device that is programmable like this?
Pretty cool! I remembered having a brainstorming session with co-workers about all the cool use-cases for e-ink displays over a decade ago. A product precisely like this was definitely mentioned, as was conference room displays, data center cage information, Kanban-style sticky notes in manufacturing, dynamic game pieces, among others. You'd think simple displays like the PaperMono would be as cheap as bluetooth speakers by now, but I know there are some major patent restrictions.
I can tell you this conversation happened over a decade ago because LCD Touchscreens were still more expensive than e-ink at the time.
That's a cool idea!
There are small 1.54" e-ink screens, I wonder would it be possible to add an NFC chip and have them completely passive? (i.e. powered from the writer)
Yeah, it is clunky tbh. but it does work.
That was the motivation behind the web UI.
I also stuck a basic MCP in front of it, we sometimes use AI to help plan out meals for the week, etc.
Why keep it simple when you can massively over engineer it ;)
Much more advanced than what I use for this, but I use a small palm size drawing tablet with a magnet back from a Japanese stationery company called KING JIM. It's called the KING JIM BB-12. It was like $15-20, and I find it practical for quick jotting and as for my grocery list I can easily tuck away in any pocket.
I think there's something to be said about not carrying a phone-like device into stores, since the whole "cameras everywhere" situation is feeling more dystopian than it already did. I even carried paper lists to not further contribute to that.
I'd check https://github.com/Josh-writes/microslate-firmware/ for the xteink as it is less focused on only reading, but keep in mind it's a screen only, so not touch. Buttons though are pretty good so enough for tick items on a list IMHO.
Honestly it's pretty good, but it's too new to give you an actual number.
I haven't had to think about it so far. As a LoRa Meshtastic node the device ran for days and still had plenty of battery.
In normal operation battery life is by how often you do a refresh, the rest of the time it's in deep sleep. I think for this application I could build in a refresh schedule tied to when the house is active (mornings, evenings, weekends) to reduce the number of refreshes. It syncs on touch if it hasn't synced in the last 5 minutes (and there's a button for when your feeling impatient)
Curious what you landed on for refresh, full flash or partial? Ticking off items one by one is exactly where partial update artifacts pile up on these panels.
I stuck with the recommended full refresh every 15 interactions and partial otherwise.
There's also a full refresh when moving from the settings screen back to the main list.
Honestly though it probably makes sense to only do a full refresh when unticking (which is rare) or changing screens. The typical use cases are (1) glancing at the screen to make sure something is one the list and (2) ticking things off as they go into the basket. Neither really require a full refresh imho. Some ghosting is acceptable in general use I think
Project like this make me excited with AI. You can pretty much custom firmware, tailored for your specific needs. Thanks for this repo. Quick question to the community : why does nobody makes afordable huge e-ink displays ?
There is exactly one manufacturer of large EPDs, E Ink Corporation.
A few have tried to compete over the years, none have really managed to ramp up production and compete from my understanding. I believe there are some chinese firms making smaller panels now, mainly used in electronic shelf labels for stores.
From my understanding most of the patents for the foundational tech have expired at this point. I believe the panels are just generally very difficult to make, with difficulty ramping up further as panel size goes up, presumably the yield is fairly low.
That was part of the motivation here: If I can think it up, can AI actually
build it, even when it's outside my day-to-day experience? (and can it do it without frying the hardware somehow)
Key eink patents are expired since c. 2017. But they bought potential competitors and keep innovating (and patenting), so the monopoly stays strong. If someone entered the market right now, with 2000 eink tech, and pricing at very low margin prices, they will go bankrupt: would you buy a 20" screen, no touch, ~70 ppp, refresh around 2 seconds for maybe $300? Also, patents might have expired, but key tech, such as precise micro-sphere manufacturing, is not under patent protection, but under trade secrecy: on top of old tech, it would be unreliable. Some like Zhiwei specialize in epaper for tags using old tech, but only for b2b and barely below Eink prices.
Competition explores completely different technologies: Daylight DC-1, Reinkstone, ChLCD e.g. from Iris... but either the tech isn't good enough to generalize or be cheap (the later), or the niche economics don't allow the inventors to keep investing (the two first).
I was thinking of putting together a little "Anki" device for my kid using such a device. Anyone have any other ideas for a small eInk device that is programmable like this?
I can tell you this conversation happened over a decade ago because LCD Touchscreens were still more expensive than e-ink at the time.
Why keep it simple when you can massively over engineer it ;)
I think there's something to be said about not carrying a phone-like device into stores, since the whole "cameras everywhere" situation is feeling more dystopian than it already did. I even carried paper lists to not further contribute to that.
In normal operation battery life is by how often you do a refresh, the rest of the time it's in deep sleep. I think for this application I could build in a refresh schedule tied to when the house is active (mornings, evenings, weekends) to reduce the number of refreshes. It syncs on touch if it hasn't synced in the last 5 minutes (and there's a button for when your feeling impatient)
Jokes aside this is cool
A few have tried to compete over the years, none have really managed to ramp up production and compete from my understanding. I believe there are some chinese firms making smaller panels now, mainly used in electronic shelf labels for stores.
From my understanding most of the patents for the foundational tech have expired at this point. I believe the panels are just generally very difficult to make, with difficulty ramping up further as panel size goes up, presumably the yield is fairly low.
Competition explores completely different technologies: Daylight DC-1, Reinkstone, ChLCD e.g. from Iris... but either the tech isn't good enough to generalize or be cheap (the later), or the niche economics don't allow the inventors to keep investing (the two first).