Context upfront: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13771203
I'd really like to have a decent (let's say >13") display to hang on a wall in my room and display weather, my todo list, etc. It doesn't necessarily have to be E-ink proper, but I like the idea of having something that doesn't emit its own light. More like an electronic whiteboard.
Alternatives include something like the Vestaboard, which is not cheap, and probably fairly noisy.
Are there products I'm missing here?
This is the black/white one, they do a black/white/red one too. But beware, they take really long to refresh (the red color takes several refreshes to appear). And the one with red is on backorder till June.
It can be powered by a raspberry pi (or ESP32 or Arduino) and is (much) cheaper than the ereader options of the same size: Only about $170.
PS Beware: You can't simply start up a user interface like X-Windows on it. You have to write software to display on it. The display is addressed in 4 separate sections so it's not super easy.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B6-h1TSBG6x/
https://www.instagram.com/p/B3o6RirB5iU/
Go on eBay and buy an older NOOK device (they all ran Android) for $20, tape it to your wall, and point at your web page of choice.
The only reason I can think of is that scaling the production would be difficult for some reason?
Dasung sells a 13.3" e-ink monitor: https://www.amazon.com/Dasung-Paperlike-13-3-E-Ink-Monitor/d...
https://calibre-ebook.com/
https://apprenticealf.wordpress.com/
Though my main pain point is that you lose the book position syncing you get with the Kindle hardware/apps.
It’s a pity because I’d love that thing to read the web on actually.
The best I can tell is that there just hasn't been an investment in scaling up fabrication anywhere near what the likes of LG (mostly LG, actually) has done with >40" OLED panels. Presumably the demand isn't there yet, and so larger-format electrophoretics remain the product of low-volume, high-cost manufacturing processes.
[0] The first OLED patent was filed in 1975 and the first practical OLED was created in 1987. Only in the past 5 years (2015-2020) has OLED been used widely enough to bring the price down.
[1] The first patent for an microencapsulated electrophoretic display was filed in 1996. The earliest practical EINK screen I could find was the Sony Librié in 2004.
Also, ye olde e-Ink has plans for Q3 2020: https://youtu.be/vOTid3I-4EI
https://youtu.be/193w4JLm5hE?t=286
The largest size currently available is 42" and it is used in outdoor and indoor scenarios. Indoor use is for education purposes as a digital whiteboard - see Quilla (https://www.engadget.com/2017-01-03-quirklogic-s-quilla-is-a...).
None of these are especially applicable for home use due to the price tag (just to be clear, the display itself is very expensive). What you could do is use Sonys larger format eInk tablet, use Remarkable EInk tablet or hack your own solution from an older Kobo reader.
We're offering solutions somewhere in the middle - traditionally we were focused on SME, where our devices are being used as universal digital signage (http://www.visionect.com) or tailored for room booking (http://getjoan.com), so a bit pricy for home use. But we just launched a 6" device called Joan Home (https://getjoan.com/shop/joan-home/) that syncs to your calendar and are looking to expand it with new functionality in the future. We're thing of integrations with home automation, pomodoro timer, IFTTT, etc...
Comments on the Joan Home are welcome - as we're actively thinking of developing this into a more feature rich product in next two months.
With kids I bet it's more difficult, but I don't think this technological solution can solve a human/social problem.
Jean-6 that's the same device plus front light cost 549€ (without VAT) and monthly premium plans.
https://getjoan.com/shop/joan-6-1/
https://getjoan.com/pricing-plans/
The only commercial product I know of that uses it is from Visionect but it's a meant for digital signage rather than as a computer display: https://www.visionect.com/product/place-and-play-32/. It's less expensive than their earlier system but still around $2500.
[1] https://shopkits.eink.com/product/42%cb%9d-monochrome-epaper...
[2] https://shopkits.eink.com/product/31-2%cb%9d-color-epaper-di...
There are some projects dedicated to driving the screen with an ESP32, which already has WiFi built in, has good low power modes and is pretty cheap as well [1] [2].
There's also a project driving e-ink displays with an stm32 [3] and one to do it with an FPGA [4].
Beyond 13" things get really expensive and hard to find - best I can do is 12,48" for 150€ [5].
[0]: https://aliexpress.com/item/32983492389.html
[1]: https://github.com/dqydj/PaperBack_EPaper_Display
[2]: https://hackaday.io/project/168193-976-e-paper-controller-ki...
[3]: https://hackaday.io/project/11537-nekocal-an-e-ink-calendar
[4]: https://github.com/vd-rd/project_rorschach
[5]: https://aliexpress.com/i/32929629021.html
I don't know specifics about the voltage conversion yet (these screens need about -20V - 20V), but I reckon that if you're really frugal you could make a battery powered wall display for under 60€ with this stuff - and that's part 1 of what I'm thinking of doing.
Part 2 would be to stick in a Pine64 SOPINE System On a Module [6], put on a capacitive touch layer [7] and run a mainline Linux with KOReader and maybe even a Wayland compositor to be able to run any Linux app (the high contrast GTK theme seems perfect for this application).
All hopefully for under 200€, which is a lot less expensive than other e-readers if that size and a whole lot cooler.
Any tips?
[6]: https://store.pine64.org/?product=sopine-a64
[7]: https://aliexpress.com/item/32984143128.html
[8]: https://github.com/koreader/koreader
https://hackaday.com/2016/01/19/a-digital-canvas-thats-hard-...
It matches the LCD lighting to the ambient light, so that it doesn’t have that “glowing screen” look, but instead looks like a flat picture.
Something else irrelevant to your question, but trés cool: https://hackaday.com/2019/08/17/great-artificial-daylight-vi...