Here's a video from someone who got vim to work on an e-ink display: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FdmX52SCpG0
Man that slow refresh rate would kill me.
Ask HN: Will e-ink laptops be a thing soon, or ever?
11–20 of 26 posts
Re: Ask HN: Will e-ink laptops be a thing soon, or ever?
#12There's a stripped-down, e-ink word processor similar to what you're describing called Freewrite ( https://getfreewrite.com/ ). It launched on Kickstarter as Hemingwrite a couple of years ago. It's got an e-ink display and syncs documents over WiFi. I think the real selling point is a distraction-free venue for writing, but the e-ink display could be a plus as well.
That's exactly what I'm after. Thanks for the link. edit checked it out. screen is parallel to typing surface, looks like a recipe for hideous neck pain. I'll wait til v2 I guess. Still, nice to see that a market exists.
Also, the screen is tiny. I'm wondering if someone can come up with an optical contraption to turn this tiny-screen-on-a-keyboard into a less tiny screen parallel to one's face.
Something like the screen magnifiers seen in Terry Gilliam's Brazil.
Re: Ask HN: Will e-ink laptops be a thing soon, or ever?
#13Can't you get the same result with off-the-shelf hardware by turning down the brightness? Like, change the background color in your editor from (255,255,255) to something dimmer?
Re: Ask HN: Will e-ink laptops be a thing soon, or ever?
#14Does anyone know of a ultra low power lightweight laptop. I am dreaming of someday working remotely while backpacking and would like a small laptop I could charge off solar panels.
Re: Ask HN: Will e-ink laptops be a thing soon, or ever?
#15i asked this question many years ago. +1 Count me in. The best thing is to be proactive and start making the list of people who want such a device. For me even just the monitor is enough, not need to wait for a full laptop. next time when they crowdfund a new project we will be ready to act.
Re: Ask HN: Will e-ink laptops be a thing soon, or ever?
#16Earlier quoted context omitted.
That's exactly what I'm after. Thanks for the link. edit checked it out. screen is parallel to typing surface, looks like a recipe for hideous neck pain. I'll wait til v2 I guess. Still, nice to see that a market exists.
Also, the screen is tiny. I'm wondering if someone can come up with an optical contraption to turn this tiny-screen-on-a-keyboard into a less tiny screen parallel to one's face. Something like the screen magnifiers seen in Terry Gilliam's Brazil.
Lens-based enlargment allows perfect image fidelity, while looking cool and steampunk!
Re: Ask HN: Will e-ink laptops be a thing soon, or ever?
#17The closest thing to what you're looking for would be the Dasung 13" e-ink monitor ( http://dasung.com.cn ) plus some sort of ultrabook. (Yes, I acknowledge that their web site looks incredibly sketchy but, insofar as I know, it is a real product.) I believe their most recent production run is sold out though, according to their Facebook page ( https://www.facebook.com/dasungtech ). A review can be found at http://th…
Yep, that Dasung item is mostly what I found while googling about this. It's a good start, but not useful for my application - coffee shops, beaches, and tents in the mountains.
Re: Ask HN: Will e-ink laptops be a thing soon, or ever?
#18Can't you get the same result with off-the-shelf hardware by turning down the brightness? Like, change the background color in your editor from (255,255,255) to something dimmer?
Not really, no, but making the screen black and white or grayscale at least would probably help. Maybe I'll try that.
Re: Ask HN: Will e-ink laptops be a thing soon, or ever?
#19The closest thing to what you're looking for would be the Dasung 13" e-ink monitor ( http://dasung.com.cn ) plus some sort of ultrabook. (Yes, I acknowledge that their web site looks incredibly sketchy but, insofar as I know, it is a real product.) I believe their most recent production run is sold out though, according to their Facebook page ( https://www.facebook.com/dasungtech ). A review can be found at http://th…
I had shown interest in the Dasung and was on their mailing list for when they had a recent production run. Unfortunately for them, they emailed everyone in CC so customers who bought the product and didn't have a good experience could (and did) email everyone else to tell them.
I didn't buy it but from what others wrote it seems they still need to iron out issues which is not surprising from a new product. I didn't buy because the price was way too much ($1000). I would want to wait for it to come down to under $500 before considering buying plus I don't know if it works on Linux.
Like the OP, I too would like an e-ink monitor for programming and doing most things that don't need a high refresh rate but it seems the technology is still at least a few years away.
Re: Ask HN: Will e-ink laptops be a thing soon, or ever?
#20I think the problem is that e-ink (and similar, e-ink itself is, IIRC, a particular brand) displays are slow (and possibly power-intensive) to update. They are excellent for their optimized uses, where updates are (compared to typical laptop displays) infrequent, but perhaps not otherwise. I know there has been work on faster and color e-ink (etc.) displays, but I don't know that there is much progress toward the poi…
I could be wrong on this, but I recall reading that the slow refresh on most eink screens isn't so much a hardware issue as a battery issue. Quick refresh would be pretty pointless on an ereader and be using power for nothing so they're tuned down.
This was an old ereader that people managed to hack and get a faster refresh on in 2012: http://liliputing.com/2012/01/hacked-sony-reader-shows-just-...
There are also people who have run linux on kindles and it looks surprisingly usable: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C8aFW5wROS4