Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Show HN: E-Ink Day Schedule

github.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

11–20 of 134 posts

Re: Show HN: E-Ink Day Schedule

#11

Post by alexb_ »

afavour wrote: post #10

An aside but I’ve long thought that if Apple was truly committed to the environment and equipment reuse they’d let us use old iPads for stuff like this. I’d love to make a digital photo frame/day planner from an old iPad mini I have kicking around. They could even integrate Siri etc. (I know you can get some way toward this with various apps but it’s definitely not the same as something OS-level)

Why would Apple ever be "truly committed" to something which gives them less money? They have no reason to encourage people to use old technology.

Re: Show HN: E-Ink Day Schedule

#12

Post by Yoric »

politelemon wrote: post #9

I repurpose all my old ereaders (Kindles and Kobos) into displays for something, weather, agendas, some even do images (albeit very low resolution). It's great to have these around the house, quietly doing their thing. One thing I will point out from observation, the radios on ereader devices aren't great for heavy use; they were originally created for occasional syncing. Projects like these will require an HTTP requ…

I want to repurpose an older Kobo as a multipurpose boardgame accessory (e.g. with dice, a bunch of custom card decks, etc.)

Do you have any pointers on where to start?

Re: Show HN: E-Ink Day Schedule

#13

Post by stronglikedan »

scottwick wrote: post #7

Does this use the battery? Not clear to me if the Kindle program is running continuously or if it just periodically starts up, refreshes the screen and then powers back down.

I presume it does, but would only need charging once every couple of months. If it's going to be in a fixed position, e.g., on a desk, then it could just be left plugged in.

Re: Show HN: E-Ink Day Schedule

#15

Post by donor20 »

alexb_ wrote: post #11
afavour wrote: post #10

An aside but I’ve long thought that if Apple was truly committed to the environment and equipment reuse they’d let us use old iPads for stuff like this. I’d love to make a digital photo frame/day planner from an old iPad mini I have kicking around. They could even integrate Siri etc. (I know you can get some way toward this with various apps but it’s definitely not the same as something OS-level)

Why would Apple ever be "truly committed" to something which gives them less money? They have no reason to encourage people to use old technology.

They have by far the longest support historically compared to the rest of the ecosystem. It’s not even close. A while ago my parents bought an android device that SHIPPED one version behind and was never updated. Totally pathetic. I’ve seen fixes for surprisingly old iOS devices and even new features often go back some generations.

Re: Show HN: E-Ink Day Schedule

#16

Post by [deleted] »

donor20 wrote: post #15
alexb_ wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why would Apple ever be "truly committed" to something which gives them less money? They have no reason to encourage people to use old technology.

They have by far the longest support historically compared to the rest of the ecosystem. It’s not even close. A while ago my parents bought an android device that SHIPPED one version behind and was never updated. Totally pathetic. I’ve seen fixes for surprisingly old iOS devices and even new features often go back some generations.

[deleted]

Re: Show HN: E-Ink Day Schedule

#17

Post by NikolaNovak »

Arubis wrote: post #14

If you’re not up for DIY, I’ve been using a unit from https://www.invisible-computers.com/ for years and I love it. Not affiliated; just a happy customer.

Ooh that looks interesting and not TOO expensive, for a "out of the box" solution. Does it work well / is it self-sufficient without phone once you set it up? Can you adjust the scale, scroll easily, etc?

Re: Show HN: E-Ink Day Schedule

#18

Post by iforgotpassword »

I did something similar with a first gen kindle. Some day it stopped working, I opened the enclosure to find a completely cracked-open kindle with a battery the size of a weather balloon inside.

This was about a month after I returned from a six week trip during which I kept that thing running.

Reminder that a lot of battery-powered devices really don't like to be connected to power all the time.

Re: Show HN: E-Ink Day Schedule

#19

Post by foul »

rmccue wrote: post #6
Neil44 wrote: post #3

That's cool. I regret throwing my ancient kindle away now. The expensive corporate version of this is called a Joan - https://getjoan.com/digital-signage/

A more affordable alternative to this is the Inkplate series, which uses recycled e-ink screens from tablets: https://soldered.com/categories/inkplate/ The software runs on an ESP32 and is all open source: https://inkplate.readthedocs.io/en/latest/

It's affordable but some displays cost as much as waveshare displays, and waveshare displays are new, not refurbished/repurposed.

Re: Show HN: E-Ink Day Schedule

#20

Post by konschubert »

NikolaNovak wrote: post #17
Arubis wrote: post #14

If you’re not up for DIY, I’ve been using a unit from https://www.invisible-computers.com/ for years and I love it. Not affiliated; just a happy customer.

Ooh that looks interesting and not TOO expensive, for a "out of the box" solution. Does it work well / is it self-sufficient without phone once you set it up? Can you adjust the scale, scroll easily, etc?

Founder here. You can adjust how many of the upcoming days are shown, and you can adjust the first and the last hour of the day. This really allows you to dial in the information density.

For scrolling, I am not quite sure what you mean - are you referring to a button that would allow to move the time forward on the calendar? (That doesn't exist yet)

Post reply on HN