Show HN: Show last Git push on an e-paper device • Hacker News Board

Re: Show HN: Show last Git push on an e-paper device

#21

Post by trok » Tue, Dec 15, 2020, 12:04 PM UTC

erenst wrote: post #19

trok wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was excited, until I found out how much it costs.. For some time I have been looking a small screen that would be used for displaying various information. However, I don't want to build the hardware myself as I feel that the result might not be safe for 24/7 usage. I've been checking digital photo frames, but have not found any solution which would allow updating the image directly and without requiring reverse eng…

Inkplate[1] might be a good option for around 100€. Compared to Joan it's less polished. You can get 3d printed case and it requires some coding (it doesn't support rendering HTML). I'm working on a personal dashboard for the screen. I'll create a website in React and then use rendertron[2] to get the screenshot on the Inkplate. [1] https://inkplate.io/ [2] https://github.com/GoogleChrome/rendertron

Thanks for the tip, I will check it out. :)

Re: Show HN: Show last Git push on an e-paper device

#22

Post by martin_a » Tue, Dec 15, 2020, 12:16 PM UTC

napsy wrote: post #8

martin_a wrote: post #7

€ 899 is absurdly expensive for this device. As much as I'd love to play with non-intrusive "low-dynamic" displays, this is just too expensive. https://www.visionect.com/product/place-and-play-13/

I agree, it's expensive if you compare the price to an LCD. But as this is e-paper technology with completely different use cases, the manufacturing costs are still high. Keep in mind that, currently, e-paper is not a substitute for classic LCD panels. Where e-paper shines for me is very low battery consumption. For example, the mentioned device can hold up to 6 months without a single battery recharge and is complet…

Amazon can somehow put those displays in a Kindle for what... 90€? Maybe they have some mix-calculation going on with book sales, but in comparison a Kindle should cost around 400-500€ when looking at those numbers here.

Re: Show HN: Show last Git push on an e-paper device

#23

Post by 0_____0 » Tue, Dec 15, 2020, 12:19 PM UTC

martin_a wrote: post #22

napsy wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree, it's expensive if you compare the price to an LCD. But as this is e-paper technology with completely different use cases, the manufacturing costs are still high. Keep in mind that, currently, e-paper is not a substitute for classic LCD panels. Where e-paper shines for me is very low battery consumption. For example, the mentioned device can hold up to 6 months without a single battery recharge and is complet…

Amazon can somehow put those displays in a Kindle for what... 90€? Maybe they have some mix-calculation going on with book sales, but in comparison a Kindle should cost around 400-500€ when looking at those numbers here.

yeah those are subsidized devices

Re: Show HN: Show last Git push on an e-paper device

#24

Post by martin_a » Tue, Dec 15, 2020, 12:19 PM UTC

some1else wrote: post #13

martin_a wrote: post #7

€ 899 is absurdly expensive for this device. As much as I'd love to play with non-intrusive "low-dynamic" displays, this is just too expensive. https://www.visionect.com/product/place-and-play-13/

You might prefer the 6-inch Joan Home device[1] (€ 249). It runs a productivity app[2], but the hardware and software stack is by the same company. 1: https://getjoan.com/shop/joan-home/ 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5lRFsbLFUKk

Yeah, that might be nice for some people, just give me a 13" display with a HDMI input. I'll figure the rest out.

Re: Show HN: Show last Git push on an e-paper device

#25

Post by martin_a » Tue, Dec 15, 2020, 12:20 PM UTC

0_____0 wrote: post #23

martin_a wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Amazon can somehow put those displays in a Kindle for what... 90€? Maybe they have some mix-calculation going on with book sales, but in comparison a Kindle should cost around 400-500€ when looking at those numbers here.

yeah those are subsidized devices

Clearly making a loss with me then. Sorry, Amazon! :-)

Re: Show HN: Show last Git push on an e-paper device

#26

Post by martin_a » Tue, Dec 15, 2020, 12:23 PM UTC

kzrdude wrote: post #20

martin_a wrote: post #7

€ 899 is absurdly expensive for this device. As much as I'd love to play with non-intrusive "low-dynamic" displays, this is just too expensive. https://www.visionect.com/product/place-and-play-13/

I was dreaming of making a 30" e-paper stellar/planetary map wall display, until I realized the cost of these.

That's kind of what I'm thinking about. I want a large "slow" display on the office wall to show me statistics, calendar entries and whatnot for our team. Don't want to attach a bright, shining display to the wall if the information only changes twice a day or so.

Re: Show HN: Show last Git push on an e-paper device

#27

Post by nathan_f77 » Tue, Dec 15, 2020, 12:24 PM UTC

trok wrote: post #15

martin_a wrote: post #7

€ 899 is absurdly expensive for this device. As much as I'd love to play with non-intrusive "low-dynamic" displays, this is just too expensive. https://www.visionect.com/product/place-and-play-13/

I was excited, until I found out how much it costs.. For some time I have been looking a small screen that would be used for displaying various information. However, I don't want to build the hardware myself as I feel that the result might not be safe for 24/7 usage. I've been checking digital photo frames, but have not found any solution which would allow updating the image directly and without requiring reverse eng…

I've been using a first-generation iPad a digital photo frame. I use the LiveFrame [1] app, which still supports very old versions of iOS (9.5).

The iPad had just been sitting in my closet for a few years, since I couldn't update it to the latest version of iOS, and most apps stopped supporting it. I was about to throw it away before I had one last attempt at doing something useful with it. I'm really glad I found the LiveFrame app and was able to get it working.

It also has a web browser that can display almost any webpage (although it would probably struggle with the latest CSS features.) So you could show a dashboard web page to display some information.

I would recommend looking on eBay to see if there are any cheap iPads or Android tablets.

[1] https://apps.apple.com/us/app/liveframe/id860372559

Re: Show HN: Show last Git push on an e-paper device

#28

Post by Y_Y » Tue, Dec 15, 2020, 12:24 PM UTC

napsy wrote: post #10

bergie wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

WaveShare has e-paper modules between 5" and 7" costing around 50 EUR. You can drive them either from a Raspberry Pi or a ESP8266 microcontroller. We're using a small one as an instrument panel on our boat https://github.com/meri-imperiumi/dashboard#readme

Nice project! Yes they are indeed cheaper. It's really up to your taste. The device I'm using is already in a casing and comes with a sophisticated software that can render any modern HTML5 on the device with full JS support.

Like say, running Firefox on a raspberry pi?

Re: Show HN: Show last Git push on an e-paper device

#29

Post by schwartzworld » Tue, Dec 15, 2020, 1:33 PM UTC

some1else wrote: post #13

martin_a wrote: post #7

€ 899 is absurdly expensive for this device. As much as I'd love to play with non-intrusive "low-dynamic" displays, this is just too expensive. https://www.visionect.com/product/place-and-play-13/

You might prefer the 6-inch Joan Home device[1] (€ 249). It runs a productivity app[2], but the hardware and software stack is by the same company. 1: https://getjoan.com/shop/joan-home/ 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5lRFsbLFUKk

Cute bezel, but for not much more you can get a full Android 10 tablet with an eink screen.

And for like $220 less you can get a whiteboard and take 30 seconds to write your meeting times on it.

Re: Show HN: Show last Git push on an e-paper device

#30

Post by schwartzworld » Tue, Dec 15, 2020, 1:36 PM UTC

trok wrote: post #15

martin_a wrote: post #7

€ 899 is absurdly expensive for this device. As much as I'd love to play with non-intrusive "low-dynamic" displays, this is just too expensive. https://www.visionect.com/product/place-and-play-13/

I was excited, until I found out how much it costs.. For some time I have been looking a small screen that would be used for displaying various information. However, I don't want to build the hardware myself as I feel that the result might not be safe for 24/7 usage. I've been checking digital photo frames, but have not found any solution which would allow updating the image directly and without requiring reverse eng…

Honestly, your cheapest bet is to buy a used Kindle. Serve your information as a web page over your WiFi and access it using the built in web browser.