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I built a picture frame with a greyscale e-paper that runs on battery for years

framelabs.eu

21–30 of 85 posts

Re: I built a picture frame with a greyscale e-paper that runs on battery for years

#21

This is cool! How hackable is this? I'd love to get one and maybe hack it a bit, and try few other use cases

The device ships with sample code included. So if you want to try your own use case, this is possible. I will also add it to https://github.com/framelabs-eu shortly.

Re: I built a picture frame with a greyscale e-paper that runs on battery for years

#22

I am building something like this, but the pandemic has prevented me from collaborating with my frame maker. The e-ink panel I have has a fairly fragile ribbon cable we are trying to hide inside the frame with some clever cuts. I am not sure how the panels for Kindles allow them to have such small margins. The biggest problem I have is fitting a battery into the frame -- I was trying to find a low profile USB battery…

Look up a single sheet battery.

Re: I built a picture frame with a greyscale e-paper that runs on battery for years

#23
I worked on a number of digital photo frames, including on ones like that.

E-ink is not the most suitable thing for it in its current form.

First, large size EPD cost an arm, and a leg, and custom one costs even more.

Second, there are no 8 bit EPD controllers as of now a mortal can buy, which means grays look very bad.

Third, there are inherent physical limitations which make increasing gray resolution of EPDs quite hard. The precision you want, the slower would the refresh rate be.

If somebody is old enough to remember, (saying this as a 30 years old is indeed amusing to myself) the last active matrix monochrome LCDs had 8 bit, and more of gray resolution, but they are all discontinued now, or cost an arm, and a leg as "medical imaging" specialty.

Re: I built a picture frame with a greyscale e-paper that runs on battery for years

#24
post #9
post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Owner here. I initially created it for myself, but there was a lot of interest, so I made a kit available so that everybody can build one, too.

Do you get the source to the code that runs it, or is that a black box?

I found this

https://github.com/framelabs-eu/imageserver

Re: I built a picture frame with a greyscale e-paper that runs on battery for years

#25
post #23

I worked on a number of digital photo frames, including on ones like that. E-ink is not the most suitable thing for it in its current form. First, large size EPD cost an arm, and a leg, and custom one costs even more. Second, there are no 8 bit EPD controllers as of now a mortal can buy, which means grays look very bad. Third, there are inherent physical limitations which make increasing gray resolution of EPDs quite…

Despite all this, E-ink's biggest problem is that Amazon owns all the tech and doesn't want to ever see it succeed.

Re: I built a picture frame with a greyscale e-paper that runs on battery for years

#26
post #23

I worked on a number of digital photo frames, including on ones like that. E-ink is not the most suitable thing for it in its current form. First, large size EPD cost an arm, and a leg, and custom one costs even more. Second, there are no 8 bit EPD controllers as of now a mortal can buy, which means grays look very bad. Third, there are inherent physical limitations which make increasing gray resolution of EPDs quite…

At 150 dpi the image depth is not a problem. Here is the 4-bit image of the 1929 Bentley as displayed on the frame for reference: https://www.instagram.com/p/CItoGRLh52n/

On the device you only notice if you get extremely close.

Re: I built a picture frame with a greyscale e-paper that runs on battery for years

#27
post #23

I worked on a number of digital photo frames, including on ones like that. E-ink is not the most suitable thing for it in its current form. First, large size EPD cost an arm, and a leg, and custom one costs even more. Second, there are no 8 bit EPD controllers as of now a mortal can buy, which means grays look very bad. Third, there are inherent physical limitations which make increasing gray resolution of EPDs quite…

What would you suggest for an affordable picture frame displaying digital art?

Re: I built a picture frame with a greyscale e-paper that runs on battery for years

#28
post #25
post #23

I worked on a number of digital photo frames, including on ones like that. E-ink is not the most suitable thing for it in its current form. First, large size EPD cost an arm, and a leg, and custom one costs even more. Second, there are no 8 bit EPD controllers as of now a mortal can buy, which means grays look very bad. Third, there are inherent physical limitations which make increasing gray resolution of EPDs quite…

Despite all this, E-ink's biggest problem is that Amazon owns all the tech and doesn't want to ever see it succeed.

Can you elaborate on that? As far as I know, E ink corporation and related patents are owned by a Taiwanese electronics manufacturer [0].

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E_Ink#Company_history

Re: I built a picture frame with a greyscale e-paper that runs on battery for years

#29
post #17

Nice idea and cool how you made it into a product. Could you provide us with a tad more technical specs? Since the website is down and it isn't archived yet would be good to see some of that tech specs here.

It is a 9.7" screen with 1200x825 pixels, which make it 150 ppi. It has WiFi built-in to load pictures from remote sources and also features a small local storage for up to 100 pictures. The battery should last for around 7000 changes of the picture. The frequency of picture changes can be adjusted and also defines how many years it will take for the battery to run out. Pictures are dithered and contrast/brightness c…

Is the battery user replaceable? If so, what kind of battery is it?
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