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A WiFi color eInk picture frame

spritesmods.com

51–60 of 89 posts

Re: A WiFi color eInk picture frame

#51
post #3

Wow! There's a dynamite product in here that pairs a daily nagging app and one of these displays so that people are reminded to take a new picture, ever day, and have it show up on someone's (or all subscribed) photo frame. I'm thinking, like, "take a photo of the kids so it will show up on Grandma's frame" kind of functionality. Though, obviously, it would also be used for porn, so there's a market there, too. Anywa…

This display offers a simple API to build applications for it: https://shop.invisible-computers.com/products/invisible-cale... https://github.com/Invisible-Computers/image-gallery/blob/ma... It's black-and-white, but dithering allows to show surprising detail and it brings its very own old-school aesthetic. The API doesn't require any special knowledge about e-paper displays, it just expects an image URL in the corre…

I think it’d be a little more honest if the first sentence started with „I offer a display with a simple API“.

https://www.invisible-computers.com/imprint.html

Re: A WiFi color eInk picture frame

#52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or this one, which has less of a hacker aesthetic. https://shop.invisible-computers.com/products/invisible-cale... It also comes with software out of the box

That frame makes it look like ancient technology rather than 'picture frame'.

I know, right? What a hideous frame.

It somehow makes the screen look worse!

I smile fondly and lightly jab at hackers complete lack of concern for aesthetics.

Re: A WiFi color eInk picture frame

#53
post #19

Don't see the advantage of eInk for a digital photo frame. Presumably these stay in one spot and can be left plugged in? Would think that a bright LED display would give much better picture quality.

> left plugged in

Some people do not like the idea of powering a device they are not actively using. If you are not watching the piece, a «bright LED display» seems like a waste of energy.

Re: A WiFi color eInk picture frame

#54
post #28

I wonder if we’ll ever see significant improvements in e-ink contrast, which is still very poor. There hasn’t been much progress over the last decade. I’d love to have laser-printer-level e-ink.

For sure, my biggest question is if there are even any theoretical ideas about how to achieve it. Color is currently dark and so faded-looking, and even the "whites" are so muddy gray, because of the color filter technology. You can improve the number of intermediate color levels and improve the refresh rate, but the contrast and darkness is just an inherent limitation of putting color filters on top of what is other…

I think theoretically you could use different voltages to ‘move’ each pigment up and down maybe?

Re: A WiFi color eInk picture frame

#55
post #9

I made something similar recently, albeit not in color: https://imgur.com/a/NoTr8XX / https://hackaday.io/project/190478-hyepaper

I also created something similar: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/xiwen_color-e-ink-photoframe-...

Didnt get a chance to write an article about it. My original goal was to create a bunch of these (30x40 units) and hang them up on a wall like a large tile screen.

A controller would update this tiled wall dynamically.

Also the look of the frames were intended to disguise as regular photo frames.

Re: A WiFi color eInk picture frame

#56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or this one, which has less of a hacker aesthetic. https://shop.invisible-computers.com/products/invisible-cale... It also comes with software out of the box

That frame makes it look like ancient technology rather than 'picture frame'.

It's wood, not exactly something I associate with ancient technology!?

Re: A WiFi color eInk picture frame

#57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The entire site is nerd porn. If you haven't read the one where he installs Linux on a hard disk, here it is: https://spritesmods.com/?art=hddhack

On one of the hard disk controller chips that is..?

Oh cool. Reminds me of the Commodore 64 days; there was a floppy disk copy program that could run using the drive's controller. Since the floppy drive had its own power supply that meant you could actually turn the computer off and copy floppies. It was pretty pointless but just a cool trick.

Re: A WiFi color eInk picture frame

#58
For a minute i had my hopes up there! I actually tried to build a wall of those and a motion activated picture wall for me and my fiance in order to have a wall of living memories.

The problem i ran into is that you simply cant get them in decent sizes, or with a satisfying enough resolution.

Re: A WiFi color eInk picture frame

#59
post #18
post #8

Or you can buy Soldered's: https://soldered.com/product/inkplate-6color-with-enclosure-...

Another great option is Pimoroni's combo eink display + pico w https://shop.pimoroni.com/products/inky-frame-7-3?variant=40...

How is the battery life on the Pimoroni? I've used RPi Picos before, and I love working with them, but IIRC they are comparatively power-hungry, even in deep sleep.

Re: A WiFi color eInk picture frame

#60
post #18
post #8

Or you can buy Soldered's: https://soldered.com/product/inkplate-6color-with-enclosure-...

Another great option is Pimoroni's combo eink display + pico w https://shop.pimoroni.com/products/inky-frame-7-3?variant=40...

Why aren't there any CMYK screens?
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