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MomBoard: E-ink display for a parent with amnesia

jan.miksovsky.com

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Re: MomBoard: E-ink display for a parent with amnesia

#151

Post by ChuckMcM »

This is so great, I love it. I don't have amnesia but I have lots of trouble remembering what I was going to work on next and used an e-paper display[1] to help with that. My code is a lot simpler (as the display only has an ESP32 and that isn't particularly powerful) but it can fetch a PNG image and it can display it, so my "protocol" (which I'm hesitant to call it that) is it opens a URL named 'inkstatus.html' and looks for a link of the form "http://example.com/image.png" (sadly I can't code quote that here but you get the idea, a URL pointing to image.png from the same server. It then reads that image and displays it, if the image is the same one it displayed the previous time it just does nothing and goes back to sleep for 10 seconds.

That way, all of the rendering is done on the web server (by a cron script in my case and LaTex) and display doesn't have any fiddly html/css issues it is just putting up a full size png image which was part of the library that the Soldered guys provided.

Based on the referenced article I'm going to see if I can replicate this for my Dad who is at the age where he doesn't remember things.

[1] https://soldered.com/product/inkplate-10-9-7-e-paper-board-c...

Re: MomBoard: E-ink display for a parent with amnesia

#152

Post by ryanckulp »

tqi wrote: post #131
ryanckulp wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

we're adding more docs on running your own server soon, which will include 1-click deploy starter projects that Just Work. if you think about it, we are incentivized to do this. no subscription fees means the more you ping our server, the lower our margin. but for now we're wrapping up fulfilling all pre-orders, scaling, etc typical new product issues. even without BYOS (bring your own server) docs however, it's alre…

Can you clarify what the difference between the Developer Edition and normal edition are? It's not clear from the checkout flow if this is required in order to create plugins, and is not mentioned anywhere in the docs.

hardware is the same, Developer edition vs Regular is a permission-only change that lets you build custom plugins and a few other things.

brief post here outlining more of the benefits: https://usetrmnl.com/blog/developer-edition

need to update docs too, thanks for the call out. we were writing docs before this piece was ironed out.

Re: MomBoard: E-ink display for a parent with amnesia

#153

Post by ronakjain90 »

ChuckMcM wrote: post #151

This is so great, I love it. I don't have amnesia but I have lots of trouble remembering what I was going to work on next and used an e-paper display[1] to help with that. My code is a lot simpler (as the display only has an ESP32 and that isn't particularly powerful) but it can fetch a PNG image and it can display it, so my "protocol" (which I'm hesitant to call it that) is it opens a URL named 'inkstatus.html' and…

I think you should also checkout TRMNL. Being engineers ourself security/privacy is of atmost concern, and we follow a similar architecture mentioned above. You could create a private plugin and send in data in the form of REST APIs[1]. You could also use your own webserver by hacking the firmware[2]

[1]-https://help.usetrmnl.com/en/articles/9510536-private-plugin...

[2]-https://github.com/usetrmnl/firmware/blob/main/include/confi...

Re: MomBoard: E-ink display for a parent with amnesia

#154

Post by hattmall »

oliviergg wrote: post #81
grahameb wrote: post #3

What a beautiful use of technology to uphold someone's personhood, and let them know they are loved, despite (and with regard to) a profound injury. This reminds me of a desire I've had for a long time: a simple, wall-mountable eInk device that could be configured with a URL (+wifi creds) and render a markdown file, refreshing once every hour or so. It would be so useful for so many applications – I'm a parish priest…

If you have a hacker’s soul, an old Kindle, a jailbreak, and a Python installation, anything becomes possible. I’m working on something like that (though I hadn’t thought about markdown!). The Kindle is a particularly fun device once it’s hacked!

I looked into this a while back, but can you post some notes on jailbreak kindles? Aren't there certain models of Kindle that can be had very cheaply. That are possibly locked or have some dead component, but the screen can be used with a jailbreak? They were like only ~$10 on ebay.

Re: MomBoard: E-ink display for a parent with amnesia

#155

Post by Flex247A »

vitorbaptistaa wrote: post #122

I love these kinds of projects. Congratulations to the OP. Unrelated, but does anyone know a good TV remote for elders? I'd like something like a Stream Deck with big buttons for things like : * Turn it on/off * Switch to TV channel 315 * Switch to TV channel 517 * Play Planet Earth on Netflix * Play Young Sheldon on Netflix My grandparents are 92 and 97 and even big remotes aren't cutting it. Not only that, but I'd…

There are some cheap android phones which come with an IR sensor. But the app for such functionality needs to be custom made.

Re: MomBoard: E-ink display for a parent with amnesia

#156

Post by Flex247A »

observationist wrote: post #127

It might be worthwhile to look at how an LLM might assist someone with this condition. A lot of the persistence hacks used on LLM chatbots are addressing the lack of retained memories outside of the context window, so maybe something like RAG could help your mom live a less limited life, or reduce some of the burden on you or other caretakers. Brilliant use of tech, I'm happy when I see someone turn their nerd-powers…

Not a good idea for someone with memory loss to use an LLM, especially when they are prone to hallucination!

Re: MomBoard: E-ink display for a parent with amnesia

#157

Post by hinkley »

fragmede wrote: post #142
hinkley wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I thought we discussed it here a few years ago but neither algolia nor DDG are giving me hits. I’m probably using the wrong search terms. I have a relative with anterograde amnesia from a stroke, so that story got passed on to my father when it happened. 8 years ago perhaps?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Molaison

2002 I think is a little earlier than the research I was thinking of but that’s essentially the same conclusion.

Re: MomBoard: E-ink display for a parent with amnesia

#158

Post by ChuckMcM »

ronakjain90 wrote: post #153
ChuckMcM wrote: post #151

This is so great, I love it. I don't have amnesia but I have lots of trouble remembering what I was going to work on next and used an e-paper display[1] to help with that. My code is a lot simpler (as the display only has an ESP32 and that isn't particularly powerful) but it can fetch a PNG image and it can display it, so my "protocol" (which I'm hesitant to call it that) is it opens a URL named 'inkstatus.html' and…

I think you should also checkout TRMNL. Being engineers ourself security/privacy is of atmost concern, and we follow a similar architecture mentioned above. You could create a private plugin and send in data in the form of REST APIs[1]. You could also use your own webserver by hacking the firmware[2] [1]- https://help.usetrmnl.com/en/articles/9510536-private-plugin... [2]- https://github.com/usetrmnl/firmware/blob/ma…

That is an excellent pointer. Thanks!

Re: MomBoard: E-ink display for a parent with amnesia

#159

Post by ronakjain90 »

taurath wrote: post #148

I have to deal with bouts with amnesia myself due to a dissociative disorder - this would be a really good appliance just to be able to see reminders to myself and also reminders from friends - relationships are really difficult to keep up with when its out of sight out of mind for anyone. I'm working on a personal dashboard right now so I can have one space to leave notes for myself - I have the problem of not being…

That's the exact reason we built TRMNL, because your phone is consistently trying to seek your attention (hence distraction). TRMNL helps build personal dashboard without necessarily creating chaos. We built handful of native integrations[1], but you can completely hack it and create your own dashboard with simple HTML content[2].

[1] https://usetrmnl.com/integrations [2] https://usetrmnl.com/framework

Re: MomBoard: E-ink display for a parent with amnesia

#160

Post by Spooky23 »

allenrb wrote: post #78
grahameb wrote: post #3

What a beautiful use of technology to uphold someone's personhood, and let them know they are loved, despite (and with regard to) a profound injury. This reminds me of a desire I've had for a long time: a simple, wall-mountable eInk device that could be configured with a URL (+wifi creds) and render a markdown file, refreshing once every hour or so. It would be so useful for so many applications – I'm a parish priest…

Just an aside, but “parish priest” must surely be the opposite of “software developer” on the Hacker News Table of Occupational Frequency. Neat!

The principal of my son’s former school was a Sister of St Joseph, and a huge HN fan.

More amazing was how creative the sisters were in managing themselves with technology. Many decisions are made by votes, done in real time globally! Religious people get short shrift.

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