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Show HN: Open-Source eInk Bike Computer

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Re: Show HN: Open-Source eInk Bike Computer

#41

Post by mholt »

robot_jesus wrote: post #26
mholt wrote: post #15

This is great, I just saw your post on X. I'm also building a bike computer! eInk is the right display tech. I think this will do really well. It might need a UV filter. That said, I don't love needing a separate device (hence, I don't own any bike computer). This is just my preference, but I really prefer to just plop my phone on my handlebars. So I'm building a bike computer app for iPhone: https://x.com/mholt6/sta…

To each their own and the e-ink computer is a neat project. But I'm personally with you on not wanting a separate device. I have my iPhone and a quad lock case I swap on for rides. Not sure I'm 100% on board with the visual style of your interface (some of the metrics look like they'd be nearly impossible to read while riding 30mph down a gravel road) but I'd love to check it out once it's released. Do you have a way…

Thanks; not yet unfortunately, I have been too busy to set up a mailing list, but that's a good idea.

The video preview I linked to only shows the rich maps and instrument modes. There's also a wireframe map view that is higher-contrast and much more practical for your gravel rides: https://i.imgur.com/lZF20Xz.png -- and I am still tuning of course, we can make the map smaller and the characters larger, etc.

Maybe follow @mholt6 on X for updates when I have them... whenever Apple will let me in.

Re: Show HN: Open-Source eInk Bike Computer

#42

Post by mholt »

mmooss wrote: post #39
mholt wrote: post #15

This is great, I just saw your post on X. I'm also building a bike computer! eInk is the right display tech. I think this will do really well. It might need a UV filter. That said, I don't love needing a separate device (hence, I don't own any bike computer). This is just my preference, but I really prefer to just plop my phone on my handlebars. So I'm building a bike computer app for iPhone: https://x.com/mholt6/sta…

> eInk is the right display tech. It's interesting and I clicked on the OP, but why? The variable ambient light conditions, refresh rate, etc would seem to favor standard LCD/etc. Battery capacity isn't much of an issue for a small screen, and weight carried by the bicycle.

eInk is like a piece of paper, which gets MORE visible in the sun, but standard touchscreen LCDs/OLEDs get harder to see. I am not sure about the physics/reasons for this. Phones also aggressively dim screens to conserve energy and lower temperatures. Phones absorb a lot of sunlight, so a white eInk display is brilliant in that regard.

Refresh rate is a solved problem for eInk as well, but it comes with energy tradeoffs and... might still be proprietary. But 60-120 fps eInk exists AFAIK.

Re: Show HN: Open-Source eInk Bike Computer

#43

Post by Gualdrapo »

mmooss wrote: post #39
mholt wrote: post #15

This is great, I just saw your post on X. I'm also building a bike computer! eInk is the right display tech. I think this will do really well. It might need a UV filter. That said, I don't love needing a separate device (hence, I don't own any bike computer). This is just my preference, but I really prefer to just plop my phone on my handlebars. So I'm building a bike computer app for iPhone: https://x.com/mholt6/sta…

> eInk is the right display tech. It's interesting and I clicked on the OP, but why? The variable ambient light conditions, refresh rate, etc would seem to favor standard LCD/etc. Battery capacity isn't much of an issue for a small screen, and weight carried by the bicycle.

In my humble experience the gold standard for bike computer screens was the Wahoo Elemnt Roam 2. It had like 64 colors or so but you could see it everywhere.

That being said, seeing that there are now eink displays capable of 60Hz, I wish they (and projects like this one) could take over in this specific market.

Re: Show HN: Open-Source eInk Bike Computer

#44

Post by kccqzy »

flutas wrote: post #34
wiether wrote: post #23

I love my eInk displays, I love my bike head unit. But I don't see how they both fit together honestly. The pros of eInk: - low energy usage -> don't matter, current GPS units have +30 hours of battery life already - low eye strain -> don't matter, you don't look at the screen for hours at a time - visibility -> don't matter, current GPS units adapt to ambient light - angle visibility -> don't matter, the screen is r…

IMO at least a better one to do would be a transflective LCD like the original pebble watches used.

I already have a transreflective screen on my current mass-produced bike computer. I don’t see a need to make another one, whereas I’ve never seen an eInk one; I think that’s genuinely cool and the main innovation here.

Re: Show HN: Open-Source eInk Bike Computer

#45

Post by kccqzy »

jeffbee wrote: post #24

This is cool, but I bet it will be a grind trying to get to Garmin levels of battery life. They just have it nailed, and an Edge 550 that's ¼ this size can run for over a day, despite its emissive display, and they don't seem to suffer from display scaling since the larger Edge 1050 runs for even longer. That is to say that the larger battery in a larger device more than compensates for the higher display power requi…

Only a day? COROS has it beat by having 100+ hours of GPS riding.

And I think GPS is the key power consumption part here. Have you tried opening one of those background location tracking apps that would require your phone to receive GPS all day long? That significantly reduces battery life on your phone. You really want your entire GPS stack running on a power-sipping processor, not on your phone’s application processor.

Re: Show HN: Open-Source eInk Bike Computer

#46

Post by schiffern »

wiether wrote: post #23

I love my eInk displays, I love my bike head unit. But I don't see how they both fit together honestly. The pros of eInk: - low energy usage -> don't matter, current GPS units have +30 hours of battery life already - low eye strain -> don't matter, you don't look at the screen for hours at a time - visibility -> don't matter, current GPS units adapt to ambient light - angle visibility -> don't matter, the screen is r…

  >don't matter... don't matter... don't matter...
Apparently current GPS screens are compatible with your eyes and the viewing conditions you find yourself in. Congrats! May your eyes never darken and your trails be easy!

For others, some of those advantages do matter. Different strokes for different folks! Cheers mate.

Re: Show HN: Open-Source eInk Bike Computer

#47

Post by stingrae »

seemaze wrote: post #21

Would love to see video of the application in action. Was recently researching eink displays for motorcycle navigation, but the refresh rates were not up to par for realtime automotive navigation..

i have been using it in my car during commutes for testing. modern eink displays can do pretty high refresh rates. i think i can hit 20hz.
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