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Show HN: Open-Source eInk Bike Computer

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101–110 of 128 posts

Re: Show HN: Open-Source eInk Bike Computer

#101

awesome stuff. I have a Wahoo bike comp but would love to use an OSS alternative the dealbreaker for me is whether it could eventually work with the Garmin Vario radar (which the Wahoo supports with a nice visualization) -- that is _literally_ a life saver and I no longer ride without it.

I also have a wahoo. Pretty great. Especially its week of batterylife

Re: Show HN: Open-Source eInk Bike Computer

#102
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.

I used a transflective LCD. Works fine. You don't need UV protection nor have temperature issues. (Yes also build my own two years ago but I don't do pr so no slick website).

Re: Show HN: Open-Source eInk Bike Computer

#104

Within 10 seconds I was convinced I needed to try this. For me, the next step for this is taking all the sensor data recorded for a ride, and loading it into my own fitness tracking database that I own, control, and isn't tied to someone else's profits.

intervals.icu?

Re: Show HN: Open-Source eInk Bike Computer

#105
post #6

Hey this looks neat, I’ve been thinking on trying something similar. I’ve not encountered the ANT protocol, what bike ya using? Is it a higher level thing that your display is giving you, or something your controller uses? I know Bafang uses CAN protocols in their newer e-bike systems and a lot of manufacturers (especially Chinese) use a proprietary UART protocol to stitch things together on the cheaper end. The mess…

You don't need AI to decode these protocols. People have already done that. If you look a bit further than asking you favourite LLM for obvious answers there is plenty of OS code available for the LS, KT and Bafang uart protocols. Still recommend you avoid them, they are pretty poor and CAN is way more reliable.

Re: Show HN: Open-Source eInk Bike Computer

#106

I can't imagine using this in the Netherlands with random rain. The tradeoffs are hard to accept, wondering how it looks and performs in various weather conditions, and if a physical buttoned shell is worth it...

My experience with touch is it works ok as long as you do some arbitrage. I've implemented four touch quadrants on my display and it works good enough in the rain (quadrants are linked to play/pause/next etc for music) that it doesn't do anything I don't want it to do. Only downside is sometimes it misses a hit in the rain.

Weather sealing is quite doable if you accept you need a boatload of glue and you coat your 3d printed case with proper car lacquer or at least a thick coat of acryl. Use reinforced filament, and at least something 70c+ resistant (so no ordinary PLA).

I've driven it plenty in the rain in NL (not this display, my own).

Re: Show HN: Open-Source eInk Bike Computer

#108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Measuring the contrast within the display means practically nothing compared to measuring the contrast in the real world environment, which in this case is outdoors and hopefully in the sun. Compared to the full contrast range of the sun lit real world, all displays emitting light function in a very narrow and very dark contrast range. An eInk display does not emit light, so in that environment you have a clear separ…

> Measuring the contrast within the display means practically nothing compared to measuring the contrast in the real world environment Even if it had been true, claiming the e-ink has the same or better contrast as LCD is still false. The sun-lit world has higher contrast than any display, yet it does not make e-ink's contrast any good. In fact it makes the low contrast display much worse as you are likely to be look…

A paper with printed text on a desk in candlelight is harder to read than any LCD monitor with full brightness emitting its own light. But out in the sunshine, the paper will have hundreds of times better contrast than any LCD. The same is true for eInk.

Frankly, I don't understand why you are arguing, when it is so ridiculously easy for anybody to test for themselves. Just bring your LCD or OLED device out in the sunshine along with your eInk device and see which one you can read from more easily.

TFT displays are really good in the sunshine, but eInk is still a bit better, only beaten by paper for real world contrast.

Has it been a long time since you've used eInk? Maybe they were worse in the past? My oldest eInk device is from 2018, so I wouldn't know about the screens that were before.

Re: Show HN: Open-Source eInk Bike Computer

#110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Measuring the contrast within the display means practically nothing compared to measuring the contrast in the real world environment Even if it had been true, claiming the e-ink has the same or better contrast as LCD is still false. The sun-lit world has higher contrast than any display, yet it does not make e-ink's contrast any good. In fact it makes the low contrast display much worse as you are likely to be look…

A paper with printed text on a desk in candlelight is harder to read than any LCD monitor with full brightness emitting its own light. But out in the sunshine, the paper will have hundreds of times better contrast than any LCD. The same is true for eInk. Frankly, I don't understand why you are arguing, when it is so ridiculously easy for anybody to test for themselves. Just bring your LCD or OLED device out in the su…

>TFT displays are really good in the sunshine, but eInk is still a bit better, only beaten by paper for real world contrast.

You obviously have not done what you are suggesting. Paper is low contrast too, on the level of e-ink.

>Has it been a long time since you've used eInk? Maybe they were worse in the past?

No to both questions. E-ink inherently is low contrast and there is no way to enhance it in this technology: both black and white are done with a pigment, same as print, which caps at ~30:1.

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