E-Ink Monitors: Ready for Prime Time? • Hacker News Board

Re: E-Ink Monitors: Ready for Prime Time?

#11

Post by fermienrico » Sat, Sep 29, 2018, 6:09 PM UTC

thomas wrote: post #4

coder543 wrote: post #2

> It turns out that staring at back-lit computer monitors for 40+ hours a week might not be the best thing for you. Source? Light is still hitting your retinas, whether it comes from reflection or from a backlight. I really enjoy E-Ink displays, but not because of perceived health benefits from reflected light. I enjoy how readable they are under sunlight, how they consume zero energy to show a static image, and how…

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17724995 Was a good thread

I don't see anything related to reflectivity vs. backlight illumination. Most of the discussion is around the wavelength of light (blue) and its effects.

Re: E-Ink Monitors: Ready for Prime Time?

#12

Post by adrianmonk » Sat, Sep 29, 2018, 6:11 PM UTC

frou_dh wrote: post #6

It's always going to be dodgy until the graphical OS you're running is aware of what eInk is, and adapts the UI toolkit and general rendering to play to eInk's strengths.

This might be one of those situations where things have to move forward imperfectly. First some people get eInk monitors, then OS developers see that there are at least some real users and some concrete reason to believe there's a payoff in supporting them.

Then decent software support will encourage more people to get eInk monitors, and that will encourage OS developers to turn decent software support into good software support.

A similar thing happened with SSDs. At first operating systems weren't TRIM-aware, but people used SSDs anyway. IIRC, first device drivers got support to send the TRIM command, then later filesystems got the ability to send the TRIM command automatically, then flash-oriented filesystems were built and went into wide(r) use.

Re: E-Ink Monitors: Ready for Prime Time?

#13

Post by [deleted] » Sat, Sep 29, 2018, 6:12 PM UTC

glup wrote: post #10

I feel like I've been looking into this every 6 months since the mid 2000's and there's still little progress. I would be thrilled if someone made a 20" - 27"screen with a simple HDMI connection; I don't care about the refresh rate.

[deleted]

Re: E-Ink Monitors: Ready for Prime Time?

#14

Post by fermienrico » Sat, Sep 29, 2018, 6:13 PM UTC

I wish Sharp Memory LCDs[1] were made in 20"+ format. They're a hybrid between LCDs and E-paper displays with extremely fast refresh rates and the contrast is almost as good as ePaper displays.

I think monochrome displays would be fantastic for distraction-free coding or reading.

What's interesting is that you just need to toggle VCOM signal either through software or external source every 1-2 seconds for about 10ms. Therefore, you can keep the content on the display's memory for years on a coin cell battery.

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eAoC818Mxy4

Re: E-Ink Monitors: Ready for Prime Time?

#15

Post by adrianmonk » Sat, Sep 29, 2018, 6:14 PM UTC

Tangentially, the article shows video playing through eInk, and its choppy yet paper-like effect really reminds me of the animation style of the 1980s music video "Take On Me" by the band a-ha:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djV11Xbc914

I'm not sure if I'd be able to use one of these monitors without constantly thinking of that video.

Re: E-Ink Monitors: Ready for Prime Time?

#16

Post by cimmanom » Sat, Sep 29, 2018, 6:26 PM UTC

coder543 wrote: post #2

> It turns out that staring at back-lit computer monitors for 40+ hours a week might not be the best thing for you. Source? Light is still hitting your retinas, whether it comes from reflection or from a backlight. I really enjoy E-Ink displays, but not because of perceived health benefits from reflected light. I enjoy how readable they are under sunlight, how they consume zero energy to show a static image, and how…

You get a LOT more light from a backlight than from reflection, at least in indoor conditions.

Re: E-Ink Monitors: Ready for Prime Time?

#17

Post by rout39574 » Sat, Sep 29, 2018, 6:31 PM UTC

adrianmonk wrote: post #15

Tangentially, the article shows video playing through eInk, and its choppy yet paper-like effect really reminds me of the animation style of the 1980s music video "Take On Me" by the band a-ha: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djV11Xbc914 I'm not sure if I'd be able to use one of these monitors without constantly thinking of that video.

That's an additional advantage. :)

Re: E-Ink Monitors: Ready for Prime Time?

#18

Post by bruceb » Sat, Sep 29, 2018, 6:33 PM UTC

I posted to ask last year asking why mid size and larger E-ink devices were so expensive relative to 6inch readers.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15787026

might be of interested to some.

Re: E-Ink Monitors: Ready for Prime Time?

#19

Post by rubicon33 » Sat, Sep 29, 2018, 6:44 PM UTC

I would LOVE if E-Ink monitors became a thing. Spending all day indoors sucks. I'd love to be able to work outside in the sun for an hour or two.

Re: E-Ink Monitors: Ready for Prime Time?

#20

Post by mrob » Sat, Sep 29, 2018, 6:54 PM UTC

cimmanom wrote: post #16

coder543 wrote: post #2

> It turns out that staring at back-lit computer monitors for 40+ hours a week might not be the best thing for you. Source? Light is still hitting your retinas, whether it comes from reflection or from a backlight. I really enjoy E-Ink displays, but not because of perceived health benefits from reflected light. I enjoy how readable they are under sunlight, how they consume zero energy to show a static image, and how…

You get a LOT more light from a backlight than from reflection, at least in indoor conditions.

I can turn my monitor down so it's dimmer than a sheet of white paper on my desk. If I aim a desk lamp directly at the paper I can make it brighter than the monitor on full brightness. There's no standard brightness for monitor or paper.