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I built Timeframe, our family e-paper dashboard

hawksley.org

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Re: I built Timeframe, our family e-paper dashboard

#101

I love TRMNL for this exact type of usecase! Only ~$150, and you can self-host if you want.

I got the battery extension and it lasted more than 10 months (I have it on a 30 minute refresh). Highly recommend TRMNL if you want something to hack on without fussing with hardware.

Re: I built Timeframe, our family e-paper dashboard

#102
post #73
post #2

This is super cool, and I wish something like this existed at my place, as it enables information sharing without the need for phones/actual screens that shine in your face when the lights are low or tempt you to doomscroll. That said, the large primary display this uses is $2000. That's very hard to justify for any "normal" household, and that's without any mounts, backend, services etc.

I made this thing [1] for us, it uses a cheap 10" e-paper display off aliexpress, an ESP32 and a couple of I2C sensors. The case is 3D-printed. It runs on two 18650 batteries, and all in all it cost less than 100$. The OpenWeather API is free for personal use. [1] https://mjones-foui.no/img/wall_clock_1.png

hi I've been interested in doing something like this for myself, what tools and software did you use?

Re: I built Timeframe, our family e-paper dashboard

#103

This is really cool. With a newborn in the home I've been really thinking about projects like this recently. When you have a newborn things are so busy and hectic that it's easy to get overloaded and for things to slip through the cracks so I've been really wishing I had a dashboard like this somewhere to remind me that we need to take the dogs out or show how long it's been since the baby last ate or whatnot.

You have a newborn, and you think spending time installing and maintaining something that displays the calendar around the house is a good use of time?

Re: I built Timeframe, our family e-paper dashboard

#105

~3000€ to show information in some random places in the house even though the household members have a device with a screen called a smartphone next to them 24/7 ? Well, it's cool, but the usability of it all is below average. Declutter your life and don't install any more screens in your home ;)

This is just unnecessarily mean-spirited and unconstructive

Re: I built Timeframe, our family e-paper dashboard

#107
post #79
post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can make smaller ones for much much less. I’ll post pics of mine a bit later but waveshare 7.5” display in a photo frame and almost any ESP32 dev board and you are set for less than $100 (along with suitable HomeAssistant and ESPhome infrastructure to support it). The original article is a very slick bit of work, so well done

You can also buy some for less than $100. I can vouch for the reTerminal: the build quality is excellent, and they come with a battery, sd card reader, and some sensors: https://www.seeedstudio.com/reTerminal-E1001-p-6534.html

Gonna piggyback here to second this and chime in to say I went with the BYOD screen linked within your link for $49 (SKU 104991005). It's definitely more barebones and probably not even as cost-effective if you're still planning on buying the "lifetime" TRMNL API access.

I don't have easy access to a 3d printer, so I just have mine sitting on an extra phone stand I had lying around that can be had for a few bucks from Amazon.

I couldn't be happier with it and am thoroughly enjoying my complacent, lazy solution :)

Re: I built Timeframe, our family e-paper dashboard

#108
post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I made this thing [1] for us, it uses a cheap 10" e-paper display off aliexpress, an ESP32 and a couple of I2C sensors. The case is 3D-printed. It runs on two 18650 batteries, and all in all it cost less than 100$. The OpenWeather API is free for personal use. [1] https://mjones-foui.no/img/wall_clock_1.png

hi I've been interested in doing something like this for myself, what tools and software did you use?

+1, and have you tried running 2 displays side by side ? That should give you an effective diagonal of 14 inches or so, and for those displays, cutting it in two does not really affect the utility of the display (likely tabular content anyway).

Seems like the author has experimented with 2 kindles side by side.

Re: I built Timeframe, our family e-paper dashboard

#109
post #6

I’m always surprised how much people seem to want to constantly know the weather.

Agreed. Especially the current weather conditions. That's mostly useless info. Knowing the weather forecast for tomorrow or this weekend is actually useful. It's strange that pretty much every weather widget assumes you want to know the current weather conditions and not the forecast.

[deleted]

Re: I built Timeframe, our family e-paper dashboard

#110
post #68
post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Plenty of elderly people have the aptitude to use a smart phone. It's shockingly ageist to assume that old == inept.

No, it's ableist to ignore the fact that many people _do_ have such issues, and many people don't but start having problems as they age.

It’s also offensive to only think older people have these problems. Have any of you considered race or sex or gender when talking about these issues? It’s really offensive not to include all these other categories. Maybe certain genders have this problem or maybe I enjoy getting offended by everything.
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