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The Invisible Screen – An E-Paper Smart Display

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Re: The Invisible Screen – An E-Paper Smart Display

#121

Post by ornornor »

magospietato wrote: post #119
ornornor wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Very few non tech people realize that. I’d wager the overwhelming majority buy a kindle and then get 100% of their books off BezosBazaar.

The convenience factor of the BezosBazaar can't be underestimated. I have no interest in maintaining a digital library these days, and the walls of the Kindle garden just aren't that impactful when you read maybe a dozen books a year.

They kinda are though, it’s creating a monopoly. Never mind enriching the already richest psychopath on the planet.

Re: The Invisible Screen – An E-Paper Smart Display

#122

Post by konschubert »

blagie wrote: post #67
stavros wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No offense to you, but this comment sounds like one of those customers that are never going to use your thing, even if you implement all that. Find the people who want to use a product despite all the lacking features, because the one thing it does is exactly what they need, and build on that.

It depends on how it's implemented. Take a look at: https://www.home-assistant.io/ They have customizable dashboards. What I'm really looking for is something I can use as a sort of command center in a few places in my house. It allows me to control the things I care about, shows my upcoming schedule, and whatever else is relevant. By my work desk, the #1 thing I care about is upcoming meetings. Other places, I care…

Home assistant is still a dream to come true in terms of where I want to go with the product. And home-assistant.io may be a good starting point. I'll save that link ...

Regarding calendar: You can already connect as many google calendars and as many .ics sources as you want. If you can create an .ics link from outlook that's supported. (At least on iOS, the Android update is still being worked on. Did you know about Jetpack Compose? I didn't...)

Of course, Outlook support would be nice. It's on the roadmap. But as always, I don't want to promise things that haven't happened yet.

Re: The Invisible Screen – An E-Paper Smart Display

#123

Post by dredmorbius »

samstave wrote: post #93
merelysounds wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sounds interesting! I found the following (below); was it that? https://soldered.com/product/soldered-inkplate-6plus-with-en... > What is especially interesting is that Inkplate uses recycled screens taken from old e-book readers (...)

Are there any touch screen/sensitive e-inks - such that you could have one as usb WACOM tablet with a pen?

Yes.

E.g.: https://onyxboox.com/boox_tabx>

(See the specs section.)

Touch + Wacom/stylus interface.

Re: The Invisible Screen – An E-Paper Smart Display

#124

Post by dredmorbius »

Animats wrote: post #73

Invisible? Looks very visible in the pictures. E-Ink prices for large displays are still too far high. Not much improvement in the last year. Little watch-sized ones are only a few dollars, though. Ought to be good for something. Auto gauges? Status displays on low-power devices?

Gauges are one instance where e-ink's principle characteristic, persistence, might actually be a strong drawback.

For an instrument dashboard, you're better with an active display whose failure mode is to not display any information (or some nominal low/nil response) rather than continue to show the last updated value through all eternity.

That last would be particularly bad for speed, fuel, or battery-status displays, say.

Re: The Invisible Screen – An E-Paper Smart Display

#125

Post by dredmorbius »

WalterBright wrote: post #113

I'd buy it if it would display the front page of today's paper. Oh, I wish the Kindle would use, as it's "off" screen, the last page I was reading.

Using the most-recently-active application (or book) as the sleep / poweroff screen is a feature of many e-book readers. If not Kindle, then Onyx's BOOX line, and from what I've seen elsewhere, others.

Front page of a paper: any e-ink tablet with a PDF viewer or web browser will get you there.

Re: The Invisible Screen – An E-Paper Smart Display

#126

Post by dmd »

ornornor wrote: post #116
dmd wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The (eink) kindle is a fabulous device and in absolutely no way requires you to buy ebooks from Amazon. you can just plug it in and put Mobi files on it.

Very few non tech people realize that. I’d wager the overwhelming majority buy a kindle and then get 100% of their books off BezosBazaar.

Amazon also gives you an @kindle.com address you can email documents to (epub, pdf, docx, plain text…) and they’ll show up seconds later on your kindle.

Re: The Invisible Screen – An E-Paper Smart Display

#127

Post by landgenoot »

paxys wrote: post #66

Products like these make me realize that a standard e-reader has the perfect general purpose e-ink display. The Kindle for example is about the same size as this but much sleeker, is backlit, multi-tone, has a battery, wifi, bluetooth, all for less than half the price. I wish there were more mainstream jailbreaking projects and alternative operating systems to really unlock their potential.

You can also flash electronic shelf labels and display your own content on it. They work over ZigBee

https://gathering.tweakers.net/forum/list_messages/2167906 (in Dutch)

Re: The Invisible Screen – An E-Paper Smart Display

#128

Post by blagie »

stavros wrote: post #90
blagie wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you do, I'll buy one :)

I've already done half, I just need to find a digitizer to go over it: https://www.stavros.io/posts/making-the-timeframe/

My experience is that 90% of the work on these projects is integration: getting the toolchain working, and all the pieces talking. If there were an easy-to-use digitizer and a documented toolchain, I'd buy a LilyGo T5 right now.

Without that, I suspect I'll never get around to making one work, and I'm not buying another half-started project.

As a footnote, 50% of the remaining work is on the stupid stuff like cases and power supplies. I'm glad you did that. But if you ever sell this as a device, consider provide a variety of cases for different use-cases (desk stand, wall mount, metal box with room for other stuff, etc.) and your sales will double.

As a footnote, I like when devices are compatible with something standard, like a Micro:bit or a Circuit Playground. That guarantees a basic working toolchain for at least getting code on, as well as a support ecosystem.

Re: The Invisible Screen – An E-Paper Smart Display

#129

Post by eternityforest »

Qwertious wrote: post #108
chrisco255 wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The main reason there isn't is because e-ink tech is controlled by a company with a strict and expensive licensing arrangement. Until the patent expires, we're unlikely to realize the technology's full potential.

This is a myth, endlessly repeated without a source. Not only have the original patents expired, but there's a competing tech called Display Electronic Slurry (DES, or the cofferdam tech). The real reason e-ink hasn't seen much innovation is that it's a tiny niche market, because e-ink is useful for e-readers and not much else. In contrast, LCDs are produced at a rate of billions per quarter , which gives room for lo…

E ink would be great for almost any tiny device that currently uses 1" OLEDs or 7segment displays, if it could be made cheap enough.

Re: The Invisible Screen – An E-Paper Smart Display

#130

Post by deadbabe »

justusthane wrote: post #43
deadbabe wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I use Google for email and calendar still. Never really found a way to transition off of it. :(

There are plenty of ways! I can personally whole-heartedly recommend Fastmail if you don't mind paying a bit for your email (and I believe that something as important as email is worth paying for). There are two aspects that make this easier than most people realize: - You will theoretically retain your existing Gmail address forever, even if you close your Gmail account. This means you can reactivate it at any time.…

Thank you!
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