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Thoughts on Daylight Computer

jon.bo

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Re: Thoughts on Daylight Computer

#41

Post by WillAdams »

Animats wrote: post #16

From the picture, it has the low-contrast look of an older E-ink display. Here's a higher-contrast E-ink display.[1] There are also emissive display laptops brighter than 1000 nits, which is about where they become sunlight-readable. Battery life might be a problem. [1] https://www.youtube.com/shorts/GKVM94N1F6E

Yes, my take on this has always been, "Trying to outbright the sun with a battery-powered device is _not_ a brilliant approach." which is why I've always preferred transflective displays (and despair of replacing my Fujitsu Stylistic ST-4110 which was one of my most favourite computers, and probably the longest-lived --- still boot it up occasionally to use a scanner, and I'd use it for more if an 800MHz Pentium could cope with today's JavaScript on today's Web...)

Re: Thoughts on Daylight Computer

#42

Post by jim180 »

AlanYx wrote: post #39

One thing about the DC-1 that this piece doesn't mention is the graininess of the display. It's not resolution-related... on a pure white background the display looks slightly speckled, like it has some film grain. I find this impairs readability of small text. (Matte and nano texture displays on many devices often have some degree of graininess on pure white, but it's more prominent on the DC-1 than I'm used to.) Pe…

Sounds like nano texture from Apple. Much less reflective than standard glass, but with added graininess, which is clearly visible to me :(

Re: Thoughts on Daylight Computer

#43

Post by graemep »

ikari_pl wrote: post #13

It reassures me that going with an Onyx Boox Tab Pro was the better choice. Full e-ink, not e-Paper, but still can switch to a mode where you could, if you want, watch a movie. Backlight is not crazy orange, it's what you want (warmth controlled separately from brightness). Ignores hand when you use the stylus, or at least, uses hands gestures for different things than the stylus and I never had the issue. Bluetooth…

They look like good products, but my daughter had a really bad experience with them - she bought one, it arrived with the screen broken, and they refused to accept that was possible and said she must have broken it and refused a refund.

Re: Thoughts on Daylight Computer

#44

Post by Certified »

Whatever happened to the transflective lcds that were popular in carputers in the 2000s? They seem to be a perfect fit for a tablet and I have been puzzled that no one has jumped on using them in one.

from the transflective wikipedia page [1]

"A transflective liquid-crystal display is a liquid-crystal display (LCD) with an optical layer that reflects and transmits light (transflective is a portmanteau of transmissive and reflective). Under bright illumination (e.g. when exposed to daylight) the display acts mainly as a reflective display with the contrast being constant with illuminance. However, under dim and dark ambient situations the light from a backlight is transmitted through the transflective layer to provide light for the display. The transflective layer is called a transflector. It is typically made from a sheet polymer. It is similar to a one-way mirror but is not specular."

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transflective_liquid-crystal_d...

Re: Thoughts on Daylight Computer

#45

Post by rtpg »

Regarding the comment about using the laptop in a hammock… I really wish I could have some sort of keyboard that was “good for typing” but that I could just hold onto in my hands. Many times I would like to type something up, but don’t want a computer on my lap.

Just something shaped like some cylinders to grip yet somehow are able to piggyback on existing touch typing knowledge sounds cool to me (but might be unreasonably heavy or something)

Re: Thoughts on Daylight Computer

#46

Post by xnx »

Certified wrote: post #44

Whatever happened to the transflective lcds that were popular in carputers in the 2000s? They seem to be a perfect fit for a tablet and I have been puzzled that no one has jumped on using them in one. from the transflective wikipedia page [1] "A transflective liquid-crystal display is a liquid-crystal display (LCD) with an optical layer that reflects and transmits light (transflective is a portmanteau of transmissive…

The daylight computer is a transflective LCD with fancy marketing.

Re: Thoughts on Daylight Computer

#47

Post by bookofjoe »

jim180 wrote: post #42
AlanYx wrote: post #39

One thing about the DC-1 that this piece doesn't mention is the graininess of the display. It's not resolution-related... on a pure white background the display looks slightly speckled, like it has some film grain. I find this impairs readability of small text. (Matte and nano texture displays on many devices often have some degree of graininess on pure white, but it's more prominent on the DC-1 than I'm used to.) Pe…

Sounds like nano texture from Apple. Much less reflective than standard glass, but with added graininess, which is clearly visible to me :(

Thank you for saving me a nice chunk of change by closing out my eternal debate about whether or not to pony up for a nano texture screen.

Re: Thoughts on Daylight Computer

#48

Post by moffkalast »

est wrote: post #22

rlcd display panels are coming this year. Looking foward to buy one.

That looks pretty interesting, I'd think a regular LCD would already be fully capable of working this way if you swapped the diffuser + backlight for a reflective white sheet? They are transparent after all.

Re: Thoughts on Daylight Computer

#49

Post by stringsandchars »

graemep wrote: post #43
ikari_pl wrote: post #13

It reassures me that going with an Onyx Boox Tab Pro was the better choice. Full e-ink, not e-Paper, but still can switch to a mode where you could, if you want, watch a movie. Backlight is not crazy orange, it's what you want (warmth controlled separately from brightness). Ignores hand when you use the stylus, or at least, uses hands gestures for different things than the stylus and I never had the issue. Bluetooth…

They look like good products, but my daughter had a really bad experience with them - she bought one, it arrived with the screen broken, and they refused to accept that was possible and said she must have broken it and refused a refund.

Unfortunately Onyx Boox have used sockpuppets and other dirty tricks on Reddit[0] and elsewhere to harass and deter users reporting broken screens. Their international partners have webpages explaining how it's "impossible" that e-ink screens can be damaged or broken without you dropping or sitting on them[1] And in general the company is hostile to anyone with damaged devices or issues of other sorts.

Although no-one is perfect, I really like Supernote and their way of developing as much as possible in the open[2]. The devices are really great to use[3]

[0] https://www.reddit.com/r/Onyx_Boox/comments/19czc16/a_genera...

[1] https://einktab.ca/dealing-with-a-broken-e-ink-screen-what-y...

[2] https://trello.com/b/l0COP24j/supernote-a5-x-a6-x-nomad-soft...

[3] https://taoofmac.com/space/blog/2025/01/18/2335

Re: Thoughts on Daylight Computer

#50

Post by jodrellblank »

rtpg wrote: post #45

Regarding the comment about using the laptop in a hammock… I really wish I could have some sort of keyboard that was “good for typing” but that I could just hold onto in my hands. Many times I would like to type something up, but don’t want a computer on my lap. Just something shaped like some cylinders to grip yet somehow are able to piggyback on existing touch typing knowledge sounds cool to me (but might be unreas…

I’ve never seen one that’s “good for typing” but:

TapStrap 2: https://www.tapwithus.com/product/tap-strap-2/

The ancient Twiddler2 wearable chording keyboard: https://spectrum.ieee.org/media-library/the-twiddler-chorded...

The never productised Senseboard: https://www.nyteknik.se/nyheter/virtuella-tangenter-gor-nytt...

The never productised DataEgg chording: https://www.friedmanarchives.com/dataegg/

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