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The Modos Paper Monitor

modos.tech

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Re: The Modos Paper Monitor

#51

Post by fho »

RedBeetDeadpool wrote: post #34
fho wrote: post #23

I am still hoping for a large, reasonable priced eInk display that I can frame and hang up on a wall. Does not even have to be color, I would be fine with just changing through different black&white dithered images over time. But large eInk displays are prohibitively expensive for what is basically a gimmick :-/

Good news is they do exist, and manufacturers do make them even if they are prohibitively expensive. If you want it enough you can actually pay to get it made and shipped to you, which is better than not having that option at all.

Last time I checked in the displays in the sizes I am interested in (>= DIN A2) are in the lower five figure ranges ... for that price I could buy several real art pieces that I like :-)

Re: The Modos Paper Monitor

#53

Post by ThrowawayR2 »

DoingIsLearning wrote: post #38
jlturner wrote: post #36

I still use my Pixel Qi display from 10 years ago, love the thing. I’m glad people are still working to make reflective display computing a thing.

Do you know if anyone is still selling those transflective displays other than second hand market?

Not transflective but a commercially available fully reflective (non-backlit) LCD display did get discussed on HN not too long ago: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31203809

Re: The Modos Paper Monitor

#54

Post by oops »

Toadtoad wrote: post #4

Demo of the music video "Bad Apple" being played on this monitor (or at least an iteration of it): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XduK7wn9SE4

I wonder what the display's lifetime is with this kind of usage? I see someone asked in the YT comments but it is unanswered.

I can't find any official data (as usual with eink) but I have heard that an eink pixel's lifetime is around 10 million pixel transitions. Not sure where that number comes from or how accurate it is and how it varies from one display to the next. But if true, you'd get only a couple days with this kind of usage.

Anyone know any more on this?

Re: The Modos Paper Monitor

#55

Post by AlanYx »

grae_QED wrote: post #50

Instead of e-ink displays, I wish companies would try to make strides in transflective lcds [0]. If more companies invested the time and resources, I think that the potential cost savings and technological benefits (such as a higher refresh rate and no ghosting) over e-ink would make a killing. Right now, I only know of one commercial product [1] currently being made that is taking advantage of this untapped market.…

The Sun Vision display you linked to is purely reflective, not transreflective.

Re: The Modos Paper Monitor

#56

Post by [deleted] »

HidyBush wrote: post #33

It's incredible how as a society we have accepted that people must spend hours upon hours glued to screens that were never made to be reading devices. It would be like if we invented sofas before chairs and so every office worker needs to awkwardly work on a sofa instead if sitting on a nice Herman Miller

[deleted]

Re: The Modos Paper Monitor

#57

Post by speechtotext »

Is anyone aware of any development for a product which can be a fast-refresh monitor while USB-C powered, but has a battery-powered PDF tablet mode when disconnected?

I use both a Digital Paper tablet and Mira monitor and suspect that many in the eink cabal would happily give market share to a product that serves both purposes.

Re: The Modos Paper Monitor

#58

Post by dredmorbius »

HidyBush wrote: post #33

It's incredible how as a society we have accepted that people must spend hours upon hours glued to screens that were never made to be reading devices. It would be like if we invented sofas before chairs and so every office worker needs to awkwardly work on a sofa instead if sitting on a nice Herman Miller

Are you referring to the use of LCD / OLED emissive screens here?

And how does E-Ink fit into this idea?

Re: The Modos Paper Monitor

#59

Post by dredmorbius »

dirtyid wrote: post #47

Eink experience would improve if there's built in style transfer algo to convert to images/video to be more legible. Something like toonify BW line art with shading.

Line art is e-ink's strength, which is why it's featured so often in adverts or boot / sleep screens. Durer's rhinocerous is phenomenal on a high-quality, large e-ink display.

Most photography would benefit by being run through a halftone filter. That's default in "Regal" mode, though "Normal" (highest-quality) mode doesn't do this, and the result is a somewhat posterised image (16-shade greyscale on my Onyx BOOX Max Lumi). Dithering would be another option, and might work.

Onyx's most recent image update (as of a couple of days ago) has some improvements in image display which apply to its book reader (NeoReader), and seem to be an improvement.

Video should be presented at A2 or X mode. Though quite honestly, animation and e-ink are usually a mistake. As jarring and distracting as animation is on an emissive screen, it's pure anger-fuel on E-ink.

Re: The Modos Paper Monitor

#60

Post by londons_explore »

robinsoh wrote: post #44
londons_explore wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Alas, I would love to implement this, but the world of eink is filled with patents and lawsuits, and I think that if I implemented this and it worked well I could never sell it. Even if I gave it away for free, I'd probably have lawyers banging on my door wanting to take away my home.

> but the world of eink is filled with patents and lawsuits, and I think that if I implemented this and it worked well I could never sell it. Even if I gave it away for free, I'd probably have lawyers banging on my door wanting to take away my home. I work in the display industry. I've never heard anything like what you describe, except on HN comments and blogs that use HN comments as citations. Look at my comment hi…

[patent links. You may or may not want to click]

There are lots of patents on electrophoretic displays.[1] And unlike some other industries, these patents are actually used in lawsuits by some players [2]. And anonymous insiders suggest that litigation and threats of litigation, together with enforced secrecy agreements really shape the industry [3].

[1]: https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=electrophoretic+display...

[2]: https://www.bloomberg.com/press-releases/2017-12-20/e-ink-su...

[3]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26143779

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