Building a simple e-ink display from scratch

Re:Building a simple e-ink display from scratch by ethagknight on Sunday April 16, 2017 @09:01AM (#14125622)

Recently, I tried to contact E-Ink, hoping to get information for an architectural use of some of their supposed products. I couldn't get any real information, conceptual pricing, development kit, summary of capabilities, or anything useful out of their sales staff. I repeatedly explained, I am a well capitalized entrepreneur wanting to incorporate some of their tech into my properties at scale, and that I have a development and construction team ready to work to design and integrate a product for various uses. I my mind, I should be a good potential tech development partner, ready to waste money on their tech. I couldn't get anything useful out of them. I am now convinced that outside of the very basic amazon kindle reader screen type displays, that the technology does not exist as promised or marketed.

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Re:Building a simple e-ink display from scratch by xeemzorz on Sunday April 16, 2017 @09:55AM (#14125794)

If black/white isn't a core requirement look into BluBoard (bluboard.io). They are a Cleveland-based hardware startup that specializes in 18" epaper displays and related content management systems.

Sources:

[1] CES News Story - https://bluboard.io/news/bluboard-at-ces-2017-with-fellow-cw...

[2] BluBoard Chooses Multitech - http://www.multitech.com/news-and-events/press-releases/lork...

[3] Local News Segment - http://www.cleveland19.com/story/34321031/cleveland-start-up...

Disclaimer: I am the Director of Architecture at BluBoard

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Re:Building a simple e-ink display from scratch by mbrookes on Sunday April 16, 2017 @12:37PM (#14126341)

> They are a Cleveland-based hardware startup > Disclaimer: I am the Director of Architecture at BluBoard

Then you should probably say "we are" rather than "they are" so that it's clear from the outset. (PS. When you disclose something, it's a "disclosure".)

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Re:Building a simple e-ink display from scratch by Drdrdrq on Monday April 17, 2017 @08:02AM (#14130368)

Interesting, looks like it's blue/white. Any particular reason for that?

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Re:Building a simple e-ink display from scratch by mickm on Sunday April 16, 2017 @10:53AM (#14126004)

It's not e-ink but we have a pretty cool (imho) "alternative" display that might be worth a look for one of your projects: https://breakfastny.com/flip-disc/

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Re:Building a simple e-ink display from scratch by Pwntastic on Sunday April 16, 2017 @06:09PM (#14127829)

Can you give more info on pricing without me having to request a quote, or is this a "if you have to ask" kind of deal?

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Re:Building a simple e-ink display from scratch by falcolas on Sunday April 16, 2017 @09:39AM (#14125739)

It's been awhile, but I have seen some basic e-ink displays for sale on DigiKey.

That said, I agree that it's silly and frustrating that you couldn't get anything out of someone whose job is sales for the company.

EDIT: Nevermind, all they offer currently are segmented displays (think calculator LCD style displays). That's crap.

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Re:Building a simple e-ink display from scratch by pcl on Sunday April 16, 2017 @10:55AM (#14126012)

I've had good experiences with a 10" eInk dev kit from Pervasive Displays, purchased from DigiKey. Looks like it's out of stock right now, but they've got a 7.4" and a 4.4" form factor in stock:

https://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/pervasive-displays... https://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/pervasive-displays... https://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/pervasive-displays...

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Re:Building a simple e-ink display from scratch by DenisM on Sunday April 16, 2017 @12:53PM (#14126397)

How do you program this? Is it easy to get started with?

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Re:Building a simple e-ink display from scratch by pcl on Sunday April 16, 2017 @01:19PM (#14126500)

At the low level, it's pretty straightforward to work with their dev kits. A Raspberry Pi + some jumper cables + a bit of python gets things going.

There are some quirks, since for the most part the board is optimized for internal update speed, not for usability. I ended up putting together some code to update the display given a PNG file, including some basic dithering for greyscale. And I drive all that from screenshots of a browser running in a virtual X terminal on the RPi. The update speed is not the best (several seconds from screenshot to render), but that's fine for my use case, since I'm using it for slow-moving info (weather, bus schedule, tides, etc.) and I'm better at writing HTML+JS for UI than writing bitmaps.

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Re:Building a simple e-ink display from scratch by greggman on Sunday April 16, 2017 @02:00PM (#14126662)

Sony has done some interesting e-ink things, of course they were able to partner with e-ink

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kW9nB6SlsFU

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Re:Building a simple e-ink display from scratch by anmorgan on Sunday April 16, 2017 @11:02PM (#14128975)

Good Display is a Chinese Vendor that seems a little more transparent.

http://m.good-display.com/products_list/&pmcId=160&productCa...

You can buy a demo kit which features a STM32F1 and source code. You can also buy individual screens.

I've messed around with the demo board a year or so ago.

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Re:Building a simple e-ink display from scratch by glial on Sunday April 16, 2017 @09:58AM (#14125812)

reMarkable[0] was mentioned here a few days ago. Do you think they are vaporware?

[0] https://getremarkable.com/

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Re:Building a simple e-ink display from scratch by DenisM on Sunday April 16, 2017 @12:55PM (#14126404)

This looks great. Almost too good to be true.

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Re:Building a simple e-ink display from scratch by Drdrdrq on Monday April 17, 2017 @08:08AM (#14130384)

They are probably testing waters ("preorder now, get 40% off"). But it sounds great, hope they make it!

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