Why this instead of eg. M5Paper [0]?

Similar price, been thinking to buy something like that, but delaying the decision, hoping PineNote[1] comes out soon :D

[0] https://shop.m5stack.com/collections/m5stack-new-arrival/pro...

[1] https://www.pine64.org/pinenote/

I will just shamelessly add to the list this wooden 7.5 inch display that I have been working on over the past two years:

https://www.invisible-computers.com/programmable-e-paper-scr...

Price-wise it's in between the M5Paper and the PineNote, but personally I think it's the best-looking one for the smart display use case. :P

Also, since this is HN, I'd like to mention that I am looking for collaborators/co-founders to work with me on this project. You can contact me at mail@konstantinschubert.com

Fair. Personally I am not a big fan of touch because of the latency in response and paperd.ink is open-source. PineNote is a whole different beast though.

> Why this instead of eg. M5Paper [0]?

I think they compete in the same space. I think at this point it's just a matter of ecosystem.

> Similar price, been thinking to buy something like that, but delaying the decision, hoping PineNote[1] comes out soon :D

Bare in mind this won't just be a microcontroller but an entire fully capable Linux computer. It's really a significant step up.

the more the merrier

Sorry for nitpicking, but why MicroUSB instead of USB-C in new projects?

Anecdotally, I'll note that some USB-C stuff is rather power-hungry, compared to MicroUSB gadgets. I have a portable solar panel that easily charges my Kindle over MicroUSB, but struggles to make headway with many of my USB-C devices. I don't know if this is due to USB-C itself consuming power somehow, or if the higher amount of power that USB-C can supply means that USB-C devices put less effort into keeping power requirements low.

USB-C is simply a form factor for a port, one which has only advantages compared to MicroUSB.

Your observation is valid in that USB-C frequently comes with a high power draw for charging batteries. When one isn't using a small solar panel, it's generally better to charge as fast as is compatible with battery health, so that's no bad thing.

But a Kindle which was aftermarket modified to use USB-C would have the same power requirements, just with a durable and bidirectional port. I encourage anyone making a device now to use USB-C, Micro doesn't have advantages and should be deprecated. We'll be stuck with it for a decade+ as it is, we should strive not to prolong the frustration.

> Micro doesn't have advantages and should be deprecated.

Plus it's mechanically flimsy beyond all reason.

It's even worse than Mini.

USB-C is the one port I'll probably never complain about seeing. I was suspicious of the dynamic voltage selection when it first came out, but it has proven itself to be extremely reliable.

Micro HDMI(And even full size HDMI) are also pretty awful.

also, the current kindles use usbc now.

now if only apple would update the airpods..

The lightning system is limited compared to USB-C and I won't miss it when it's finally gone.

But it's a perfectly cromulent connector, which Micro never was.

The difference here is more likely to be between the Kindle (a notably low-power-draw device) and the other newer devices, especially the ones whose charging circuits are designed to take advantage of modern USB-C power delivery capabilities because people want their devices to charge faster.

There is nothing inherent to MicroUSB that draws less power except that it is older than the standards that allow USB to provide more power (and thus used in devices that don't draw as much power).

i think we might do USB-C for the next upgrade

Congratulations on the launch!

You posted paperd.ink on needgap(My problem validation platform) about 2 years ago[1], It feels amazing that you were able to deliver your product.

I understand the difficulty in building hardware products out of India without access to the crowdfunding platforms, As I've myself dabbled recently to host crowdfunding on my own website for a hardware product and it's easy to imagine how it would have gone.

So, My appreciation to the folks at FOSS UNITED for funding paperd.in and my best wishes for the success of the project.

[1] 'Affordable E-Ink large external displays' - https://needgap.com/problems/43

Thanks Abhishek! It's a pleasant surprise to see you again and remember about needgap.

Yes! The world needs more ePaper dev boards. I've been playing with an InkPlate 10[1] which is a similar concept and I'm very excited by the potential.

1. https://www.crowdsupply.com/press/inkplate10

Wow that looks fantastic. Sadly I have to cut back on buying dev toys that I never end up using, but I wish you all the best.

An ESP32+eink is a fun gadget. I got a https://shop.m5stack.com/products/m5paper-esp32-development-... before it went out of stock and it makes a nice weather station/status display that pulls info down from an in-house web server.

Indeed. Fun fact: e-ink is the name of the brand whereas e-paper display is the general term.

Annoyingly, I've also seen e-paper used to refer to memory LCDs. Pebble, for example, called the screens on their smartwatches "e-paper".

This looks really nice! And congrats on the grant!

The product comes already assembled or it is a kit? If not, do you plan to sell it in kit form? For us that can't 3D print or build PCBs but want to tinker with it.

Thanks! One unit will have a devboard (PCB) with e-paper display connected on the front side. And there's also the enclosure set which has a front panel, back panel, 4 buttons and 2 stands (check this to get a better idea https://docs.paperd.ink/docs/3d-files/assembly/). We don't send assembled enclosure with devboard, that is DIY.

> paperd.ink has a 4.2” e-paper display

If your target market is the whole world, please also provide dimensions using the metric system. For most of the world, inches don't mean anything.

4.2” is approx. 10.7 cm.

I'm a staunch metric supporter, but to be fair I have never encountered a country that measures screens as anything other than inches.

Probably because diagonal is the only supplied value. That is mostly used for comparing screen sizes and little else. At least in my metric world.

You could probably measure screen sizes in fractions of blue whales and it would work out exactly the same for most folks.

Many places in europe have legal requirements about using national standard units. In Slovenia for example, you'll always see both inch and cm diagonal measurements for screens (with W×H usually only in cm).

Still it’s nice to do to give you an idea (and vice versa to imperial)

Ah missed this. Have updated now. Thanks!

Wow, excellent, thanks!

> (~10.7cm)

Maybe also X cm x Y cm

Looks confusing imo. Exact dimensions are mentioned here though https://docs.paperd.ink/docs/hardware/hardware/#dimensions

Also nice to know: 400 x 300 px found on the block diagram.

It looks like a lovely project - and congratulations on the grant!

How much did they cost backers to buy? It's such a shame that eInk screens are so expensive.

Thanks! We're selling the dev board for 89USD along with a free 3d printed enclosure and free shipping.

Edit: typos

That's a very fair price, just ordered one :)

Hey thank you so much!

> failing to achieve our crowdfunding target goal (we had ~40%)

Fwiw what I've heard regarding crowdfunding isn't so much that you put your product on a crowdfunding website to raise money, as much as you already have a marketing plan with enough people on your email lists etc who're willing to pay money, and once the Kickstarter/indigogo is live, these people come to the site. That's also how apparently those "2000% funded in 2 days!" stuff happens, which isn't surprising if you look at how shady some of them look.

That seems to be one strategy. For us, we had about 500 people who filled our very first user research form and we kept a target of minimum 300 orders to be able to manufacture the units and at least break even. Turns out, not even half of the 500 folks read our crowdfunding launch email. We didn't have any money to spend on paid promotion. So we then did everything, from posting on relevant social media channels to trying to get articles written about us by blogs to cold emailing people who I thought would like the product - and one of them did who offered us the FOSSUnited grant! I guess whatever works best for your product/campaign.

I think I remember seeing a comment on another HN post today about startups/cos. that the people who say they'd spend money and those who do can be an order of magnitude off. In any case, fortunately you do have a product now which is good (and looks nice too!) :)

Sorry I don't get it. Do you mean people spend huge amounts of money to promote the product? And thanks! Just wanted to make a minimum lovable product.

No, what I'd meant in that comment is that estimates can be very off despite trying to get the most accurate numbers. Unfortunately I don't have any practical experience so take whatever I saw with a grain of salt.

I might have had an option to "pre-book" with a small but significant (say $49) deposit for those who'd say they'd pay for it right when you ask them. - it can help push them to commit. I'd imagine spending more on (targeted) ads could also help thought it would ofc cost more too.

Don't worry, the product is pretty lovable. I'd definitely buy it if I had a job (still studying).

(OP here) Update: We sold out the first batch of paperd.ink! Thanks to each one of our supporters, we managed to pull this off because of you. As next step, we would love to talk with the users once they have paperd.ink in their hands. And for those who missed out, you can drop your emails or keep a track of our social media to be updated. Thanks again!

PS: I will reply to the pending comments shortly. Sorry things have been busy here (our website crashed twice in the last 5 hours).

Hey, I can't see it on your page, what's your selling price?

I am selling a very similar programmable display for $169, but it has a bigger screen and a wooden frame:

https://www.invisible-computers.com/programmable-e-paper-scr...

I suspect your price point is much lower than mine?

It was $89 shipped worldwide

http://web.archive.org/web/20220512072236/https://paperd.ink...

As commented by another user, we were selling for 89$ with free 3d printed enclosure and free shipping. However, the size of screen is smaller.

> “ Overall, this is very close to what I've wanted…”

Sometimes I wonder if companies make up their testimonials. This is not one of those times.

I know that this is completely off-topic but I need to know: how do you make a HN post that has a link _and_ text at the same time? Seems like this form[1] does not allow that.

[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/submit

Fill in the first two entries for Title and URL and have "Show HN: " in the beginning of the title, that should work (or Show HN submissions, not sure about other kinds of posts.

Oh, I see, thank you!

This, but then somehow (close to) plug an play with Home Assistant... That would be very cool.

I guess, since it is a development board, I just have to wait for someone to do it (or wait until my own retirement to find the time ;))

I think you will find libraries for that on the esp32 that this uses are already available.

Being ESP32-based should make it trivially easy to use with ESPHome[0] in Home Assistant. I use ESPHome + HA with countless M5Stack ESP32 units.

[0] https://esphome.io

>powered by an ESP32 module

Immediate questions raised include "Which one?" and "Why aren't you telling me which one in the first place?!". Particularly so for a product that is supposed to be open source.

There's major differences between ESP32 modules. E.g. only some of them are on RISC-V CPUs. The others use a CPU which is less common and less well-supported by open toolchains.

We use ESP32-Wroom-32 module. More details can be found on the docs page https://docs.paperd.ink/docs/hardware/hardware/

Seems to be ESP-S3, ESP32-D0WDQ6 specifically.

This looks really nice. Does it contain a touch screen? I'm assuming not since I can't find mention of it.

It does not. Touch screen e-paper displays (like Kindles) are too expensive, consume significantly more power and have a noticeable lag in the response when you try to use them. paperd.ink is more of an output device.

Gotcha, thanks for the answer!

M5Paper has a touch screen..

I've tried looking, but can't find a good battery for it. Could you maybe link a few examples in the FAQ?

Sure thing I'll add in FAQ soon. If you do not want to solder then https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09FLDCJCB is a good option as the connector is directly compatible with paperd.ink. But it has a lower capacity.

For a higher capacity, we recommend https://www.adafruit.com/product/258 but you will have to cut and swap the connections since the connector is of the opposite polarity.

Hope that helps!

I wish there was a good 30"+ sized ePaper display with driver that didn't cost $1,000+

If only! Maybe when the patents finally expire, it'll take off like 3D printing did.

Looks like a nice case. How does it compare to the Inkplate? They offer colour and touchscreen versions with bigger screens for barely any more money (though you pay extra for a case).

They use recycled kindles hence the color and touchscreen I guess.