Posted by rbanffy 3 days ago
I basically want to build a custom e-reader with a RasPi Zero for learning/home use, 8-10inches would be great.
Don't care much about it being touchscreen.
Though smaller than your target size, I did[1] something similar, and it was great fun. I believe there are still Waveshare hats with larger display sizes.
Yeah even I could only find waveshare displays at the size I wanted that were cheap enough not to burn a significant hole in my pocket.
So, it is comparable to LCD sure, but to an oldd LCD of CSTN tech or such.
It's high resolution, snappy, and the whole package is light as a feather and with batteries that last for ages.
I know some people prefer paper, but I love modern e-readers. They're amazingly tuned.
Monochrome e-ink has a better resolution and contrast ratio than old-school LCD devices (I'm comparing my experiences with a Palm Pilot in the 1990s and an Onyx BOOX in the 2020s). LCD can refresh far faster, in the 100+ / 100s Hz range, where typical e-ink refresh rates in my experience have been in the single-digit to low-double-digit Hz range (video is doable but far from ideal).
E-ink also displays quite nicely with a "frontlight", which brightens the background (whiter whites) without washing out the foreground (print/ink). Illuminated LCD displays tend to wash out the dark fields, though I've not viewed e-paper directly and cannot speak to that.
TFA is describing a far higher e-ink refresh rate than I've experienced directly.
The thing about MIP is that the viewing angles are just not that amazing. I have had a Kindle and a Kobo, and they look like paper no matter how I hold them. My Playdate however needs to be positioned at a pretty specific angle with respec to the light to get the best contrast.
For color e-ink displays, instead of competing with LCDs, target a niche market: 8-color terminals for programmers.
We always aimed at fixing the lag, be it terminal rendering performance, network jitter (mosh anyone?), proper tab completion (including the ones that require network responses to complete), TUIs...
I'd still use eink for terminal, if it was cheaper. Just saying refresh rate is important for terminals.