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Posted by ahlCVA 5 hours ago

Valve open source the Steam Machine e-ink screen so you can make your own(www.gamingonlinux.com)
379 points | 65 comments
RataNova 4 hours ago|
I wish more hardware companies treated these kinds of optional add-ons as something the community can run with instead of either productizing them badly or locking them away completely...
jagged-chisel 1 hour ago|
If we can’t extract all the value, no one can.
dgellow 5 hours ago||
In case you're wondering and don't want to click around, the display is a standard Adafruit 5.83'' eInk panel: https://www.adafruit.com/product/6397
whatisthiseven 3 hours ago||
Anyone know what the refresh rate for these displays are, at least with the stock firmware? Reading the datasheets didn't help, though maybe I didn't know what to look for.
mrheosuper 1 hour ago|||
The refresh rate of eink is kind of...muddy. It depends on temperature and target contrast. With the right waveform and voltage, you can push it pretty far(like 30hz+).

The thing is, Eink's waveform is kind of secret afaik, everyone has different tuning.

fc417fc802 1 hour ago||
As I understand it going faster typically skips steps that are necessary for maintenance of the panel. Fine for a while but if you don't periodically run a "proper" cycle the panel could eventually be permanently damaged.
birdsongs 29 minutes ago||
That's exactly it. I was a firmware engineer at reMarkable making the latest tablets.

We had some secret eink sauce (propriety waveforms) to get the high refresh rates and colour contrast without a full flashing screen reset, but even then you need to run longer maintenance refreshes occasionally.

Pixels are just vertical columns of viscous fluid with charged ink particles. A waveform is just voltage changes over time to these columns to shift the particles up and down. More black to the top = darker shade of grey. Colour (in the gallery display, at least) is the same, just with each CMY particle group having different charges and responses to different waveforms.

Every once in awhile this vertical column gets messy with loose particles distributed through it (ghosting, muddy contrast) so performing a hard rail-to-rail voltage reset forces all the particles up and then down, and gives you a clean slate.

20k 22 minutes ago||
Out of interest, what (vaguely) is the amount of time you need between maintenance refreshes?
birdsongs 14 minutes ago||
It really depends on the state of the screen. It's easier with reading PDFs, for instance, when you can get away with a full refresh on page turns.

Versus someone drawing on the screen with a lot of zooming and panning. People with the tablet would notice that when they stop a series of these actions that were back to back, the screen will "clean" itself after about 5 seconds of idleness.

embedding-shape 3 hours ago||||
Data sheet seems to say (Page 8 -https://cdn-shop.adafruit.com/product-files/6397/P6397+C2226...):

> Image update time - 25 ºC - - 4 - sec

I'm guessing you could probably push that somewhat by going beyond the specifications, would wager a guess how far though.

Rebelgecko 2 hours ago||||
Partial refresh on these can often be surprisingly fast, even when full refresh takes seconds
claudex 3 hours ago||||
The datasheet says 4 seconds for the image update time. However, I didn't found the time for partial refresh.
gunalx 3 hours ago||||
Probable seconds per frame at least.
Neywiny 3 hours ago|||
Assume slow
darksim905 1 hour ago||
so probably waveshare or some other ODM? got it.
shomp 21 minutes ago||
Care to fix this ungrammatical headline? :)
toast0 11 minutes ago||
I think this site is from the UK where companies are plural (they are made of people after all). Is there some other grammatical issue you have... it is kind of meandering, but that's taste more than grammar.

What would you suggest instead?

gilrain 15 minutes ago||
It’s a cultural difference you’re unaware of, not an error.
anticorporate 4 hours ago||
I'd love to see an easy guide to doing this with the Framework Desktop form factor. I didn't buy any of the silly little squares for the front of mine since I figured I could 3D print some later, but six months in still haven't gotten around to it.
phren0logy 4 hours ago||
Same, but the front is important for airflow in the Framework Desktop, so I don't think covering it with an e-ink screen would work. But maybe with some space between the screen and the fan intake?
RataNova 4 hours ago||
A little e-ink status tile for temps, build status, now playing, or just a static label would be much more interesting than most decorative inserts
tra3 1 hour ago||
I would love to see an analysis of how valve's openness and goodwill affects their bottom line. Intuitively it should be a net positive for them, but there gotta be upfront costs, otherwise everyone would be doing it too.
BunsanSpace 57 minutes ago||
1. Valve is a private company with a money printer (steam) 2. the point of these initiatives is to build an ecosystem with steam at the centre.

A better way to look at this is valve is trying to hedge it's self against microsoft. By creating an ecosystem of devices and software that's full open so they're not reliant on Microsoft. The goal of Valve hardware ISN'T to make money. It's to encourage others to build devices free of Microsoft that Steam can be installed on.

They have nothing to gain by being closed, and everything to gain by being open.

dismalaf 1 hour ago|||
Valve is one of the most efficient (revenue/staff) corporations there is. Far more so than most tech companies even. If that's how you measure goodwill then it seems like it works.
moffkalast 1 hour ago|||
They have an infinite money glitch in Steam, it hardly matters for them even if it makes a loss as long as it propagates the ecosystem.
3eb7988a1663 1 hour ago||
They have a money printer that gives them nearly unlimited flexibility. Being a private company means Gabe can do long-term investments without concern.

Steam has been an incredibly good steward of its position, but I fear for the day when capitalism finally sinks its claws into the platform.

dismalaf 1 hour ago|||
> capitalism finally sinks its claws

Capitalism has nothing to do with short term greed.

Some CEOs are just too arrogant and think that optimizing for the short term won't hurt goodwill. That's their own failure. Capitalism says nothing about how a business should be run. It's merely defining the idea that humans who own things (capital) allocate their resources and keep the result.

kQq9oHeAz6wLLS 1 hour ago|||
Capitalism doesn't break things, it builds them. You're thinking of greed, which exists in all economic types.
Root_Denied 1 hour ago||
Unregulated capitalism breaks things for sure. That regulation can stem from government intervention or private ownership (or both).

Regulation can also break things if done incorrectly/poorly/inefficiently/corruptly.

foax 4 hours ago||
This is so cool! Coincidentally, I'm currently building something in a similar vein that pushes system metrics out to an Android app so an old phone or tablet can be used as a case screen. The app has widget plugins that expose a repo of metrics received and a GL surface, that can then be used to display fancy visualisations.

Check it out here: https://github.com/xfoa/humours. It's not finished yet, but the basic functionality works. It just has one widget at the moment that draws a spinning cube with temps, etc.

RataNova 4 hours ago|
The main thing I'd worry about is long-term reliability
ismaVQ 3 hours ago||
Hold on , i gotta recharge my front plate
orbital-decay 3 hours ago||
Is it even useful as a faceplate? An active display would be way more accurate at displaying hardware stats when the machine loses power (it'll shut down).
cubefox 2 hours ago|
That's an interesting case of a display being off actually indicating something ("loss of power") which can't be replicated with a bistable screen.

On the other hand, you probably don't want that glow of an active screen all the time. Status LEDs are annoying enough.

toast0 8 minutes ago|||
> That's an interesting case of a display being off actually indicating something ("loss of power") which can't be replicated with a bistable screen.

My kindles usually show a dead battery graphic when I get back to them after a long time away... With enough power storage and the right trigger, this could be done.

jdiff 2 hours ago|||
This screen is entirely independent, with its own power source, so unlike most bistable screens this one could also report when its connection with the Machine is lost, and in a different way than simply turning off.
cubefox 2 hours ago||
It's own power source... Let me guess, solar cells? Batteries? A separate power plug?
jdiff 2 hours ago||
Just a lithium battery.
cubefox 43 minutes ago||
Now I wonder how it gets recharged.
romaniv 4 hours ago||
"Valve will not be making and providing their own e-ink display for the Steam Machine"

Too bad. The picture in the articles looks awesome. Like a device from some alternate reality. Neither retro nor the standard flat-panel LCD.

I don't want to mod a pre-build $1,049 device. I want it to be good our of the box and I'd rather pay more to get more. (If it was a $3K top-of-midrange machine, I would buy it in a second.)

jdiff 4 hours ago|
You're not modding a pre-built $1049 device. The faceplates are removable and swappable with no disassembly needed, and this fancy one connects via bluetooth and is powered via a battery. Entirely non-invasive.
deadbabe 1 hour ago|
e-ink is becoming the new hotness lately. There may soon be a time when you will look at every poster or menu on a wall and wonder if it is paper or an actual e-ink screen that will soon change to some other image. Airports, highway signs, etc.
iso1631 47 minutes ago|
And of course it will be used for advertising, creating massive externalities for barely any income for the land owner, but they won't care because its others that pay
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