A question of eInk and Pis...
Starhawk wrote 02/19/2019 at 02:54 • 1 pointI have not had good luck here on the Stack, so I'm either a glutton for punishment or someone who does not learn.
At any rate... I want to drive a 9.7in Kindle ePaper display (model ED097OC1) from eBay with a RasPi. I am not capable of rolling my own controller "hat" for this purpose (and I'm not stupid enough to ask to outsource work like that to you guys... again). I have not decided between a RasPi Zero, RasPi Zero W, or RasPi 3.
Are there any ready-made such drivers for that display and computer combination that I could get on eBay or Tindie or elsewhere...?
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You should also do some research on e-ink refresh. My Kindle flickers for a fraction of a second when changing pages. Unless you are able to do a repaint of a limited area, e-ink displays may not be able to keep up with typing.
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If you want to seriously approach using a Kindle screen, you should check out https://fread.ink, particularly the hope talk (maybe you've seen it before?). There is nothing trivial about Kindle e-ink which should cause you pause in considering how reasonable your constraints / goals are. If your goal is to struggle, learn, and grow through really obscure technical specs and contrived abstractions then this is the project for you! If you want a typewriter so you can type - get a typewriter.
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I'm really looking for something in between. A bit of a noob-level project that's still a project and not just "plunk on desk, done", if you know what I mean.
Thank you for that interesting bit, though...
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I recommend that instead of stating the solution that you state the problem something like: I have data on my rpi that I want to display on my Kindle. Any constraints? State them.
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I don't have an eInk typewriter and I want to build one. Obviously it needs to be able to legibly display text. I need a screen bigger than seven inches because seven-inch screens are quite cramped to me. I also need LibreOffice compatibility, because that's what I write in. Other than that, I'd like to keep costs as low as is reasonably possible (although I understand that a large eInk display runs somewhat contrary to that). I have a Pi Zero 1.3 with a pogopin 4-port USB hub that I could use, if it's suitable.
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OK, good now we are progressing. Directing your display data from the rpi to the kindle is the objective. (I think an interesting one). Do you also want to direct touch actions from Kindle to rpi? Or will you use a KB and mouse that are connected to the rpi? This makes me sound pedantic but what we are doing is defining the problem by stating requirements. A good engineering approach (Analysis, design, implementation, test, releaser, field-follow) and we are using paola's methods for "how to solve it" from his book.
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One, not an actual kindle plz.
A capacitive touch eInk screen would be nice... failing that I can deal with a mouse but I know, because of how slowly those screens update, that it'll be kinda awkward.
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Now I am going to jump to "how to solve it"; one of his (Paola's)steps is to ask if anyone has solved this or something similar before. I looked around and saw this: https://www.adafruit.com/product/2406; yes it is 7" but pretty close. I also looked at google: "raspberry pi hdmi"; and then took a look at Amazon products to "cast or mirror" the display google: "amazon kindle cast to kindle". I am not proposing that these solve the problem (by meeting the requirements); It is part of looking at similar problems/solutions.
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That display is neither eInk nor touch, and too small. Three strikes, it's out, dude...
This would work if the price could be cut down to somewhere between 33%-50% of marked --> https://www.waveshare.com/product/modules/oleds-lcds/e-paper/9.7inch-e-paper-hat.htm
This would probably also work, but it's right at the threshold of readable resolution. It's also more expensive than I'd like, although in this case the price is at least something I can achieve --> https://www.waveshare.com/product/modules/oleds-lcds/e-paper/6inch-e-paper-hat.htm
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Responding to all, more-or-less at once... it's unfortunate that the Kindle displays are a PITA to drive - the Waveshare ones really aren't high resolution enough for what I want, and anything smaller than ten imches of screen space gets cramped quickly.
What I wanted to do was an eInk typewriter like in the blog feature, but with full LibreOffice because - horror of horrors - that's what I find easiest to write in.
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Yes, I would not complicate my life pursuing something like this without the right hardware/sotfware to interface with this and use something like Krzystof recommended:
https://www.waveshare.com/7.5inch-e-paper-hat.htm -> Already compatible with PI
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Maybe this would help you: https://www.waveshare.com/e-paper-driver-hat.htm ("Comes with development resources and manual (examples for Raspberry Pi/Arduino/STM32)")
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Our of curiosity I did a quick search on that model number on the Internet and saw a couple of interesting references: 1. a makeuseof post about somebody who programmed a FPGA to drive that display, 2. someone who recommended an Epson controller chip. To me those suggest that the display requires precise drive waveforms, not something you can do with GPIO lines. FWIW. Good luck hunting.
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