I worked on a number of digital photo frames, including on ones like that.<p>E-ink is not the most suitable thing for it in its current form.<p>First, large size EPD cost an arm, and a leg, and custom one costs even more.<p>Second, there are no 8 bit EPD controllers as of now a mortal can buy, which means grays look very bad.<p>Third, there are inherent physical limitations which make increasing gray resolution of EPDs quite hard. The precision you want, the slower would the refresh rate be.<p>If somebody is old enough to remember, (saying this as a 30 years old is indeed amusing to myself) the last active matrix monochrome LCDs had 8 bit, and more of gray resolution, but they are all discontinued now, or cost an arm, and a leg as "medical imaging" specialty.
The title reads like a blog post (great for HN!), but the site link is just a company selling frames. Their byline is:<p><pre><code> Digital artwork for your living room. New every day.
</code></pre>
So surely somebody did build a picture frame but this is not an article about that.
Mirror. <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20201212192629/https://framelabs.eu/en/" rel="nofollow">https://web.archive.org/web/20201212192629/https://framelabs...</a><p>Looks like a commercial product though. This should probably be a "Show HN".
I also built a similar frame, but instead it shows informal stuff like calendar events, weather etc.<p><a href="https://polso.info/raspberry-pi-e-ink-photo-frame-video-and-full-source-code" rel="nofollow">https://polso.info/raspberry-pi-e-ink-photo-frame-video-and-...</a>
We killed it..<p><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20201212192629/https://framelabs.eu/en/" rel="nofollow">https://web.archive.org/web/20201212192629/https://framelabs...</a>
.. and i am selling it that's why i am posting here the company website ?<p>Misleading title, add "Show HN" and if you mention building something please show how.
"True Minimalism"<p>No, true minimalism would be doing without this needless frame.<p>I actually think it's cool though I'd want one much much MUCH larger. My comment is mostly about the smug comment at the end. It's not minimalism to clutter your life with a superfluous gadget
I am building something like this, but the pandemic has prevented me from collaborating with my frame maker. The e-ink panel I have has a fairly fragile ribbon cable we are trying to hide inside the frame with some clever cuts. I am not sure how the panels for Kindles allow them to have such small margins.<p>The biggest problem I have is fitting a battery into the frame -- I was trying to find a low profile USB battery pack that could output 5V for RPi Zero. Maybe I should wire up some battery cells directly to evenly distribute the weight?
I had this idea years ago! I'm glad someone finally did it. One thought. From a philosophical point of view, I would want this to be something that "lasts forever". So it would be nice if it were solar powered and ran off of an SD card rather than being web-based. Just an opinion from an HN extremist - take it in context. Still, it's scratching an itch for me. Your website is down so I didn't see how much it costs but I'll check back in a bit.<p>Also, get behind a CDN ASAP!!
Very cool. This reminds me of another HN post where someone made an E Ink frame to display the New York Times front page everyday:
<a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22831323" rel="nofollow">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22831323</a>
I've setup multiple "Photo frames" with Raspberry Pi zero connected with screen of different size, which fetches the photos stored on local hard drive hosted with Lomorage running on Raspberry Pi 4. Check it out, <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/raspberry_pi/comments/fj3li8/digtal_photo_frames_setup_using_raspberry_pi_zero/" rel="nofollow">https://www.reddit.com/r/raspberry_pi/comments/fj3li8/digtal...</a>
I wanted to make something like this, I think it's a great idea.<p>People might be in for a rude awakening if someone figures out how to hack it remotely though, lol
If you can get an old Kobo eReader it actually had software built in for an image based slideshow that was accessible. It's a good but small eink screen.<p>I had a few set up for it. But the dream would have been to have them networked and remotely accessible to update the content. I believe they were running on Linux so it would probably be doable.
I bought my first arduino because I wanted information radiators I could just hang on an office wall, without a network cable for sure. And without a power cord if at all possible. I never got far. I could probably build now what I wanted then, but I’m not sure anyone would find it compelling, least of all me.
I actually built one myself, but used raspberry pi so it needs usb cable for power. It works well but contrast on the display is not that good for photos. Would work well for text or like smart home panel.<p><a href="https://imgur.com/a/HraSGsj" rel="nofollow">https://imgur.com/a/HraSGsj</a>
This is an advertisement linking to a broken storefront in case anyone was wondering.<p>Maybe the creator can share more about the design of this device (ex/ what embedded device you're using (ESP32?), is an ASIC driving the display, epaper supplier, etc.)?<p>Have you considered using E INKs Kaleido coloured epaper?
I found the image server, in the spirit of using your device for fun and interesting things (say nothing of privacy).. Why would you need the online converter, if you selfhost the image-server?<p>(potential customer here, but wanna use it not for pictures but for "daily status")
I thought this project looked really cool. Maybe it'll give you some ideas!<p><a href="https://onezero.medium.com/the-morning-paper-revisited-35b407822494" rel="nofollow">https://onezero.medium.com/the-morning-paper-revisited-35b40...</a>
Looks pretty neat.<p>I only wish it were USB-C. If the battery really lasts years, I won't have any micro-USB laying around when I next need to charge it.<p>I only had two of those cables left, and had to throw one out this week since it stopped working.
I love this and have wanted it forever. I was actually ready to buy but I have no use for the 9.7” size in regards to an actual art display. It’s just way to small for anything but family photos, which I like to be in color and on my desk.
Until the page is accessible again, here are some pictures and a picture transition: <a href="https://www.instagram.com/framelabs.eu/" rel="nofollow">https://www.instagram.com/framelabs.eu/</a>
Nice idea and cool how you made it into a product. Could you provide us with a tad more technical specs? Since the website is down and it isn't archived yet would be good to see some of that tech specs here.
I planned to do similar with an Inkplate[1] I purchased<p>[1] <a href="https://inkplate.io/" rel="nofollow">https://inkplate.io/</a>