Skip to content
Hallway
0:00 / 0:00

#e-paper#e-ink#firmware

E-paper hacking: fastest possible refresh rate

Applied Science

891K subscribers • 6 videos on Hallway

YouTube
  • Recommended by 4 people: 4 on Hacker News.
  • Presented by Ben Krasnow, creator of Applied Science

Intermediate. Assumes working knowledge.

582K views9 years ago4 recommendations

HardwareSystems programmingEmbedded systemsElectronics

Ben Krasnow explains how electrophoretic e-paper displays work and demonstrates how to modify driver firmware and waveform lookup tables for faster refresh rates.

How to modify E-paper display firmware to get 3Hz update rate. Links to all datasheets and sources: benkrasnow.blogspot.com/2017/10/fast-partial-refresh-on-42-e… Patreon: patreon.com/AppliedScience

Why it's here

4 people recommend this

What people say. Highly recommended as an exceptional explanation of e-ink display physics and the reverse engineering of proprietary display waveforms.

guitarbillon Hacker News • Recommends

On “E Ink Waveforms are a closely guarded secret”

Ben Krasnow (Applied Science on YouTube) did some research into driving e-Ink displays, and he made some similar observations: > All of the lookup table information has been removed from this datasheet, because the industry thrives on secrecy or something Highly recommended, as usual for him it's a great video/write-up: * link to this video * link
View on Hacker News

reom_tobiton Hacker News • Recommends

On “Hacking Together an E-ink Dashboard”

…eed camera footage of the displays just to see the gears turn. I’ll have a look round and edit this comment if I find any. e: found one. link also a video from an engineering channel that normally gives good insight into these things, I have watched it yet so it may not be great, but Applied Engineering normally brings some interesting material. link to this video…
View on Hacker News

sparker72678on Hacker News • Recommends

On “Reasonably priced color e-ink display”

…not truly mixing the various colors at the base level. Maybe there are other e-ink displays doing something else, but all the ones I've seen are doing some form of this approach. Here's a fascinating video on how these displays work, and how you can modify the firmware of the driver to get faster refresh rates (with an increased risk of burn-in). link to this video…
View on Hacker News

sparker72678on Hacker News • Recommends

On “Reasonably priced color e-ink display”

Great video on these sorts of displays, what they're capable of, and perhaps some inspiration for any hobby projects: link to this video
View on Hacker News

progman32on Hacker News • Recommends

On “Show HN: Low-power Kindle-based dashboard”

It's possible to refresh e-ink without a global flash if you are careful and have a clever controller. I don't think this video directly addresses this but it gives a good overview on the problem space link to this video
View on Hacker News

jrockwayon Hacker News • Mentions

On “PineTime Is a $25 Smartwatch / Companion for PinePhone Linux Phone”

I built an e-ink clock recently. E-ink has two downsides; the datasheet says that the display will be damaged if it's refreshed more than every 3 minutes (I ignore that and refresh it every minute, so we'll see if it lasts) and the black/white/black refresh cycle is very visually distracting. Having that thing in the field of view just doesn't work. Both of these issues can be gotten around with a different refresh algorithm, but of course the datasheet doesn't include any of them. The vendors regard their refresh logic as proprietary and so you have to spend months trying to figure out what will work, like this: link to this video
View on Hacker News

jaquerson Hacker News • Mentions

On “E Ink just unveiled a new type of color e-paper”

I don't think so. It's easy to "paint" over white because that's the base color of the medium, but "painting" over another color means you have to clear it first. link to this video
View on Hacker News

BeefySwainon Hacker News • Mentions

On “13.3" full color ePaper display”

My understanding of electronic paper displays is almost entirely founded in the great Applied Science0 video about it. I have to assume that the way that a full color electronic paper display is done would be vastly different than the method that the 3 color displays work. Anyone have any insight into this? 0 link to this video
View on Hacker News

teruakohatuon Hacker News • Mentions

On “New 10.3″ Waveshare E Ink Monitor”

I don't think they are incapable, they are actively hiding information. Ben Krasnow had to reverse engineer a screen to figure out how to better refresh it. link to this video Eink could have changed the world, yet the only eink display I and many people have it our kindle.
View on Hacker News

jrockwayon Hacker News • Mentions

On “UpNext – an ePaper digital calendar for your desk”

I didn't design these things, so all I know is that the datasheet says the lifetime will be reduced if you update it more than once every five minutes. A clock with a minutes display exceeds that by 5x. (And indeed, the display I used did break! I have no idea why, but it just stopped updating one day.) Ben explains some of the constants that can be tweaked here: link to this video
View on Hacker News

sparker72678on Hacker News • Mentions

On “Reasonably priced color e-ink display”

For single or double-color displays, you can do pretty decently. This Applied Sciences video on YT goes over what's possible. link to this video
View on Hacker News

NoodleIncidenton Hacker News • Mentions

On “Reasonably priced color e-ink display”

Colored e-ink displays are discussed at around 8:00 in this video; there are probably better sources, but this is the one I'm familiar with, so I figured I'd link it: link to this video The microcapsules are not individually wired up to anything, so I don't think it's feasible to make each color channel independently addressable. Instead, a grid of wires behind the capsules are either positively or negatively charged, in order to attract or repel the charged colored particles in each capsule. There are only 2 charges, but by using different sizes of particles for different colors, you can finagle it so that the color you want ends up on top. If they could address capsules individually, that would also…
View on Hacker News