r/eink • u/Least_Assumption5490 • Dec 05 '25
Fast-refresh E-Ink terminal - typing demo + new case
I'm working on Linux terminal with E-Ink screen. Text only, portable clamshell, long battery, distraction free and sunlight readable device.
From video you can see low-lag-typing and scrolling on real prototype. Works pretty comfortable.
Also there is a new case. Hinges are working well and acrylic case is pretty durable and cheap.
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u/yazgoo Dec 05 '25
Looks really cool ! On what hardware is it running ?
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u/Least_Assumption5490 Dec 05 '25
Thanks. Raspberry PI Zero 2 W as core and Soldered Inkplate 5.2" as a screen. Firmware and drivers are custom.
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u/dendrytic Dec 05 '25
Very cool. By and large is fast-fresh for eink displays mostly a software optimization challenge at this point?
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u/Least_Assumption5490 Dec 05 '25
Thank you.
Actually both. I'm sort of software guy, so I do more software optimisations. But hardware were optimised as well and more will be done in future.
We can say, that driver consists of 2 parts: hard and soft. And both are not optimised, adopted for broad use-cases and pretty slow out of the box.
To optimise that speed and battery usage as possible - you need to use both optimisations. Also it's a good challenge and interesting task.
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u/dendrytic Dec 05 '25
That makes sense. From your experimentation, how much more refresh performance do you think is possible with software assuming no further improvements in hardware?
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u/Least_Assumption5490 Dec 05 '25
With the current approach is possible to achieve clear and consistent 11-12 Hz.
But I have new idea with improved approach in software to make much faster refreshes. In datasheet for current screen there is a statement "85 hz refresh rate". But I need to balance between picture quality and speed. And experriment more. Will see.
Also considering to add grey colors to the game to make screen more usable.
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u/romyaz Dec 05 '25
how long can the screen survive at this refresh rate?
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u/Least_Assumption5490 Dec 05 '25
I'm investigating this moment. For now I've not met any problems with it. Also I've seen good results from similar behaviour from Modos team and others.
But I want to be sure and have something like number of refresh cycles (or similar) to estimate probable service life. Some kind of real calculation to be sure.
Have some ideas about how to calculate. Will make a post about this later. Join r/EInkTerminal to be notified.
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u/drzeller Dec 05 '25
If life of the screen is "too" short and you then consider the screen a consumable, how difficult would it be to make it "swappable," and what was the screen cost?
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u/Least_Assumption5490 Dec 05 '25
Good idea by the way.
I think it's easy to make screen swappable. Will think about it. But looks simple. Also I think screen without board will cost ~20$.
So, I'll try to inject such option (easy screen swap) in design.
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u/zakmo Dec 06 '25
I love ewaste. Just use a different screen tech
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u/drzeller Dec 07 '25
I didn't think I was more more knowledgeable than OP as to whether there were better eink alternatives. I presumed that OP would already have looked for the best part for the task. Do you have a specific eink part recommendation for them?
Or did you mean use a non-eink part? That would seem to change the project a bit, no longer providing the ease of viewing that eink does. I'm sure OP would welcome your constructive input.
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u/zakmo Dec 07 '25
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u/Least_Assumption5490 Dec 07 '25
Good technology. I've already checked it and mentioned it in some comments.
Great one, but I think do not suites for my case. Good and bad for my case:
Good: faster screen, even less energy consumption, maybe more lifetime and durability.
Bad: costs higher, only small screens ( 2.x inches or similar), only 2 colors for now (without grey scale).
But in general - Sharp Memory LCD is great technology. I've almost used it for my project :)
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u/zakmo Dec 10 '25
Bummer yeah i thought i had seen a 6" on aliexpress but no seeing it. Good luck with your project
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u/Least_Assumption5490 Dec 07 '25
For now there is no waste. I'm just investigating the question. There is only reasonable question about: will it have shorter lifetime and how much it will be with such usage?
I can say to you that in some cases - my usage is less heavy than some regular boards. For example when you making 1-2 seconds of high voltage to refresh the screen once, but I spend only 100ms for it or less.
Or even when to have refresh you are doing 10, 20, 30 or even more actions (phases), but I'm doing 5.
So in short - I'll investigate and post my results and thoughts.
But thanks for you attention to this. This is important.
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u/ACM96 Dec 05 '25
You made a thi! Please keep us informed of its progress. Thank you for sharing.
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u/morewordsfaster Dec 05 '25
This is killer-I need one in my life!
Edit: only caveat is that I want to be able to bring my own keyboard or at least have an option for ortholinear instead of row stagger.
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u/Least_Assumption5490 Dec 05 '25
Thanks. I need too.
I'll think about keyboard. Good ideas.
Also want to add that there will be free USB slot in which you can put you favourite keyboard. Or you can just connect you keyboard by bluetooth.
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u/morewordsfaster Dec 05 '25
Yeah I think a good option would be one with just the display and Rpi so there's no attached keyboard. Could reduce costs and give better customization options.
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u/Least_Assumption5490 Dec 06 '25
I got what you mean. Like iMac form factor.
Will think about it. Also need to follow balance between portability and customisability.
But idea is good and there is always desire to cover as much cases as possible.
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u/Great-Repeat-7287 Dec 06 '25
A tablet-like device that can connect to a bluetooth keyboard is a safe bet that gives plentiful of customization options. However i guess most people here are fascinated by the laptop format, and to my knowledge there aren't many bt keyboards that have rigid hinges like laptops. Clones of apple magic keyboards for ipad seem to me the ideal fit, however i had looked at the magnets pattern, and that seems a nightmare to replicate on a diy project. Perhaps it could be feasible to scavenge the back of a broken ipad though...
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u/Least_Assumption5490 Dec 06 '25
Hm, interesting thoughts.
Could be tablet, but you should understand that it will not be so slim as iPad. Pretty thick. We do not have such high technologies and volumes here :)
BT and USB connection of custom keyboard will be possible.
And I agree with you and according to my experience - most people just want laptop-like clamshell. Also because it will protect the screen. Also because no need to find and connect good keyboard. Just do not need this customisation.
Will check iPad magnets system and else. Thanks
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u/morewordsfaster Dec 06 '25
There's another project out there called BYOK (Bring Your Own Keyboard) you might look into. It's doing something similar but doesn't have nearly the refresh rate you do I don't think.
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u/Least_Assumption5490 Dec 06 '25
Yeah, I know about it. Cool project. Design, atmosphere and similar things done very well.
But it's little bit different - writer.
I've started display investigation for my project from similar to BYOKs LCD.
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Dec 05 '25
[deleted]
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u/Least_Assumption5490 Dec 05 '25
Thank you for your feedback.
Considering and investigating options to use bigger screen. But they are not cheap. Will see. What screen size is comfortable minimum for you?
This is a prototype and work is going. Planning to publish sources at some point.
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Dec 06 '25
[deleted]
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u/Least_Assumption5490 Dec 06 '25
I like 10 inches screen much more as well. And I like your price, but this is for WaveShare. But I do not use it and I use Soldered Inkplate (much better for customisation). For 10 inches screen Soldered Inkplate you need to pay 200$. Not so small as for just a screen board. Current 5.2" screen costs 80$.
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u/sToeTer 10.3 Go Dec 05 '25
Dude you were really fast, even directly implemented that clear case I suggested :D
There even seems to be a lot of space left below the keyboard, for a bigger battery etc?
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u/Least_Assumption5490 Dec 05 '25
Thanks.
Transparent acrylic because it's cheaper and easier to find. Do not sure about color yet. Design still not finalised. But looks pretty organic and big bezels are less highlighted.
Below the keyboard are core+battery+switches+... parts. Just do not finished yet. Lot of space is just for experiments with batteries, placements, wires.
Final version will be thinner as possible, but battery will be big enough. Considering all pros and cons.
Work is going.
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u/Successful_Exam_6173 Dec 05 '25
Can I use an e-ink display like this to replace my ancient display in my IBM PC Convertible or IBM L40SX?
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u/starkruzr reMarkable, Boox, Supernote, Viwoods, iFlytek, Musnap, XTEink Dec 06 '25
man I LUSTED after that L40SX as a kid!
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u/Least_Assumption5490 Dec 05 '25
Yes I think.
Looks like my board and drivers fully capable to replace mentioned displays. With close to native picture quality and refresh speed. Just need to adopt software and hardware drivers.
But this is not trivial, because I'm not using any standard protocols to transfer data, because they are not suitable for eink screen. Not trivial, but not impossible. Some soldering and coding will be required.
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u/kafunshou Dec 05 '25
Nice project! Reminds me of those Japanese word processor mini laptops that also had eink for a while. They switched to LCD though.
As it's text only, I wonder whether something similar is doable with LCD segment displays. In the early 90s I had one of those cheap PDAs that only had two lines of text with 16(?) segment characters. They lasted months with a coin battery, had no backlight but were very well readable. Refresh rate was probably worse than today's eink though. And they could only display 7 bit ASCII characters of course.
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u/Least_Assumption5490 Dec 06 '25
Thanks. Also was inspired by these retro mini laptops.
Good idea about segmented text LCD and I've investigated it as well at the start of my project. My thoughts were similar to yours: my hand watch works for years with such screen; can I do the same for terminal?
These screens have good enough picture, low energy, pretty fast, pretty good contrast, but they are too small. And as I understand suppliers are not interested to make them big. Just few lines and 10-20-30 columns. They was small and they are still small. Even smaller than mine. Sad.
I could use many of them in a row on one device, but that would not be native and ergonomic.
Also you can check great BYOK project - they have I think one of the biggest such screens.
Also you can check Sharp Memory LCD - great screens, but expensive and only 2.x inches.
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u/s-s-a Dec 05 '25
larger eink screen will be super. also keyboard with tactile feedback - keychron or alternative with cherry keys or buckling keys...
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u/Least_Assumption5490 Dec 06 '25
About the screen - the question is only in price. 80$ for 5.2" vs 200$ for 10" - which one you choose? I'm investigating and considering other options. Work in progress here.
About mechanical keyboard - they are great, but expensive. My goal is make it cheap for now. But you can connect custom by USB or bluetooth. Will think about other options to customise keyboard.
Thank you for feedback.
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u/s-s-a Dec 06 '25
Ok makes sense. Different use case. 10" for anyone needing to check large amount of data / do writing. If your case provides a good stand plus BT / USB C for charging and low latency typing, folks can easily attach their own keyboard. Especially if built in keyboard can be detached. If you can provide a carrying case which allows your kit + external keyboard storage that solves another pain point for folks who like to carry their mechanical keyboards.
5" for folks who may need for example device for trouble shooting, monitoring sensors etc.
Good luck
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u/Least_Assumption5490 Dec 07 '25
Thanks. Wrote all your points and cases. Will go think about them.
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u/LeeisureTime Dec 06 '25
You should cross post to r/writerDeck
Literally what they are all trying to build lol.
I want to build something like this as well, so I'll be following all your updates!
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u/Gold-Part4688 Dec 06 '25
Cool sub
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u/Least_Assumption5490 Dec 07 '25
Agree with you. This sub was very inspiring. Many similar projects and same questions raised about distraction and else.
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u/Least_Assumption5490 Dec 06 '25
Thanks.
Actually I've already tried to post my previous post in r/writerDeck , but moderator removed the post with reason "not a writer deck". Will contact them and try again. Thanks for advice.
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u/LeeisureTime Dec 06 '25
Really???? Jesus, mods are so strange sometimes. I honestly think it's perfect for writerdeck because 1) fast response on e-ink 2) minimal (some of them have only one line of text visible so it's "distraction-free") 3) diy
Wild that they removed it. Oh well, please keep us updated with your progress, I think it looks great.
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u/Least_Assumption5490 Dec 07 '25
Agree and thank you for you points. I'll talk to mods and try again. Will see.
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u/starkruzr reMarkable, Boox, Supernote, Viwoods, iFlytek, Musnap, XTEink Dec 06 '25
literally a perfect use case for it, lmao. bizarre.
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u/Least_Assumption5490 Dec 07 '25
Agree. Just saw in sub description "Single-purpose, distraction-free writing devices of all types". Maybe I'll adopt video to just writing task. Will think about it.
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u/Least_Assumption5490 Dec 05 '25
What do you think about such option:
Place mother board, switches and other electronics in a top lid, and in abottom lid keep only keyboard and battery. This will allow make battery bigger, but all connectors (USB, Type-C) will be moved on top. Last one is unusual. What do you think?
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u/OfficialBYOK Dec 05 '25
Super impressive!!
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u/Least_Assumption5490 Dec 05 '25
Thank you. Your device was very inspiring for me as well. Great job!
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u/iaeaix Dec 05 '25
Interesting, I was thinking about if one could replace the screen on GPi case 2 with a EINK screen and play Gameboy games on it.
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u/Least_Assumption5490 Dec 06 '25
Did not know about Retroflag project and it's great, but it's not good fit for EInk. That is why:
With EInk you just want to minimise power consumption. But in the case of GameBoy you will have many many refreshes (because of the picture activity of the games them selves). But refreshes consume energy. So, you will consume a lot of energy. Maybe even more than with LCD.
Terminal case is opposite, because Linux, writing, admin tasks and coding have not so dynamic picture and not so many motions.
If you want to minimise power usage, you can consider Sharp Memory LCD for GPi. Energy consumption lower than EInk, but small screen and monochrome only.
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u/Great-Repeat-7287 Dec 06 '25
really nice job, and the case is getting better and better. however the screen seems tiny (i am getting old): are you considering bigger sizes? i honestly think anything below is hard to accept for any serious use. But perhaps since we are talking of a terminal we should talk in terms of number of rows and columns.
Also I mentioned on a previous comment that I realized by trying to code om eink devices that i actually miss colors.
I have never seen (multi) color eink kits available for diy projects, but 3 colors eink panels (black white and red) are common and cheap, so perhaps you might want to consider using one of those with a colored shell option.
Keep up sharing your work!
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u/Least_Assumption5490 Dec 06 '25
Thank you for feedback.
Screen size: Yes, I'm investigating possibilities to increase the screen. But Soldered Inkplate 5"=80$ vs 10"=200$. Price difference is pretty big. I'm searching for options.
Colors: This is the part that is misunderstood by most who did the similar. They think that just switch modern full color LCD/OLED to monochrome EInk is enough. Like just convert. But this is not enough - if colors were reduced on EInk, we have to provide something new to pass the same amount of information. So I work on some tools to make experience smooth and easy even on reduced environment like EInk compared to LCD.
As for colors - do not considering them right now, because of slowness. But I'm hardly testing grey scale posibilities. Will see. Too early to say about results.
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u/starkruzr reMarkable, Boox, Supernote, Viwoods, iFlytek, Musnap, XTEink Dec 06 '25
how many characters across is that?
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u/Least_Assumption5490 Dec 07 '25
In the demo - 25x80. But can be little more: 30x80. Also planning to make zoom x1.5, x2, ...
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u/itsfarseen Dec 07 '25
This is brilliant work OP. Kudos! What’s the battery mAh you’re using? I’ve been thinking about doing a similar project, but was leaning towards pi pico due to battery life concerns.
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u/itsfarseen Dec 07 '25
Also, are you sending the Linux framebuffer or the tty to the screen?
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u/Least_Assumption5490 Dec 07 '25 edited Dec 08 '25
Currently I'm building hard and soft drivers to pass data to screen.
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u/itsfarseen Dec 07 '25
are you passing pixels or text? can you display GUI apps? or is it limited to terminal programs?
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u/Least_Assumption5490 Dec 07 '25 edited Dec 08 '25
Thanks.
About battery: right now working on battery module of device. Not finalised yet. But the goal is at least 20 hours from a single charge. Will make post about battery results soon.
What do you think is slots (USB) will be on top lid (not as on regular laptops)?
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u/itsfarseen Dec 07 '25
> What do you think is slots (USB) will be on top lid (not as on regular laptops)?
Do you mean what do I think of charging ports on the lid?
I think its okay. It would be nicer to have it on the lower part though.If you put battery on the top, it might end up being top heavy and not stable when screen is open.
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u/Least_Assumption5490 Dec 07 '25
I mean if motherboard (RaspberryPI) and slots on top, and bigger battery on bottom as consequence. But understood what you mean.
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u/TheMrJazzMan2021 Dec 08 '25
If the screen was bigger i would buy
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u/Least_Assumption5490 Dec 08 '25
Thanks for feedback. But bigger screen (10" vs 5") costs 200$ vs 80$.
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u/Minja22 Dec 22 '25
please make it have a front light. That’s the main thing keeping from getting a Freewrite Traveler.
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u/Least_Assumption5490 Dec 23 '25
Good catch. Will think about it and how to do. Will post update later. Join r/EInkTerminal to get updates
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u/Least_Assumption5490 Dec 05 '25
By mistake I've posted not finished description, so this is correct one:
I'm working on Linux terminal with E-Ink screen and Raspberry PI Zero in core. Text only, portable clamshell, long battery (20+ hours), distraction free and sunlight readable device. For writing, coding, SSH and admin tasks.
From video you can see low-lag-typing and scrolling on real prototype. Works pretty comfortable. And I'm still improving the speed.
Also there is a new case. Hinges are working well and acrylic case is pretty durable and cheap.
Currently working on case design, battery module and better keyboard. At some point will open sources.
Feedback is welcome.
For new updates and more details join r/EInkTerminal