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Show HN: Paperd.ink – an open-source e-paper development board (paperd.ink)

195 points by robertlangdon ↗ HN
paperd.ink (https://paperd.ink) is an open-source e-paper development board. We wanted to build something with e-paper given its low-power nature and beautiful, high contrast display which complements your environment and is easy on the eye. Thus, we started working on something to be developed along the lines of Arduino, Raspberry Pi’s open-source ecosystem.

paperd.ink has a 4.2” e-paper display comes mounted on the PCB which we have designed to be a general-purpose development board suitable for your projects and applications. You can sync calendars, set up your home IoT dashboard, get to-do lists, and notifications, display art, etc. We have used an ESP32-based microcontroller with WiFi, Bluetooth, and microUSB connectivity. The board can be programmed in Arduino IDE, micropython, or ESP-IDF, you can check out the documentation at docs.paperd.ink. paperd.ink is designed to be low power so you can charge the battery once and go on for months on it depending on the refresh rate. It’s suitable to display low to medium latency or static information. Every paperd.ink comes with a hand-polished, 3D-printed external enclosure.

The first paperd.ink prototype was first posted on Show HN (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22340398) and other related communities (Reddit, Hackaday, etc) a little more than 2 years ago. We had a landing page, a short video of the prototype, and a user survey form asking a couple of questions along with a “Would you like to be a part of the waitlist?” question in the end. We got quite an interest from everyone on it so we decided to move ahead.

After receiving a positive response to the prototype, the next step was to figure out how to actually bring the product to the real world. We had no upfront capital required for manufacturing so we decided to do a crowdfunding campaign (finding a platform supporting our country India was another issue). At the same time, the pandemic happened which delayed everything because of unfeasible component prices, supply chain issues, and lockdowns everywhere. After researching thoroughly and formulating a production plan and figuring out unit economics, we launched the crowdfunding campaign roughly last year and had the 2nd Show HN post (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27331311). In the course of promoting the campaign, we got in contact with FOSS United which is a non-profit foundation that aims at promoting and strengthening the Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) ecosystem in India. FOSS United offered us a grant and that’s how we survived despite failing to achieve our crowdfunding target goal (we had ~40%).

After accepting the grant, we tweaked the PCB a bit and redesigned the external enclosure to make it ready for production. Scouted for manufacturers, suppliers, and shipping agents. Samples were ordered and tested. Test criteria and SOPs were exchanged. Vacuum casting (or any other method of manufacturing) of the enclosures was out of the question given the high NRE cost and high quantity needed to be manufactured, so we 3D printed them. Finally, the first batch was ready in the inventory to be shipped. All the orders received until now have been shipped and users should start receiving them shortly. Thanks to the HN community and our early supporters for everything. And special thanks to Daniel (moderator) for helping with the post. We plan to get feedback on the first batch and then decide on how to move forward. Please feel free to ask any questions!

68 comments

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sxp
An ESP32+eink is a fun gadget. I got a https://shop.m5stack.com/products/m5paper-esp32-development-... before it went out of stock and it makes a nice weather station/status display that pulls info down from an in-house web server.
robertlangdon
Indeed. Fun fact: e-ink is the name of the brand whereas e-paper display is the general term.
Wowfunhappy
Annoyingly, I've also seen e-paper used to refer to memory LCDs. Pebble, for example, called the screens on their smartwatches "e-paper".
denkmoon
Wow that looks fantastic. Sadly I have to cut back on buying dev toys that I never end up using, but I wish you all the best.
edent
It looks like a lovely project - and congratulations on the grant!

How much did they cost backers to buy? It's such a shame that eInk screens are so expensive.

robertlangdon
Thanks! We're selling the dev board for 89USD along with a free 3d printed enclosure and free shipping.

Edit: typos

alejoar
This looks really nice. Does it contain a touch screen? I'm assuming not since I can't find mention of it.
robertlangdon
It does not. Touch screen e-paper displays (like Kindles) are too expensive, consume significantly more power and have a noticeable lag in the response when you try to use them. paperd.ink is more of an output device.
alejoar
Gotcha, thanks for the answer!
ajsnigrutin
Why this instead of eg. M5Paper [0]?

Similar price, been thinking to buy something like that, but delaying the decision, hoping PineNote[1] comes out soon :D

[0] https://shop.m5stack.com/collections/m5stack-new-arrival/pro...

[1] https://www.pine64.org/pinenote/

robertlangdon
Fair. Personally I am not a big fan of touch because of the latency in response and paperd.ink is open-source. PineNote is a whole different beast though.
konschubert
I will just shamelessly add to the list this wooden 7.5 inch display that I have been working on over the past two years:

https://www.invisible-computers.com/programmable-e-paper-scr...

Price-wise it's in between the M5Paper and the PineNote, but personally I think it's the best-looking one for the smart display use case. :P

konschubert
Also, since this is HN, I'd like to mention that I am looking for collaborators/co-founders to work with me on this project. You can contact me at mail@konstantinschubert.com
adolph
the more the merrier
bArray
> Why this instead of eg. M5Paper [0]?

I think they compete in the same space. I think at this point it's just a matter of ecosystem.

> Similar price, been thinking to buy something like that, but delaying the decision, hoping PineNote[1] comes out soon :D

Bare in mind this won't just be a microcontroller but an entire fully capable Linux computer. It's really a significant step up.

mastazi
I know that this is completely off-topic but I need to know: how do you make a HN post that has a link _and_ text at the same time? Seems like this form[1] does not allow that.

[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/submit

robertlangdon
Fill in the first two entries for Title and URL and have "Show HN: " in the beginning of the title, that should work (or Show HN submissions, not sure about other kinds of posts.
SrGMC
This looks really nice! And congrats on the grant!

The product comes already assembled or it is a kit? If not, do you plan to sell it in kit form? For us that can't 3D print or build PCBs but want to tinker with it.

robertlangdon
Thanks! One unit will have a devboard (PCB) with e-paper display connected on the front side. And there's also the enclosure set which has a front panel, back panel, 4 buttons and 2 stands (check this to get a better idea https://docs.paperd.ink/docs/3d-files/assembly/). We don't send assembled enclosure with devboard, that is DIY.
bambax
> paperd.ink has a 4.2” e-paper display

If your target market is the whole world, please also provide dimensions using the metric system. For most of the world, inches don't mean anything.

4.2” is approx. 10.7 cm.

croon
I'm a staunch metric supporter, but to be fair I have never encountered a country that measures screens as anything other than inches.
prox
Still it’s nice to do to give you an idea (and vice versa to imperial)
tashbarg
Probably because diagonal is the only supplied value. That is mostly used for comparing screen sizes and little else. At least in my metric world.

You could probably measure screen sizes in fractions of blue whales and it would work out exactly the same for most folks.

franga2000
Many places in europe have legal requirements about using national standard units. In Slovenia for example, you'll always see both inch and cm diagonal measurements for screens (with W×H usually only in cm).
snvzz
>powered by an ESP32 module

Immediate questions raised include "Which one?" and "Why aren't you telling me which one in the first place?!". Particularly so for a product that is supposed to be open source.

There's major differences between ESP32 modules. E.g. only some of them are on RISC-V CPUs. The others use a CPU which is less common and less well-supported by open toolchains.

numlock86
Seems to be ESP-S3, ESP32-D0WDQ6 specifically.
mrlinx
I've tried looking, but can't find a good battery for it. Could you maybe link a few examples in the FAQ?
vbezhenar
Sorry for nitpicking, but why MicroUSB instead of USB-C in new projects?
skyfaller
Anecdotally, I'll note that some USB-C stuff is rather power-hungry, compared to MicroUSB gadgets. I have a portable solar panel that easily charges my Kindle over MicroUSB, but struggles to make headway with many of my USB-C devices. I don't know if this is due to USB-C itself consuming power somehow, or if the higher amount of power that USB-C can supply means that USB-C devices put less effort into keeping power requirements low.
samatman
USB-C is simply a form factor for a port, one which has only advantages compared to MicroUSB.

Your observation is valid in that USB-C frequently comes with a high power draw for charging batteries. When one isn't using a small solar panel, it's generally better to charge as fast as is compatible with battery health, so that's no bad thing.

But a Kindle which was aftermarket modified to use USB-C would have the same power requirements, just with a durable and bidirectional port. I encourage anyone making a device now to use USB-C, Micro doesn't have advantages and should be deprecated. We'll be stuck with it for a decade+ as it is, we should strive not to prolong the frustration.

InitialLastName
> Micro doesn't have advantages and should be deprecated.

Plus it's mechanically flimsy beyond all reason.

eternityforest
It's even worse than Mini.

USB-C is the one port I'll probably never complain about seeing. I was suspicious of the dynamic voltage selection when it first came out, but it has proven itself to be extremely reliable.

Micro HDMI(And even full size HDMI) are also pretty awful.

cultofmetatron
also, the current kindles use usbc now.

now if only apple would update the airpods..

samatman
The lightning system is limited compared to USB-C and I won't miss it when it's finally gone.

But it's a perfectly cromulent connector, which Micro never was.

InitialLastName
The difference here is more likely to be between the Kindle (a notably low-power-draw device) and the other newer devices, especially the ones whose charging circuits are designed to take advantage of modern USB-C power delivery capabilities because people want their devices to charge faster.

There is nothing inherent to MicroUSB that draws less power except that it is older than the standards that allow USB to provide more power (and thus used in devices that don't draw as much power).

IshKebab
Looks like a nice case. How does it compare to the Inkplate? They offer colour and touchscreen versions with bigger screens for barely any more money (though you pay extra for a case).
robertlangdon
They use recycled kindles hence the color and touchscreen I guess.
user_7832
> failing to achieve our crowdfunding target goal (we had ~40%)

Fwiw what I've heard regarding crowdfunding isn't so much that you put your product on a crowdfunding website to raise money, as much as you already have a marketing plan with enough people on your email lists etc who're willing to pay money, and once the Kickstarter/indigogo is live, these people come to the site. That's also how apparently those "2000% funded in 2 days!" stuff happens, which isn't surprising if you look at how shady some of them look.

robertlangdon
That seems to be one strategy. For us, we had about 500 people who filled our very first user research form and we kept a target of minimum 300 orders to be able to manufacture the units and at least break even. Turns out, not even half of the 500 folks read our crowdfunding launch email. We didn't have any money to spend on paid promotion. So we then did everything, from posting on relevant social media channels to trying to get articles written about us by blogs to cold emailing people who I thought would like the product - and one of them did who offered us the FOSSUnited grant! I guess whatever works best for your product/campaign.
user_7832
I think I remember seeing a comment on another HN post today about startups/cos. that the people who say they'd spend money and those who do can be an order of magnitude off. In any case, fortunately you do have a product now which is good (and looks nice too!) :)
robertlangdon
Sorry I don't get it. Do you mean people spend huge amounts of money to promote the product? And thanks! Just wanted to make a minimum lovable product.
user_7832
No, what I'd meant in that comment is that estimates can be very off despite trying to get the most accurate numbers. Unfortunately I don't have any practical experience so take whatever I saw with a grain of salt.

I might have had an option to "pre-book" with a small but significant (say $49) deposit for those who'd say they'd pay for it right when you ask them. - it can help push them to commit. I'd imagine spending more on (targeted) ads could also help thought it would ofc cost more too.

Don't worry, the product is pretty lovable. I'd definitely buy it if I had a job (still studying).

robertlangdon
(OP here) Update: We sold out the first batch of paperd.ink! Thanks to each one of our supporters, we managed to pull this off because of you. As next step, we would love to talk with the users once they have paperd.ink in their hands. And for those who missed out, you can drop your emails or keep a track of our social media to be updated. Thanks again!

PS: I will reply to the pending comments shortly. Sorry things have been busy here (our website crashed twice in the last 5 hours).

konschubert
Hey, I can't see it on your page, what's your selling price?

I am selling a very similar programmable display for $169, but it has a bigger screen and a wooden frame:

https://www.invisible-computers.com/programmable-e-paper-scr...

I suspect your price point is much lower than mine?

robertlangdon
As commented by another user, we were selling for 89$ with free 3d printed enclosure and free shipping. However, the size of screen is smaller.
teekert
This, but then somehow (close to) plug an play with Home Assistant... That would be very cool.

I guess, since it is a development board, I just have to wait for someone to do it (or wait until my own retirement to find the time ;))

K0balt
I think you will find libraries for that on the esp32 that this uses are already available.
tksb
Being ESP32-based should make it trivially easy to use with ESPHome[0] in Home Assistant. I use ESPHome + HA with countless M5Stack ESP32 units.

[0] https://esphome.io

paulcole
> “ Overall, this is very close to what I've wanted…”

Sometimes I wonder if companies make up their testimonials. This is not one of those times.

xd1936
I wish there was a good 30"+ sized ePaper display with driver that didn't cost $1,000+
robertlangdon
If only! Maybe when the patents finally expire, it'll take off like 3D printing did.
Abishek_Muthian
Congratulations on the launch!

You posted paperd.ink on needgap(My problem validation platform) about 2 years ago[1], It feels amazing that you were able to deliver your product.

I understand the difficulty in building hardware products out of India without access to the crowdfunding platforms, As I've myself dabbled recently to host crowdfunding on my own website for a hardware product and it's easy to imagine how it would have gone.

So, My appreciation to the folks at FOSS UNITED for funding paperd.in and my best wishes for the success of the project.

[1] 'Affordable E-Ink large external displays' - https://needgap.com/problems/43

robertlangdon
Thanks Abhishek! It's a pleasant surprise to see you again and remember about needgap.