[HN Gopher] I built Timeframe, our family e-paper dashboard
___________________________________________________________________
I built Timeframe, our family e-paper dashboard
Author : saeedesmaili
Score : 1510 points
Date : 2026-02-22 19:12 UTC (1 days ago)
(HTM) web link (hawksley.org)
(TXT) w3m dump (hawksley.org)
| NikxDa wrote:
| This is super cool, and I wish something like this existed at my
| place, as it enables information sharing without the need for
| phones/actual screens that shine in your face when the lights are
| low or tempt you to doomscroll.
|
| That said, the large primary display this uses is $2000. That's
| very hard to justify for any "normal" household, and that's
| without any mounts, backend, services etc.
| ryanckulp wrote:
| OP's Timeframe looks rad, but yes on the pricy side. check out
| trmnl .com for smaller / less expensive options and self hosted
| options. (disclaimer: i'm on the team)
| rolfus wrote:
| I made this thing [1] for us, it uses a cheap 10" e-paper
| display off aliexpress, an ESP32 and a couple of I2C sensors.
| The case is 3D-printed. It runs on two 18650 batteries, and all
| in all it cost less than 100$. The OpenWeather API is free for
| personal use.
|
| [1] https://mjones-foui.no/img/wall_clock_1.png
| deepriverfish wrote:
| hi I've been interested in doing something like this for
| myself, what tools and software did you use?
| golem14 wrote:
| +1, and have you tried running 2 displays side by side ?
| That should give you an effective diagonal of 14 inches or
| so, and for those displays, cutting it in two does not
| really affect the utility of the display (likely tabular
| content anyway).
|
| Seems like the author has experimented with 2 kindles side
| by side.
| rolfus wrote:
| I source most of my components from aliexpress. It's been a
| while, but these are the components I used:
|
| Microcontroller: FireBeetle 2 ESP32
|
| Display: Generic 10" e-Paper display with driver board
| included
|
| Timekeeping: DS3231 Real Time Clock Module
|
| Temperature and humidity: BME280 module
|
| Charging: Type-C USB 2S Li-ion BMS
|
| That, along with a breadboard, two 18650 batteries, some
| resistors and capacitors make up the hardware. I modelled
| and 3D printed the case. I used the PlatformIO plugin
| (available for VSCode-based IDEs) for programming and
| transferring code to the esp32.
|
| Weather API: https://openweathermap.org
|
| For actual firmware I'd take a look at matada's github for
| inspiration (see the other reply in this thread). My own
| code isn't of the photogenic sort.
| TurdF3rguson wrote:
| I need to know why the opposite of 'rain' is 'yo'.
| Dban1 wrote:
| yo it's time to go out!
| embedding-shape wrote:
| Seems the sun is the one saying "yo", perhaps as a form of
| a greeting as it was raining the days before?
|
| I'm just guessing, but I think it might simply just be for
| fun :)
| rolfus wrote:
| The sun is greeting you! I drew these freehand, kind of
| quickly. And while I personally like the style and think
| it's a good fit for us, I did intend to make several sets
| of weather icons. At the very least I need to make the sun
| symbols adapt to the seasons - we don't really have a full
| sun during the darkest months of the year where I live.
| leokennis wrote:
| Love those weather icons. Personality in software design is
| underrated.
| rolfus wrote:
| Thanks! I intentionaly made the weather symbols somewhat
| "childlike" to give it some personality and also make it
| obvious that it's a custom device, and not some off the
| shelf gadget. Works well as a conversation starter!
| danielheath wrote:
| I did a similar thing with a regular backlit computer screen.
|
| It automatically shuts off after 30 seconds of inactivity.
|
| I added a $3 webcam, and use openCV to detect motion. If three
| consecutive frames (sampled 0.5s apart) are each sufficiently
| difficult from the previous one, it attaches a virtual USB
| mouse, then moves it one pixel.
|
| This wakes up the display whenever you walk past, then puts it
| back to sleep again when you stop moving.
|
| The motion-detection pipeline uses less than 0.3% CPU on an
| intel N100 (6w TDP).
| cweagans wrote:
| You might be interested in knowing about https://trmnl.com. No
| affiliation beyond interest in buying a few in the future. They
| have a 10.3" version in the works.
| simonmales wrote:
| Good thing about trmnl is you can run the entire backend if
| the company disappears.
| keyle wrote:
| Looks good, the refresh rate... does not! 200ms for partial
| refresh, ouch.
|
| The ease of integrations might make up for it, though.
| hdjrudni wrote:
| is 200ms actually an issue if you're just using it to
| display static content?
| giwook wrote:
| Nope.
| neop1x wrote:
| In Czechia we have LaskaKit which is ESP32-based board with a
| GoodDisplay e-paper. It works perfectly with ESPHome and Home
| Assistant. :) https://www.laskakit.cz/en/laskakit-
| live-7-5-e-paper-stavebn...
| seanieb wrote:
| Why is e-ink still so expensive?
| whynotminot wrote:
| I would guess there's not enough volume due to limited use-
| cases of the tech compared to more traditional screens.
|
| The typical e-ink uses cases boil down to e-readers, dumb-
| phones, and hobbyists, which is not a huge market. Anything
| niche or specialized tends to carry a higher cost.
| shellfishgene wrote:
| There are probably billions of e-ink price tags in
| supermarkets around the world, but I guess scaling it up is
| not easy?
| bengale wrote:
| I'm always surprised how much people seem to want to constantly
| know the weather.
| hmokiguess wrote:
| This may due to geographical differences, not sure where you
| live versus OP but I have lived in at least 7 different cities
| throughout my life and in some of those I had to deal with
| really unpredictable weather whereas in others it was easier to
| just wing it and not regret leaving with a jacket or umbrella
| for example.
| pegasus wrote:
| It could be that they live in an area with more variable or
| more unpredictable weather than you. Or that they are much more
| outdoorsy. Or something else altogether. I'm surprised by your
| surprise. People live wildly different lifes and have
| correspondingly wide-ranging needs and preferences.
| guide42 wrote:
| Same. You can always tell how is going to be the weather by
| yourself. Depending on how much time have you lived in the same
| place you can predict the weather for the day when you get up
| or, if you are a completely stranger to the environment, at
| least half an hour before.
| jameshart wrote:
| Outside my house right now it's a cold, still evening with a
| high overcast. My expectation based on my years of experience
| living here and having seen these conditions before would be
| that it would likely clear out overnight, freeze hard, and be
| a beautiful day tomorrow.
|
| In fact, though, a massive bomb cyclone is forming a few
| hundred miles away and it's likely to dump over a foot of
| snow on us in the next 24 hours, accompanied by 50mph winds.
|
| Weather forecasts are, not surprisingly, _actually useful_.
| Exoristos wrote:
| Strong correlation with those who go outside.
| SchemaLoad wrote:
| HN users baffled then
| spiralcoaster wrote:
| Seems like if you were going outside often, you wouldn't need
| an e-ink display to tell you the weather because you'd be
| outside... experiencing it
| tcoff91 wrote:
| There's a lot of places where the weather can suddenly
| change. People want to know if it's about to start pouring
| rain in a couple hours despite looking nice right now.
|
| In Colorado the weather shifts are jarring and sudden.
| mailund wrote:
| Depending on where you live, if you're the type of person
| who spend most of the day away from home, having some
| understanding of the weather to expect throughout the day
| is very useful for not experiencing the weather too much.
|
| Very useful to know if it's likely to rain or be windy, and
| the highs and lows. I might be leaving at noon when it's
| comfortable and warm outside, but I might be coming home
| needing a thick jacket and an umbrella. If I'm already
| outside experiencing the sudden rainstorm and my umbrella
| is at home, it doesn't really matter that it wasn't raining
| when I left home many hours ago.
| gbalduzzi wrote:
| Yes, but you need this information once, maybe twice a
| day, instead all smart devices tend to present it to you
| constantly.
|
| I have a pixel device, and by default I have the weather
| on both lock screen and home screen. Every morning I
| receive a notification with the expected weather for the
| day, and it keeps suggesting me to enable the weather
| preview right after the morning alarm.
|
| Garmin smartwatch? Same
|
| Android car / Apple car? Same
|
| MacOS has the weather as one of the most prominent
| widgets available, and I believe windows to be the same.
|
| Do I really need to have weather info constantly
| available to me?
| IanCal wrote:
| That's the weather right now. I want to know what the
| weather will be like through the day and across days. I'd
| rather do something else in the morning, however if it's ok
| now and going to rain in two hours, I'll get everyone
| outside now and do the inside job later. Is it going to
| clear up soon and I should wait 10 minutes or get worse and
| I should be getting out right now? Should we put off the
| march through the woods until tomorrow when it's nicer or
| do it today because this is the nicest day we'll have this
| week? Should my wife cycle to the gym? It's ok now but if
| it's going to be torrential in 15 minutes that'll suck.
| 542354234235 wrote:
| The same reason you use a calendar, to plan for the future.
| I can see the weather right now, but to plan, I want to
| know the weather in an hour, this afternoon, tomorrow, this
| weekend. When I am getting ready at 5am, I want to know if
| I can bike to work, and bike home in the afternoon, without
| getting rained on. If I'm thinking about weekend plans,
| should it be kayaking or board games? The weather affects
| those choices and having an unobtrusive way to just be
| aware of the future weather is nice to have.
| maccard wrote:
| I'm in Scotland. Looking outside and seeing blue skies does not
| mean it's safe to leave without a rain jacket, or a thermal
| layer. Seeing fog in the morning doesn't mean you don't need
| shorts for the afternoon. It being 0 outside today doesn't mean
| it won't be 10 degrees tomorrow. Knowing it's going to rain
| between 10 and 2 is good motivation to take the dog out before
| 10. Knowing it's going to rain on Sunday but be clear on
| Saturday is a good reason to book outdoor activites (golf) on
| Saturday instead.
| gbalduzzi wrote:
| Yes, but it's the kind of information you need once a day on
| average and you are good to go.
|
| Instead you find it placed on your smartphone homescreen, on
| the smartwatch, on the home dashboard, on a notification you
| receive every morning, on your car screen, on your computer,
| ... I don't need to see it constantly.
|
| Personally I believe it is something that it is easy to
| integrate and that users don't perceive as useless, but 99%
| of the time doesn't add any value
| lbotos wrote:
| Do you own property? Does it flood? Do you live in a place
| where a rapidly forming storm may cause flooding?
|
| I was weather-status neutral until I bought a house that has
| flooding challenges. Knowing that enough rain that could
| trigger flooding helps me avoid surprise cleanups and property
| damage.
| DANmode wrote:
| > Does it flood? Do you live in a place where a rapidly
| forming storm may cause flooding?
|
| Emphatically no, as someone who cares about avoiding chronic
| health problems for myself and my family.
|
| Even water-damaged concrete is enough to drive CIRS. Been
| there, done that.
| ojagodzinski wrote:
| ~3000EUR to show information in some random places in the house
| even though the household members have a device with a screen
| called a smartphone next to them 24/7 ?
|
| Well, it's cool, but the usability of it all is below average.
|
| Declutter your life and don't install any more screens in your
| home ;)
| bob001 wrote:
| Pick up phone (may be in another room), unlock phone, open app,
| navigate to information in app (often fairly annoying due to
| modern low information density app design and multiple apps),
| return to original location.
|
| Versus.
|
| Just look at screen.
| unpopularopp wrote:
| It's a hobby but not for everyone. I mean if I could just throw
| away 3,000EUR on random projects that might work or not I'd do
| it in a heartbeat. No different than buying a run down Porsche
| for 5,000EUR and spending 40,000EUR on restoration to original.
| Every hobby is like that but with different entry price points.
| There is a reason knitting is more popular than something like
| this (and even that has price tiers from 3EUR for an acrylic
| yarn to upwards 100EUR for luxury merino wool yarn)
| itsananderson wrote:
| As someone whose spouse knits, it gave me a chuckle to see
| knitting mentioned as a low-cost hobby :)
| ReaderOfRunes wrote:
| This is just unnecessarily mean-spirited and unconstructive
| binarysneaker wrote:
| Next time you decide to post something so snarky, maybe
| remember where you are. This is hackernews, people experiment
| and build things. Not always for the right reasons, and that's
| fine. If you don't like it, just move along. There's plenty of
| people, myself included, that are thankful for posts like this.
| AuthAuth wrote:
| This is awesome but I still find it funny that he said he wants a
| healthy relationship with technology then goes and fits his
| entire house out with technology. It doesnt seem like any of this
| would really be useful as you'd have to enter all the useful data
| manually(calendar).
|
| For example the washing machine. You dont need real time
| information because you know how long it takes since you've done
| it 1000s of times and it beeps. All these things are just managed
| in our heads subconsciously.
| JoshTriplett wrote:
| > For example the washing machine. You dont need real time
| information because you know how long it takes since you've
| done it 1000s of times and it beeps.
|
| It beeps, on the other end of the house (or on another floor),
| where it's inaudible. (And, thankfully, where the loud sounds
| of it operating are _also_ inaudible.)
|
| > All these things are just managed in our heads
| subconsciously.
|
| And when you remove the need to track that in your head, your
| head gets freed up for other things.
|
| To be explicit, I _don 't_ like "smart appliances" that connect
| to a cloud server. I _do_ like the idea of devices that can
| connect _locally_ to something like Home Assistant.
| letsgethigh wrote:
| "hey Siri, set timer for washing machine"
| bdangubic wrote:
| but then apple knows about your cycles
| AuthAuth wrote:
| Even with no beeps you put washing on > you go get it when
| its done. It doesnt matter if it sits in the washing machine
| an extra 10m or an hour.
| nmcfarl wrote:
| You know, sometimes it doesn't and sometimes it does. And
| also I've been known to forget it overnight and wake up to
| moldy clothes.
|
| I have a friend who will say things like "I have to go at
| 3" and get up at 3 on the dot without even looking at her
| watch/phone. I'm not that guy and I need buzzers, timers,
| and ambient displays all working together anything done at
| a time.
| DavidPiper wrote:
| OT but if your washing gets mouldy after being left in
| the washing machine overnight, you need to clean your
| washing machine (and/or use more detergent).
| DANmode wrote:
| More detergent is the last thing needed if you smell mold
| in a washing machine.
| DANmode wrote:
| Could have something to do with high levels of ambient
| mold spores and mycotoxins in your air,
|
| if your clothes smell mildewy or moldy after less than 12
| hours.
| AdamN wrote:
| A bit OT but you may want a side loader. It's obviously
| not ideal to leave it overnight but the few times that's
| happened to me there isn't any mold. I'm guessing you
| have a top loader, it may not have been cleaned in a long
| time, and that it's in a basement that's prone to mold
| also.
| bigstrat2003 wrote:
| For me it's not the washing machine, it's the dryer. The
| time remaining reported by the dryer when you start the
| cycle has almost no relation to how long it will _actually_
| take. Sometimes I go down to the basement after an hour
| (the dryer says 45m when you start it), and it still says
| 30m remaining. It 's not the end of the world of course,
| but it _is_ annoying, and it 's the sort of annoyance
| technology can solve pretty easily.
| abustamam wrote:
| On all settings except timer, my dryer is pretty much
| useless. I set it to dry my bedsheets and towels with
| bulky item preset, max dry (who chooses minimum dry for
| anything?) and it'll say it'll take 1h30m, ends up taking
| 30 minutes, and everything is still wet, despite it
| having a "dryness sensor"
|
| I've just started using the timer function on the dryer
| and it's been mostly accurate, plus or minus a few
| minutes perhaps.
| CarlJW wrote:
| I'll just add this tip for those who struggle with this sort
| of thing.
|
| I leave the empty basket in front of the machine, which for
| me happens to be somewhere where I'll pass by frequently
| until I need to take it out. That keeps it 'in sight, in
| mind'. Heck you could even put it in the kitchen to remind
| you.
|
| I don't like the extra complexity that often comes with
| digital solutions, but I do like having a system. The simpler
| and less thought required, the better.
|
| I do this for a number of different things. Rather than put
| it on a list I put it somewhere where it's in the way.
| IanCal wrote:
| But this then means I have to have something on the floor
| in the way, which I also have to remember to do, and it
| doesn't tell me anything about how long is left.
|
| That requires more thought and clutter than just having the
| information when it's relevant.
| danparsonson wrote:
| My pro tip is one of my girlfriends scrunchies stolen and
| put on my wrist - annoys me intermittently and therefore
| repeatedly reminds me to check the laundry.
| imetatroll wrote:
| Agreed. This is a great way to handle common chores.
| knallfrosch wrote:
| It's about attention. You can check the schedule without
| thinking about messages, likes, or the news.
| j45 wrote:
| Technology working for you is different than you working for
| technology.
| AuthAuth wrote:
| This guy spent months working on this. He was working for
| technology.
| j45 wrote:
| More than a little while with it friend :)
|
| Free scrolling = free labour for those brands.
|
| Where every screen can be a rabbit hole to consume
| something other than what the dashboard has it's a
| worthwhile consideration.
| jkestner wrote:
| For you, maybe, but outsourcing ambient awareness of my
| environment is what's finally enabled me to take that leap to a
| 10x dev. Well, that, and cranial cooling fins.
| deevus wrote:
| > All these things are just managed in our heads
| subconsciously.
|
| I'm glad that works for you. My (and my wife's) ADHD brains put
| these directly into "the void".
| dewey wrote:
| Disclaimer: I use Home Assistant too and I'm guilty of all
| these things.
|
| Home Automation is just a hobby like "productivity" tools or
| going all in your coffee setup. You tell yourself you are
| saving energy, or freeing up your mind from remembering mundane
| tasks but in reality it's just like a model train set.
|
| It's fun to set up, play around and maintain it for some
| people. If you'd do the math of setting up hundreds of dollars
| worth of smart appliances, bulbs, hubs and thermostats to tweak
| your heaters slightly while you are not at home...it will
| probably take decades to break even, if at all.
| 542354234235 wrote:
| You are freeing your mind from mundane tasks you don't like,
| by filling your mind with automation tasks you do like. I
| find it is a good trade.
| boredtofears wrote:
| Are you telling me that my home assistant enabled humidity
| sensors in my garden that trigger the arduino hose valve
| could just be replaced by a watering can??
| AuthAuth wrote:
| I'm just salty squidward watching all the home assistant
| chads playing with their cool gadgets.
| IanCal wrote:
| A healthy relationship with technology isn't the same as not
| using technology.
|
| > It doesnt seem like any of this would really be useful as
| you'd have to enter all the useful data manually(calendar).
|
| You have to enter calendar data somewhere, right now I often
| have the same info or different subset split between my
| calendar, work ones, my wifes one and the one on the wall. Even
| the paper version requires having entered the data - more so
| than the tech based ones because an invitation sent by email
| now needs to be manually copied over. Or have I misunderstood?
|
| > You dont need real time information because you know how long
| it takes since you've done it 1000s of times and it beeps. All
| these things are just managed in our heads subconsciously.
|
| This seems odd to me. First just a couple of things
|
| > You dont need real time information because you know how long
| it takes
|
| 1. It takes different amounts of time depending on the load and
| settings
|
| 2. Knowing how long it takes and when to take it out is
| something the person who put it on knows, but there are
| different people in this house who can all do either task
|
| 3. It's in a place where the beeping is often not heard
|
| But more interestingly is that we're comparing two different
| approaches. One is
|
| * A note written in a place that washing needs to be taken out
| if it's not been done.
|
| You describe this as an unhealthy relationship with technology.
|
| Your better solution is
|
| * Work out when a machine will finish its task, remember this
|
| * Wait for the machine to shout at you
|
| * If you don't hear it shouting then keep checking the time to
| see if it's finished its task
|
| * Make sure you track all of this in your head on top of
| anything else
|
| This is _more_ healthy? Than a note on the wall that says
| "change the washing"?
|
| Imagine you started with the typical thing being that you have
| a note on the wall that says "washing is done" when it's done
| and the machine itself is silent. I come along and tell you
| I've got a much better, healthier way of interacting with it -
| wait for it to make an annoying noise!
| AuthAuth wrote:
| I dont wait for the noise. I dont wait for the washing
| machine to finish. I put it on and then at some point later
| in the day I hang it out. No one is struggling to know if the
| washing machine is on you can hear it.
|
| Spending $1000s on this setup and running it 24/7 is a waste
| in every regard except hobby enjoyment.
| embedding-shape wrote:
| > For example the washing machine. You dont need real time
| information because you know how long it takes since you've
| done it 1000s of times and it beeps
|
| I'm not sure this is true anymore, first you usually do
| different programs depending on what you put into it, and
| modern washing machines also automatically adjust the washing
| time depending on how much you throw into it, at least our ~2
| year old one does, I'm sure others do too.
|
| I basically never know how long time it will take, sometimes it
| takes 1.5 hours and sometimes 3 hours. Our washing machine is
| further away from where we can hear the melody, so having a
| notification appear on the phone when it's done is actually
| quite handy, at least for our situation.
| iso1631 wrote:
| I can't imagine a world where the state of my washing machine
| is so important that I need to be interrupted to tell me it's
| done.
| embedding-shape wrote:
| I can't image being so busy that hanging the clothes for 10
| minutes could be seen as not important. We all live
| different lives :)
|
| Besides, the notification is for notifying us, doesn't mean
| we need to do it within N minutes, it can wait until your
| Very Important Business Call is over or whatever. As long
| as it's done before it starts to get overly humid and
| starts to smell.
| iso1631 wrote:
| A notification is an interrupt. I.e "stop reading your
| book and pay attention to me"
| embedding-shape wrote:
| Eh, ok, that's not how I treat them, and if you want to
| remain sane, you might want to give it a try to treat
| them differently too, because that sounds highly annoying
| and borderline frustrating.
| iso1631 wrote:
| I don't have notifications on. I see it all the time with
| colleagues who are constantly stopping what they're doing
| to look at the latest slack or email or whatever on their
| phone, let alone the "breaking news" alerts that news
| companies like to push out every few hours
|
| Very few things need my attention now.
| abustamam wrote:
| As mentioned in my other comment [1]
|
| On all settings except timer, my dryer is pretty much
| useless. I set it to dry my bedsheets and towels with bulky
| item preset, max dry (who chooses minimum dry for anything?)
| and it'll say it'll take 1h30m, ends up taking 30 minutes,
| and everything is still wet, despite it having a "dryness
| sensor"
|
| I've just started using the timer function on the dryer and
| it's been mostly accurate, plus or minus a few minutes
| perhaps.
|
| Fortunately, we usually just throw clothes in the dryer
| before bed, so we don't need a system to remind us when it's
| done -- if it's not done by morning time then we probably
| need a new dryer!
|
| [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47123600
| xomiachuna wrote:
| It's a pattern among tech folks to try to solve things with
| technology.
|
| It is hard to stop yourself from treating every minor
| inconvenience as nail for which you have a handy hammer, and I
| find myself overcomplicating things in my life as a result.
|
| The goals are noble but the methods bring a lot of the
| complexity simply repackaged (and potentially amplified).
| abustamam wrote:
| Using technology doesn't necessarily mean an unhealthy
| relationship with technology. I think it differs for everyone.
|
| For me, I think a healthy relationship with technology is
| technology that is there when I need it, not there when I
| don't. Added benefit if the technology knows when it's needed
| (ie alarms and such).
|
| Crucially, a healthy relationship with technology for me is
| consuming less (reading less "news" and blogs and social media)
| and creating more (writing, projects, etc). So the concept of
| using technology to build something that is there when the
| family needs it and is in the background when not is a healthy
| relationship imo.
| cdelahousse wrote:
| The developer recently had a home tour where you can see this
| software in use
|
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wkzg8sNkm8Y
| fanatic2pope wrote:
| Cool project.
|
| I solved a problem (not really the same problem as this, mind
| you) for my family using a much older technology. I bought a big
| pane of glass from the hardware store, built a wooden frame for
| it with a shelf for an eraser and dry markers.
|
| I hung it up in the kitchen and now when we need to leave
| "sticky" notes to each other we just write on it. We keep our
| shopping list on it, we write small poems and draw funny faces.
| It has become a fun ephemeral space for communicating.
|
| Tons of fun and super cheap to build.
| xomiachuna wrote:
| Cool idea! At some point I was musing about making or buying a
| dashboard tool like in the post, but over the years I found
| that I dont actually need the complexity that comes with it.
|
| An analogue communication medium for myself and others is
| indeed something that might be much more impactful and human-
| cetric than a smart system.
|
| Thanks for the inspiration!
| greatgib wrote:
| When you think about it, it is crazy to think that the world is
| spending thousands of billions on AI stuffs, but still we haven't
| yet any affordable big size epaper display.
|
| It could change a lot of things in the world, especially
| regarding the power consumption of most commonly used screens for
| a lot of signage everywhere. But not that much company looks like
| to be interested in developing the field.
|
| I think that a few years a go, a lot of possible innovation were
| blocked by a few aggressive patents. I don't know if it is still
| the case.
| jareklupinski wrote:
| > It has a powerful function: if the status on the display is
| blank, the house is in a "healthy" state and does not need any
| attention. This approach of only showing what information is
| relevant in a given moment flies right in the face of how most
| smart homes approach communicating their status
|
| the best user experience is sometimes no experience
| pmarreck wrote:
| The Nerves project would actually be perfect for this:
|
| https://nerves-project.org/
|
| Elixir's fault tolerance and ease combined with simple devices to
| run on
| sockbot wrote:
| https://soldered.com/collections/inkplate-e-paper-displays/p...
|
| Inkplate devices are a great entry point. They're recycled Kindle
| displays with an ESP32.
| tecoholic wrote:
| Really happy to see e-paper home dashboards as a thing. Last
| month or so I saw a Melbourne public transport one, which showed
| times of the next tram/bus.
|
| We tried something like this using the iPad when we moved to a
| new country with one year old, because there was so much to
| figure out and track, it felt impossible. Now after a year, it's
| gone and things are more internalised.
|
| That's my main concern with spending time and money building
| something like this. We thought about everything from commercial
| displays, Raspberry PI and e-Paper to finally just buying a 10$
| wall mount for IPad. After sometime it becomes redundant as
| routine is formed.
|
| If the author happens to read this, do tell us how have you found
| the motivation to keep using this? Doesn't it get redundant after
| a point? I get adding new information and adapting routines
| around can be a factor, but people don't really change that much
| samspot wrote:
| I envy your life of peaceful routine. For me every evening is a
| trip into the unknown. Sure some things repeat on the same
| days. But there is always something new. This week the one I'm
| aware of is daily Soccer tryouts. I have to check my spouse's
| paper calendar every day to keep up.
| matada_ wrote:
| For those interested in colour weather dashboards, I built this
| specifically for colour EPD https://github.com/mt-empty/pi-inky-
| weather-epd
| pietroppeter wrote:
| Related project discussed here 2 years ago FrameOS
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38855337
| pathikrit wrote:
| Related: My project to display daily newspaper:
| https://github.com/pathikrit/newswall
| jmuguy wrote:
| I think you can divide the comments in here between people that
| have a family and don't. "Why would you need to know when the
| washer is done! Just set an alarm". When you have (young) kids,
| you'll be wandering around the house looking for the pen that's
| in your left hand. Little reminders like that are really nice.
| alkonaut wrote:
| I'd like something similar to his first prototype: Battery
| powered if needed, and 10 minute refresh (or scheduled push). But
| the key is that it has to be sub $500 total cost, and work free
| or locally. If I need to pay for a service or the hardware is $1k
| then it's already not paying for its own utility.
| nicbou wrote:
| TRMNL seems like a good option. I found it in another comment
| here.
|
| https://trmnl.com/
| nkotov wrote:
| I love the design of this. All the small touches like the front
| door open.
| idiotsecant wrote:
| It's interesting how much the home automation folks are
| relearning the lessons that industrial automation people have
| been writing down for a century about how to manage information
| displayed to a busy human.
| dec0dedab0de wrote:
| I have dreamt of doing something like this for years. Well Done!
| Eric_WVGG wrote:
| so... what are "ice cookies"
| alexjm wrote:
| I read it as a to-do or calendar event: at such-and-such time,
| we will put the icing on some cookies.
| jp1016 wrote:
| The insight that a blank status area means "the house is healthy"
| is the best part of this whole project imo. Most smart home
| dashboards try to show you everything all the time and you just
| end up tuning it all out. This is basically the opposite approach
| and it makes way more sense for something you glance at 50 times
| a day.
|
| I tried something similar with a Kindle a few years back for just
| weather + calendar and ran into the same jailbreak maintenance
| hell. Ended up giving up. The Visionect displays look great but
| $1000+ per screen is brutal. Curious if the author has looked at
| the Waveshare e-paper panels driven by an ESP32, they're like
| $40-80 for a 7.5" screen and you can do partial refreshes.
| Obviously way smaller than the Boox but might work as a cheaper
| bedroom/mudroom option for people who want to build something
| like this without spending $3k.
| j45 wrote:
| Same experience, the job of the display is to help manage
| attention, instead of information delivery.
|
| If we think about paper calendars hung on a wall, and updated
| sporatically we know what's there is likely good information,
| only that it might not be up to date.
|
| If a calendar can be calm by default, surface what's changed or
| newly relevant, and fade when it resolves. The next level could
| be understanding who's attention something needs, and when, in
| a personalized way.
| edgecasehuman wrote:
| Love the attention to UX and power-user polish. This is exactly
| the kind of small, thoughtful personal tool that reminds me why
| HN community values craftsmanship over hype
| six_arm_spidey wrote:
| This is such an impressive tool. As others have noted, the price
| of entry is high, but it's incredible what it pulls off.
|
| I've been doing a cheaper version using a Waveshare 7.5 inch
| screen, a Raspberry Pi and a 3d printed case coupled with
| Inkycal: https://github.com/aceinnolab/Inkycal. This works well
| for my needs, but seeing what else can be done maybe it's time
| for an upgrade.
___________________________________________________________________
(page generated 2026-02-23 23:01 UTC)