p.enthalabs

Ask HN: Good large format (>20 inches) touchscreen E-Paper display options?

30 points · 5 visible top comments · 2026-08-25 03:46:01 UTC

news.ycombinator.com · Read Story HN original

Looking for options that might work for a low power touchscreen for a calendar project.

Comments

mrheosuper · 2026-08-25 04:16:25 UTC
It won't be cheap for sure. If you just want 1 for personal project, better to buy of the shell eink monitor(i remember dasung has one) and gut it.
xiaoyu2006 · 2026-08-25 04:16:43 UTC
Sony DPT-RP1? Some are jailbreak-able.
ThrowawayR2 · 2026-08-25 05:46:13 UTC
E-Ink's own site doesn't list any display modules that is larger than 13 inches that also has touch ( https://www.eink.com/product/epaper?search[]=16 ) so it's unlikely there is such a thing. Neither of the e-ink monitor makers, Dasung and Onyx Boox, list touch capability on their 25.3 inch monitors either.
dv35z · 2026-08-25 06:38:57 UTC
I'm still on the search for A5-sized E-ink screen, with HDMI or USB-C input (diagonoal: 25 cm / 10 inches diagonally).

I'm wanting to build a solar-powered e-ink laptop - so you can write / code in the sun. Mint Debian under the hood.

Open to ideas - trying to keep everything open-source architecture.

0x20cowboy · 2026-08-25 09:12:32 UTC
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dv35z · 2026-08-27 22:07:40 UTC
Nice - what would be your interest / use-case for this kind of computer?
ThrowawayR2 · 2026-08-25 13:40:02 UTC
The only currently similar available product is the Dasung Paperlike 103 but they warn that the it's not safe to expose it to the UV in direct sunlight. You'd need to jury-rig a UV filter over it I'd think.
sillystuff · 2026-08-25 22:34:49 UTC
> solar-powered e-ink laptop

Both 13.3" Bigme and Dasung color e-ink portable monitors require additional power than the usb (displayport alt mode) connection can provide. At ~30Hz, these e-ink displays consume more power than an equivalent sized TFT panel with bright backlight at 60Hz+.

If installing into a custom laptop shell, this dev kit might be a better option than a turnkey portable monitor (and open hardware):

https://www.crowdsupply.com/modos-tech/modos-paper-monitor#p...

Modos also has a turnkey offering (preorder):

https://www.crowdsupply.com/modos-tech/modos-flow#products

Modos states that at 40Hz or less, their 13.3" color version can be powered by the single usb (displayport alt-mode) connection, so apparently has lower power consumption than Dasung or Bigme (and Modos's maximum refresh rates are significantly higher). IMO, 30Hz is more than enough for text, though.

The color Carta e-ink panels are pretty poor in low-light (front light only partially mitigates; Carta panel looks dark and has low contrast in low light compared to a B&W panel). I don't think the B&W versions from any of these three brands have front-lights, at all though.

To get a 10" screen that has the inputs you want, and reasonable refresh rate, you might have to cobble together a compatible 10" screen + the controller in the 6" Modos kit (they state the kit's controller supports panels up to 13"); I'd reach out to the Modos folks first to ensure a supported panel. Or, maybe look for one of the e-ink ebook readers that supports being driven as a monitor (maybe 10" will be available that way? You'd end up stuck with an additional battery to maintain, and probably some closed device running locked down Android, though).

If you reduce your requirements to basically a serial terminal, inkplate (also available on Crowd Supply) has 10" versions, and you can either add your code directly to the esp32 on the driver board, or write to the display over a serial link (inkplate uses a custom protocol for serial comm, but you could make an esp32 firmware that turned one into a vt-100 compatible terminal-- please share, if you do).

https://soldered.com/collections/inkplate-e-paper-displays

Good luck!