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Comment by anon1253 | Hacker News Reader

This seems really interesting. But what I've been more interested in is a LCD/e-Ink hybrid display for my workstation. LCDs are basically transparent, so I think you could overlay them in front of a back-illuminated e-Ink display. Say 23"? For things like programming this would be ideal for me. You can put the high-refresh rate things on the overlayed LCD, and the slow documentation, typing, stuff on the e-Ink display. I don't even need a pen, those never work for me (too much input latency).

Another idea would be to pair a large e-ink display with a Macbook Pro style "magic bar" (or whatever they call it). So you can do the typing on the e-ink, with a Submlime text-like minimap for scrolling and context. Anyway, I don't have the chops to pull it off…but it would be great I think!

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The OLPC project had something special for its display; not sure it lines up exactly with what you're proposing (especially the size!) but perhaps in the same ballpark ("two screens sharing an LCD"). Looks like around $80 shipped on eBay.

http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Display#Screen

It's the PixelQi display. I was impressed with the OLPC screen when I first saw it in person in 2009 or so. Just a year or two ago I decided to get a netbook and install one of them. It turned out to be not impressive at all, the screen looks muted and it is like the backlight is not working rather than being great like e-ink.

The display used on the OLPC was a bit different -- RGBG matrix when backlit, 2x resolution black-and-white when unlit.

You used to be able to buy the displays standalone from Pixel Qi, but the company folded in 2015. There is a successor company, but it's not clear whether they're actually producing the displays anymore, or if they're just selling off existing stock.

What is your perceived benefit from this theoretical display?

It seems like the LCD panel would make the eInk panel less legible there by negating any advantage there. Being a fixed device with constant power, the other advantage of eInk is removed.

Plus if the e-Ink is backlit, it's no longer as easy on the eyes, eliminating it's biggest feature.

Depends on how much the overlayed LCD screen would impact legibility. I'm not sure. Transparent OLED might work [1]. The backlit would basically be for evenings, where the ambient light might not be enough. I just love the readability and aesthetics of eInk. Practically, it's probably worse at everything...so I can understand the limited uptake.

[1] http://www.mmt.io/transparent-oled-touch-screen-display/

And here I want an LCD without backlight or an eink external display. Overlaying one on top of the other might make some interesting things possible though.

If you're going to backlight the e-ink, then why bother moving away from LCD for it?

E-ink displays are opaque, right? How would you add a backlight to them?

How does Kobo do it? I was under the impression that the lighting there isn't edge-lit, but rather backlit?

Works the same as a low end kindle. Reflection does it in normal lighting conditions. It also has a backlight, which almost never gets used. Really like the Kobo H20, especially with the open source koreader OS. If it was just a little bigger it would be more practical with large texts, though it's usable as-is.

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