Ask HN: Anyone here experienced with e-ink monitors?

I have a Dasung Paperlike that I use and it's been pretty great for my eye strain. For most developer workflows it's good enough. Latency has never been a problem for coding, I think its around 10-16 fps. There's some residual ink that gets left on screen, but I don't notice it at all anymore. Obviously you can't do any color work or watch a video, but other than that I almost never have to switch to my regular screen. The only annoying part are all the cables that have to be set up to work (it requires both a USB and a displayport simultaneously).

About a year ago Technology Connections on youtube tried to use an eink display and thoroughly described his experiences.

* E-Ink on Android, and other new things! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ytpRnRke6I0

* E-Ink for Productivity: An Introduction https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7NfX0vlCa4k

If you're on a budget and you don't mind some electronics tinkering, check this out: https://www.waveshare.com/product/displays/e-paper/epaper-1/... Only $170 for 12.5"! This is for Black/White. They also do a version with Black/White/Red but it takes very long to refresh so probably isn't suitable for interactive use. However I believe - don't know for sure!!! - that the B/W/R displays are just as fast as B/W if you don't use the third colour. But they do have a reddish sheen if that appeals yo you.

Also you'll have to do some coding to get this to work properly as it's addressed as 2 half displays. A bit like 4K used to work with DL-DVI.

However if you want something that just plugs in to DVI or HDMI, then get the paperlike. Huge price difference though.

That's an interesting idea (using e-ink for coding), but I wonder if the benefit would be offset by the loss of syntax highlighting. I wonder how effective it would be to re-implement it by using varying foreground or background shades of gray, or varying widths of stroke.

EDIT: After thinking about it, I imagine the software using these displays already convert color to grayscale for images in documents, etc. I imagine that conversion would work with pre-existing syntax highlighting. Oddly, I can't find images online of source code being displayed on e-ink.

I've been looking for a reason to get a reMarkable tablet. Maybe this is the excuse I need. Since root access comes out-of-the-box, it might not be too hard to set it up as a display for coding.

Then again, maybe a display like those shared in these comments would be more cost-effective.

Download ColorVeil and knock down the brightness of your current setup, if that doesn't work then maybe go with OLED instead.

From what I understand there arent any, at least nothing compared to what you think of when you think of computer monitors. there are a few, nut they're very small and rather expensive.

Obviously the refresh rate isn't good enough for most media, but i still think it would be nice for reading docs.

It’s easier to write code in a notebook. I frequently look at a screen for a minute, memorize what’s there, and do the rest on a piece of paper. If you sum up total screen time during an 8 hour day, it’s around 1 hour of bursts.

> because its better for the eyes (for coding)

e-ink is great for static content, but just wondering if the high latency be a little bothersome for dynamic content like a code text window? I usually jump around a lot when I code and have to keep an eye on the debug/output window which refreshes a lot. I feel like a rock-solid image (high refresh rate LED monitor) and smooth motion would be less tiring to the eyes.

You may be able to talk to the founders of Printless Plans, a Baltimore based startup that has been working with large e-ink displays.

If I'm sold on trying this, and have a second VESA mount at my desk, does anyone have a solid purchase recommendation?