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Comment by konschubert | Hacker News Reader

My heart made a little jump when I saw this, I've been working on this project for years and I do not take it for granted that my users are starting to recommend the product.

I am here to answer any questions anyone might have.

There are some more pictures on the shop page here: https://shop.invisible-computers.com/products/invisible-cale...

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It's frequently visible in the background on Zoom calls, and I get both compliments and inquiries; hopefully a few folks followed through!

I understand your desire to build out an "ecosystem" of app and everything, however, I'd really like an option to go fully on my own and skip your iOS/android app.

Is it something that you plan on doing and document? Or is there an easy way I can ssh into the device and figure out on my own?

TIA!

EDIT : well, 1 minute later you answered part of my question here : https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37645339. How about ssh-ing?

ssh-ing is hard because there is no USB port. There isn't even an USB controller on the board, just some rudimentary UART pins. The usb plug is just for power.

How does it communicates with anything from the external world? This same channel could be used for sshing or anything

Actually, from another comment

> Privacy Information: Plese note that the data is proxied through the Invisible Computers API backend and a non-reversible hash of most recent image is stored for up to 48 hours.

So there's some mechanism to make API calls to your own cloud infrastructure, but customers can't use it to skip the middleman and send things directly to the device? I hope I'm reading this wrong, because that's awful.

crickets

Oh man, glad you’re still going. For some reason I remember you getting a ton of critical feedback last time this was posted - glad you’ve persisted. Keep on my friend.

Last time I posted, the bezel on the screen was about twice as wide still... :D And even so, while I had a few comments who were ripping me for the huge bezel, most people still liked it! So this actually encouraged me :D

How are the colors of multiple calendars rendered? ( can one be cross-hatched and the other black? )

It's not something I have tried yet. I would be worried about the readability of text in this case.

When it comes to the layout, there is definitely a lot that could be done, that hasn't been implemented yet. I am always working to add features but of course there are always more ideas than time. :D

(For example, I recently, I added the option to display the calendar vertically:

https://shop.invisible-computers.com/cdn/shop/files/IMG_0304...

This thing looks like a lot of fun, however it looks like the device is "tethered" to some kind of back-end service you provide, rather than just being a standalone device on the network. Can you explain how communication with the device works?

Yes, it needs a backend service. It is just a dumb screen that pools from a backend URL.

The upside of this is that you can easily configure it remotely, because all settings after the initial setup are stored server-side...

... and it makes the whole development flow easier when you can build, iterate and deploy on a server.

Is there any option to self-host that backend service? I'm not comfortable, from a mental health perspective, with integrating a device into my life routines that could suddenly stop working through loss of a hosted service.

What's the actual communication technology? Is it Wi-Fi? Cellular?

Edit: I see elsewhere you state it's Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. From a Wi-Fi perspective and workplace deployment does it support 802.1x?

> Is there any option to self-host that backend service?

Not yet, I want to support that in future but it's not possible yet. I have personally decided that I will keep the backend running even if I decide the project isn't worth it for me any more... but of course, I understand the this is no 100% guarantee.

> From a Wi-Fi perspective and workplace deployment does it support 802.1x? Uhhh, I don't know.. how would I check that?

You don’t support changing an URL? Why..?

Second sentence mentions an API, but then, no API docs anywhere...?

The docs are here:

https://github.com/Invisible-Computers/image-gallery/blob/ma...

I admit that this is still a bit rough around the edges...

As a simpler alternative, if you just want to build some layout for yourself and you do not need user management, you can simply render it as an image on the internet and point the device to it:

https://www.invisible-computers.com/invisible-calendar/image...

> Privacy Information: Plese note that the data is proxied through the Invisible Computers API backend and a non-reversible hash of most recent image is stored for up to 48 hours.

Wait? It's always proxied through your service? So there is no way to show something on the screen without you also being able to see it? That's a big nope for me.

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