MomBoard: E-ink display for a parent with amnesia

What a beautiful use of technology to uphold someone's personhood, and let them know they are loved, despite (and with regard to) a profound injury.

This reminds me of a desire I've had for a long time: a simple, wall-mountable eInk device that could be configured with a URL (+wifi creds) and render a markdown file, refreshing once every hour or so. It would be so useful for so many applications – I'm a parish priest and so I could use it to let people know what events are on, if a service is cancelled, the current prayer list, ... the applications would be endless. I'd definitely pay a couple of hundred dollars per device for a solid version of such a thing, if it could be mounted and then recharged every month or two.

You may be interested in https://github.com/aceinnolab/Inkycal, it looks like it's out of stock at the moment but they have pre-made devices or you can make your own with a list of parts.

That is super cool! I might need to build one of those. My family needs a way to keep the fridge calendar up to date with our digital calendar.

I'm in, can we crowdfund something like this?

If eInk wasn't a monopoly this would be 100% a project I'd love to do

https://crowdfund.news/crowdfunding-project/blotch-the-world... funded recently and there are others with similar if perhaps less slick implementations on the software side.

There has been a number of these on HN. Other features too. The first one I remember seeing was MagicMirror (not e-ink) ages ago.

I'm a backer, but this would probably fit your bill https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/usetrmnl/trmnl-the-e-in...

I wanted the same kind of general eink device, but this is also supposedly super hackable!

If you're comfortable with microcontrollers (esp32/arduino), I can definitely recommend Inkplate. I found them when I was making a similar setup for my parents, and they have various sizes up to 10" and up to 6 colors they can display.

You can either just get the module, or buy with a battery and mountable case already attached. I think all of the models are also available via Digikey and Mouser if people don't trust random websites.

https://soldered.com/categories/inkplate/

hackable indeed :) https://docs.usetrmnl.com

no longer a Kickstarter btw, shipping same-day now (see homepage)

for your family cal, check out TRMNL. can go on a fridge w/ magnets: https://usetrmnl.com

(disclaimer, i'm the founder)

Are there any plans to have a version without the battery? It looks exactly like what I've been looking for otherwise.

Also, what country are the orders shipped from? US?

You might want to update this image on your homepage:

https://usetrmnl.com/assets/section2-3-d6887b41db12ad0659992...

as the first character, タ (ta), is missing from the display, making it read "(a)minaru".

Internally we are debating on releasing a Hackable DIY kit. Feel feel to send a message to support@usetrmnl.com.

It's shipped from USA.

great catch, thank you! will do

curious what your use case is without a battery. currently you could keep it plugged in, are you wnting NFC-powered etc?

Just an aside, but “parish priest” must surely be the opposite of “software developer” on the Hacker News Table of Occupational Frequency. Neat!

If you have a hacker’s soul, an old Kindle, a jailbreak, and a Python installation, anything becomes possible. I’m working on something like that (though I hadn’t thought about markdown!). The Kindle is a particularly fun device once it’s hacked!

assuming your eink display would be on the same LAN as some always-on PC...

  1. install python
  2. make a file named `index.html` somewhere. 
  2a. put this in the "head" tag, so it'll refresh hourly: `<meta http-equiv="refresh" content="3600">`.
  3. run `python -m http.server` from the same folder
     This will start a single-threaded web server on 8000
  4. On another machine on your network verify you can pull up http://firstmachine:8000/. 
  5. having proven it works, go buy an e-ink display and point it to http://firstmachine:8000/, make it the default homepage.

Voila.

Any time you have anything to say, just edit the `index.html` file and the eink display will update.

No need for fancy subscription services or kickstarter projects or crowdfunding... just... batteries included python.

we crowdfunded one this summer and now we ship same-day. :) https://usetrmnl.com

Doesn't seem like you ship to my region, cool product nevertheless

ah really?? feel free to email us (team@usetrmnl.com). we've been granted a bunch of EC licenses lately but maybe missed a few country check boxes on our store.

For anyone else that followed the "buy a device" link on the docs page, and found yourself on the (ended) Kickstarter page, editing the URL to https://usetrmnl.com/ works :)

(This is fantastic. Thank you for sharing about it!)

> Most IoT products support SSH-ing directly into peripheral devices. We've heard too many horror stories about how this can go wrong, and decided to invert the paradigm.

> Your TRMNL device pings our server, never the other way around.

> Each request made to our /api/display endpoint includes only the minimum details needed to support customers -- an API key, device mac address, firmware version, battery voltage, and wifi signal strength.

Super hackable but it pings their hosted server and nothing else?! Is there a way to run your own server?

The docs aren't super encouraging either. https://docs.usetrmnl.com/go/diy/byod-s

> Purchase a TRMNL from our home page: https://usetrmnl.com

> Then follow the instructions on BYOD/S > Server.

> More TBD.

I've been looking for something like this! I wasn't expecting to buy stuff from the comments on HN...

They seem to have the api base url hardcoded in their firmware[1]. The repo seems to have pretty clear instructions for compiling and flashing modified firmware. From there, it's just a matter of writing a decent server to implement the calls documented in BYOD/S[2] and Private API.[3]

[1]: https://github.com/usetrmnl/firmware/blob/e3db8c37990c2333ec...

[2]: https://docs.usetrmnl.com/go/diy/byod-s

[3]: https://docs.usetrmnl.com/go/private-api/introduction

we're adding more docs on running your own server soon, which will include 1-click deploy starter projects that Just Work.

if you think about it, we are incentivized to do this. no subscription fees means the more you ping our server, the lower our margin. but for now we're wrapping up fulfilling all pre-orders, scaling, etc typical new product issues.

even without BYOS (bring your own server) docs however, it's already possible to point TRMNL to your own stack if you 1) fork our OSS firmware + b) have some experience with e-ink.

OK, thank you for the reply. The product looks great. I will roll the dice seeing the OSS firmware. Thanks!

Nice, thank you for investigating.

appreciate your support!

Anyway you could check on mine? I've yet to receive it, and I'm ready to start hacking!

i imagine we aren't at your cohort yet but email team@usetrmnl.com and we'll get yours out today, regardless. tiny thank you for the shout here!

My fridge isn't magnetic. A lot of modern fridges aren't.

Might be a neat idea to offer a magnetic mount for it, like a flexible flat magnetic board shaped to fit the TRMNL with a sticky backing so you can attach it somewhere and then use that to attach the TRMNL (your site doesn't seem to say anything about being magnetic so I'm guessing you have to attach magnets to the TRMNL too though?).

For that matter, the site doesn't offer any information about mounting it at all. Looking at the disassembly animation I see what looks like a hole to hang it on a nail, but it might be nice to put this info at least in the FAQ section if nowhere else (that does say it can be "hung on a wall" but no details).

Can you clarify what the difference between the Developer Edition and normal edition are? It's not clear from the checkout flow if this is required in order to create plugins, and is not mentioned anywhere in the docs.

Having done this, you will also most likely want to setup a javascript timer that also triggers a refresh in case the meta refresh fails. And a weekly reboot of the machine in case there is a memory leak or some other issue.

I tried to do pretty much this on a Kobo reader and discovered the Kobo browser doesn't support javascript. :|

hardware is the same, Developer edition vs Regular is a permission-only change that lets you build custom plugins and a few other things.

brief post here outlining more of the benefits: https://usetrmnl.com/blog/developer-edition

need to update docs too, thanks for the call out. we were writing docs before this piece was ironed out.

I looked into this a while back, but can you post some notes on jailbreak kindles? Aren't there certain models of Kindle that can be had very cheaply. That are possibly locked or have some dead component, but the screen can be used with a jailbreak? They were like only ~$10 on ebay.

The principal of my son’s former school was a Sister of St Joseph, and a huge HN fan.

More amazing was how creative the sisters were in managing themselves with technology. Many decisions are made by votes, done in real time globally! Religious people get short shrift.

Nothing spectacular, I just want to have a display by the door that shows various things I'd like to check on before leaving, like: which windows are open, outside temperatures, etc.

I don't want a battery because:

- although every X months is quite ok, I don't want the hassle of remembering to charge it (first world problems, I know)

- but I also have a fear of leaving devices with a battery plugged in for a long time / having to monitor for battery swelling or other abnormalities

I already have a classic battery-powered display which shows temperature info from some sensors and it's really convenient, but annoying when the battery is dead right when you need the info. Even if that only happens every X months.

It sounds like there’s a lot more edge case complexity to this than the GP originally thought.

Like most DIY tinkerer solutions, unfortunately, which is why people like paying money for productised solutions - the time it takes to debug and troubleshoot home made solutions is often prohibitive for a lot of people who aren’t techheads.

A GP in this thread linked to Inkycal, which is a RPi0W based solution, no batteries:

https://github.com/aceinnolab/Inkycal

Reminds me of the monks in the third season of Babylon 5. Who says you can't both be an IT person and a cleric?

How would you want to host or update the markdown file? Sending an email for instance? Or run your own host?

thanks for the feedback, will add more detail to our website specs + docs.

we included magnets for VIP backers on our crowdfunding campaign and may start selling them again. device has a mounting hole on the back for nails / hooks, we’ll probably release mechanical specs so people can 3D print or otherwise fabricate their own mounts. for example some people want to mash up an array of them. but until then, adhesive magnets work great for the fridge use case.

To save a few moments stalking his profile yourself: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38762380

TLDR: 20 years as SWE, then used his skills for his calling.

Given their history as archivers it seems like a natural complement, really

There is also this bigger display:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/invisible-computers/e-p...

That sounds like defensive programming; what makes you think meta refresh will not trigger always? If you can demonstrate it, it'd be worth filing a bug report with the respective browser(s). Same with the reboot, although the user does not control every software in the e-reader. That said, e-readers and tablets are designed to be always-on, so memory leaks should be rare nowadays.

Would an old rooted Nook Simple Touch suffice for your use case? They're very cheap these days and you've direct access to some early version of Android on them

And scientists. Gregor Mendel comes to mind.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gregor_Mendel

I've seen these in a few restaurants as menus listing the special of the day. They were mounted elegantly in some stone mounting so didn't give the ipad mcdonalds touchscreen feel. They just looked printed but on closer inspection were e-ink

We had to configure a daily reboot for a raspberry PI that just displayed a web page with the current status of emergency calls for local first responders on a mounted TV screen.

Purpose: if you come into the building to fetch the car with the medical equipment, you could see at a glance how many people acknowledged the alert and would arrive shortly etc. Sadly, the system tended to loose its WIFI connection and then the reloaded web page would display a network error. And since the web page was a 3rd party product, we could not hack the Javascript.

Not super relevant but your site is super janky for me (chrome, ubuntu). I get a scrollbar for the second part of your site, which then captures scrolling so if my cursor is in the middle of the page and I go down then up I am stuck.

https://streamable.com/sm0oek

That episode with the reformed murderer was especially hard...what a brilliant show

Seconded. I matted and framed one InkPlate 10 and hung it on our wall, then wrote a simple "show the next three days from everyone in the family's Google Calendars" image creation script and it's been wonderful.

There's nothing wrong with defensive programming, especially if it is supposed to run on a device where you don't have easy and/or immidiate access in case something stops working.

This is both fair and obvious... but at the same time, the nits folk are bringing up are not fleshed out.

  "I had to reboot my raspberry pi" 

and

  "whoops rando eInk display doesn't do javascript" 

are both super weird and frankly unfair to consider as criticisms of the original solution.

... In short - if our parish priest above sees the original post, I'd suggest he give it a go. It's an hour to set up and won't cost him or his parish anything (aside from buying the eink display ofc).

If it turns out that the DIY solution is insufficient, or his parish is wealthy enough to spend money on a thing like this, great, then upgrade to that.

My most "starred" GitHub repo is probably SystemSix [1], an e-ink display masquerading as a little 68K Mac.

[1] https://github.com/EngineersNeedArt/SystemSix

I have the earlier, smaller model of this, and it works well.

I've backed the new, bigger display, which should be shipping soon.

Lay preacher here. There are dozens of us, dozens!

I will be buying one of these, looks super rad! Nice work!

The primary issue I would imagine, would be not that a meta refresh fails to happen, rather, that any type of full refresh is attempted during a momentary 'blip' of the local network, leaving it showing a "cannot find server" type of error. To achieve the safest persistence of the refresh loop, it would probably make more sense to have the refresh function via

1. AJAX request for itself, with a timed retry in the case of any failure (optional: During this time, add a visible indicator that you're having connectivity issue) 2. Extract the contents of the <body> tag of the fetched HTML 3. Set the innerHTML of the <body> tag of the DOM to the fetched body.

To avoid memory leaks I'd still be tempted to also try to implement a "safe-ish refresh" that checks for a successful response and quickly fires off a location.reload() on like a daily basis.

Thanks for the inspiration. I did essentially this as a project with the kids today, though I used js to allow updating by anyone in the family.

https://github.com/TrisSherliker/FridgeChalkboard/tree/main

Yep, exactly r:refreshing failing. If you are using a full featured browser you can also use a browser extension that forces the refresh.

Additionally for a raspberry pi, you can use a watchdog timer service that checks to see if the rpi has frozen, and reboots it.

Wow, that looks super interesting!

Just one comment:

> Developer Edition > Ability to build custom plugins for yourself and others. Unlocks our API. > $20

Isn't it in your interest that developers unlock the potential of your hardware in some new ways? Charging for it seems... weird.

I mean the price is not that high, it just doesn't feel right to pay for access to API. My 2 cents.

I have setup a raspberry PI dashboard before and run into these exact issues. They are not defensive or pre-emptive. An e-reader will probably not have the same issues, just sharing my experience.

* Browser runs out of memory or has other issue and stops refreshing.

* Wifi connection drops and browser displays an error page and stops executing your refreshes. The power-saving options on the RPIs wifi caused me quite a bit of grief before I disabled them.

* Raspberry Pi crashes with kernel errors due to cheap SD card, underpowered USB power supply, or something else.

I ran into these issues one by one over a few months and fixed each one as I ran into it. What I ended up with was:

* Browser set to run at OS startup displaying my page.

* That page having a meta refresh tag, and javascript code to reload the page periodically.

* A browser extension to automatically reload the page as well if both of those failed.

* A watchdog daemon that detects when the RPI has frozen and reboots it.

* A cron job that reboots periodically.

With all of those my dashboard would run for months without any issues or interruptions. Just sharing so others can be aware of potential issues.

I'm developing something so that everyone can do this easily[0]. It's a plugin based presentation software. Real time connection through websocket.

So all you need to do is create a project and use a plugin(existing or your own) to generate your view. The plugin is flexible, so it could be a custom UI or uploading a HTML file for example.

Then, you can open a link on any machine like the e-ink display.

Open-source and self-hostable. But you can also use the online version I'm hosting.

It's still very new so things will break but I'm already using it in church and other meetings.

[0] https://theopenpresenter.com

Kobo readers are fairly non-rando, they're the second most popular eInk readers after the Kindle I think. I agree that lack of Javascript support is not a blocking issue on the use case though (although it does make it a little more annoying).

Seems very nice buuuut why did they put the USB-C on the back if it is supposed to be wall mounted and needs to be charged every couple of months? Why not on one side??

You can buy sheets of rubbery material with sticky backing and metal powder embedded in the rubber. One supplier is WarMag - people use them as a surface for putting magnetic-based figures on.

I came into possession of several sheafs of the A4-sized ones, which now serve as "generic surprisingly heavy objects".

I looked into inkplate. I have no experience at all with microcontrollers. How difficult is it to build something like you did?

Luckily the original solution doesn't involve javascript...

Heyyy I'm internet famous! :blush: Thanks for mentioning me, hope it works well for you.

Life happened, and I realized I would not be in town over holiday! Thanks for the offer though. I can't wait to get it and write some code for it!

Solution: mount it with magnets.