epaper News - CNX Software - Embedded Systems News

January 10, 2026 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments

XIAO ePaper DIY Kit – EE02 – An ESP32-S3 board designed for 13.3-inch Spectra 6 color E-Ink display

XIAO ESP32-S3 13.3-inch E-ink Spectra 6 color display kit

Seeed Studio’s XIAO ePaper DIY Kit EE02 is an ESP32-S3 WiFi and Bluetooth board designed specifically for the 13.3-inch Spectra 6 color E-Ink display provided by the company. It’s based on a similar design as the XIAO ePaper DIY Kit-EE04 (ESP32-S3) and XIAO ePaper DIY Kit-EN04 (nRF52480) introduced last December, which are suitable for smaller 1.54 to 7.15-inch ePaper displays. Like the previous models, the new EE02 model also includes a battery connector with a power switch, a built-in charging IC, and comes with one reset and three user buttons. With support for a larger 13.3-inch color ePaper display, it’s especially well-suited for digital frames and information boards. XIAO ePart DIY kit – EE02 specifications: Wireless board – XIAO ESP32S3 Plus SoC – Espressif ESP32-S3R8 CPU – Dual-core Tensilica LX7 microcontroller up to 240 MHz with vector instructions for AI acceleration Memory – 8MB PSRAM Wireless – WiFi 4 and Bluetooth […]

December 15, 2025December 14, 2025 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

reTerminal E1001/E1002 Review – B&W and color ePaper displays tested with SenseCraft HMI and Home Assistant

Seeed Studio reTerminal E1001 E002 ePaper Display review

Seeed Studio sent us samples of the reTerminal E1001 (monochrome) and E1002 (color) ePaper displays for review. They are powered by an ESP32-S3 microcontroller providing WiFi and Bluetooth LE wireless connectivity, and are designed for low-power information display applications, consuming power only when updating the screen content. This makes them ideal for tasks requiring long battery life (average of 3 months per charge, depending on how often they are updated) and always-on display capabilities. In this review, we will unbox the devices, go through a teardown, and test them with Seeed Studio’s SenseCraft no-code HMI platform, as well as ESPHome firmware for Home Assistant integration. reTerminal E1001/E1002 unboxing We received two cardboard packages that look identical and are labeled “Seeed Studio reTerminal ePaper Display”. But the sticker on the bottom side of the boxes provides clarity… Inside each box, we’ll find the ePaper display, a USB Type-C cable, a display […]

December 12, 2025December 12, 2025 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments

Diptyx E-Reader – An open-source, ESP32-powered, dual-screen e-book reader (Crowdfunding)

There are plenty of e-book readers on the market, but the Diptyx E-Reader feels more like a proper book since it features two e-paper displays that can be folded or opened thanks to a custom-made plastic enclosure. While it’s powered by an ESP32-S3 wireless module with a PCB antenna, both WiFi and Bluetooth are disabled in the firmware, and instead, users can load EPUB files through the reader’s USB Type-C port. The combination of an automatic standby mode (using deep sleep) and e-ink displays enables the dual-screen device to run for weeks on a single charge. Two buttons are used to access the next or previous page, and a third one powers the device up in a few seconds. Diptyx E-Reader specifications: Wireless module – ESP32-S3-WROOM-1 SoC – Espressif Systems ESP32-S3-N16R8 CPU – ESP32-S3 dual-core LX7 microprocessor @ up to 240 MHz with Vector extension Memory – 8MB PSRAM Storage – […]

December 9, 2025December 10, 2025 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments

7.3-inch full color e-paper wooden photo frame is designed for the Raspberry Pi Zero

Waveshare RPi-Zero-PhotoPainter-ACCE is a 7.3-inch color e-paper photo frame designed for the Raspberry Pi Zero family. It’s an 800×480 resolution display based on E-Ink Spectra 6 (E6), and housed in a wooden frame. The display also features an RTC with backup battery support, a LiPo battery connector with “UPS circuitry”, a USB-C port for power, a 3-pin debug/serial header, a power button, and a charging LED. It supports portrait and landscape orientation on the desk thanks to a rotatable stand and wall mounting through a hook hanger. RPi-Zero-PhotoPainter-ACCE specifications: Display – E-Ink Spectra 6 (E6) Full-color display with Black, White, Green, Blue, Red, and Yellow Resolution – 800×480 pixels Pixel Pitch – 0.2 x 0.2mm Viewing Angle – > 170° Refresh Time Full refresh – 12s Partial refresh – Not supported Grayscale – Two shades of gray Dimensions – 160 x 96mm Expansion – 40-pin HAT connector to connect Raspberry […]

December 2, 2025December 3, 2025 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 8 Comments

XIAO ePaper DIY Kit features ESP32-S3 or nRF52840 SoC, supports 1.54-inch to 7.5-inch displays

Seeed Studio has launched two new ePaper display DIY Kits: the XIAO ePaper DIY Kit-EN04 and XIAO ePaper DIY Kit-EE04, respectively powered by a Nordic Semi nRF52840 or Espressif ESP32-S3 wireless SoC. Both kits support 24-pin and 50-pin ePaper displays, and the company offers 1.54-inch to 7.5-inch displays as options. The XIAO ePaper DIY kits also feature a battery connector with a power switch, a built-in charging IC, and come with one reset and three user buttons. They target low-power ePaper projects such as digital signage, electronic labels, and portable information boards. XIAO ePart DIY kit specifications: Wireless board Kit-EN04 – XIAO nRF52840 Plus Wireless MCU – Nordic nRF52840 Arm Cortex-M4F microcontroller @ up to 64 MHz with 1 MB flash, 256 KB SRAM, Bluetooth 5.0, NFC, 802.15.4 connectivity Storage – 2 MB onboard Flash Wireless Connectivity – Bluetooth 5.0 (BLE), 802.15.4, and NFC Antenna – Ceramic antenna USB – USB […]

September 15, 2025September 15, 2025 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments

Android 14 smartphone offers 6.13-inch E-Ink color display, 5G cellular connectivity

Bigme HiBreak Pro Color is an Android 14 smartphone with 4G LTE and 5G cellular connectivity, and a more unique feature: a 6.13-inch E-Ink color display. We had seen a few smartphones with E-ink grayscale displays in the past, with products such as the Hisense A5 or YotaPhone 3, but phones with an E-Ink color display are more of a rarity, and the Bigme HiBreak Pro Color adds to the Hisense A7CC. Other key features include a MediaTek Dimensity 1080 octa-core Cortex-A78/A55 processor, 8GB of RAM, and a 256GB UFS flash. Bigme HiBreak Pro Color specifications: SoC – MediaTek Dimensity 1080 Octa-core CPU – 4x Arm Cortex-A78 cores @ 2.6 GHz, 4x Arm Cortex-A55 cores @ 2.0 GHz GPU – Arm Mali-G68 MC4 VPU Video decoding – H.265, H.264, MPEG-4, VP9 up to 4K @ 30 FPS Video encoding – H.265, H.264 up to 4K @ 30 FPS System Memory […]

September 6, 2025September 6, 2025 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 12 Comments

reTerminal E1001/E1002 – ESP32-S3-powered monochrome/color ePaper displays for dashboards, digital signage

reTerminal E1002 7.3-inch color ePaper display

Seeed Studio’s reTerminal E1001 and E1002 are two ePaper displays featuring an ESP32-S3 WiFi and Bluetooth LE wireless microcontroller suitable for dashboards or digital signage applications. The only difference between the two reTerminal E-series displays is that the E1001 features a 7.5-inch monochrome display, while the E1002 integrates a 7.3-inch 6-color ePaper display. Both come with a 2,000 mAh battery offering up to 3 months of battery life, a 32MB SPI flash, a microSD card slot, a microphone and a buzzer, temperature and humidity sensors, an 8-pin GPIO header, and a few buttons and LEDs. reTerminal E1001/E1002 specifications: Wireless SoC – Espressif Systems ESP32-S3 dual-core microcontroller with 8MB PSRAM Storage 32MB SPI flash MicroSD card slot up to 32GB (FAT32 file system only) Display E1001 – 7.5-inch Monochrome ePaper display with 800×480 resolution E1002 – 7.3-inch “Full Color” (i.e., 6-color) ePaper display with 800×480 resolution Audio Microphone (3) for voice […]

August 6, 2025 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

FPGA-based Modos Paper Dev Kit supports a wide range of E-Ink displays, up to 75 Hz refresh rate (Crowdfunding)

Modos Paper Grayscale or Color E-Ink displays

Modos Paper Dev Kit helps users create an open-hardware E-Ink monitor with a fast 75 Hz refresh rate and low latency thanks to a Xilinx Spartan-6 FPGA driver board, and compatibility with a wide and of E-Ink displays between 4-inch and 42-inch in size. The resulting grayscale or color E-ink monitor can be connected through HDMI or USB and works on Linux, macOS, and Windows. Modos Paper driver board specifications: FPGA – AMD/Xilinx Spartan-6 LX16 FPGA running Caster gateware Memory – DDR3-800 framebuffer memory MCU – STMicro STM32H750 Arm Cortex-M7 microcontroller for USB communication, firmware upgrades, and standalone applications. Processing rate up to 133 MP/s when error-diffusion dithering is enabled, and 200 MP/s when disabled Supported Displays – 4-inch to 42-inch E-Ink displays without integrated TCON; See long list on GitHub Video Input USB Type-C DisplayPort Alt-Mode with on-board PTN3460 decoder microHDMI connector for DVI video input with on-board ADV7611 […]