Project: E-Paper Tablet (touch-typable!)

[andrewed]

deleted

[andrewed]

To help this project along, read my last post above and follow the link to the xda post to post your wish for clear instructions. If you can help sort the wiki out, please do.

@Kumabjorn:
Nothing much to add to my earlier responses about this. Just that the hacker of the Sony PRS-T1 (not the x50 models) said he needs a donation for a device to work on (he can get a student price). He only had his for a moment because he bought it as a gift for someone else. http://sven.killig.de/android/PRS-T1/ Go up 2-3 folders to see his email.

Yifanlu, the Kindle dissector here, said he wants to see Android on the Kindle Touch (not K3), maybe he just needs encouragement. See:Kindle_Touch_Hacking#Android

[andrewed]

Hack is now ready for adventurous users:
USB Host for non-techs
mali100 has packaged the USB Host and keyboard software with instructions. Check the wiki for complete instructions. It's not guaranteed, I haven't tried it yet (I need a card reader), we'll keep simplifying it, but now the goal is within reach of non-programmers.

Thanks to everybody here for your ongoing support and interest. Please sign up at xda and thank (using the Thanks button) verygreen, ros87, Renate NST, and mali100 for their help in both relevant threads.

Please post your results and problems on above thread so they can help weed out problems.

[andrewed]

Thought I'd check in.

While waiting for my hardware this winter, I got involved in other obsessive projects. Always gotta feed the machine. Anyway, that's going to take a couple-three weeks. Hope the existing software and instructions are enough to chew on for you in the meantime. The saga continues.

[Tulapi]

Just a small note to say I have been able to use an external keyboard with Nook simple touch. Thank you very much for the explanations.

[Kumabjorn]

When will a Kindle version be released?
Was my support spent on beer instead?

[ytrewq]

Originally Posted by Tulapi

I have been able to use an external keyboard with Nook simple touch.

Can you type pages of text?
How does the screen respond when redacting a full page?

also, has anyone tried this?
Kindle DX as E Ink computer monitor
http://tinyapps.org/docs/e-ink-monitor.html

[andrewed]

Originally Posted by Kumabjorn

When will a Kindle version be released?
Was my support spent on beer instead?

Hi. You have asked several times about Kindle and I have responded. I repeated myself twice about it for your benefit. But it always seemed to me like you did not read what I wrote. I never said that Kindle was going to be made to work with this particular phase of the project. I suggest you go back and read what I wrote.

[andrewed]

Originally Posted by Tulapi

Just a small note to say I have been able to use an external keyboard with Nook simple touch. Thank you very much for the explanations.

Awesome. Great to hear it is working for you. You're welcome!

[Kumabjorn]

Originally Posted by andrewed

Hi. You have asked several times about Kindle and I have responded. I repeated myself twice about it for your benefit. But it always seemed to me like you did not read what I wrote. I never said that Kindle was going to be made to work with this particular phase of the project. I suggest you go back and read what I wrote.

Nope, you said you wanted to develop a device, from that we moved on to support of existing devices, so far the Nook is supported as I understand it. I just thought it would be ported to other devices as well. Like Sony and Kindle. I'm not particular.
Would love to see some pics of a funtioning device.

[geekmaster]

Originally Posted by SleepyBob

A refresh on an LCD doesn't turn all the pixels on and off, it switches the ones that need to change to the new color. Which is why the refresh rate is a non-issue for this type of application. The second article you linked to stresses the importance of refresh rate in order to show all the frames in FPS video games, not because screen refresh rate has any impact on supposed flickering or quaking.

Good luck in your endeavor, though.

Actually your info is a bit old. Wikipedia also talks about FRC (Frame Rate Control / Temporal Dithering) which is used by many LCD panels (especially the larger ones) to achieve more colors. This switches the pixels between two brightness levels at high speed (which can be seen as flicker in some cases), to appear as an intermediate brightness pixel.

Supporting evidence:

Here is one of many (newer) wikipedia pages that talk about this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flicker_(screen)

While typically thought of as a mark of older systems like 16-bit game consoles, the flicker technique continues to be used on new systems, such as the temporal dithering used to fake true color on most new LCD monitors.

Flicker is also common on small LCD panels, such as those used in cheap cellphones.

[mclien]

strangely enough i sumbled over this thread/poll that late. I have searched around soften to find the fitting device for me, but still didn't found one.
I read mostly trough the thread now and like the idea of hacking the nook. Paralelly I opend my pocketbock 603 look. So far I noticed one card being plugged in seperatly, but couldn't figure out if thats the WiFi or the 3G part, but must be one of them because of the attached antenna.
Also I don't know if thats some proprietary device or some standard (miniPCI or alike). I have some pictures done with my digicam, if that helps verification, by some hardware wizard.

And there is one project, from which is perhaps a lot to learn, if not to cooperate with:
openpandora
It's completly new designed and produced device for mobile gaming. Made from scratch to name it. That hat heavy backdraws an that on the way and maybe they are willing to share experience or get involved. Who know? Perhaps there are some good senergy effects to generate?

And maybe the raspberry pi Project is worth a look, too.
But I'm not into the video putput devices that much to say, if either of that will work "out of the box".

But I think I start a thread in the openpandora forum to get a little mor information..

[andrewed]

It's bizarre how long things take sometimes.

My life has been really unstable this year, so all the elements necessary for me to focus and do this hack didn't come together till this week. After a reasonable amount of study and just a little failure, I succeeded to type on e-paper tonight, after four and a half years of wanting to. Bless all of you who helped make this happen.

My only difficulties were with slight lack of clarity in the instructions and making USB over ADB work (part of Minimal Touch beta-5 XU[sb] Part 1). I gave up right away on USB, did a factory reset, and reinstalled Minimal Touch beta-5 XW[ifi]. Everything went fine from there. No doubt a factory reset was overkill, but I wanted to be sure to start from scratch. The keyboard worked without a hub the first time from the instructions on the wiki at xda.

Now I just need to make a dvorak keymap and get the hub working to protect the battery of the device. Then make even clearer instructions as originally promised.

So I am another person who, just like you, spend quite a bit of effort trying to find a way to get an eBook reader touch typeable. (though it did not occur to me to contact a hacker: I got stuck in trying to contact companies who manufacture them.) And I find it so hard to believe that the one person who put in more effort into getting this project accomplished than me only got his Nook Simple Touch touch typing recently.

So actually, I am also in the process of changing the keymap as I post this... I'll let you know once it works out.

As far as the hub, of course you do realize that it requires an upstream-powering hub, right? And, from reading the XDA threads, it looks like maybe also some sort of minor code change (to stop supplying power in the Host mode)(though maybe a simple command over ADB would do it). Would you like to work on this, while I work on the Dvorak keymap?

[Hellmark]

I've seen a few different hacks lately, one closest to the desire of this thread, the Kindleberry Pi. Kindle 3, hacked to display the contents from the Raspberry Pi.