A new Kickstarter campaign for EnkPi that was started this week could be of interest to makers and electronic hobbyists who are working on projects that use ePaper displays. ePaper screens that are all driven by the amazing Raspberry Pi Pico W small PC. The open-source displays, which come in a variety of sizes, were developed by engineers in London. With 27 days left in the campaign, the project has already reached the necessary pledge target to ensure that it moves from the idea stage to production.
The ePaper display has a broad viewing angle >170 degrees, which is comparable to paper and breaking, as well as ultra-low power (Battery Drive/Energy Harvest), comfortable reading in sunlight, excellent resolution, and the ability to replace paper. Prior to upgrading, detect TFT glass damage. Early-bird contributions from backers for the innovative initiative start at about $16 or £14 right now (depending on current exchange rates).
Each is powered by a Raspberry Pi Pico W with an RP2040 microcontroller and support for 802.11b/g/n that is attached to a custom printed circuit board with six programmable buttons (WiFi 4). During the crowdfunding campaign, the cost of an EinkPi board with a 2.9-inch display starts at $49. Additional shipping costs are $22.
The low-power, high-contrast ePaper displays may show the material in black, white, and red. They may be viewed in direct sunshine or other areas with ambient light and don't need any lighting. They only draw power when the contents of the screen change, just like the screens on Kindle and Kobo eReaders. As a result, they can display a static image indefinitely and, if you don't refresh the screen frequently, should have a long battery life.
A partial screen refresh allows you to change the content of the display more rapidly if you're ready to put up with some artifacts of the previous image still being shown on the screen. But a complete screen refresh takes a little while, some displays also offer partial screen refreshes.
Using UART/I2C or WiFi connections, you may program the display or modify the contents of the screen, and you can set up additional EnkPi boards to interact with one another.
Do you like the concept of attaching an ePaper display to a Raspberry Pi Pico but don't want to spend the money on an entire EnkPi system? A Universal ePaper HAT from the EnkPi's creators is also available for about $10.
Visit the official EnkPi crowdfunding campaign page for a comprehensive overview of all the pledges, stretch goals, supplemental material, and technical details for the ePaper displays.