I’d like to be able to use it to display text, but I need to sort out that text - .wif conversion process first. After that I want to use it for digital signage and display. I’m hoping to be able to connect to the PDI 10.2" displays next for conference room signage and replace the paper signs we use now.
I was thinking of putting it on my wife’s office door, as a “where am I” sign that would link with her Outlook calendar, and update say every 15 minutes. I’ve got 3 more boards so I’ll be testing them with all kinds of things.
We have a maker meetup in Lancaster today, and I have Aron’s iOS app loaded on my iPad. I’m going to have several of my Imp projects on display and let folks take pictures and load them onto the ePaper.
The slow refresh rate certainly limits practical use of this display to things that only update on occasion.I was thinking of using it for a handheld temperature monitor display, but that would only be reasonable for temperatures that weren’t fluctuating a lot, or that you weren’t actively watching.
These items may help a little tiny bit. (I created a login simply to reply and support your effort with whatever knowledge I could offer…)
a “TCON” is just an acronym for a timing controller which is needed for larger displays display refresh and for memory addressing…on the smaller EPD the Tcon is really the Ti MSP430 and it of course does all sorts of other stuff too. (Source: Pervasive Display AdapTag Training Powerpoint dated 12-11-2012)
for AdapTag displays larger than 2.7" the flash memory is used rather than the MCU low memory…(Source: Pervasive Display dev kit documentation user manual.)
The soon-to-come 10.2" dev kit features a Altera Cyclone FPGA as the Tcon and the display management is “software” on the Altera. – but they leave off any RF connectivity so it’s hard-wired to the USB dev bus. (waa IMHO)
Epson has a dev board code-named “Jane” that looks like this (see attached png) as it drives the smaller AdapTag at high refresh speeds (10Hz)…the board is on DigiKey without a photo.
You may be able to tell that I’ve been looking at doing similar things with this EPD stuff…great to read about like thinkers!
Really great job on the Vanessa + the AdapTag 2.0" shown above!
To get the 10.x working, I’d spec an FPGA, SPI, memory, and the RF controller for I/O for each master/slave EPD combo.
Hope this stuff helps, and I look forward to seeing everyone’s results!
Jason S aka JasonInVegas
PDI sells the 10.2" display with an Altera Cyclone FPGA. I actually have all the hardware connected to an Imp module. Unfortunately this project just got dumped to the back burner for a little bit while I focus on some other boards. Here is what I have for a test setup. I ordered a 10 pin connector from Digikey, and broke it out with a SchmartBoard so I could easily connect it to the Amber board. The display is still in its plastic here, just so it doesn’t get damaged while I test it.
Assuming my hardware is correct, I just need to write the squirrel code to pull and image down and write it to the display. I think that writing to the FPGA should actually be easier than the Vanessa code, since you don’t have to handle all the timing.
Hi jwehr,
Did you get your prototype working? The 10.2 epaper with the electric imp?
Could you post an update on how you built it? I am interested in building the same thing but with the smaller display 7,4.
Thanks,
/Ruth
