[blurbleblurble]

Pros: it's super light, works outside, runs off of USB power, feels good on the eyes, has a high resolution and a very decent refresh rate. Convenient contrast buttons on the front and a quick clear button. It's VEGA mountable. But I got a lead weight so it's heavy enough for my adjustable monitor stand.

Quirks: Expect ghosting. You'll have to press the "clear" button if the only thing moving on the screen is the mouse. This is oddly satisfying and not nearly as annoying as it sounds. Like "time for a fresh slate!" Getting the right contrast is also something you'll have to get used to. Dark themes are basically unusable because of ghosting. The monitor's very high DPI isn't handled well by gnome, so stuff is smaller on the eink display than on my main monitor. It's got different needs than an LCD in terms of software configuration of themes, color management, etc. I don't think any OS was made with this thing in mind, so there are quirks. I wish there were some better "per-display" settings in gnome. But oh well.

In spite of the quirks, I don't regret getting this thing at all. It was expensive but now I'll be able to work outside. It's way easier on my eyes.

Right now I pretty much just use it for reading and writing code or doing stuff in the shell. And it's great for that. Vim is like the perfect text editor for this. I also got vs code setup alright for it too now, but it's really great with vim, and has been motivating me to use vim more.

Btw, I also got the Dasung "not e-reader" tablet which is also awesome.

These devices are quirky but really well made and designed.

[PaulStatezny]

Thank you so much for the detail.

Could you expand on the "easier on the eyes" part? What did your eyes feel like at the end of a work day before acquiring this monitor versus now?

[GordonS]

Not the GP, but have you ever tried using a laptop outside, especially on a sunny day? It's not terribly pleasant, and you'll probably be squinting the whole time - the reflective surface is particularly troublesome.

I haven't tried a large e-ink display (though I'd love to, especially for coding), but I've been using Kindle e-book readers for years - the difference compared to a glossy, or even matte, Led display is incredible; it's just like reading a printed book. No squinting, no eye-strain, just really pleasant to use.

[blurbleblurble]

I was just having trouble focusing on the screen. My eyes would drift out of focus. It was physically uncomfortable to force my eyes to focus. So I wouldn't. But for my work I would feel like I had to at least try.

For context, I had been going through some burnout. So some part of this was probably psychological. But I would look at the screen and just feel overstimulated. Like my brain wouldn't let my eyes focus on that bright little rectangle any more.

This thing is just much more gentle to look at.

The sense of physical relief is very similar to the sense of relief you'd feel when moving from a bright screen with no blue light filter to a nice warm screen.

(Assuming you have comfortable lighting in your environment, of course.)

You can try this at home:

1. Stare at a page of a book

2. Stare at a light bulb while it's turned on (just kidding don't actually do it it's not worth it)

Which one would you rather do for 8 hours a day? I don't blame you if you say "neither one".