[trok]

I was excited, until I found out how much it costs..

For some time I have been looking a small screen that would be used for displaying various information. However, I don't want to build the hardware myself as I feel that the result might not be safe for 24/7 usage.

I've been checking digital photo frames, but have not found any solution which would allow updating the image directly and without requiring reverse engineering of an app or the device itself.

[erenst]

Inkplate[1] might be a good option for around 100€. Compared to Joan it's less polished. You can get 3d printed case and it requires some coding (it doesn't support rendering HTML).

I'm working on a personal dashboard for the screen. I'll create a website in React and then use rendertron[2] to get the screenshot on the Inkplate.

[1] https://inkplate.io/ [2] https://github.com/GoogleChrome/rendertron

[lemonspat]

Have you found a battery for this that might make it fit well in a 3d printed case?

[trok]

Thanks for the tip, I will check it out. :)

[nathan_f77]

I've been using a first-generation iPad a digital photo frame. I use the LiveFrame [1] app, which still supports very old versions of iOS (9.5).

The iPad had just been sitting in my closet for a few years, since I couldn't update it to the latest version of iOS, and most apps stopped supporting it. I was about to throw it away before I had one last attempt at doing something useful with it. I'm really glad I found the LiveFrame app and was able to get it working.

It also has a web browser that can display almost any webpage (although it would probably struggle with the latest CSS features.) So you could show a dashboard web page to display some information.

I would recommend looking on eBay to see if there are any cheap iPads or Android tablets.

[1] https://apps.apple.com/us/app/liveframe/id860372559

[MrGilbert]

I built a small program which takes input from HomeAssistant (a smart home self-hostable platform) and draws it over some stills I extracted from this video [1] (with night/day change). The frame I'm using has a built-in FTP server, so a small Homeserver (which I'm running anyways) is used to upload the image to the frame in regular intervalls.

That was my take on it, after I got rid of my iPad - I used it as a display, and after 1.5 years of constantly being plugged in, the battery suddenly decided to inflate.

//Edit: This is the frame I'm using: https://www.dragontouch.com/digital-picture-frame-classic10

[1]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7KXGZAEWzn0

[trok]

That's something what I've been looking for. Never thought about possibility of frame having ftp server..

Hopefully the product is not discontinued as the good ones usually are, when i discover something cool.

[napsy]

Finding cheaper solutions is tricky. I myself am not that strong in electronic engineering, so assembling my own small device is a no-go for me. But yes it would definitely be possible with a small LCD and rpi.

[schwartzworld]

Honestly, your cheapest bet is to buy a used Kindle. Serve your information as a web page over your WiFi and access it using the built in web browser.