[blagie]

What I really want is a simply end-to-end way to program these devices to display something: basically, something as easy as QBasic, P5.js, or Scratch.

What I don't want is to run a server to host something for them to display. I want it self-contained, so once made, it's alive until the device breaks. My experience is 95% of the cost of these is maintenance, and that goes away once a project is no longer new, glitzy, and flashy.

What I actually want to build myself is a clock which displays time in time zones where my friends, relatives, and family are. Most of the other things I'd like are equally esoteric. I'd like this to be a <3 hour project (so it sustains a child's attention span too).

[harlanji]

WaveShare screens are very reasonably priced and are starting to have 3+ color options. Using a RasPi and Python one can simply display any image via Python Imaging and some code to transmit the data via the connector pins. The image remains fixed on the screen even when it's powered down.

I got a little screen and the demo code worked, didn't know Python well enough at the time to keep running with it (part of the motivation to learn Python in the past year). Might need some work to build a case/enclosure, but beyond that it's a little piece of hardware that does what you wish. I'm thinking similar things, some specific cases in mind.

(I can be hired to do work like this for $15/hr for the first 90 days, contact info in profile).

[joelthelion]

Is there a way to use them in a low power setup, with a battery that lasts at least several days?

[Fnoord]

Yeah e-ink uses no power, only when it refreshes. If you refresh say from 7 AM till 11 PM but not in night then WLAN has to fire up (cheap on ESP32 etc) and you could easily use a poor man's powerbank such as 18650 in USB enclosure.

Tho I think PoE is neat for a device like this. White cable (assuming wall is white) and you're done.

Though I wouldn't rely on a proprietary solution. Nor on Google Calendar.

There are plenty of such options available. For example [1] but there's many more. Here another [2]. Can't find the one I got but yeah it broke and remember you need to update the software at times. I put it on a VLAN and guest WLAN to be sure.

[1] https://hackaday.io/project/189632-e-ink-weather-station-pum...

[2] https://www.hackster.io/lmarzen/esp32-e-paper-weather-displa...