[ghaff]

I think it depends. My dad would absolutely prefer something that just worked. He certainly appreciates things I make and do but, even the books I've written, he appreciates that I've written something and leaves it out in his apartment but I'm quite sure he's only flipped through the semi-technical content.

[fnordpiglet]

I bet he leaves it out in his apartment more reliably than if you gave him a book off Amazon. The fact he can’t access the contents of the book isn’t the point. It’s that he takes pride in something he wouldn’t normally read is because it’s yours. That’s why a DIY project for your parents is better than a shrink wrapped piece of future garbage.

[ghaff]

Sure. And a book has a cover with the author's name on it.

But he really wouldn't thank me (not that he'd say so) for some DIY project that wasn't as transparent to use as commercial versions--and he'd end up not using it. He appreciates that I've put together the photo collections given that I've scanned and kept a lot of photos he wouldn't other have access to but he'd like actually displaying them to be as easy as possible.

[fnordpiglet]

Yes, but that’s your family where you write books. If you’re a nerd that makes eink displays of photos, I bet their family appreciates their children just as much as your father appreciates you. The nice thing about eink for this is once your family member eventually unplugs or somehow disconnects the device from the network; it’ll continue to display the last photo.