I know people have swapped out the classic Macs CRTs for an LCD, but I wonder if anyone has tried it with an e-ink display? I've always thought the same thing regarding the classic pre-MacOS 8 systems on e-ink.
E-ink's quality and refresh rates are inversely related. Whilst generally it's preferable to use a high-quality mode and slow (0.25 -- 4 Hz) refresh rate, refresh of as high as ~8 -- 16 Hz is possible. Video and animation quality here are not great but they are usable in a pinch.
Video of an Onyx BOOX Note displaying video, which I can vouch for from a similar (Max Lumi) device:
For a relatively static GUI display (such as the Classic Mac), e-ink displays are in fact viable, and there are e-ink devices sold specifically as computer monitors:
I'd want a B&W, line- or halftone-oriented graphics, and relatively static window placement in general, with paginated rather than scroll-based displays (that is, content updates a full screen at a time rather than scrolling). It's not that scrolling isn't possible, it's just that it's really annoying. And there's a reason e-ink devices tend to use line drawings or etchings as demo / sleep screens (see Diaspora* post below for example).
I've written numerous times on HN about what the benefits and affordances of e-ink are, e.g.:
Clarifying my first point: it's often possible to select amongst a range of quality/refresh options for a given display, either globally or for a given app (as with an Android e-ink tablet).
In which case, higher display quality (more pixels, sharper boundaries, deeper blacks, whiter whites, and less ghosting) tends to come with slower display response.
When you're reading static text, page-by-page, that's an acceptable trade-off. If you want to scroll, zoom, or pan through content, or are looking at animations or video, you'll want lower definition & sharpness but higher refresh.
And remember that once an image is displayed, it will persist indefinitely without further power to the display.
Video of an Onyx BOOX Note displaying video, which I can vouch for from a similar (Max Lumi) device:
<https://yewtu.be/watch?v=XRDJv_-wWBI>
For a relatively static GUI display (such as the Classic Mac), e-ink displays are in fact viable, and there are e-ink devices sold specifically as computer monitors:
<https://shop.boox.com/products/mira>
For a demonstration of the capabilities of various e-ink displays (least capable are first), see: <https://yewtu.be/watch?v=KdrMjnYAap4>
I'd want a B&W, line- or halftone-oriented graphics, and relatively static window placement in general, with paginated rather than scroll-based displays (that is, content updates a full screen at a time rather than scrolling). It's not that scrolling isn't possible, it's just that it's really annoying. And there's a reason e-ink devices tend to use line drawings or etchings as demo / sleep screens (see Diaspora* post below for example).
I've written numerous times on HN about what the benefits and affordances of e-ink are, e.g.:
<https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31396797>
<https://diaspora.glasswings.com/posts/638a8d10e041013afba844...>