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Hacking Esquire's E-ink Cover
Posted by
kdawson
on Mon Sep 08, 2008 06:50 PM
from the be-one-of-the-hundred-thousand dept.
from the be-one-of-the-hundred-thousand dept.
ptorrone writes "I picked up the Esquire E-inked cover today and took a bunch of high res photos, for the makers out there. It has a programming header, 5-pin ISP, a Microchip PIC 12f629 which is flash programmable, 8 pin, 6 lithium coin cell CR2016s, 3 volts each. Two E-ink screens with flex connections — looks like it was made to be reprogrammed and different screens. The top screen has 11 segments, the bottom has 3. It was designed 2008-06-04. The PCB was made by Forewin, half thickness, 2 layer board (FR4). I think someone out there will likely reflash the PIC and make the segments go on / off at different times and perhaps put other displays on it, there's a little bit of hacking to be had but not that much really."
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Great for the environment (Score:3, Insightful)
Most of these magazines are going to end up in landfills with all the toxic materials that are in the display, batteries, chips, and PCBs. Thank you Esquire.
Recycling instructions (Score:5, Informative)
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Re:Recycling instructions (Score:4, Insightful)
Fascinating.
All of it can be recycled through your local municipal waste program in the same manner as you dispose of household batteries.
Last time I checked, household batteries go to the landfill. At least that's what happens where I live. GP has it right.
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Re:Recycling instructions (Score:5, Informative)
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Re:Recycling instructions (Score:5, Insightful)
A fear of getting caught isn't the reason people comply, it's to keep hazardous material out of the landfill. The same reason we recycle our electronics through free programs instead of burying them in the backyard (well technically the fee is paid at point-of-sale).
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Re:Recycling instructions (Score:5, Informative)
Somewhere there's a website with a list of companies that participate in the program.
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Re:Recycling instructions (Score:5, Informative)
Sure. I used to work at Radio Shack and we had a battery recycling bin by the till. Every couple of weeks our manager would dump the contents into the trash. I protested, but he said that as long as people thought they were recycling, they felt good and they would come in and buy stuff.
Oh how I hated that job.
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Re:Recycling instructions (Score:5, Insightful)
http://www.esquire.com/features/recycle-e-ink-cover [esquire.com]
"Simply tear off the cover and dispose of the display unit in your recycling."
Colour me very surprised if the council don't just landfill the thing because it is too much effort for them to split it up into it's component parts...
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Re:Great for the environment (Score:5, Insightful)
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Re:Great for the environment (Score:4, Funny)
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Re:Great for the environment (Score:5, Insightful)
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Re:Great for the environment (Score:5, Insightful)
Which component in paticular do you think is toxic?
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Re:Great for the environment (Score:5, Insightful)
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Re:Great for the environment (Score:4, Insightful)
I wonder if it occurred to the bright bulb who designed this that the magazine will spend most of its time in total darkness on someone's shelf? A cheap photosensor would have saved at least a few of those 6(!) coin cells, I'd bet.
That would also have solved the shipping problem, since presumably it's dark as all hell inside a Chinese cargo container.
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The internet is getting to me (Score:5, Funny)
Oh wow, a magazine with a digital cover (Score:5, Funny)
who cares! until the magazine can read to me while I'm on the toilet, and answer my questions, or rebuttal my comments, I don't care how much technology goes into the cover.
Then again if Playboy gets a digital cover that talks dirty to me then I have the option of recanting my previous statement.
what a waste (Score:5, Insightful)
Why are e-ink based e-books so expensive, while Esquire can afford to use it as a cover for their magazine? Something's missing here.
Re:what a waste (Score:5, Informative)
My guess would be that this "screen" is not able to display arbitrary images, rather it can only display those images pre-burned onto the "e-ink". The PIC controller merely flips switches on and off at set time intervals or by button presses. Although interesting and indeed hackable, the hardware necessary to do this stuff is already quite cheap (something like $25 for a USB pickit 1 from Microchip.com).
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Re:what a waste (Score:5, Informative)
Right. The display is just like old Game & Watch games (or any other cheap LCD display). They have a bunch of segments (in this case mostly blocks of words) that can be turned on or off. I'd expect that just like LCDs the more segments you have the more expensive it is to manufacture the thing (not including the cost of controller).
If you watch the little video that the Make blog post links to, you can see how limited it is.
That said, it seems to refresh quite fast, which the e-books have problems with. I don't know if this is a consequence of the controller (I doubt it, Amazon/Sony would do better), the size of the pixels (smaller pixels switch slower for some reason, perhaps the small traces prevent higher current that can switch things faster), manufacturing (faster switching is too expensive to make an 800x600 screen), or just perception (since the elements are so large it's not noticeable like when you change small blocks of text).
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simple segments vs. dot matrix (Score:5, Informative)
Why are e-ink based e-books so expensive, while Esquire can afford to use it as a cover for their magazine? Something's missing here.
11 very large segments versus 480,000 very small segments. PIC programed to go "turn on segment 1, then 2, then 3. Pause. Switch all them off. Repeat"...versus "fully fledged operating system and electronic document presentation system."
Oh yes, and Equire printed roughly 233,300 of them (one in three of their circulation of 700,000) in one go. That's roughly equal to the 240,000 Kindle units Amazon has supposedly sold in about 10 months.
Still, the biggie is the simplicity...
Parent
But... (Score:3, Funny)
Esquire welcomes hacking (Score:5, Interesting)
<blink>? (Score:5, Funny)
Great. The <blink> tag made it to real life!
Why?? Whyyyyyyyy........??? ;)
Re:? (Score:3, Insightful)
Same reason the original blink made it to HTML - because the can. Reminds you a lot of the Jurassic Park line..."they> were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn't stop to think if they should."
Peter Griffin - Family Guy ? (Score:4, Funny)
"Hey Lois, Look I'm flashing an Esquire, he he he hehe"
Stewie: "Oh, good going fat man way to show it to the 21st century"
Adn so it begins... (Score:5, Interesting)
Yes this first feeble attempt is fairly lame, a few segments that will burn out in a couple of months and took a fair investment in hardware to pull off. But it won't end here.
Soon they will put solar collectors on the things to keep it going indefinately, add more segments, etc. Hell, it won't be a generation before they are printing complex enough circuits on the damned things that they will be doing full motion video. On cereal boxes. Or having generic advertising, think shopping carts, seatbacks, etc updating their ad copy over slow radio links. And they already know how to make flat paper speakers so they damned things will be talking whenever somebody is in range.
Re:Adn so it begins... (Score:5, Insightful)
And they already know how to make flat paper speakers so they damned things will be talking whenever somebody is in range.
If they had video cameras, they'd be vandal resistant too.
"Watch Big Brother! Tonight of ABC! Watch Big Brother Tonight on ABC! Mr Morris, please do not touch this advert, it is the property of Orwell Advertising Inc. Mr Morris, video of the incident has been sent to law enforcement"
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Not so impressive (Score:4, Informative)
More details (Score:5, Informative)
Firstly, they did not use the active matrix version of the E-Ink display. It is a segmented version. This means that you can not make it do kindle like things. You must use the existing segments. The magazine contains two of these 2x5" displays. The cover display has 11 segments while the inside display has 3. They are both black and 'white' (aka grey) displays although several shades seem possible by varying the switch voltage timing. The color areas are created with a transparent overlay that, of course, is always present.
(Note: These probably do not match the CN1 and CN2 pin outs)
COVER DISPLAY SEGMENTS
1. "THE 21ST CENTURY"
2. "BEGINS"
3. 1st box after "BEGINS"
4. 2nd box after "BEGINS"
5. 3rd box after "BEGINS"
6. Both boxes (left and right) of "NOW"
7. "NOW"
8. The circle arrow
9. Bottom box 1
10. Bottom box 2
12. Bottom box 3
INNER DISPLAY SEGMENTS
1. Left side + 2 of 6 'wheel' segments on both 'wheels'
2. Middle + 2 of 6 'wheel' segments on both 'wheels'
3. Right side + 2 of 6 'wheel' segments on both 'wheels'
The cover display uses a 12 line ribbon connector while the inner display uses a 6 line ribbon with only 4 lines that are completed. One line on each display is a common connection while the others are simple on/off lines.
THE ELECTRONICS
The circuit board is very simple with only a few components. There are six CR2016 3V batteries, 2 connectors, 2 HEF4094BT 8 stage shift-and-store bus register chips, 1 12F629 Flash based 8bit CMOS microcontroller, 26 resistors, 2 capacitors and 3 transistors. The 12F629 controls 3 transistors that drive the STROBE, DATA and CLOCK pins, at 15v, of the HEF4094BTs. The HEF4094BTs are connected in a cascade fashion to provide 16 latching registers that directly drive the EInk displays.
WHAT DOES IT ALL DO?
The Batteries:
5 of the 6 batteries (B1-B5) are connected in series to provide the 15v driver voltage that is used to change the segments from black to white and back. The other battery (B6) supplies the 3 volts needed to run the microcontroller. The B1-B5 series and B6 both share a common ground.
The PIC
U1 is the Microcontroller. This device controls the sequence of the changes.
Pin 1 is Vdd (+3vdc).
C1 is used as a noise filter for the power.
Pin 2 is not used.
Pin 3 is not used.
Pin 4 is used for initial programming only.
Pin 5 drives Q3 through R5.
This drives the U3 and U3 STROBE (STR) lines causing the shift register data to be stored in the storage register.
Pin 6 drives Q2 through R3.
This drives the U2 and U3 CLOCK (CP) lines which allows serial programming of each register bit prior to storage.
Pin 7 drives Q1 through R1.
This drives the U2 DATA (S) line. U3 Data is connected to the O's (PIN 10) of U2 which is a serial output.
pin 8 is Vss(GND).
The Transistors
Q1 drives the DATA (D) line of U2 and is driven by U1 Pin 7.
Q2 drives the CLOCK (CP) lines of U2 and U3 and is driven by U1 Pin 6.
Q3 drives the STROBE (STR) lines of U2 and U3 and is driven by U1 pin 5.
Q1-Q3 base pins are connected to common ground.
R1,3,5 are used for current limiting to protect U1 outputs.
R2,4,6 are pull-up resistors for Q1-3 causing
the output to be 15V when off and ground when on. C3 is a noise filter for the pull-up power rail.
The Shift Registers
U1 and U2 drive the displays. They are programmed by U1 via a serial bus. The parallel outputs we'll look at from the perspective of the CN1 and CN2 connectors. These work as a marching train of bits. When the clock goes HI all bits are shifted right and the first one is set the whatever DA
Re:More details (Score:5, Insightful)
+1, (Only relevant information in entire thread)
Parent
Re:More details (Score:4, Interesting)
"six CR2016"
How much did the magazine cost? It may have been worth the price just to get those batteries.
http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2062103&cp=&kw=CR2016&parentPage=search [radioshack.com]
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Re:What would happen (Score:5, Funny)
if someone went and re-flashed all the controllers in the Esquire mags to display porn (first thing that comes to mind is Goatse) instead of the original content?
Um, then it would display goatse.
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Re:What would happen (Score:5, Insightful)
I don't get it. What do YOU think will happen?
All I can see is a company gets a black eye, blames the whole thing on 'those evil hackers', and sends a potentially cool technology away forever.
And if the first thing you think of when you think of porn is 'Goatse', man, I'm sorry.
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Re:What would happen (Score:5, Funny)
That's not an eye...
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Re:What would happen (Score:5, Informative)
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Re:What would happen (Score:4, Informative)
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Re:What would happen (Score:4, Insightful)
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Re:What would happen (Score:5, Interesting)
A pixel is just a very small, very square segment. I believe what the grandparent poster is trying to say is that this particular e-ink display is heavily segment based, and proposition supported by how it is being used in the cover and how cheap it is to make.
The cheap calculator displays are mostly LCD, which power both high end pixel-driven displays and the videogames that come free with your Happy Meal. This particular implementation of the technology appears to fall to the latter.
Hence, it would be nearly impossible to display anything other than what is currently on the cover without rebuilding the e-ink sheet. In this particular case, we're all winners.
Parent
Re:What would happen (Score:4, Informative)
Essentially, the paper itself could display individual pixels, in almost exactly the same way that sections of electroluminescent tape could individually light up, but they would need to be wired for it. The difference between running one magnetic inducing plane to the back of a specially-cut region of the paper and running hundreds of wires all crisscrossing them is significnat. And that, of course, is what separates 2 dollar a foot electroluminescent tape from hundred dollar per 3-inch electroluminescent displays. At the point where you've fabricated electromagnetic matrices to interact with the e-paper, you're far into the cost of a real ebook reader.
The writer there isn't thinking about the tools at hand in any realistic fashion. Realistic tech writers aren't interesting, hence only the fantastic (and ignorant) survive.
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Re:What would happen (Score:5, Funny)
> In the howitworks they seem to have 3 shades: white, black, and grey.
Unlike e-books, which apparently also have 3 shades: light grey, dark grey, and grey.
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Re:What would happen (Score:4, Insightful)
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Re:What would happen (Score:5, Informative)
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Re:What would happen (Score:5, Funny)
Then a bunch of artsy fashionistas would parade around saying that gaping anus is the new black.
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Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Yikes. You need to relax. Go kick back with some Goatse and a beer and mellow out!
Re:What would happen (Score:4, Funny)
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Re:What would happen (Score:5, Insightful)
If the internet has done one thing for me, it has killed whatever curiosity I had to go look at new shock images.
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Re:What would happen (Score:4, Funny)
Trust me to get the abnormal girlfriend..
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Re:Ink ink ink (Score:5, Funny)
Until they are programmable enough.
When I was in middle school, our typing teacher gave repetitive exercises like that, to do at home or in lab. I happened to have a daisy wheel printer at home for my TRS-80 (m4, 32k and 2 drives!), which was basically a - you guessed it! - typewriter.
A for-next loop and homework was done... even trimmed the edges so the perforation marks wouldn't be there to tip her off....
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Re:Boring, boring, boring (Score:5, Funny)
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They're happy to have you hack it (Score:5, Informative)
Their website says they'd be interested to see what people do hacking it, and if you do something cool, please let them know. They say that it wasn't particularly designed to be easy to hack, and they don't know how, so you'll have to figure it out for yourself, but have fun.
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