Inkplate 6

A powerful, Wi-Fi enabled ESP32 microcontroller makes this six-inch e-paper display – recycled from a Kindle e-reader – incredibly easy to control. Just plug in a USB cable, open Arduino IDE, and change the contents of the screen with few lines of code. Built on ESP32 & programmable with Arduino IDE or MicroPython

Features

• Physical Interface:
• Three capacitive touchpads
• Hardware power switch
• One LED battery indicator
• Hardware reset button
• Connectors: Micro USB, easyC, and GPIO
• Wired Connectivity: USB, I²C, and SPI
• USB to UART converter: CH340C
• Storage: MicroSD card reader
• Power Management:
• Based on Texas Instruments (TI) TPS65186
• MCP73831 lithium battery charger with a standard JST connector
• Temperature Sensor: Internal TPS65186

Limited Only by Your 

Imagination

Here is a random sampling of things you might want to see hanging from your wall, sitting on your desk, stuck to your refrigerator, tucked away in your bag, or surrounded by a custom frame:

• High Latency Information Panel: Show calendar, temperature, weather, and air quality data. Track your stocks, learn a new word each day, display information about whatever song is playing, or tally up your likes on social media (if you must). Download updates, and only hit the battery when you do.
• Collaborative Task Tracker: Maintain shared lists of groceries to buy, chores to do, and birthdays to remember. Or replace the power-hungry wall monitor in your office with an e-paper kanban on each desk. Give away your dry-erase markers.
• Minimalist E-Paper Typewriter: Get those words out. Sync them to the cloud or store them on an SD card. And keep distractions like social media and email away from your line-of-sight.
• Open Hardware E-Reader: Sweep aside the barriers put in place by restrictive, centralized platforms and e-read whatever you want.
• Art: Frame photographs pulled from an SD card or an online camera roll, sure, but why not generate abstract art from sensor data? Or torment your house guests with a modern take on the classic, four-shot, black-and-white photo booth?

Whatever your e-paper idea might be, as long as it’s compatible with a six inch screen, Inkplate 6 probably represents your quickest path to it. And even if you’re working toward something larger or smaller, Inkplate 6 can still save you some headaches while you’re prototyping.

Kindles Have Nice Screens

We’d rather see them in your hands than in a landfill somewhere. And by recycling used Kindle screens, we are able to offer high-end features at an affordable price. You can find more information in the comparison table below, but some of the highlights include:

• 3-Bit Greyscale, which allows Inkplate 6 to display black, white, and six different
• shades of grey (1-bit black & white mode also available)
• 264 ms Refresh, which is unusually fast for an e-paper screen of this size
• Partial Updates, so you don't have to reset the entire screen to add content

ESP32 is the Place to Be

Inkplate 6 is built around one of today’s most popular microcontrollers. If you already have experience working with ESP32, then you’re in good company. Developing for Inkplate 6 should feel mighty familiar. And if you’re new to ESP32, this is a great way to start learning a set of skills that will serve you well for a long time to come.

The ESP32 WROVER module at the heart of Inkplate 6 features:

• A dual-core microprocessor
• 8 MB of RAM
• 4 MB of flash
• Integrated Wi-Fi & Bluetooth 4.0 (BLE)

Specifications

• Screen Size: 6"
• Resolution: 800x600
• All-in-one Board: Yes
• Low-Power Mode: 25µA
• Wi-Fi: Yes
• Battery Charger: Yes
• TouchPads: Three
• MicroSD slot: Yes
• Greyscale: Yes
• Partial Update: Yes
• Refresh Time: 0.264s

Resources

• Hardware
• Software
• GitHub repositories