mann_eyMar 26, 2024
Paul-Vincent Roll (he/him)

I finalized my epaper calendar! šŸ¤©
Calendar events are pulled from @homeassistant the device itself is running @esphome. It automatically shows as many entries as can be fitted on the screen, same day entries get grouped together.

Optionally a random quote can be displayed on the bottom or alternatively the next event of the day. The device is battery powered and uses deep sleep to extend the battery life.

If you want to build your own: https://github.com/paviro/ESPHome-ePaper-Calendar

I am super grateful for boosts!

GitHub - paviro/ESPHome-ePaper-Calendar: A sleek and minimalist ePaper calendar using ESPHome.

A sleek and minimalist ePaper calendar using ESPHome. - paviro/ESPHome-ePaper-Calendar

GitHub
Mar 18, 2024 at 1:03pmWeb
Show threadAsher VollmerMar 18, 2024
@paul Easily the best looking ESPHome display I've seen. Well done!
Show threadPaul-Vincent Roll (he/him)Mar 18, 2024
@AsherVo Thank you so much!
Show threadpieceofthepie Mar 18, 2024
@paul @homeassistant @esphome This is a wonderful little thing that I didn't know I wanted.
Show threadPaul-Vincent Roll (he/him)Mar 18, 2024
@pieceofthepie Haha thank you! Glad you like it!
Show threadPaarth Mar 18, 2024
@paul I love it! Which 3d-printed case did you use?
Show threadPaul-Vincent Roll (he/him)Mar 18, 2024
@paarth I designed the case myself you can find it here: https://www.printables.com/model/806222-epaper-calendar
Printables

Show threadPaarth Mar 18, 2024
@paul hah, I just found that via the case/README too, awesome stuff!
Show threadarpia49Mar 18, 2024
@paul Do you have an estimation on battery duration? It looks great!!!
Show threadPaul-Vincent Roll (he/him)Mar 18, 2024
@arpia49 Not yet I am still finding new ways to shorten the time the esp32 is awake etc. so I haven't gotten to running a whole battery cycle without changes.
Show threadPaul McBrideMar 18, 2024
@paul very cool!
Show threadPaul-Vincent Roll (he/him)Mar 18, 2024
@ThePaulMcBride thanks!
Show threadRevK Mar 18, 2024
@paul nice
Show threadPaul-Vincent Roll (he/him)Mar 18, 2024
@revk thanks!
Show threadjtonlineMar 18, 2024
@paul @homeassistant @esphome šŸ˜
Show threadCMDR Kai PelzelMar 18, 2024
@paul @homeassistant @esphome What a wonderful project. Liked, boosted and bookmarked. And Iā€™m looking forward to build one myself.
Show threadPaul-Vincent Roll (he/him)Mar 18, 2024
@kaipelzel canā€™t wait to see your build!
Show threadCMDR Kai PelzelMar 20, 2024
@paul I have my wifeā€˜s approval. The project shall start in the near future. šŸ™ˆ
Show threadPaul-Vincent Roll (he/him)Mar 20, 2024
@kaipelzel Haha can't wait to see your result!
Show threadBytebro šŸ‡¬šŸ‡§ šŸ‡ŗšŸ‡¦ šŸ‡¬šŸ‡±Mar 18, 2024
@paul @homeassistant @esphome I myself have no use-case for such a thing, but many will, so boosty-boost!
Show threadPaul-Vincent Roll (he/him)Mar 18, 2024
@bytebro thank you I appreciate it!
Show threadBytebro šŸ‡¬šŸ‡§ šŸ‡ŗšŸ‡¦ šŸ‡¬šŸ‡±Mar 18, 2024
@paul I particularly like the 'random quote' thing. A bit like the old Unix 'motd' thing (message of the day')
Show threadPaul-Vincent Roll (he/him)Mar 18, 2024
@bytebro true! I liked the black bar from a design perspective to break the rest up a bit and original had the next appointment there (still an option) but got the feedback from a few friends that they find that a bit redundant so I was thinking what else I could put there :D
Show threadM BerberichMar 18, 2024

@paul @homeassistant @esphome

Very cool.

How does it handle multi-day appointments?

Show threadPaul-Vincent Roll (he/him)Mar 18, 2024
@m_berberich it did not until you mentioned it šŸ˜… Just added support for that!
Show threadM BerberichMar 19, 2024

@paul

Wow. Iā€™m impressed.

The presentation is much cleaner/better than in my calendar programm.

Show threadPaul-Vincent Roll (he/him)Mar 19, 2024
@m_berberich Thank you so much! I am still not sure if I should replace the "long" with the dates from-to so this might not be final but I think it's probably the most sensible that doesn't use up too much space or end up being redundant. How did you solve it in your program?
Show threadM BerberichMar 19, 2024

@paul

Oh, misunderstanding:
ā€œmy calendar programā€œ is not written by me, that's just the one I use.

It shows multi-day events every single day in the whatā€™s-next-view, which is very annoying.

Show threadPaul-Vincent Roll (he/him)Mar 19, 2024
@m_berberich yeah I thought about doing that but luckily that would mean more work to implement than what I do know haha :D and also it would take up unnecessary space on a already small panel so yeah I get that being annoying :D
Show threadexitcodeMar 18, 2024
@paul @homeassistant @esphome nice, I like widget style
Show threadPierreMar 18, 2024
@paul frankly it looks awesome šŸ¤©
Show threadPaul-Vincent Roll (he/him)Mar 18, 2024
@Pierrodu21 Thank you!
Show threadn1Mar 18, 2024

@paul @homeassistant @esphome that look really good dude... i always wanted to assemble one by myself but im still deep in other projects... a couple of questions:

- battery life (at least estimate like 2 days or 2 weeks..)?
- what the board esphome runs on?
- the epaper-frame-calendar.yaml is config written by you and consumed by your code or it belongs to some lib and u tunned it a lil bit?
- is the heavylifting done by esphome or it's just a thin layer?
- are those fonts really such a hell?

Show threadPaul-Vincent Roll (he/him)Mar 18, 2024
@n1
- Don't know yet was still optimising the deep sleep stuff today and therefore have not checked yet how long it will last, will start checking today.
- Inkplate 6
- Not sure what the question is I wrote the config and the code contained in it - not part of a library
- Most of the things are done within ESPHome
- Not sure what you are asking in regards to the fonts.
Show threadn1Mar 18, 2024

@paul thanks for all the info...

like the config file I mentioned is huge for such tiny app ..... thats what I was hitting into ... i mean if you need to take care about 99 stuff to print out a couple of sensences on eink screen maybe i should stick withy other projects :)

i was thinking that it's much easier than tinkering around with font glyphs... but thats because i come from web & cli app development

Show threadPaul-Vincent Roll (he/him)Mar 18, 2024
@n1 well yes computing a dynamic layout like this gets complicated quickly :D
Show threadAlexMar 18, 2024
@paul @homeassistant @esphome sooooo cool!
Show threadWilliam PietriMar 18, 2024
@paul Ooh, neat! I didn't know those displays existed. I had been thinking of trying to hack e-readers, but that's way better!
Show threadPaul-Vincent Roll (he/him)Mar 18, 2024
@williampietri Soldered uses recycled panels from e-readers as far as I know! There are also other manufacturer like https://www.waveshare.com/epaper but I prefer the ones from https://soldered.com/categories/inkplate/
e-Paper, Eink Display, EPD

e-Paper, Eink Display, EPD

Show threadDec [{()}]Mar 23, 2024
@paul @williampietri
LilyGo has a range of them too:
https://www.lilygo.cc/collections/e-paper
e-Paper

Show threadKlaudia (aka jinxx)Mar 18, 2024
@paul Oh, this is nice! Maybe I now want to build one! =) @homeassistant @esphome
Show threadDustinMar 18, 2024
@paul @homeassistant @esphome this combines two of my favorite things: 3D printing and e-ink! Love it!!
Show threadPaul-Vincent Roll (he/him)Mar 18, 2024
@DigitalKrampus Right? I love e-ink so much :D this is my third e-ink display in the apartment :D Also got two of these!
Show threadDustinMar 18, 2024
@paul that looks amazing! Is the frame a regular photo frame?
Show threadPaul-Vincent Roll (he/him)Mar 18, 2024
@DigitalKrampus yes I bought one in a local store and then designed a 3d printed case to hold the Inkplate 10 and screw into the frame.
Show threadšŸ’€ š“•airchild šŸ’€Mar 18, 2024
@paul @homeassistant @esphome This is lovely!
Show threadPaul-Vincent Roll (he/him)Mar 18, 2024
@tankgrrl thank you!
Show threadModdy MoonMar 18, 2024
@paul @homeassistant @esphome That's more than the thing I want... But maybe more is kind of better...
Show threadPaul-Vincent Roll (he/him)Mar 18, 2024
@ModdyMoon it sure is! :D
Show threadModdy MoonApr 5, 2024
@paul I think that this works well for what I was wanting (something which would work as a clock/calendar), mostly the clock. But the size isn't bigger (which would be a minus), so yeah what it adds isn't a problem.
Show threadAndreMar 19, 2024
@paul Nice build. Thanks for posting the source.
Show threadPaul-Vincent Roll (he/him)Mar 19, 2024
@PCOWandre you are welcome!
Show threadKonrad S.Mar 19, 2024
@paul @homeassistant @esphome This is pretty amazing. I was thinking about building a digital clapperboard (for filming) with an e-ink display. How power this it draw with a display and an esp32?
Show threadPaul-Vincent Roll (he/him)Mar 19, 2024
@kyrt been thinking about this forever as I am a 2nd AC mainly havenā€™t found that to be practical yet though sadly do you think it really would be? I donā€™t have a final power estimate
Show threadKonrad S.Mar 19, 2024
@paul I mean, to make it work could be fun :) I could imagine to mirror kinda a Webinterface with the values I need, which could be controlled via a phone or PC. I have to look into your project, it is for sure inspiring!
Show threadPaul-Vincent Roll (he/him)Mar 19, 2024
@kyrt my problem with the idea is that I haven't found anything that would be faster than a pen on set but good luck! Keep me posted!
Show threadKonrad S.Mar 19, 2024
@paul true, but when you're a one man army, it is good to keep the hands clean, but in the end, you're right, its my inner child that wants to tinker shid 
Show threadcĪ»Ć©mentdMar 19, 2024

@paul @homeassistant @esphome I love it!

What was the approximate cost for materials?

Show threadPaul-Vincent Roll (he/him)Mar 19, 2024
@clementd itā€™s mainly the display and besides that some plastic so https://soldered.com/product/soldered-inkplate-6-6-e-paper-board/ + 30ā‚¬ for a battery or so
Soldered Inkplate 6 - Soldered Electronics

This E-ink Arduino has stunning 6 inch e-paper display with refresh rate of 1.26s, with partial update 264ms, greyscale mode and partial updates support.

Soldered Electronics
Show thread9erMar 19, 2024
@paul very cool! I don't have home assistant running (yet?!) and maybe a bigger display to put it on the wall or on the fridge would be awesome, but: šŸ˜
Show threadPaul-Vincent Roll (he/him)Mar 19, 2024
@9er at some point I do want to build a version that does need Home Assistant but we will see when šŸ˜„