Skip to main content

Waveshare Offers a 4.3″ ePaper DIY Module

Waveshare is a component electronics retailer which sells everything you’d need to build a death ray. They sell a bunch of OLED and LCD screens in various sizes, and they recently added an epaper screen to their catalog.

The 4.3inch e-Paper (that is both the name and part number) module features a 4.3″ epaper screen (800 x 600 resolution, 2-bit). According to the support docs, the module is designed to work both as a screen and as a standalone display. It packs in a 72MHz CPU, 128MB Flash storage, and a microSD card slot.

That’s not a whole lot of processing power, but it’s more than enough to drive the screen. Plug this module into an Arduino board and it will be able to cycle through its library of screen images on command. (I’m less certain that it will be able to display new images as quickly.)

The 4.3inch e-Paper is designed to communicate with other devices over a 6-wire serial port.  It can work with Arduino and other DIY kits like the Raspberry Pi, and if you get a USB to serial board you can also program it from your PC (software and source code samples are included in the resource kit).

This module is not the first DIY component with an epaper screen, but it is the first to use a "knockoff" epaper screen from Guanzhou OED, E-ink’s Chinese competitor.

While the e-Paper Hat and most other DIY modules use an E-ink screen manufactured by Pervasive Display, this module was built-to-order by Waveform and boasts a higher resolution screen than any other epaper screen module on the DIY market.

E-Ink-Info

Similar Articles


Comments


kdjogi April 26, 2015 um 2:39 pm

Is this sold anywhere else but the amazon.com shop of waveshare’s? For the latter doesn’t appear to ship internationally…

Nate Hoffelder April 26, 2015 um 2:54 pm

No, just the two sites.

kdjogi April 26, 2015 um 5:46 pm

Oh, I happened to overlook the links to wvshare.com at the top. From there, it looks like you can select any destination. Too bad though, that these boards are rather expensive, and the price doesn’t even include shipping costs and import taxes (for comparison: you can currently buy overstock Pyrus mini readers with free shipping for just 24.90 EUR off ebay.de).


user April 26, 2015 um 3:56 pm

GUANGZHOU make also 12inch ePaper.
If DIY module would be sold with 12inch ePaper I’m in.


Massimiliano Lo Presti May 10, 2015 um 1:17 pm

4.3 inch e-Paper not for all ! Unfortunately comes with no sample "python" code , no connection diagram with raspberry pi ! This disadvantage all the companies that have projects with raspberry pi ! Thus it restricts the supplier’s customers!

Nate Hoffelder May 10, 2015 um 1:21 pm

Are you sure there weren’t any instructions on how to connect to the Pi? I did look through the 7ZIP file and I thought I saw them.

I will look again.

sdrfioj May 10, 2015 um 2:56 pm

What sort of "company" is one that has "projects with raspberry pi"? "4.3 inch e-Paper not for all", you say — I don’t see your point.

Nate Hoffelder May 10, 2015 um 3:08 pm

I think English is his second language. That would explain the confusing comment.


Massimiliano Lo Presti May 10, 2015 um 4:00 pm

A sua eccellenza signor Nate Hoffelder , prima di sminuire le persone guarda questo link :

http://www.embeddedartists.com/products/displays/lcd_27_epaper.php

Questo significa chiarezza del prodotto !
Se lo vuoi vendere a molte aziende o a privati anche poco professionali !

Rasperry Pi nell’imminente futuro sarà integrato sempre di più nei prodotti per la casa , anche professionali !

L’italiano è la mia prima lingua ! Qualsiasi tua replica sarà rigettata !

Nate Hoffelder May 10, 2015 um 4:26 pm

"Belittle"? I’m sorry, I did not intend to insult you. I was trying to express tolerance.

And you are correct. There are no instructions for using this screen with the Raspberry Pi.


Write a Comment