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We have some important news to share about HackSpace: Issue 81 was the last issue of HackSpace as a standalone magazine, and HackSpace has become part of The MagPi, the official Raspberry Pi magazine. Starting with issue 145, We’ll be adding pages to The MagPi to make room for the stories and tutorials you’ve come to expect from HackSpace.

Crowdfunding now: Inkplate 6PLUS

By Andrew Gregory. Posted

It doesn’t matter how clever your logic is or how fancy your sensors are; a large part of the experience of using your device will be its user interface. This might be a screen, some LEDs, or perhaps even voice control. However, if you want something power-efficient that works well in natural light, e-paper is becoming a great option

This display technology has been around for a while now and is popular in both consumer and industrial products, but it’s been a little slow to take off in the maker world. E-paper displays historically have been expensive and hard to work with, but that’s starting to change now. Smaller displays are now available from a range of maker manufacturers, and larger displays – such as this one from e-radionica – are becoming more affordable.

At its heart, the Inkplate 6PLUS has a recycled Carta panel from a Kindle Paperwhite (or similar) e-reader. This has a resolution of 212 PPI, and a 1.27 second refresh time (this can be decreased with partial refreshes). An ESP32 microcontroller sits alongside this display and brings in WiFi control – it also has excellent support for low-power operation. In sleep mode, it consumes just 22 µA, so it’s a good choice for battery-powered applications.

We’re really enjoying seeing more and more e-paper displays become available for makers. The Inkplate 6PLUS looks like it’ll become a great option.

Price: From $159  |  Delivery: November 2021

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