A $48 DIY e-paper display kit from Seeed Studio, developed in collaboration with TRMNL, is designed to present information passively without requiring users to interact with a slow interface or pay a subscription. Its screen can automatically cycle through content such as calendars, weather and news.
The device is intended as a flexible alternative to conventional smart displays. Rather than encouraging household interaction, it remains continuously visible on a desk or in a kitchen and shows information selected by the user or suggested by the TRMNL community.
The kit can be used with TRMNL’s software ecosystem, while also offering the option to work with another supported ecosystem or a user’s own server. This gives owners several ways to decide what appears on the display.
The product appealed to the author after an earlier attempt to repurpose a Lenovo ThinkSmart View. That device, originally designed for business-to-business video, could run a fork of LineageOS but was limited by its small amount of RAM and could feel sluggish. The e-paper kit instead provides an always-on screen that updates automatically.
TRMNL was founded in 2023 by indie hardware enthusiast Ryan Kulp, and its first e-paper device was launched through crowdfunding in 2024. Seeed Studio supplies the hardware and is known for its XIAO microcontroller boards.
Sources: Ars Technica.