A Curiously Strong E-Reader

Looking for a little something to freshen up your reading experience? An e-reader can bend to your lifestyle, offering a perfectly lit, lightweight experience that feels like it was custom-built for the way you read. But in truth, these commercial devices are not custom-built for you. The one created by mewtru, however, can be. She has made a custom e-reader that fits in an Altoids tin — and the accessible hardware allows it to be personalized to no end.

The device is made up of just a few components. There is, of course, an E Ink display — a 1.54-inch module in this case. This is driven by a Raspberry Pi Pico 2 W development board. This board also stores your e-book library for you. A few push buttons were included to control the user interface (e.g., flipping the page), and a switch turns the power on. A small LiPo battery keeps everything powered up.

Unfortunately, if you’d like to build your own, there is as of yet no build guide available. The hardware assembly is very straightforward and should be no problem to reproduce, however. As far as the firmware is concerned, you will have to come up with your own solution. Check back in at Hackster News to see if that changes in the future.