Modos Opens Crowdfunding for "the Fastest ePaper Display," the Modos Paper Dev Kit

Available in 6" and 13.3" versions, bundling a Caster FPGA display board with grayscale E Ink panels — with laptop plans on hold for now.

Gareth Halfacree
3 months agoDisplays / HW101 / FPGAs

ePaper device specialist Modos has opened crowdfunding for its first product, the Modos Paper Dev Kit — barebones 6" and 13.3" monitors built around E Ink electrophoretic displays, driven by the open-hardware Caster FPGA display board.

"The Modos Paper Dev Kit [is] the first open-hardware ePaper monitor to deliver real-time interactivity," the company claims of its creation. "With refresh rates up to 75Hz and sub-100ms latency, it is the fastest ePaper display available today, bringing interactive, real-time responsiveness to a technology traditionally known for static use. Designed for developers, researchers, and makers, the Modos Paper Dev Kit connects via HDMI or USB [Type]-C and gives complete control over how the panel updates, with multiple screen modes, flexible update regions, and advanced dithering. It’s built for experimentation, but fast enough for everyday use."

ePaper startup Modos has opened crowdfunding for the Modos Paper Dev Kit, 6" or 13.3" E Ink panels paired with its Caster FPGA display board. (📹: Modos)

Modos launched as an effort to launch a laptop with an E Ink electrophoretic display three years ago, showing off a prototype based around a Lenovo ThinkPad modified with an ePaper display. Shortly after, it pivoted to an open-hardware ePaper monitor, showing off working prototypes back in May last year — built around an FPGA-based driver board dubbed the Caster, which uses an AMD Spartan-6 LX16 chip to accelerate the typically-slow E Ink display panels to a claimed 75Hz refresh rate and sub-100ms latency.

Today's crowdfunding launch is for what Modos calls the "Modos Paper Dev Kit," formerly known as Glider, rather than a fully-fledged plug-and-play monitor. The main component missing: the case, with the two models on offer — a six-inch version and the flagship 13.3" version, both of which can offer black-and-white plus four- and 16-level grayscale imagery — arriving as bare panels. The Caster board handles connectivity, taking USB Type-C DisplayPort Alt Mode or HDMI video input and driving the bundled E Ink panels.

This initial funding run won't, however, see the Caster board sold on its own for those who want to try it out with other panels or test its compatibility with color ePaper displays. "It was a difficult decision to make," Modos chief executive officer Alexander Soto tells us. "We don't want people to purchase just the board and assume it will work seamlessly with any E Ink display without considering additional requirements such as adapters, compatibility, and waveforms. As a small team of 2-3 people, we wanted to make sure people have a smooth experience to enable people to start their projects immediately.

"As the community grows, more people will likely experiment with the board using their own displays, make adapters, and create/optimize waveforms. Once there's enough demand and community support, we will offer just the board. For now, we're focused on minimizing friction for newcomers. Also, all the resources are available on GitHub, so those who want to build their own can do so."

The opening of crowdfunding for the Modo Paper Monitor doesn't mean the company's laptop dreams are dead, though — merely sleeping. "We still aim to make an E Ink laptop," Soto tells us, "though there are some unique challenges. The default aspect ratio for larger E Ink panels is 4:3, as they're designed for digital signage. But the vast majority of laptop chassis and components like keyboards, batteries, etc. are built for 16:9/16:10 displays. So, how do we address this mismatch?"

"A) Design a custom laptop chassis and identify compatible components that work with the 4:3 aspect ratio of E Ink panels. B) Develop or re-use a 16:9 or 16:10 E Ink panel to fit into an existing laptop chassis. Option B is more feasible," Soto says, "and it's also prohibitively expensive.

"Lenovo took this route with their E Ink laptop, producing a custom 16:10 panel. However, according to our sources, that specific panel used has reached end-of-life and will no longer be manufactured. For now, we're focused on building what we can, with the resources we have and hopefully later that then becomes the foundation for an E Ink laptop and future devices."

The Modos Paper Dev Kit is now funding on Crowd Supply, priced at $199 for the 6" and $599 for the 13.3" versions; all hardware is expected to be delivered before the end of the year. Hardware design files, meanwhile, are available on GitHub under the strongly reciprocal version of the CERN Open Hardware License with gateware on GitLab under the permissive variant of the same license.

Gareth Halfacree
Freelance journalist, technical author, hacker, tinkerer, erstwhile sysadmin. For hire: freelance@halfacree.co.uk.
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