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| author | Sadeep Madurange <sadeep@asciimx.com> | 2025-10-25 15:29:33 +0800 |
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| committer | Sadeep Madurange <sadeep@asciimx.com> | 2025-10-25 15:29:33 +0800 |
| commit | 5066fbedd5b92797ceca9f6841785ee03b362a57 (patch) | |
| tree | 62476f0ea942c370c764c6180c7c31c97f049322 /_site/projects/e-reader/index | |
| parent | 6d80c9b4be3cc4ace918f0546e1238a680116042 (diff) | |
| download | www-5066fbedd5b92797ceca9f6841785ee03b362a57.tar.gz | |
Add post layout.
Diffstat (limited to '_site/projects/e-reader/index')
| -rw-r--r-- | _site/projects/e-reader/index/index.html | 81 |
1 files changed, 0 insertions, 81 deletions
diff --git a/_site/projects/e-reader/index/index.html b/_site/projects/e-reader/index/index.html deleted file mode 100644 index dd58a14..0000000 --- a/_site/projects/e-reader/index/index.html +++ /dev/null @@ -1,81 +0,0 @@ -<p>This project features a prototype e-reader powered by a 7.5-inch Waveshare e-paper display and an -ESP-WROOM-32 development board.</p> - -<p><video style=”max-width:100%” controls=”” poster=thumb.png></p> -<source src="ereader.mp4" type="video/mp4" /> - -<p></video></p> - -<h2 id="overview">Overview</h2> - -<p>In 2017, during a short stint as a project manager, I was tasked with -installing some e-paper displays in a car park. Not knowing how they worked, I -remember marveling at their sight like a muggle witnessing magic. As someone -who enjoys reading, I found e-paper to be a true innovation. This project was -born out of that enduring curiosity and love of e-paper technology.</p> - -<p>The prototype, while far from ready for daily use, has some nifty features that -fellow hobbyists and tinkerers may find interesting. The reader can display -books of arbitrary sizes by streaming them over HTTP. It employs sleep modes to -minimize power consumption when not in use and records the reading progress in -the chip’s RTC memory.</p> - -<p>The following schematic outlines the electrical connections of the e-reader.</p> - -<p><img src="circuit.svg" alt="circuit" /></p> - -<p>The biggest challenge when building an e-reader using an ESP32 board is its low -memory and lack of storage. My ESP-WROOM-32 board has 512 KB of SRAM and 4 MB -of flash memory, which the freeRTOS, ESP-IDF, and my own program have to share. -To put things into perspective, compare that to a Kindle Paperwhite, which has -at least 256 MB of memory and 8 GB of storage.</p> - -<p>Despite its constraints, as microcontrollers go, ESP32 is a powerful -system-on-a-chip with a 160 MHz dual-core processor and integrated WiFi. So, I -thought it’d be amusing to embrace the constraints and build my e-reader using -just a $5 MCU and the power of C programming.</p> - -<h2 id="the-file-format">The file format</h2> - -<p>The file format dictates the complexity of the embedded software. So, I’ll -begin there. The e-reader works by downloading and rendering a rasterized -monochrome image of a page (a .ebm file).</p> - -<p>The EBM file contains a series of bitmaps, where each bitmap corresponds to a -page of a book sized to fit the e-paper display. Each byte contains information -for rendering eight pixels. For my display, which has a resolution of 480x800, -the bitmaps are laid out along 48 KB boundaries. This simple file format lends -well to HTTP streaming, which is its main advantage, as we will soon see.</p> - -<p>The enclosed pdftoebm.py script in the tarball at the end of the page converts -PDF documents to an EBM file. I use it to make EBM files before uploading them -to a web server.</p> - -<h2 id="how-does-it-work">How does it work?</h2> - -<p>As the e-reader has no storage, it can’t store books locally. Instead, I first -have to upload the EBM file I want to read to a web server. The location of the -file is configured via the <code class="language-plaintext highlighter-rouge">EBM_ARCH_URL</code> setting in the Kconfig.projbuild -file. To read a different book, I create an EBM file with the same name and -upload it to the original location. That way, I don’t have to recompile the -embedded software.</p> - -<p>Upon powering up, the e-reader checks the reading progress stored in the RTC -memory. It then downloads three pages (current, previous, and next) to a -circular buffer in DMA-capable memory. When the user turns a page, one of the -two cores of the MCU transfers it from the buffer to the display over a Serial -Peripheral Interface (SPI). The other downloads a new page in the background. I -use the ESP-IDF task API to pin the two routines to each core.</p> - -<p>I designed the EBM format with HTTP streaming in mind. To download a page based -on the current reading progress, the e-reader specifies the page offset and the -chunk size using the HTTP Range header.</p> - -<h2 id="afterword">Afterword</h2> - -<p>It’s been six years since the car park and the displays. At the time, I knew -nothing about embedded systems or display drivers. It took a long time to -develop the skill set, but now, at last, I know how those displays worked and -how to build my own.</p> - -<p>Files: <a href="source.tar.gz">source.tar.gz</a></p> |
