Lengthy earlier than anybody ever rocked a candy dual-screen setup on their desktop rig there was the great-granddaddy of all dual-“display screen” setups — the paper guide. So why is it that when books went digital, we solely acquired one show? The Kindle, the Nook, the Kobo — you identify it: one display screen.
For many use instances, that really makes fairly good sense. We solely learn one web page at a time, so utilizing a single display screen reduces weight, bulk, and price with out giving up a lot in trade. However all studying shouldn’t be the identical. When thumbing by way of a textbook or different technical content material, as an example, it is not uncommon to bounce round, continuously wanting again to reference materials that was beforehand launched. The gradual refresh fee of E Ink screens shouldn’t be preferrred in these conditions.
The system folds closed like a paper guide (📷: spacerower)
To raised assist these sorts of purposes, and likewise to create one thing actually fascinating and new, Redditor spacerower has designed and constructed a dual-screen eReader. With a foldable design, this system doesn’t take up rather more room than a conventional eReader, but it has much more display screen actual property. And by folding, it additionally has built-in safety — there isn’t any want to purchase a case to maintain it protected while you toss it in your backpack.
When opened, the system basically appears to be like like a pair of side-by-side Kindles, with the display screen on the left facet that includes a couple of buttons to work together with the consumer interface and switch pages. Every E Ink show is pretty giant at 5.83 inches, however when closed, the eReader is just 16mm thick, so it’s extremely transportable. A robust ESP32-S3 microcontroller serves as the primary processing unit, and its sleep modes, which it enters in periods of inactivity, ought to hold the twin 1,300mAh rechargeable batteries buzzing alongside for a very long time between prices.
A take a look at the {hardware} (📷: spacerower)
The firmware remains to be a piece in progress, however it’s actively being improved. If there’s sufficient curiosity, spacerower might finally launch a crowdfunding marketing campaign to provide a batch of those eReaders, so keep tuned. There is no such thing as a phrase but on how a lot they may value, however the invoice of supplies totals about $80, so it must be fairly affordable.
