Modos Tech is now accepting pre-orders for its high-performance e-paper monitors, Hackster.io reported. It will come in two size options, 6-inch and 13.3-inch, and is designed for productivity-oriented users. The two monitors are being offered in a developer kit format. Modos is claiming the e-paper displays to be the “world’s fastest open-hardware e-paper monitor.”
That refers to the 75 Hz refresh rate, which can be considered the highest achieved on any e-paper display so far. Usually, e-paper displays have 10 – 12 Hz refresh rates at the most, which is far below the around 60 Hz that even the slowest LCD panels are capable of. Recently, Dasung introduced the Paperlike 103 and Paperlike HD, having 60 Hz and 40 Hz refresh rates, respectively.
At 75 Hz, the Modos Paper Dev Kit comes out on top and should allow for a smooth scrolling effect and video playback. Also, with latency under 100 milliseconds, it should have the fastest response times among all e-paper displays. All of this can be attributed to the use of components that include Xilinx Spartan-6 FPGA, a DDR3 framebuffer, an STM32H750 microcontroller, and custom power-supply circuitry.
Modos said they have intentionally kept away from proprietary controllers, which has helped them eliminate the performance bottlenecks that have always been among the biggest drawbacks of e-readers, or for that matter, any device featuring an E Ink display. The Modos Paper Dev Kit also supports several display modes – binary, 4-level, and 16-level grayscale. There is also a hybrid mode that enhances image quality in real-time.
The display, however, is going to be monochrome, and the company does not seem to be in a hurry to launch a color display right now. This is in spite of the fact that the Dev Kit has an underlying design and architecture that also supports color e-paper display tech. Maybe, it also plans to launch color displays as well sometime later. When it comes to connectivity options, the Dev Kit seems well covered. It features a Type-C as well as an HDMI port. It supports plug-and-play functionality for Linux, macOS, and Windows platforms.
The Modos Paper Dev Kit can be ordered by Crowd Supply, where the 6-inch model has been priced $199 while the 13.3-inch version will set you back $599. Deliveries start by end-2025. You can have other resources in GitHub, including the hardware resource files.
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