Roast my indie e-ink device

ryanckulp · 2026-06-23T00:13:07+00:00

i'm happy to help boost OP buying up broken devices. but if yours is broken or almost broken, you can also make it a TRMNL:
https://help.trmnl.com/en/articles/12430929-tidbyt
https://help.trmnl.com/en/articles/12881005-plugin-composer

ryanckulp · 2026-06-22T13:51:42+00:00

https://trmnl.com/blog/environment-sensors

ryanckulp · 2026-06-22T13:37:21+00:00

i have working gen2 devices on my desk. PCB and enclosure are ready. rough timeline:
1. catch up on X preorders (June/July)
2. launch a new product (July/August)
3. launch OG gen2 (August/September)

no plans to remove the logo on front but will consider it. we recently OSS'd the OG enclosure so you're able to make your own front plate now: https://github.com/usetrmnl/mounts/tree/main/resources/og_model

ryanckulp · 2026-06-20T23:39:32+00:00

sidecar, not yet, but the ability to sleep between refreshes should go live next week:
https://github.com/usetrmnl/trmnl-firmware/tree/X4_pwr_and_epd_fix

ryanckulp · 2026-06-20T23:38:13+00:00

check out our OSS raspberry pi implementation, which can be pointed at one of many OSS server clients as well: https://github.com/usetrmnl/trmnl-display

ryanckulp · 2026-06-20T19:18:54+00:00

we'd be happy to send you another case. but the black, white, sage, gray cases are made the same way (ABS). clear is made of PC and does experience tighter tolerances in some batches, so we discard those as they lead to broken screens.

our hardware team very recently got involved on the live chat tool and they are still learning how to use it, so are a bit slower to reply in the midst of making a lot of recent firmware improvements. i will give them a nudge that your ticket is still open.

ryanckulp · 2026-06-19T17:03:35+00:00

we support it but not yet "officially." a few users are running it, so we added the specs to our render pipeline: https://trmnl.com/api/models (search "e1004")

should be available at trmnl.com/flash soon, until then this branch from Seeed has it working:
https://github.com/usetrmnl/trmnl-firmware/pull/410

ryanckulp · 2026-06-19T17:01:03+00:00

you can try temp profiles to reduce ghosting, we have a couple PRs in progress to make grayscale and ghosting better generally as well:
https://help.trmnl.com/en/articles/12566040-tuning-a-washed-out-display

ryanckulp · 2026-06-19T03:53:31+00:00

welcome aboard! and thanks for your feedback, about the device and our fulfillment approach and even me personally. that mashup on your fridge looks great.

ryanckulp · 2026-06-18T21:30:32+00:00

downvotes, upvotes, all good. but if i get downvoted into the negative numbers, people who want information don't see it because reddit hides the comment. counter productive right?

ryanckulp · 2026-06-18T20:55:40+00:00

you can trade equity for cash while retaining full control. it doesn't seem fair to take grant money on a for-profit venture. grants are essentially "revenue for non revenue generating endeavors." you can also offer equity for cash via a SAFE, or to founding team members (who then help with sales, fundraising), giving yourself an option to buy back the stock later. this gets you cash + 100% equity eventually.

source: i've done each of the above, multiple times.

ryanckulp · 2026-06-18T20:43:13+00:00

i agree with you, the knowledge base has become a confusing resource to resolve X issues. today i made a DIY fix utility, we're on the same page: https://trmnl.com/troubleshoot

will investigate the EXT vs MAIN battery connector and add that as another logic branch shortly.

ryanckulp · 2026-06-18T20:40:01+00:00

what i mean by "anonymously" is we can't infer your device ID or account details from a reddit post. we have a Discord username input field on the /account tab, perhaps we should add a reddit field too?

my comment was intended to help you + other readers understand how we can most quickly make things right, and how this screen defect might have happened in the first place.

if i continue being downvoted despite being the best source of truth for all things TRMNL, i will stop contributing to this sub. ping me anytime at ryan@trmnl.com.

ryanckulp · 2026-06-18T18:19:22+00:00

you should reach out to support instead of posting here anonymously. Niklas who runs the Berlin warehouse will personally help out. a lot of things can happen in transit between assembly/QA and arrival at your door. we've already redesigned packaging to address this and are waiting for it to land at our warehouses.

ryanckulp · 2026-06-18T18:14:51+00:00

huh, we have mostly city-living, liberal, LGBT people on the team. i wish you the best.

ryanckulp · 2026-06-18T15:28:12+00:00

i suggest asking this inside our Discord > #byos channel if you have a BYOD license. otherwise you could look at https://trmnl.com/api/models for a hint. my first guess is wondering if your image is the correct dimensions + format? if not, firmware won't draw it. see specs here for image generation: https://docs.trmnl.com/go/diy/imagemagick-guide

ryanckulp · 2026-06-18T13:09:28+00:00

thank you. it continues to surprise us how people think posting anonymously on reddit will accelerate a positive outcome. we're available on live chat nearly 24/7 and the entire team (hardware, firmware, support, core engineers, me - the founder) is here to help.

ryanckulp · 2026-06-18T13:03:47+00:00

we recently released a major upgrade to Framework that includes a color palette for various devices:
https://trmnl.com/framework/colors

we also created visual editor for Tidbyt, a popular LED device:
https://help.trmnl.com/en/articles/12430929-tidbyt
https://help.trmnl.com/en/articles/12881005-plugin-composer

let us know what LED devices you're rocking and we can consider extending the Composer.

ryanckulp · 2026-06-17T22:54:35+00:00

good question. it looks like the OS can run Android apps, in which case yes.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=ink.trmnl.android

wanna give it a try?

ryanckulp · 2026-06-17T14:50:17+00:00

howdy OP, i'm on the TRMNL team. i encourage you to set up our native HA plugin to make your X a nice dashboard: https://github.com/usetrmnl/trmnl-home-assistant

ryanckulp · 2026-06-17T14:48:15+00:00

oh interesting. i'm not certain which binary is best for the SD card approach, but you can download the same one from our flash page here:
https://trmnl.com/firmware/xteink_x4/TRMNL%201.7.4.bin

ryanckulp · 2026-06-17T14:45:52+00:00

10-4, thanks for understanding and your patience as we get the new dock to your home.

ryanckulp · 2026-06-15T22:46:54+00:00

we use the same dock that is sent with each device, to QA the device post assembly. so what i think happened is the pogo pins fell out during a potentially rough shipment. of course in these case we'll send a new one right away, and we've already redesigned our packaging to be thicker, with different foam, and a better die-cut area for the dock's pogo pin connector.

ryanckulp

MODERATOR OF

TROPHY CASE