Intelligent Design Hardware · Malmöi.ds.hw

Product 01 · Prototype · Malmö

Dreamcaster

A paper-like screen for the wall, built from standard parts. It shows slow art, or anything you program it to show.

Reserve one See inside

Render of Dreamcaster, a black printed frame on a stand, showing an ink landscape that drifts sideways
Render. Time-lapse: the landscape moves 4 dots at a time, as on the frame, about 3 600 times faster.

What it is

A slow screen you control, made of standard parts.

Render of the frame taken apart, seen from the front: frame, display board with the landscape, controller, battery, base and end cap
From the front. Render.
Render of the frame taken apart, seen from behind: the back of the display board, the controller, the battery and the base
From behind. Render.

An e-paper screen changes only when it is told to, and keeps the picture with no power at all. That makes it good for anything that changes slowly: art, a timetable, a reading, a note.

Screen
4.26-inch e-paper, 800 × 480 dots, black and white, with its driver board
Controller
A small Wi-Fi computer (ESP32-S3) running your software
Power
USB-C. Battery version: 1 500 mAh, 26 h in live mode, measured
Frame
Printed case, 114 × 71 × 32 mm design size, with a keyhole for a nail or screw

What it can do

One screen,
many jobs.

The same 800 × 480 black and white dots carry a painting, a photo or the morning's buses. Pick one: it arrives the way the panel draws it, top to bottom.

Render of the frame showing Shan Shui: an ink landscape that moves slowly sideways Render of the frame showing Birds: a bird that never existed, one per screen Render of the frame showing Poems: a Song dynasty poem in woodblock type Render of the frame showing Photo: a drawing of the Andes, dithered to black and white dots Render of the frame showing an assistant screen sketch with example values Render of the frame showing a departure board sketch with example values Render of the frame showing a home readings sketch with example values
Shan Shui. An ink landscape that moves slowly sideways. Drawn by code, credited below. Birds. A bird that never existed, one per screen. Drawn by code, credited below. Poems. A Song dynasty poem in woodblock type. Drawn by code, credited below. Photo. A photo or a picture of yours as black and white dots. Example: a drawing of the Andes by Sergio, dithered. Assistant. A screen an AI assistant at home writes for you. Example values. Departures. The next buses from your stop, via Trafiklab. Example values. Home. Readings from the sensors you choose. Example values. Render.
Pick what the frame shows

Art

Your data

No glow. No sound.
The picture stays when the power goes.

To change the picture, measured
0.88 s
Power to hold the picture, measured
None
Battery in live mode, measured
26 h

Inside the frame

Take it apart.

  1. The frame holds the panel behind a matte black border.
  2. The display board slides in from the side; an end cap closes it.
  3. The controller sits in the base, under a lid.
  4. The battery lies beside it in the battery version: 1 500 mAh, charged over USB-C.
Dreamcaster render, assembled; scroll or drag to see the frame, display board, controller, battery, base, lid and end cap apart
Render of the open-frame design.

The art

Paintings that
are never finished.

Each painting grows from a new number. Shown here exactly as the panel shows them: 800 × 480 dots, black and white.

Shan Shui: a long ink landscape of mountains, pines and water
The whole painting the frame moves across, shown reduced.
Shan Shui: ink mountains and pines over water
Shan ShuiAn ink landscape that moves slowly sideways.
Birds: an imaginary bird on a branch, drawn in fine lines
BirdsA bird that never existed, one whole bird per screen.
Fish: an imaginary fish in single lines
FishAn imaginary fish drawn in single lines.
Poems: a Song dynasty poem in vertical woodblock type
PoemsPoems from the Complete Song Ci, in vertical woodblock type.
Strokes: Chinese characters in single brush strokes
StrokesA poem that writes itself, stroke by stroke.

Specs

ModelED-01
Display4.26″ e-paper, 800 × 480 px, black and white, 219 ppi
Picture area92.8 × 55.7 mm
RefreshPartial 0.88 s, whole picture, at 20 MHz SPI (measured on the bench); full 2.4–2.8 s with a short black-white flash (measured). Slower SPI settings take longer.
Rated panel life1 000 000 refreshes or 5 years
Case114 × 71 × 32 mm design size, keyhole for a nail or screw
PowerUSB-C, 5 V. Battery version: 1 500 mAh LiPo (life on the wall to be measured)
WirelessWi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, 2.4 GHz (whether it is used depends on how paintings reach the frame, being decided)
ControllerESP32-S3 (Adafruit Feather ESP32-S3)
Render of Dreamcaster on its stand, showing an ink landscape
Render.

Limits

  1. It is small: the picture is about the size of a business card.
  2. Black and white only.
  3. It gives off no light, so you cannot see it in a dark room.
  4. At least once a day the screen flashes black and white for about 2.5 seconds to keep the picture clean.
  5. How new paintings reach the frame (a library on the frame, or over Wi-Fi) is being decided now.
  6. The battery version's life on the wall is not measured yet.

First batch · Malmö and Lund

Reserve one.

First batch, Malmö and Lund only, delivered by hand. Target: spring 2027, if the batch goes ahead.

The most I'd pay for the finished frame
5 digits, e.g. 211 45

1 995 kr. Reserve with a refundable 200 kr deposit on the next screen; it comes off the price.

This is a demand test. Nothing is for sale yet. If the batch doesn't happen, you get every krona back.

Make it yours

Make it show your own thing.

The screen shows whatever picture a small program prepares for it. Write that program yourself, start from our examples, or describe it to an AI assistant. How it works, the bench simulation and a photo you can try are on the next page.

Make it yoursTry one of your photos