M5Stack Launches PaperMono

mmarksully about 7 hours ago 35 commentsRead Article on shop.m5stack.com

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Discussion Sentiment

95% Positive

Analyzed from 651 words in the discussion.

Discussion (35 Comments)Read Original on HackerNews

g8425•about 6 hours ago

I wouldn't anticipate too much from m5stack. They have a habit of developing products that are well designed from a physical standpoint... but when you try to develop with them one finds that the software and support needed to achieve your goals are half-baked and downright annoying. UIFlow1/2, I'm looking at you...

For reference, see the M5dinmeter

Saris•about 4 hours ago

These are an ESP32-S3 so you can use standard tools instead of whatever their offering is. Like EEZ Studio for GUI creation on LVGL.

Most of their products are ESP32 based I think.

itsthisjustin•about 5 hours ago

You can just use freeink.org to develop for it fwiw

akshay_akula•about 2 hours ago

Sounds like the usual m5stack story, beautiful hardware, software as an afterthought. Out of stock everywhere already too.

NDlurker•about 6 hours ago

This is competition for the new XTEINK X4 Pro. Cost about half the price and is compatible with Crosspoint too.

fmajid•about 4 hours ago

and has a touchscreen

burner420042•9 minutes ago

And a RTC!

3D30497420•about 5 hours ago

I really don't understand why the XTEINK X4 Pro doesn't have a built-in USB-C port. A good part of the appeal of a device like that is less lock-in, but then you're stuck with a proprietary connector.

I guess this makes it a bit thinner and maybe a larger battery? I'd much rather have a slightly larger/thicker device and built-in USB-C.

yoavm•about 4 hours ago

I got the Xteink X4 Pro a few days ago. I was so convinced everything these days has a USB-C port, I didn't even check. Honestly it's the only downside of the device, I love everything else about it. Sure, it's small, but it's almost entirely an advantage for me. I don't even think about "should I take it with me?" - I just do, which means I read much more. The light is great for reading in bed. And CrossPoint is super solid (flashing took a minute).

hadlock•about 5 hours ago

The "original" XTEINK X4 (not pro) has a USB-C port - that's explicitly why I bought it. It looks like it is out of production now. The good news is they are a proven, very popular device (it's just an e-ink display glued to an ESP32 with good third party support) so this class of device should be available on AliExpress soon if not already.

dmitrygr•17 minutes ago

I was just thinking that I could port rePalm to it. But for now I only support arm mips Riscv and aarch64. I guess maybe time for an LX7 port

rsync•about 1 hour ago

So many of these M5Stack products are not actually stackable and have no physical relation to their "stack" system.

3D30497420•about 5 hours ago

This announcement is from a few days ago. And it seems everywhere is out-of-stock. Any news about potential availability? (In the US ideally.)

big_toast•about 5 hours ago

M5Stack's twitter says 2 to 3 months [0] to restock because they're out of eink driver ic.

When I submitted the story maybe 8 hours[1] after the announcement, it was already out of stock. This person says it sold out in 1 second - https://x.com/henry19840301/status/2090652363434647738 - if that's possible.

[0]:https://x.com/M5Stack/status/2091116748686922069

[1]:https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49390702

bahmboo•about 4 hours ago

Maybe "one second" was a poorly phrased colloquialism meaning "right away".

One can sign up for new product releases and if I paid attention to my marketing emails I could have clicked through. I'm guessing there are enough people who do combined with limited initial stock. We don't know.

Thanks for passing through the info for those of us not on Twitter!

notatoad•about 4 hours ago

i can't remember where i read it, but a few days ago i saw they didn't expect a restock until next year

fmajid•about 4 hours ago

I have the older Paper-S3, which has better specs (larger screen and battery, 16-level grayscale) and also has a Crosspoint Reader port. Nice device, clearer screen than my Pocketbook Verse.

a2dam•about 3 hours ago

I think you can get 60 fps out of the old Paper S3. There was a gameboy emulator I saw recently that did it with some trickery I haven't reproduced on mine, but super impressive piece of hardware.

cromka•about 3 hours ago

This would be perfect for boats if only they ever decided to make a waterproof version. Of any of their displays, actually

banku_brougham•about 3 hours ago

nice flex

cromka•about 1 hour ago

I don't own a boat, but look to buy one and one of the odd things about this industry is very obsolete technology repackaged and sold at exorbitant proces. At least for electronics and monitoring a lot can be done cheaply by those who are skilled.

margalabargala•about 2 hours ago

Used boats are shockingly inexpensive in the US.

anonymous344•about 5 hours ago

nice, out of stock

would need a cheaper one esp32, display the same size, battery and few buttons, no need for lights or even chassis, can 3d print it. but only found screens too small or costs more than this device!

btw where does these ship from?

gigel82•about 2 hours ago

For the same ~ $55 as their lite model you get some other options:

slightly larger screen, plus a microphone and speaker: https://www.cnx-software.com/2026/08/05/zectrix-note-4-a-4-2...

same screen size with microphone and speaker, plus a magnetic fridge mount: https://www.cnx-software.com/2026/07/31/reterminal-sticky-3-...

I'd actually love something like the reTerminal sticky, but larger, for a fridge mounted home automation dashboard / calendar.

ge96•about 4 hours ago

Tangent but I was surprised latest Kindles followed the form factor of Remarkable 2