Evertop: E-ink IBM XT clone with 100+ hours of battery life

Original Article ↗ Hacker News Discussion ↗

Overall concept & target use cases

  • Many commenters love the idea of a self-contained, low-power, “forever” computer: writing, coding, retro gaming, exploration, and tinkering without worrying about outlets.
  • Strong appeal for off-grid / prepper scenarios: solar panel + massive runtime + huge library of DOS-era software as a self-sufficient computing environment when modern infrastructure fails.
  • Others see it as a distraction-free “digital typewriter,” terminal/SSH client, or field note-taking machine.

Battery life, power, and networking

  • Creator states 200+ hours of continuous use without power saving, 500–1000 hours with it; solar can recharge or directly power the device.
  • Discussion around WiFi power: staying associated and waking periodically is more efficient than reconnecting every 200 ms; IEEE 802.11 power-save features are linked.
  • Some wish for LoRa, LTE, or mesh-style radios for off-grid comms.

Display: e‑ink benefits, latency, and durability

  • Typing latency is ~0.3–0.4s per keypress; several people say that’s too slow for comfortable daily use, others accept it as the tradeoff for extreme battery life.
  • Creator notes ~350 ms refresh, partial updates, and multi-year light daily use without noticeable degradation.
  • Others cite vendor guidance and 1M-refresh specs, arguing heavy interactive use could shorten lifespan; some say e‑ink is fine for e-readers but dubious for intensive text editing.
  • Multiple suggestions to use transflective / RLCD / Sharp Memory LCD instead for higher refresh and comparable daylight readability.

Architecture, x86 rationale, and “XT clone” debate

  • Runs DOS on an 80186-class emulator atop an ESP32. Built to be compatible with XT software but with more RAM, VGA-class video, and sound.
  • Debate over the term “XT clone”: some say it’s accurate in the 1980s marketing sense (runs XT software, adds features); others think calling an ESP32 emulator a “clone” is misleading.
  • Some want 286/386/486-level devices to run heavier OSes (Windows 95, full Linux); others argue emulating a simple PC on ESP32 is exactly what maximizes battery life.

Desire for adjacent devices & alternatives

  • Lots of nostalgia and wishlists: HP 95/200LX, TRS‑80 Model 100, Tandy 102, PowerBook 100, Palm, netbooks, Alphasmart, Freewrite, “writer-decks.”
  • People point to existing or related products: Pocket386, DevTerm, ZeroWriter, PineNote, various e‑ink Android tablets (Daylight, MobiScribe Wave), Kindle hacks, Raspberry Pi + e‑ink builds.
  • Broader lament that mainstream laptops optimized for power and thinness, not 50‑hour runtimes and ultra-simple computing.