Using e-ink tablet as monitor for Linux

Primary use cases and workflows

• Many people see e‑ink as ideal for reading-heavy tasks: terminals, email, LaTeX PDFs, text-based sites, notes, and manga.
• Writing simple text is fine; latency makes active coding, web browsing, and general GUI work frustrating if used as a main monitor.
• Several treat e‑ink as a secondary “reading screen” they switch to when reading long-form content or reviewing documents.
• Some use VNC/remote setups so the tablet doubles as both display and input device, useful for roaming around while reading or sketching quick diagrams.

Latency, ghosting, and UI design

• Core complaint: high latency and ghosting, especially over VNC or capture-card setups; estimates range from ~0.2s to ~1.2s.
• Dedicated e‑ink monitors (e.g., Dasung) are reported to have significantly better latency than repurposed tablets, but still not comparable to LCD.
• People note that modern desktop environments and web UIs are hostile to e‑ink: constant animations, fine-grained scrolling, cursor dithering.
• Suggested mitigations: lightweight WMs, disabling animations, page-at-a-time scrolling, text UIs, high-contrast themes, and cursor tweaks.
• Partial refresh and sectional updates are seen as key to making e‑ink feel usable; some tablets do this much better than standalone monitors.

Existing hardware, price, and Linux support

• There’s frustration that no mainstream vendor sells a good e‑ink laptop; current options are niche tablets, expensive monitors, or hybrids.
• Mentioned devices include Boox tablets and monitors, Dasung Paperlike models (monochrome and color, up to 25.3"), PineNote, TRMNL, Daylight Computer, Modos Paper Monitor, Inkplate boards, and an e‑ink ThinkPad variant.
• Prices for large monitors are considered “shockingly expensive” (four figures). Old tablets + VNC are positioned as a cheap, hackable alternative.
• Some monitors explicitly claim “no Linux support,” which worries people about closed drivers and excludes tinkerers; others say HDMI “just works” in practice, though there are reports of ghosting and EDID issues.
• TRMNL and Modos are praised for being relatively hacker-friendly and/or having open-source components.

Durability, health, and other concerns

• Multiple long-term users report e‑ink panels remaining crisp after many years and tens or hundreds of thousands of refreshes; wear at monitor-like speeds is debated and considered unclear.
• One person reports substantial sleep improvement by using an e‑ink laptop in the evenings instead of bright multi-monitor setups.
• There are concerns about some Android-based e‑ink devices phoning home; advice is to avoid sensitive use (SSH keys, passwords) or isolate them via VNC.
• Wishlists include: an A3 offline PDF viewer for shop floors, a cheap e‑ink “terminal,” Framework-compatible panels, keyboard hotkeys for full refresh, and broader investment in e‑ink computing.