Building a Real-Time HN Display for $15

https://medium.com/@lee.harding/building-a-real-time-hn-display-for-15-3ea1772051ff

Comments

w-llJan 26, 2026, 6:51 AM
why not just ESP32 to HN? why all the extra steps?
augusteoJan 26, 2026, 5:33 AM
Nice project. The $15 price point is genuinely impressive for something like this.

I've been curious about e-ink displays for a while but haven't taken the plunge. What's the refresh rate like in practice? And does it actually help you notice interesting posts you'd otherwise miss, or is it more of a fun desk decoration?

mlhpdxJan 26, 2026, 5:39 AM
The refresh rate must be something like 20fps when scrolling the text of long posts. I’m not sure and haven’t measured.

While I’m working I glance at it from time to time and get a sense of the wide breadth of conversations going on at any moment.

cyodeJan 26, 2026, 5:38 AM
Satisfying to see all the payload request and response sizes in bytes not kb.

Q: the display just starts at 0 and increments comment id by 1 every 10 seconds. Has the device caught up to latest? If you power cycle it, do you have to run through all historical comments?

mlhpdxJan 26, 2026, 5:53 AM
The zero is just a magic number to indicate grab the newest. So it’s just showing the most recent comments.