M5Stack PaperMono

What hackers pick instead

• ESP32A cheap microcontroller with Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, strong docs and many examples, often preferred over a Raspberry Pi when no OS is needed; battery projects can struggle with power draw.190recommend
• Arduino boardsRecommended for easy starts, free tutorials and a broad ecosystem, though critics say cheaper ESP32 and Raspberry Pi boards now beat it on price and performance.81recommend
• Raspberry Pi PicoCheap, capable microcontroller board that people use for physical computing, prototyping and education; critics say it has limited RAM and flash and weak Wi-Fi connectivity.72recommend
• Raspberry Pi RP2040Cheap, well-documented microcontroller with a programmable PIO block for custom I/O, widely recommended for prototyping. Common caveat: its ADCs have only 12-bit resolution and some nonlinearity.29recommend
• ESP32-S3Cheap microcontroller with dual cores, plenty of I/O and strong value for its price. Critics say it is power-hungry and weak for heavy workloads like music encoding.26recommend

Every quote

The 24 most detailed of 31 comments. Each links to the original.

1. Project like this make me excited with AI. You can pretty much custom firmware, tailored for your specific needs.

   Recommends · Sep 2026 · in “Show HN: PaperMono, e-ink fridge magnet shopping list with mobile web page”

2. This would be great as something I can load the groceries to, then have the recipe and steps when making stuff

   Recommends · Sep 2026 · in “Show HN: PaperMono, e-ink fridge magnet shopping list with mobile web page”

3. These are an ESP32-S3 so you can use standard tools instead of whatever their offering is.

   Recommends · Aug 2026 · in “M5Stack Launches PaperMono”

4. Beautiful. Will be using as the default font for my spreadsheet platform.

   Recommends · Oct 2026 · in “Paper Mono Typeface”

5. fantastic UX that encourages fiddling with and exploring the glyphs

   Recommends · Oct 2026 · in “Paper Mono Typeface”

6. only found screens too small or costs more than this device

   Mixed · Aug 2026 · in “M5Stack Launches PaperMono”

7. It's an esp32 board with an eink screen and a battery.

   Recommends · Sep 2026 · in “Tiny $70 Xteink X3 e-reader”

8. I love the fridge magnet epaper idea from this though.

   Recommends · Sep 2026 · in “Show HN: PaperMono, e-ink fridge magnet shopping list with mobile web page”

9. beautiful hardware, software as an afterthought

   Mixed · Aug 2026 · in “M5Stack Launches PaperMono”

10. I like the design; simple but clean and ideal.

    Recommends · Sep 2026 · in “Show HN: PaperMono, e-ink fridge magnet shopping list with mobile web page”

11. This is such a cool way to showcase the font!

    Recommends · Oct 2026 · in “Paper Mono Typeface”

12. More expensive, smaller screen and lower resolution that the previous version

    Criticizes · Aug 2026 · in “M5Stack Launches PaperMono”

13. This is the only device that I've found that has an e-ink display and an NFC chip that can read cards

    Recommends · Sep 2026 · in “Show HN: PaperMono, e-ink fridge magnet shopping list with mobile web page”

14. it's almost effectively paper, right? Slightly harder to use paper?

    Mixed · Sep 2026 · in “Show HN: PaperMono, e-ink fridge magnet shopping list with mobile web page”

15. M5 device are cool but they do have that, as ugly as it is useful

    Mixed · Sep 2026 · in “Tiny $70 Xteink X3 e-reader”

16. Cost about half the price and is compatible with Crosspoint too.

    Recommends · Aug 2026 · in “M5Stack Launches PaperMono”

17. Neato. Every time I see a competent eink project

    Recommends · Sep 2026 · in “Show HN: PaperMono, e-ink fridge magnet shopping list with mobile web page”

18. Yeah, it is clunky tbh. but it does work.

    Mixed · Sep 2026 · in “Show HN: PaperMono, e-ink fridge magnet shopping list with mobile web page”

19. it's a great combo of capabilities

    Recommends · Sep 2026 · in “Show HN: PaperMono, e-ink fridge magnet shopping list with mobile web page”

20. not bad, not bad, impressed

    Recommends · Oct 2026 · in “Paper Mono Typeface”

21. I'm pretty happy with it.

    Recommends · Aug 2026 · in “M5Stack Launches PaperMono”

22. Lame, my interest drops to 0 whenever I find out a project is vibe-coded

    Criticizes · Sep 2026 · in “Show HN: PaperMono, e-ink fridge magnet shopping list with mobile web page”

23. if only they ever decided to make a waterproof version

    Criticizes · Aug 2026 · in “M5Stack Launches PaperMono”

24. I can’t imagine typing on my fridge - too clunky

    Criticizes · Sep 2026 · in “Show HN: PaperMono, e-ink fridge magnet shopping list with mobile web page”