DIY E Ink PDA Recaptures the Joy of Simple Digital Living

Before the smartphone era, and even before mobile phones became everyone’s pocket staple, there was a time when digital organization was delightfully straightforward. Personal Digital Assistants, or PDAs, were the go-to gadgets for managing schedules, jotting down notes, and keeping contacts at your fingertips. They might seem basic by today’s standards, but they were refreshingly free of constant notifications and digital clutter.

With a recent wave of nostalgia for simpler technology, makers and enthusiasts have been looking to E Ink screens as a way to bring back focused, distraction-free devices. This DIY project, the EinkPDA, brings that classic experience into the present with a clamshell design that tips its hat to vintage PDAs. The result is a project that’s both fun to build and a joy to use for anyone who values simplicity.

Designer: Ashtf

EinkPDA’s design is charmingly minimal. It features custom circuit boards that integrate a pint-sized QWERTY keyboard, a compact E Ink display, and a tiny OLED strip. Everything is housed inside a clear, transparent shell, so you can see the inner workings, a detail that gives it a unique, almost bespoke character. For DIY fans and device designers, it’s a showcase of engineering on proud display.

Interaction with this PDA takes a quirky, indirect approach. The E Ink screen isn’t touch-sensitive, and there’s no mouse or cursor to navigate menus. Instead, you type out the names of apps you want to open or settings you wish to tweak. This keeps the E Ink refreshes to a minimum and offers a throwback to the earliest days of digital organizers, though it does add a bit of a learning curve.

Design flourishes make the experience even more interesting. The OLED strip serves as a real-time display for the clock or as a preview for your typed text before it pops up on the E Ink screen. Next to the main display, a touch-sensitive area allows you to scroll through text by simply sliding your finger, adding a modern touch to this retro-inspired device.

There are some nods to modern conventions, too, like displaying a clock and your list of to-dos when the device is on standby while plugged in, almost like the iPhone’s StandBy mode. While the software could use some refinement to match the polish of classic Palm PDAs, the entire experience is captivatingly nostalgic. For tinkerers and modern minimalists, the EinkPDA offers a tangible return to the days when digital life was less about distraction and more about getting things done.