Have you considered using a DES display or Sharp Memory LCD? I know the first is definitely cheaper than a branded E-Ink display, and the latter has much faster refresh rate and may be more suited to being a terminal (and may also be cheaper than E-Ink, I just haven't looked into it).
Yes we have considered it. Do you know of any such large (over 12 inches) panels with decent resolution and pretty fast updates that are available? Such a thing would probably help with power consumption. (e-inks consume a lot of power during screen updates).
Looking at all of the options a simple full RLCD would probably be best for us--not eink--but we can't find appropriate parts for the size and resolution.
I know that the DES displays go up to 10.1", but I haven't seen displays beyond that size (though I'm unsure if they intend to make larger displays in the future). For the Sharp Memory Displays, I think I may have spoken too soon - looks like they top out at 4.4" currently, which of course wouldn't work for your application.
RLCD is an interesting option, I guess the sacrifice there is readability angles and paper-like-ness?
Ones with good viewing angles exist, but for sure there isn't paper-like-ness and you loose the no zero-power persistence of e-ink. But you get fast, artifact-free refreshes, perfect sunlight readability, at very low power consumption. (No backlight which can be a pro and a con...if only a more modern Pixel Qi type panel existed.)
