Valve open source the Steam Machine e-ink screen so you can make your own
Mirrored from Hacker News — AI on Front Page for archival readability. Support the source by reading on the original site.
While Valve will not be making and providing their own e-ink display for the Steam Machine, they have opened it up so anyone can now do it. Valve originally teased it with the first lot of reviewers that got their hands on it.
All of it is available on their GitLab under the MIT license, which goes over everything you need to make your own and stick it on the front of your fancy new Steam Machine.
Image Credit - Gamers Nexus
They're now calling it the "Inkterface" and there's a good few things you'll need to make it including:
- 1 x Adafruit ESP32 Feather with 2MB PSRAM.
- 1 x Adafruit eInk Breakout Friend.
- 1 x Adafruit 5.83" Monochrome eInk Panel.
- 13 x M2.5 x 5mm Pan Head Machine Screws.
- 4 x 1/4" x 1/4" x 3/16" Stepped Magnet SB443-OUT.
Valve even provided a video on the GitLab showing it being put together, which we're re-hosting to make it easily viewable for you:
Accept Cookies & Show Direct Link
Pretty cool to see.
Maybe we will see some other vendors actually do them pre-built for us. JSAUX teased they would be doing it back in November 2025, and checking back today they've said they still plan to do "Ink & Pixel versions". If the Steam Machine is popular enough - no doubt we'll have other accessory brands do various versions of their own.
🌐 External Sources: gitlab.steamos.cloud, x.com/jsauxofficial, gamersnexus.net Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
See more from me
You can also find comments for this article on social media: 
- Supporter Plus View PC info
Still not a rig I'd get for gaming, but it could be something to run a server on, or as a streaming PC (not that I stream, but in theory), etc.
(External Link: You need to be logged in to view this.)
Also available (External Link: You need to be logged in to view this.)
Basically a guy that spend a lot of time creating the lowest latency possible with (color) e-ink. Everything open, upgradeable, tweakable...
Or from the guy himself: (External Link: You need to be logged in to view this.)
Looks pretty cool, although I am not sure what it's even for. I guess I wouldn't mind reading some e-books while my modded Skyrim takes 2 minutes to load, but that seems to be a pretty niche application.
Last edited by Verglas on 3 Jul 2026 at 9:23 am UTC
Quoting: VerglasHuh, I am out of the loop. The Steam Machine has an e ink display on its case?It was part of the introduction: they said they will provide stl files to replace the front plates, and as an example someone made an e-ink display as front plate. However, it is not standard. It is just to show that you can mod your steam machine because of the stl files being published.
So it is up to third parties or yourself to create a different front.
Arehandoro 6 hours ago
- Supporter View PC info
- Supporter
Discussion (0)
Sign in to join the discussion. Free account, 30 seconds — email code or GitHub.
Sign in →No comments yet. Sign in and be the first to say something.