I’m aware that the 7.3” Spectra 6 ePaper doesn’t support partial refreshing according to the Seeed description. However the GxEDP2 library supports this for the GoodDisplay “GDEP073E01”, and GoodDisplay themselves advertises it has “advanced partial refresh”.
To me it looks to be the same ePaper, so after some digging around I found this discussion from when the GxEDP2 added the partial refresh support. in the discussion it also links the example code from GoodDisplay.
Both code examples seems to be working with my Seeed EE04/Spectra 6 combo. However the white color starts to fade to blue, more and more with each partial refresh. (It stays white at the top of the display and gradually fades to blue at the bottom).
Since it sort of works, is there any plans of adding the functionality to the Seeed GFX library?
Do anyone have any ideas of how to fix the color fading problem? Or is it just not possible with this combination?
For production or stable projects avoid partial refresh on Spectra 6. Use full refresh only. If you want to stick to partial refresh, you should switch to 3-color ePaper or Black/white panels. They fast support partial refresh.
Yes, I realize I got the wrong hardware for my use-case. Should have spent a bit more time reading the documentation before buying.
Still it would be really nice to be able to reproduce the partial update as shown by gooddisplay. It’s just for a small home project, so stability and longevity doesn’t really have much priority.
I haven’t done long-term testing specifically on this exact Seeed panel yet, but I’ve worked with similar multi-color ePaper displays from Waveshare. In those displays partial refresh does work initially but tends to show artifacts (like color shift or ghosting) after repeated updates unless you do periodic full refresh. That’s why I was a bit cautious about calling it “production safe” without some kind of refresh strategy. If you’ve managed to run stable partial refresh on this Spectra 6 panel over many cycles without visible color drift, I’m interested to know. Thank you.
Very, Very good… answer. I was peaked because , you can do it in software. the good-displays support it in the controller level. these guys missed the boat is what I’m thinking. they look amazing but it comes at a cost, partial refresh is the gold standard. I would have to agree with you on this one, the artifacts are present so that’s unfortunate.
not a Deal breaker but a less choice imo for options. It’s a new area of tech coming on FAST! and Seeed is trying to bring the best stuff to us, but reading the fine print is a requirement. for a proper fit.
As you can see, not even one partial refresh is usable.
Do you think it will improve if I get the driver board from GoodDisplay, or is it some driver in the screen itself? Even if I only can do one proper partial refresh between each full, it would help.
Hmm, Yep I’m in the same lane as you, even one partial would do it. Only from what I have seen in the way of updates, The Driver boards have to support it to be what you and I expects it to be like, for me like the smaller displays. it really improves the usability. However, Some information suggests it can be done at the software level if the LIB has it. All i ended up with in the end was, they are working on it because it is very obvious what is better.
(I pontificate) the cheap controller solution runs out of traction and hampers the panels true performance. It’s such a new area of tech (e-ink) the last 2 years just figuring out who the players are and can deliver is a challange , same crap with all the AI, everything hardware…IMO way over hyped.
Seeed is diving in headlong on OUR behalf as makers, they will come with something better I bet.
PJ 
answer. I was peaked because , you can do it in software. the good-displays support it in the controller level. these guys missed the boat is what I’m thinking. they look amazing but it comes at a cost, partial refresh is the gold standard. I would have to agree with you on this one, the artifacts are present so that’s unfortunate.
for a proper fit.