7 ms·

I have this device, and for hackers, this review misses some stuff: * the company behind it is based in norway, so you can be pretty sure the techies got treat

I have this device, and for hackers, this review misses some stuff: * the company behind it is based in norway, so you can be pretty sure the techies got treated well * they abide by the GPL very well * by connecting via USB and flicking a switch in the options menu, you get SSH access, as well as a REST endpoint where you can upload your files via curl. So if you don't like their cloud offering, you can turn of wifi and be sure your data is local * I really hope they start a good opensource community program. There are already efforts underway for hacking on this, and in theory making custom applications for this could be very fun * last I saw, some of the developers are active on reddit and HN, so I hope they comment on the last point

moon4u 9y ago
Is the response time really that fast? On my e-reader, it takes solid 1 second in the best case (and sometimes more than 3s worst) to switch a page. This device looks really fast. But maybe it's just updating small region and that's why it's so fast?
- rtpg 9y ago
  I've seen the Sony offering of this, and it's incredibly fast. But also super expensive
- rhaps0dy 9y ago
  >But maybe it's just updating small region and that's why it's so fast? Exactly. I have one and I think writing has really short latency. My friend says it's slightly slower than an iPad but I haven't tried that so I don't know, in any case it's still very good. The only really bad thing about the reMarkable is that the software still sometimes crashes, leaving you for ~20 seconds with a notebook that you can't write on.
  - igorkraw 9y ago
    >The only really bad thing about the reMarkable is that the software still sometimes crashes, leaving you for ~20 seconds with a notebook that you can't write on. Interesting, in 3 months I haven't had a single crash
    - rhaps0dy 9y ago
      Then I envy you. Mine crashes about once a week, always when taking notes.
- igorkraw 9y ago
  Page switching can take a bit,depending on how much there is to render. When I read papers, it never takes more than half a second or so, at most. Drawing also doesn't have any painful latency (I say painful because it IS barely noticable, but it doesn't take away the feeling of drawing/writing and instant feedback)
- TuringTest 9y ago
  The response time is optimized for writing, not reading. This device is better treated as a whiteboard than an ebook. Switching pages can still take a few seconds (the display is lightning fast, but the processor for generating the page is not).
  - otoburb 9y ago
    >>Switching pages can still take a few seconds (the display is lightning fast, but the processor for generating the page is not).* Can take up to a few seconds, but really depends on what the device is rendering. For most arXiv papers and light graphics (e.g. clean charts) the page turns have been very tolerable.
- jdmichal 9y ago
  A lot of responses are commenting about writing being fast. AFAIK, the slow part of eink displays was always effectively clearing them. Drawing is fast, and drawing without needing to clear anything, such as during writing, should be expected to be responsive. Many new systems don't do a full clear for every update, but that introduces more artifacts each time until a slow full clear is done. But the better displays now can get away with it without being distracting.
- paulcole 9y ago
  Just curious but which ereader do you have? The current higher-end Kindles (I have an Oasis and a Voyage) turn pages so fast as to be unnoticeable with a noticeable full screen flash every 10 or so pages.
  - moon4u 9y ago
    It's Nook, but I don't remember the exact model. Maybe Glowlight. Maybe it's just time for me to update? I bought this in 2014.
- thaumaturgy 9y ago
  Echoing other responses here: writing on it is practically lag-free (there's a tiny amount of lag, but I don't even notice it anymore); using the eraser tool to erase sections takes a little more lag, using the move tool to move sections around lags a bit more, and a full page refresh can take a couple of seconds. In practice, it's been perfectly usable (for me). The only nit I've found responsiveness-wise so far is the startup time. It's not convenient when I suddenly remember something and want to write it down and have to hold down the power button for three seconds and then wait another five or more for it to get to the main screen and then wait another two or so to get to my scratch pad.
ggg9990 9y ago
What is the relevance of the “techies got treated well”?
- dalbasal 9y ago
  People may prefer to buy it, for that reason.
  - kristiandupont 9y ago
    That statement also struck me -- it's not like "techies" are normally treated unfavorably?
    - dalbasal 9y ago
      Parent asked about relevance. It's relevant if some people have worries about treatment of techies. Should people have these concerns? Dunno, but probably off-topic for this post :)
    - Splognosticus 9y ago
      "Normally" would be overstating the problem I think, but it's not as though toxic work environments where people are expected to work unsustainably long hours are exactly uncommon in the tech sector.
- igorkraw 9y ago
  Some people like to reward ethical companies. Most hackers I know are among them
  - ImSkeptical 9y ago
    Yeah, but I don't think the people writing the software are usually getting too badly treated. Are the electronics assembled in an East Asian sweatshop?
- book_mentioned 9y ago
  https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14452923#14453083 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14452923#14453083
userbinator 9y ago
by connecting via USB and flicking a switch in the options menu, you get SSH access, as well as a REST endpoint where you can upload your files via curl. So if you don't like their cloud offering, you can turn of wifi and be sure your data is local Maybe it's just me, but why do the defaults for devices like this seem to now always require either a special app or reach out into the Internet? Whatever happened to simple USB mass storage where you can just plug it in and copy files back and forth? The hardware is certainly capable of it. That said, I don't mind the presence of WiFi, but the default behaviour of requiring one to send files from a computer out far away to some server on the Internet, and then back to the tablet sitting only a few metres away seems rather silly and wasteful.
- blub 9y ago
  Most customers are ignorant of security issues and the privacy regulations are too weak. This has resulted on one hand in only noticing the conveniences of cloud sync on the customer side and an information greediness on the side of the companies. My enthusiasm for this device instantly evaporated when I found out about the mandatory cloud integration. I already know from a customer support situation that Amazon has remote access to kindles, they can tell you what files you have on device, etc. It's depressingly bad... Bonus: this reMarkable website does not work without third party JS. It's completely blank. One of the 3rd parties is hotjar, which does all sorts of shady analytics like clickstream and keylogging.
  - ReverseCold 9y ago
    > My enthusiasm for this device instantly evaporated when I found out about the mandatory cloud integration. From GP: "So if you don't like their cloud offering, you can turn of wifi and be sure your data is local"
    - blub 9y ago
      The GP and lima have both claimed that one can transfer files without the cloud, but this is not mentioned in their FAQ (https://support.remarkable.com/hc/en-us https://support.remarkable.com/hc/en-us). This is a direct quote: "Use the reMarkable desktop app or the reMarkable mobile app to transfer documents and ebooks onto your device. Once imported, your files will be synced across your connected devices. reMarkable works best with our custom built apps for iPhone, Android, PC and Mac." By using a search engine on their web-site(!) one can find details about USB support: "NB: This functionality is currently experimental, as we haven't fully implemented it yet. We will work to improve how this works and looks in future software updates." Maybe this is a great device which allows open access, but it's very difficult to figure this out from their website.
vanderZwan 9y ago
That gives me a lot of hope. At some pint the article mentions a "proprietary cloud service" which immediately made me worry that this would be a locked-up device. If the underlying software is open source, that would also suggest that it if there is a large enough community, it will keep working for much longer than the company supports it. And it gives hope for better software fixes. For example, the writing-lag mentioned sounds like it should be solvable with better data structures under the hood.
- splitbrain 9y ago
  The API used for the cloud service is quite simple. There are already two projects on github implementing it (one by me) - search for remarkable-tablet to find them. The tablet also works fine without using the cloud service, it has a built-in webserver to upload documents to it that you can just access via WiFi or USB-LAN. Really this device is a hacker's dream in terms of openness. The only last thing I'd wish for was open sourcing the main software application running on it.
  - masukomi 9y ago
    is there any way to tell it to use your cloud service instead of theirs ? In other words, what good is a custom reimplementation of it if you can't make it point at them without dns hacking?
    - lima 9y ago
      Yes, you can SSH into the device and change a config file. This is a hacker's dream indeed.
      - vanderZwan 9y ago
        How fast is the data transfer? Do you think one could hack it into a "screen" by streaming a black-and-white image data from a computer to it? So the connected computer would do all the heavy lifting related to rendering, compress the result to something that is really easy to decompress, send it over, and tablet would just decompress a bitmap and blit it to the screen?
lima 9y ago
The main developer is also the CTO of the company (and happens to be a KDE developer!)
michaelmior 9y ago
> by connecting via USB and flicking a switch in the options menu, you get SSH access, as well as a REST endpoint where you can upload your files via curl Could you explain how this works? I assumed that's what the HTTP interface setting was, but I couldn't see this documented anywhere. I really don't like the Windows and Android app so this would be a nice alternative.
- tazjin 9y ago
  The SSH access is actually not hidden behind a switch. When you connect a reMarkable into your computer it identifies as an ethernet adapter and assigns you an IP over DHCP, you can then access SSH on the device via that IP. This is what the device shows you for gaining access (don't worry, that's not actually my password anymore and I've put SSH keys on it anyways): https://i.imgur.com/zbJUBOe.jpg https://i.imgur.com/zbJUBOe.jpg This screen is in Settings -> About, right below the GPL information. Edit: If you were asking about the HTTP interface, that becomes available at the same IP but it is hidden behind a switch (Settings -> Storage -> Enable USB web interface)

moon4u 9y ago

Is the response time really that fast? On my e-reader, it takes solid 1 second in the best case (and sometimes more than 3s worst) to switch a page. This device looks really fast. But maybe it's just updating small region and that's why it's so fast?

rtpg 9y ago
I've seen the Sony offering of this, and it's incredibly fast. But also super expensive
rhaps0dy 9y ago
>But maybe it's just updating small region and that's why it's so fast? Exactly. I have one and I think writing has really short latency. My friend says it's slightly slower than an iPad but I haven't tried that so I don't know, in any case it's still very good. The only really bad thing about the reMarkable is that the software still sometimes crashes, leaving you for ~20 seconds with a notebook that you can't write on.
- igorkraw 9y ago
  >The only really bad thing about the reMarkable is that the software still sometimes crashes, leaving you for ~20 seconds with a notebook that you can't write on. Interesting, in 3 months I haven't had a single crash
  - rhaps0dy 9y ago
    Then I envy you. Mine crashes about once a week, always when taking notes.
igorkraw 9y ago
Page switching can take a bit,depending on how much there is to render. When I read papers, it never takes more than half a second or so, at most. Drawing also doesn't have any painful latency (I say painful because it IS barely noticable, but it doesn't take away the feeling of drawing/writing and instant feedback)
TuringTest 9y ago
The response time is optimized for writing, not reading. This device is better treated as a whiteboard than an ebook. Switching pages can still take a few seconds (the display is lightning fast, but the processor for generating the page is not).
- otoburb 9y ago
  >>Switching pages can still take a few seconds (the display is lightning fast, but the processor for generating the page is not).* Can take up to a few seconds, but really depends on what the device is rendering. For most arXiv papers and light graphics (e.g. clean charts) the page turns have been very tolerable.
jdmichal 9y ago
A lot of responses are commenting about writing being fast. AFAIK, the slow part of eink displays was always effectively clearing them. Drawing is fast, and drawing without needing to clear anything, such as during writing, should be expected to be responsive. Many new systems don't do a full clear for every update, but that introduces more artifacts each time until a slow full clear is done. But the better displays now can get away with it without being distracting.
paulcole 9y ago
Just curious but which ereader do you have? The current higher-end Kindles (I have an Oasis and a Voyage) turn pages so fast as to be unnoticeable with a noticeable full screen flash every 10 or so pages.
- moon4u 9y ago
  It's Nook, but I don't remember the exact model. Maybe Glowlight. Maybe it's just time for me to update? I bought this in 2014.
thaumaturgy 9y ago
Echoing other responses here: writing on it is practically lag-free (there's a tiny amount of lag, but I don't even notice it anymore); using the eraser tool to erase sections takes a little more lag, using the move tool to move sections around lags a bit more, and a full page refresh can take a couple of seconds. In practice, it's been perfectly usable (for me). The only nit I've found responsiveness-wise so far is the startup time. It's not convenient when I suddenly remember something and want to write it down and have to hold down the power button for three seconds and then wait another five or more for it to get to the main screen and then wait another two or so to get to my scratch pad.

ggg9990 9y ago

What is the relevance of the “techies got treated well”?

dalbasal 9y ago
People may prefer to buy it, for that reason.
- kristiandupont 9y ago
  That statement also struck me -- it's not like "techies" are normally treated unfavorably?
  - dalbasal 9y ago
    Parent asked about relevance. It's relevant if some people have worries about treatment of techies. Should people have these concerns? Dunno, but probably off-topic for this post :)
  - Splognosticus 9y ago
    "Normally" would be overstating the problem I think, but it's not as though toxic work environments where people are expected to work unsustainably long hours are exactly uncommon in the tech sector.
igorkraw 9y ago
Some people like to reward ethical companies. Most hackers I know are among them
- ImSkeptical 9y ago
  Yeah, but I don't think the people writing the software are usually getting too badly treated. Are the electronics assembled in an East Asian sweatshop?
book_mentioned 9y ago
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14452923#14453083 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14452923#14453083

userbinator 9y ago

by connecting via USB and flicking a switch in the options menu, you get SSH access, as well as a REST endpoint where you can upload your files via curl. So if you don't like their cloud offering, you can turn of wifi and be sure your data is local Maybe it's just me, but why do the defaults for devices like this seem to now always require either a special app or reach out into the Internet? Whatever happened to simple USB mass storage where you can just plug it in and copy files back and forth? The hardware is certainly capable of it. That said, I don't mind the presence of WiFi, but the default behaviour of requiring one to send files from a computer out far away to some server on the Internet, and then back to the tablet sitting only a few metres away seems rather silly and wasteful.

blub 9y ago
Most customers are ignorant of security issues and the privacy regulations are too weak. This has resulted on one hand in only noticing the conveniences of cloud sync on the customer side and an information greediness on the side of the companies. My enthusiasm for this device instantly evaporated when I found out about the mandatory cloud integration. I already know from a customer support situation that Amazon has remote access to kindles, they can tell you what files you have on device, etc. It's depressingly bad... Bonus: this reMarkable website does not work without third party JS. It's completely blank. One of the 3rd parties is hotjar, which does all sorts of shady analytics like clickstream and keylogging.
- ReverseCold 9y ago
  > My enthusiasm for this device instantly evaporated when I found out about the mandatory cloud integration. From GP: "So if you don't like their cloud offering, you can turn of wifi and be sure your data is local"
  - blub 9y ago
    The GP and lima have both claimed that one can transfer files without the cloud, but this is not mentioned in their FAQ (https://support.remarkable.com/hc/en-us https://support.remarkable.com/hc/en-us). This is a direct quote: "Use the reMarkable desktop app or the reMarkable mobile app to transfer documents and ebooks onto your device. Once imported, your files will be synced across your connected devices. reMarkable works best with our custom built apps for iPhone, Android, PC and Mac." By using a search engine on their web-site(!) one can find details about USB support: "NB: This functionality is currently experimental, as we haven't fully implemented it yet. We will work to improve how this works and looks in future software updates." Maybe this is a great device which allows open access, but it's very difficult to figure this out from their website.

vanderZwan 9y ago

That gives me a lot of hope. At some pint the article mentions a "proprietary cloud service" which immediately made me worry that this would be a locked-up device. If the underlying software is open source, that would also suggest that it if there is a large enough community, it will keep working for much longer than the company supports it. And it gives hope for better software fixes. For example, the writing-lag mentioned sounds like it should be solvable with better data structures under the hood.

splitbrain 9y ago
The API used for the cloud service is quite simple. There are already two projects on github implementing it (one by me) - search for remarkable-tablet to find them. The tablet also works fine without using the cloud service, it has a built-in webserver to upload documents to it that you can just access via WiFi or USB-LAN. Really this device is a hacker's dream in terms of openness. The only last thing I'd wish for was open sourcing the main software application running on it.
- masukomi 9y ago
  is there any way to tell it to use your cloud service instead of theirs ? In other words, what good is a custom reimplementation of it if you can't make it point at them without dns hacking?
  - lima 9y ago
    Yes, you can SSH into the device and change a config file. This is a hacker's dream indeed.
    - vanderZwan 9y ago
      How fast is the data transfer? Do you think one could hack it into a "screen" by streaming a black-and-white image data from a computer to it? So the connected computer would do all the heavy lifting related to rendering, compress the result to something that is really easy to decompress, send it over, and tablet would just decompress a bitmap and blit it to the screen?

lima 9y ago

The main developer is also the CTO of the company (and happens to be a KDE developer!)

michaelmior 9y ago

> by connecting via USB and flicking a switch in the options menu, you get SSH access, as well as a REST endpoint where you can upload your files via curl Could you explain how this works? I assumed that's what the HTTP interface setting was, but I couldn't see this documented anywhere. I really don't like the Windows and Android app so this would be a nice alternative.

tazjin 9y ago
The SSH access is actually not hidden behind a switch. When you connect a reMarkable into your computer it identifies as an ethernet adapter and assigns you an IP over DHCP, you can then access SSH on the device via that IP. This is what the device shows you for gaining access (don't worry, that's not actually my password anymore and I've put SSH keys on it anyways): https://i.imgur.com/zbJUBOe.jpg https://i.imgur.com/zbJUBOe.jpg This screen is in Settings -> About, right below the GPL information. Edit: If you were asking about the HTTP interface, that becomes available at the same IP but it is hidden behind a switch (Settings -> Storage -> Enable USB web interface)