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For one, unlike most Android devices, you don't have to root the RM. It comes with SSH running and you have the root password. The company's Github [1] has most

For one, unlike most Android devices, you don't have to root the RM. It comes with SSH running and you have the root password. The company's Github [1] has most of the source code, from their Linux kernel to the software update daemon. Their CTO, Martin Sandsmark, is a long-time KDE developer. Unfortunately, xochitl (the device's main UI) isn't open. It's a major miss in their open approach, and frankly I don't get why they would keep it closed - the RM's competitive advantage is in the hardware design, the xochitl software is merely okay and could only benefit from user patches. [1] https://github.com/reMarkable https://github.com/reMarkable

knolax 7y ago
> It comes with SSH running and you have the root password Is the password different for every device? Is the ssh daemon updated regularly? Seems like a massive security vulnerability otherwise.
- ACS_Solver 7y ago
  The password is randomly generated for each device, yes. And of course the network only becomes available once you connect the device to your WiFi, or via cable to a PC. Once you're connected, you can also change to key-only authentication if you want. The SSH daemon is Dropbear, and it doesn't seem to be updated though: > reMarkable: ~/ dropbear -V > Dropbear v2016.72
  - sandsmark 7y ago
    Hmm, I thought we were at 2017.75, are you sure your device is up to date? We shipped the first software with an old dropbear, though it had backported patches for the known CVEs: http://cgit.openembedded.org/openembedded-core/tree/meta/recipes-core/dropbear/dropbear?h=krogoth http://cgit.openembedded.org/openembedded-core/tree/meta/rec...
    - ACS_Solver 7y ago
      I'm on 1.7.2.3, so only missing the latest update.
diggan 7y ago
Thanks a lot, makes the device a lot more interesting (and hopefully long-lived), somehow those things never came up when I searched.
omaranto 7y ago
In case anyone is curious about the name of the main UI, "xochitl", it is a fairly common female name (for people, not UIs) in Mexico. It means flower in Náhuatl, the language of spoken by the Aztecs and still spoken by between 1 and 2 million people in Mexico. The Spanish word for flower, "Flor", is also a fairly common female name in Mexico. The name "Xóchitl" is pronounced with the "x" sounding like "s" and the "t" silent by Spanish-speaking Mexicans. I'm pretty sure that's not how it is pronounced in Náhuatl; there I think the "x" sounds more like English's "sh", and the "t" is not silent.
- sandsmark 7y ago
  Picture of one of the first prototypes (from 2015 or thereabouts) from remarkable.com/careers, guess the naming scheme: https://images.ctfassets.net/og7ujiyra5gx/15KAaMUsNXP8cQu3lPP2oc/9de156538ea59c8cd92943dd9b5e24ad/images-rasters2-careers-tech_01.jpg https://images.ctfassets.net/og7ujiyra5gx/15KAaMUsNXP8cQu3lP... :-)
  - ncr100 7y ago
    Thanks Martin - good origin story.
lima 7y ago
And most importantly: their full toolchain is available. https://remarkable.engineering/ https://remarkable.engineering/
- elteto 7y ago
  Did you try downloading it by chance? I get 404 on that toolchain link...
  - diggan 7y ago
    Strange, getting alternative responses of 404 and 200 when doing a request, with the 200 page showing > It's sunday, we'll try to get it up during next week. > In the meantime a normal cross-compiling ARM toolchain should work (e. g. the one packaged in Ubuntu). Edit: now a added "Sorry, forgot to update this..." so seems someone updated the link right now
    - justinclift 7y ago
      Unless the date stamp of that .sh file isn't recent. ;)
      - diggan 7y ago
        Was thinking more because if I made three requests, I got three different responses, so it seemed I was making requests while things were still being propagated
m463 7y ago
Can you use the device locally (no cloud or "activation" or account, etc)
- jdeeny 7y ago
  I think you can using the new USB network interface based web-UI. Which is not great and quite an interesting choice of ways to go about things IMO.
- ACS_Solver 7y ago
  You can - if you don't do the cloud setup, the RM won't try to sync anything. Then your file management options are the device's built-in software (which is viable prototype quality, not shipping quality) or some custom scripting. Given that this is HN, you're probably better off writing some small scripts to manage the device via SSH or curl.

knolax 7y ago

> It comes with SSH running and you have the root password Is the password different for every device? Is the ssh daemon updated regularly? Seems like a massive security vulnerability otherwise.

ACS_Solver 7y ago
The password is randomly generated for each device, yes. And of course the network only becomes available once you connect the device to your WiFi, or via cable to a PC. Once you're connected, you can also change to key-only authentication if you want. The SSH daemon is Dropbear, and it doesn't seem to be updated though: > reMarkable: ~/ dropbear -V > Dropbear v2016.72
- sandsmark 7y ago
  Hmm, I thought we were at 2017.75, are you sure your device is up to date? We shipped the first software with an old dropbear, though it had backported patches for the known CVEs: http://cgit.openembedded.org/openembedded-core/tree/meta/recipes-core/dropbear/dropbear?h=krogoth http://cgit.openembedded.org/openembedded-core/tree/meta/rec...
  - ACS_Solver 7y ago
    I'm on 1.7.2.3, so only missing the latest update.

diggan 7y ago

Thanks a lot, makes the device a lot more interesting (and hopefully long-lived), somehow those things never came up when I searched.

omaranto 7y ago

In case anyone is curious about the name of the main UI, "xochitl", it is a fairly common female name (for people, not UIs) in Mexico. It means flower in Náhuatl, the language of spoken by the Aztecs and still spoken by between 1 and 2 million people in Mexico. The Spanish word for flower, "Flor", is also a fairly common female name in Mexico. The name "Xóchitl" is pronounced with the "x" sounding like "s" and the "t" silent by Spanish-speaking Mexicans. I'm pretty sure that's not how it is pronounced in Náhuatl; there I think the "x" sounds more like English's "sh", and the "t" is not silent.

sandsmark 7y ago
Picture of one of the first prototypes (from 2015 or thereabouts) from remarkable.com/careers, guess the naming scheme: https://images.ctfassets.net/og7ujiyra5gx/15KAaMUsNXP8cQu3lPP2oc/9de156538ea59c8cd92943dd9b5e24ad/images-rasters2-careers-tech_01.jpg https://images.ctfassets.net/og7ujiyra5gx/15KAaMUsNXP8cQu3lP... :-)
- ncr100 7y ago
  Thanks Martin - good origin story.

lima 7y ago

And most importantly: their full toolchain is available. https://remarkable.engineering/ https://remarkable.engineering/

elteto 7y ago
Did you try downloading it by chance? I get 404 on that toolchain link...
- diggan 7y ago
  Strange, getting alternative responses of 404 and 200 when doing a request, with the 200 page showing > It's sunday, we'll try to get it up during next week. > In the meantime a normal cross-compiling ARM toolchain should work (e. g. the one packaged in Ubuntu). Edit: now a added "Sorry, forgot to update this..." so seems someone updated the link right now
  - justinclift 7y ago
    Unless the date stamp of that .sh file isn't recent. ;)
    - diggan 7y ago
      Was thinking more because if I made three requests, I got three different responses, so it seemed I was making requests while things were still being propagated

m463 7y ago

Can you use the device locally (no cloud or "activation" or account, etc)

jdeeny 7y ago
I think you can using the new USB network interface based web-UI. Which is not great and quite an interesting choice of ways to go about things IMO.
ACS_Solver 7y ago
You can - if you don't do the cloud setup, the RM won't try to sync anything. Then your file management options are the device's built-in software (which is viable prototype quality, not shipping quality) or some custom scripting. Given that this is HN, you're probably better off writing some small scripts to manage the device via SSH or curl.