22 ms·

ReMarkable tablet open source tools and hacks

627 points by ChrisLTD 6y ago

MontagFTB 6y ago
Is there a primer on how to use these repos? I don’t see anything high level that keeps the user from shooting themselves in the foot- especially with the reMarkable 2.
- ppod 6y ago
  Yeah a blog post showing off a few things would be great.
- Eeems 6y ago
  There should be a video available soon that you can follow along with soon. I'll make sure this comment is replied to with a link when it's up.
  - utopiah 6y ago
    Here is the said video https://video.benetou.fr/videos/watch/d337b99a-dc9c-4f9e-8843-a81a605d5a56 https://video.benetou.fr/videos/watch/d337b99a-dc9c-4f9e-884... , the audio is too low for few minutes then it gets fixed!
    - MontagFTB 6y ago
      Thanks!
jedimastert 6y ago
I just got my reMarkable 2 pre-order a few weeks ago, and it has already embedded itself into my workflow. I've really enjoying it. I haven't gotten into hacking yet, but I also haven't really had too many moment where I wished I could change something. The only real complaint I've had so far is that the pdf converter didn't put all of the pencil marks on all of the pages (I don't have a printer)
0-_-0 6y ago
I highly recommend installing KoReader, especially for PDFs. Works on Kobo readers as well.
- tpolzer 6y ago
  Is there already a port for the remarkable 2? It would be so nice to have a working epub reader...
  - axiomdata316 6y ago
    I found YouTube videos help. Nice walkthroughs. Alot are for the first remarkable but I imagine in princable they work for both
    - Eeems 6y ago
      Anything that uses the screen on the reMarkable will not work on the rM2 yet. https://github.com/ddvk/remarkable2-framebuffer https://github.com/ddvk/remarkable2-framebuffer is being worked on to address that.
  - Eeems 6y ago
    It's being worked on https://github.com/koreader/koreader/issues/6792 https://github.com/koreader/koreader/issues/6792
fny 6y ago
If there is a remarkable person that sees this, please embrace the hacker community. It is a huge asset to have us by your side, and it's a huge differentiator from all the other tablets which have walled off developers. Also, it would be pretty sweet some part of the API was documented.
- detaro 6y ago
  Aren't their devices already really hack-friendly?
  - Majestic121 6y ago
    They are pretty hacker firendly, but it's always good to show that this is something that people like
    - SulfurHexaFluri 6y ago
      Just saying on the website or somewhere else officially that being able to ssh in is a feature and not something they just left there and may remove later would make the device a lot more attractive.
      - diggan 6y ago
        It's not a accident that ssh is enabled. It is mentioned in official documentation (https://support.remarkable.com/hc/en-us/articles/360002662557-Help https://support.remarkable.com/hc/en-us/articles/36000266255...) and also part of their promise to be compliant with GPLv3. Would be weird if they suddenly decided it was OK to break GPL and remove ssh access. Not only would the people who bought it because it's so open (like me) try to return it, I'm sure bunch of people would try to sue them for removing features post-launch as well.
- Eeems 6y ago
  They just recently released their toolchain for the reMarkable 2 https://github.com/reMarkable/linux/issues/7 https://github.com/reMarkable/linux/issues/7 The toolchain for the rM1 has been out for a long time. Since it's just a linux device, there is a ton of existing documentation on how to work with it.
andag 6y ago
Really wish there was a good official cloud API...
- Eeems 6y ago
  It's not official, but you could always use https://www.npmjs.com/package/remarkable-typescript https://www.npmjs.com/package/remarkable-typescript or write your own thing to work against https://github.com/splitbrain/ReMarkableAPI/wiki https://github.com/splitbrain/ReMarkableAPI/wiki
wodenokoto 6y ago
Are there any SRS applications available for remarkable? (Like Anki or superMemo?)
- kadoban 6y ago
  Don't believe so. For the rm1 there's a full linux distro (parabola-rm). I'd be surprised if you couldn't use anki or something in that. May not be the cleanest solution, but it should work.
bergstromm466 6y ago
Is the only thing stopping e-ink tablets/devices from becoming afforable because of the high rent/royalties for the patented e-ink technology? I'm keen to use one because 1) i think over it's lifetime it will likely consume less energy than an LCD/OLED tablet, and 2) because it would be better for my eyes when i'm reading articles/research or books.
- afandian 6y ago
  FWIW, the battery life is surprisingly short. I guess it's the Wacom digitiser broadcasting RF all the time.
  - bergstromm466 6y ago
    > I guess it's the Wacom digitiser broadcasting RF all the time. Great, it has expensive royalties and it betrays the user.
    - krastanov 6y ago
      Short range analog RF signal to detect where the pen is, not something containing digital information. Your toothbrush motor and charger probably has comparable level of RF radiation come out.
      - reificator 6y ago
        They do, but it should be noted that there have been reports of toothbrushes exfiltrating accelerometer data so toothbrushes are no longer a good example of an innocuous device.
        Loughla 6y ago
        What possible use would a company have for knowing when you pick up your toothbrush? What valuable data can they extract from that?
siraben 6y ago
Having used the reMarkable 1 tablet for over a year now, the hackability is so refreshing to have in a consumer device. The tablet runs Linux and you can SSH into with root access. The hacking community is quite active, one frequently asked question is how to get and run custom software on the device. There's the Entware[0] package repository for running ARMv7 software on the tablet. Recently a community maintained package repository, toltec[1] for tablet-specific software was created and is actively maintained. For Nix users, I've been helping build a Nix-based cross-compile toolchain[2], so you could easily cross-compile a good amount of the 60K packages on Nixpkgs for the tablet. Upstreaming the cross toolchain to Nixpkgs is in the works. To see what the community is up to, see the IRC channel[3], Reddit[4] and Discord server[5]. [0] https://github.com/evidlo/remarkable_entware https://github.com/evidlo/remarkable_entware [1] https://github.com/toltec-dev/toltec https://github.com/toltec-dev/toltec [2] https://github.com/siraben/nix-remarkable https://github.com/siraben/nix-remarkable [3] #reMarkable on Freenode [4] https://reddit.com/r/RemarkableTablet/ https://reddit.com/r/RemarkableTablet/ [5] https://discord.gg/JSSGnFY https://discord.gg/JSSGnFY
- lovelyviking 6y ago
  I stumbled on some article describing that Remarkable calls home and sends some statistics. I've checked and indeed it does. My hacking attitude says it is absolutely unacceptable. The good news you can disable it, and I did. But for poople to be aware , this is what it does by default. Can't say I like that part of rM software. Unfortunately now I've looked for the article and can't find it. If you saw one, please drop the link here, there is more info there.
  - terpimost 6y ago
    Majority of consumer facing products collect usage analytics, otherwise they don’t know how to improve the product.
    - seneca 6y ago
      > Majority of consumer facing products collect usage analytics, otherwise they don’t know how to improve the product. Producers managed to improve products for thousands of years without violating the privacy of their customer. Equating slightly inconvenient with impossible doesn't make for a great argument.
runeks 6y ago
Does anyone know if it's possible to use a ReMarkable tablet as an external laptop monitor? In the summer I like to sit outside coding, but the sunlight outshines my laptops LCD display. So I'd like to use an eInk display as an external monitor. And I gather ReMarkable is the best bet because of their hackability.
- smt88 6y ago
  The refresh rate on e-ink is so low that coding on one would probably be excruciating. You should think of it as a replacement for paper, not a replacement for a monitor. If your laptop isn't very bright, you're mostly out of luck. You can work in the shade, try polarized glasses, buy a brighter laptop, or find a portable monitor that is brighter than your built-in panel.
  - diggan 6y ago
    > If your laptop isn't very bright ... buy a brighter laptop ... and a portable monitor that is brighter As someone who works with my laptop outside in the sun a lot, the trick is not to have a brighter laptop but to have one with a matte display instead of glossy, and use bright backgrounds for everything. Even when I'm in direct sunlight, matte display and light themes make me able to see my code without any squinting or troubles. > The refresh rate on e-ink is so low that coding on one would probably be excruciating If you've edited files in vim over a spotty SSH connection and wasn't phased too much by it, you could probably survive the e-ink refresh rate as well.
    - smt88 6y ago
      I was under the impression that matte displays are uncommon these days, but I agree that's a good option if they're buying a new laptop.
      - diggan 6y ago
        Probably. It seems the X1 Carbon (the laptop I have) has most editions with anti-glare screen though. Found this site that could be helpful for people looking for matte displays: https://www.productchart.com/laptops/sets/1 https://www.productchart.com/laptops/sets/1
myself248 6y ago
I've been looking for an e-ink tablet that I can bend to my will, but the Kindle hacking scene seems to have peaked around 2012 and it's a desolate wasteland of dead links now. That's a shame, because the hardware is really cheap. ReMarkable is sort of astonishingly expensive, but that would be justified if these "hacks" were officially supported or at least acknowledged enough that some future firmware update wouldn't ruin any workflow I build with them. Is there any hint of such acknowledgment, or would I be risking $448 on a device that might turn itself into a paperweight?
- detaro 6y ago
  They officially give you SSH access to the device, various GPL-ed source code running on it and have done so for the previous generation too. I'd trust them with it, and even if they were to go against it it's the kind of device where missing out on future firmware releases doesn't seem that bad.
- afandian 6y ago
  The CEO (/CTO?) has work on GitHub and kind of non-commitally acknowledges it. The fact that you can literally SSH into it, out of the box, was a strong signal for me. I don't regret purchasing my RM1.
- siraben 6y ago
  The company provides a dev toolchain[0] and seems pretty committed to keeping the device open, even the CTO[1] hacks on it publicly, like this crossword app[2] with handwriting recognition. [0] https://remarkable.engineering/ https://remarkable.engineering/ [1] https://github.com/sandsmark https://github.com/sandsmark [2] https://github.com/sandsmark/recrossable https://github.com/sandsmark/recrossable
  - thom 6y ago
    That is an impressive GitHub account!
- jason_slack 6y ago
  > ReMarkable is sort of astonishingly expensive, I have been contemplating buying a ReMarkable 2 as I prefer to handwrite everything/annotate/. The price tag is a bit hefty given the cost of an iPad and pencil and the zillion other things it does. I'm curious if you are indeed going to buy one?
the-mitr 6y ago
is there anyway to directly transfer files to the tablet without using their cloud services?
- siraben 6y ago
  You can connect the device to your computer via USB and SSH into it. There's a web interface that you can access, or you can use rsync, scp, etc.
  - the-mitr 6y ago
    ok, thanks for the reply. I was wondering to buy, but was a bit skeptical if the access was only through their servers.
  - svat 6y ago
    In fact you can ssh to the device over wifi, even without connecting the device via USB. The device just needs to be awake (not sleeping/suspended). The web interface works only over USB, but you can scp files onto the device directly (and create an appropriate .metadata file with a one-liner) — see https://remarkablewiki.com/tech/filesystem https://remarkablewiki.com/tech/filesystem and https://gist.github.com/Utopiah/e2d5c944bbd632e3ae0530e602977f45#file-remarkable_functions-sh-L6 https://gist.github.com/Utopiah/e2d5c944bbd632e3ae0530e60297... I'm yet to figure out (haven't searched enough yet) how to export the files out of the device (i.e. convert from their format to PDF/SVG) without using the USB web interface though; when I do, my workflow will be complete.
    - davisr 6y ago
      > I'm yet to figure out (haven't searched enough yet) how to export the files out of the device (i.e. convert from their format to PDF/SVG) without using the USB web interface though; when I do, my workflow will be complete. My software does that: reMarkable Connection Utility (RCU). Paid, but GPLv3+, and works over USB or WiFi. It has a custom renderer that exports bitmap PDFs very close to what the screen shows--reMarkable's PDF export looks like a photocopy because they rotoscope a bitmap (why? dunno). http://www.davisr.me/projects/rcu/ http://www.davisr.me/projects/rcu/
a1011 6y ago
I've thought about getting one of these. Even though I type about as fast as I write, I think better when I write in a notebook with drawings to organize my ideas. Can anyone who has one tell me how accurate the handwriting recognition is? And how responsive is the pen-tablet interface? Does it actually feel like writing on paper (responsiveness-wise)?
- lieuzh 6y ago
  The handwriting recognition seems OK for print, but not great when I write in cursive. The pen-tablet interface is very responsive --- I'd really like to know how they managed to get the refresh so quick with an e-ink display, actually. Apart from the texture, it's just as quick as writing on paper: I can't detect any latency.
  - rchaud 6y ago
    Do you have the RM1 or the new RM2? apparently the input lag on the RM2 is very low.
    - kadoban 6y ago
      It's quite low on both, the RM2 is better though. Even on the RM1 I can't notice any myself.
- diggan 6y ago
  I have very bad handwriting, especially when not taking care to write carefully, which when making notes, I don't. Here is an example on how it parses my terrible handwriting: https://websites.instantwebsite.app/wPhkwSStQvStUrzPC9jW5Kw/35f2561ce9d04c4d8a62139f69ff0626dc214bb2/frame-1/ https://websites.instantwebsite.app/wPhkwSStQvStUrzPC9jW5Kw/... (no, I'm not a doctor) According to the licenses on the device, the handwriting is "partially powered by MyScript" which seems to be this service: https://www.myscript.com/ https://www.myscript.com/
  - jaywalk 6y ago
axiomdata316 6y ago
This is really great timing. I ordered mine a few months ago and am part of the "Batch 8" shipping. I just got the notification today that mine is about to ship.
- Vespasian 6y ago
  So did I. That can't be a coincidence ;)
  - chrisweekly 6y ago
    Mine arrives Friday; can't wait! :)
wiradikusuma 6y ago
I'm going to get my R2 soon. Does anyone know if it can open (read+write) basic Excel documents? I have a "Weekly Todo" XLS (it's just blank grids) that I always print for writing down notes in the grids, and by end of week, put those back to computer. Would be great if I can skip the print-transcribe loop.
- callahad 6y ago
  Nope. It's best to think of the rM just as a slightly digital notebook instead of as a computer. It handles PDFs, EPUBs, and its own notebook format wonderfully, but that's it.
- _underfl0w_ 6y ago
  To add to the sibling comment, there are multiple background images you can use when taking notes on the rM. Apparently you can customize them (from my research - haven't received my rM2 yet TBH) so you could likely drop in a grid image to use as a background.
calebkaiser 6y ago
I wish so badly that color e-ink was further along. I'd love a tablet that could replace my notebooks, but for some reason, needing a second screen to read my textbooks (color is nonnegotiable for diagram-heavy some textbooks, in my experience) makes me reticent. The ReMarkable 2 looks fantastic, and I love the idea of a distraction-free, dedicated writing/reading tablet, but $450 feels just a touch too far for a device that will require me to use a second device to read textbooks.
- dheera 6y ago
  Have you checked this one out? Not associated with them but I do own a Boox Max Lumi (not color) and just saw the announcement about this. https://onyxboox.com/boox_poke2color https://onyxboox.com/boox_poke2color
  - 1996 6y ago
    Unfortunately, it's not a genuine eink display but a rebranding of Qi hybrid LCD that was made popular in the OLPC. Just look at the announced resolution in dpi in b&w vs color, and you'll see they use a LCD mask in front. If you want both color and eink, it's better to get a dual screen, like a Lenovo C930 book: use the screen clone mode and just turn off the color screen when you don't need it. This can also gives you a eink laptop if you use a USB keyboard.
    - calebkaiser 6y ago
      This an interesting option I never considered. Somehow, I wasn't aware of the C930 book. It looks like it's been discontinued, but there are still many being sold. I've also toyed with the idea of purchasing an old Surface Pro 3 because of the price and the ability to run a full Linux distro—though obviously, I lose all the benefits of e-ink with this option.
      - dheera 6y ago
        I just looked at it. I feel like I would have much preferred they put the e-Ink on the back side of the LCD screen instead of replacing the keyboard. It's really hard to use a non-tactile keyboard for any productivity.
6d6b73 6y ago
Does anyone know if syncing with cloud can be disabled?
- lovelyviking 6y ago
  Yes, it can be disabled. At least on my rM1 I've managed to disable all cloud syncing. For me it's very strange idea to put any personal notes in some cloud. The other thing to disable is sending some stats info to their server enabled by default to my surprise. It can be disabled with terminal through ssh and I did. Can't find though the article with detailed instructions.
- messo 6y ago
  You have to enable it explicitly. There are also several third party tools for offline syncing, and there is always the option to SSH into the device and do whatever you want.
- kadoban 6y ago
  Yeah, I never even so much as set up a cloud account. You can skip it and it doesn't break anything that's not obviously cloud based.
- _underfl0w_ 6y ago
  Yes. AFAIUI (haven't received mine yet) it's not required in the first place. You could likely unlink your account from the device though, if you already signed up. You can even edit the hosts file on the device to just block connections.
jakozaur 6y ago
A week ago I received Remarkable 2. One of the best device that lets me focus instead of getting distracted. Great tool for thinking, meeting notes, etc. People hate when you type notes during 1:1, but love when you take handwritten notes and remember previous conversations.
sAbakumoff 6y ago
My Remarkable 2 is on its way. Can't wait to try out some of these tools!
jron 6y ago
I'd love it if the reMarkable team focused more on eReader functionality. Unfortunately nothing has really been pushed since the initial release of the first reMarkable. Less than 7GB usable storage hurts as well. I'm hoping KoReader can salvage what the reMarkable team has ignored.
- lovelyviking 6y ago
  Isn't it already does? I am running KoReader on rM1 for eReader purposes. It works this way: I start by long press of the middle button on rM1. To switch back, I quit KoReader and it restarts built in UI utility. It needs small service running in background. The only issue I've noticed is with battery life which seems the same even in a sleep mode. I am curious is that because of this small service that ignores sleep mode?
  - kadoban 6y ago
    Yeah, KOreader doesn't currently work on the RM2, but from what I can tell they're working on (unofficial devs). It would be nice if KOreader were better integrated into the official OS, but yeah I don't really care myself.
    - Eeems 6y ago
      https://github.com/koreader/koreader/issues/6792 https://github.com/koreader/koreader/issues/6792 If you'd like to follow the progress.
greggman3 6y ago
Is there any move to get a Kindle app on this? I suspect the market is not big enough for Amazon to care but maybe they'd be open to some partnership where someone else does the work? I mean they ship readers on Android, iOS, Windows, MacOS, and Web so it's not like they care that you buy a Kindle.
- harrylepotter 6y ago
  There's KOReader on the RM1 (with some progress happening on the RM2) but no official kindle client...
- warkdarrior 6y ago
  No native Kindle app to my knowledge, but there are e-readers (see https://github.com/reHackable/awesome-reMarkable#applications https://github.com/reHackable/awesome-reMarkable#application... ) that support PDF, epub, and DjVu.
mraza007 6y ago
Honestly Remarkable is a great device and plus I love how the community has played a huge role in providing with tools
prideout 6y ago
Great info, thanks! We received our reMarkable 2 a few days ago, I wonder if its hackability is the same as its predecessor.
- brink 6y ago
  Hope you're enjoying it! What batch were you in?
- Eeems 6y ago
  It is, but we are still working on sorting out the screen. You can follow progress here: https://github.com/ddvk/remarkable2-framebuffer https://github.com/ddvk/remarkable2-framebuffer
BoorishBears 6y ago
I preordered a ReMarkable 2 and after the very long wait started to question if it actually made sense... I ordered an iPad mini and a 20 dollar Apple Pencil clone (which imo is better than the actual Apple Pencil with its USB C charge port) That combined with a matte screen protector got me everything I wanted out of the Remarkable, without the wait, and with an incredibly fast computing device that can do far more. - I get that traditionally Tablet vs eReader is largely down to the eInk and some some other factors like battery life, but I really think the math has silently changed iPads have gotten so fast, yet the battery life has improved dramatically (in sleep mode I can forget about it for a week or two and find it still has enough charge left for a day of use. E readers can manage months, but these numbers are lightyears ahead of the early days where a day of standby was pretty good. Software support is excellent with the pen. Max brightness is plenty for direct sunlight when using a matte screen protector, and it gives it the writing feel of a proper digital notebook. - I think anyone considering one should take a look at the combination. I didn't cancel my order on the RM2 out of apathy honestly, but I would have taken the iPad if I realized how far they'd come.
- justinclift 6y ago
  > ... these numbers are lightyears ahead of the early days where a day of standby was pretty good. That doesn't seem right. I still use my original iPad (v1) for reading and note taking quite often, if not daily. That lasts for 6-8 hours of reading without needing a recharge. If I don't feel like reading for days/weeks there's no chance the battery has gone flat, as it lasts weeks (at least) in idle mode. Pretty sure the battery life has degraded significantly over time too, and is about 1/2 what it was when new.
  - BoorishBears 6y ago
    The original iPad was never really in the running in the "tablet vs ereader" wars that I saw at 1.5 lbs. Usually it was Android tablets that would drain in a day of sleep because of random services draining them to death. (To put it into perspective, the iPad mini weighs less than the Remarkable 2)
igtztorrero 6y ago
Thanks !!!
exabrial 6y ago
In freaking love my RM2. Use it every day!!!
ChuckMcM 6y ago
I am really enjoying the ReMarkable 2. I wish the display were more "actual" paper size of course (it's 10.3" diagonal (no margins) rather than US Letter's more typical 13.8" diagonal (no margins), or even a moleskin's 11" diagonal (no margins)) That said, sketching/writing are just as good as they are on the iPad Pro or Surface Pro. The pen/glass "feel" is no worse than those other two solutions either (but no better either). Very low latency, easy page switching. The iPad's rapid zoom in / zoom out is helpful in sketchpad for drawing details which epaper clearly has challenges with. But In terms of taking notes or writing down things as I'm coding and need to get back to? It's super awesome. I've also put PDFs of data sheets on it which are easy to read (if a bit shrunk). The PDF reader is functional, same with the EPub viewer, would like to have the click the page to turn pages that the kindle and other apps on touch screens do. Syncing with the computer is pretty seamless. I don't like that it clears the screen and puts "reMarkable is sleeping" on the screen when I've had it sitting open with a PDF. There may be an option to change that but I haven't found it yet. All in all I'm glad I got it and I've been using it pretty much every other day or so.
- kayodelycaon 6y ago
  You can disable auto-sleep. And you can modify the png for sleeping. Any transparent pixels will show the screen contents. I changed mine to completely cover the entire screen when sleeping. (I use a passcode and don’t want people seeing the screen contents)
  - deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]
- _ph_ 6y ago
  Just replace suspended.png with a small image and the rest of the screen is not covered on sleep :)
  - messo 6y ago
    Does this work with transparency? Would be nice with a watermark indicating sleep state, but still being able to see the content.
visarga 6y ago
I ordered on Apr 17, still waiting for my tablet to come. Two weeks ago I got a promise they are going to ship but there is no delivery yet. I am getting a little nervous about it.
- jedimastert 6y ago
  (As someone who just recently got theirs) I wouldn't be super worries about a no-show. They've got a proven track record and they've already shipped a huge amount, so it's not like they don't have factories already making it. It looks like they've just been hit particularly hard by the apocalypse, probably because of their relatively small batches, production wise
- cycomanic 6y ago
  I received mine about 3 weeks ago. It was the same for me as you describe, got an email with "we are about to ship your device you will receive notification from DHL" or something similar. Then it took another 2 weeks or so, and I received a notification directly from DHL that my device will arrive in 4 or 5 days (I think it came even faster like 2-3 days). Anyway, I wouldn't be worried, it seems after that initial notification you are only notified once the tablet it's already on its way.
cycomanic 6y ago
One of the very cool things I discovered is that you can use the remarkable as a graphics tablet: https://github.com/evidlo/remarkable_mouse https://github.com/evidlo/remarkable_mouse
reginaldo 6y ago
I bought a reMarkable 1 a few weeks ago, with plans to give it to a family member and buy the reMarkable 2 once it's generally available. The set with the marker and the polymer folio was USD 299. For the sake of comparison, just the 10.3 inch display plus the driving board on Waveshare is USD 234 plus shipping, and it's kind of a pain to deal with. The reMarkable, OTOH, "just works", as well as an i.MX6 machine with an e-paper display can. It's a Linux machine with a framebuffer, with the added difficulty that you have to explicitly tell the framebuffer to update itself, unless you put the driver on auto-update mode. For my application, explicitly refreshing the framebuffer works better, though.
qwerty456127 6y ago
This is a very cool thing. I am certainly going to buy it.
justinclift 6y ago
Does the Remarkable (1 or 2) have any vector based drawing applications? Asking because I've recently been getting into drawing with Grease Pencil in Blender (on a Wacom tablet). Grease Pencil is vector based (mostly). Being able to adjust drawn strokes after making them, really helps people (like me) that can't draw perfect curves and straight lines freehand. Hoping there's something similar available?
- FlashBlaze 6y ago
  Which Wacom tablet are you currently using?
  - justinclift 6y ago
    Just an Intuos Pen & Touch (small): http://101.wacom.com/UserHelp/en/TOC/CTH-480.html http://101.wacom.com/UserHelp/en/TOC/CTH-480.html The small size is actually pretty annoying though. ;)
snvzz 6y ago
What is the bootloader status?
- Eeems 6y ago
  What do you mean by this? Are you asking what bootloader it uses?
  - snvzz 6y ago
    Specifically, whether it's locked in any way, preventing alternative operating systems.
    - Eeems 6y ago
      Not locked at all[1]. The rM2 is not quite as known as the rM1, but it seems to still be just as open if you have the right hardware to tell it to get into recovery mode[2] [1] https://github.com/ddvk/remarkable-uuuflash https://github.com/ddvk/remarkable-uuuflash [2] https://github.com/ddvk/remarkable2-recovery https://github.com/ddvk/remarkable2-recovery
dnquark 6y ago
What really matters is not how "open" the device is, but the open-ness of its data format, which is where rM epically fails. It doesn't matter if a gadget is hackable if it locks you into a proprietary file format and doesn't have good interoperability. Exporting PDFs just doesn't cut it; the point of keeping your notes digital is being able to (a) maintain them as living documents and (b) use them on hardware of your choice. Buying an Android-based device like Onyx Note Air gives you an option to use apps like Xournal/Xournal++ (best-in-class for handwritten notes, but unfortunately still in alpha on the mobile), or Stylus Labs' Write. This means that your notes are available, in their original form, on virtually any platform, in an open format. This is way, way more important than being able to root or ssh your gadget du jour.
- siraben 6y ago
  You might be interested in the reverse engineering efforts[0] for the proprietary file format and the C++ library[1]. [0] https://remarkablewiki.com/tech/filesystem#lines_file_format https://remarkablewiki.com/tech/filesystem#lines_file_format [1] https://github.com/ax3l/lines-are-beautiful https://github.com/ax3l/lines-are-beautiful
- diggan 6y ago
  Might be different for different people but I sure prefer a "open device using a proprietary file format" over "proprietary device using a open file format" as the former allows me to change everything regarding the device, even what file format it uses. So I can continue using the proprietary file format or change it to a open one with a different reader/writer, but same hardware. "proprietary device using open file format" would make me be stuck with whatever format they decided to use, and stuck with the same reader/writer. This is less helpful to me than being able to change everything in the device.
- Evidlo 6y ago
  The notebook storage format is well understood, now. There are multiple libraries for parsing/exporting/syncing.
ElijahLynn 6y ago
I want to buy one of these but the deal breaker for me is that I can't read my Google Play Books on the device, nor sync the progress. Anyone heard of a way to do that? (I don't see it in the repo, or this HN thread)
sudosysgen 6y ago
The remarkable is more open than usual and that's great. That being said, if your priorities are openness, you should look at Onyx or Likebook devices, they run android and you can root them. That alone is leagues above anything in the Remarkable. They are cheaper with better screens and more powerful processors, too.
- Eeems 6y ago
  You already have root access to the reMarkable devices. Plus they are GPL compliant, so you have access to source for most of the software.
  - sudosysgen 6y ago
    As a practical matter, for developing, a rooted Android device is going to be better for developing as everything's standard and easy to work with. As for GPL compliance, that really only means anything for the kernel. For the rest of the software, they can easily be closed sourced and not provided. Not that they necessarily wouldn't be, but I'd still rather have an Android device with an unlocked bootloader and no kernel sources.

627 points by ChrisLTD 6y ago

Is there a primer on how to use these repos? I don’t see anything high level that keeps the user from shooting themselves in the foot- especially with the reMarkable 2.

ppod 6y ago
Yeah a blog post showing off a few things would be great.
Eeems 6y ago
There should be a video available soon that you can follow along with soon. I'll make sure this comment is replied to with a link when it's up.
- utopiah 6y ago
  Here is the said video https://video.benetou.fr/videos/watch/d337b99a-dc9c-4f9e-8843-a81a605d5a56 https://video.benetou.fr/videos/watch/d337b99a-dc9c-4f9e-884... , the audio is too low for few minutes then it gets fixed!
  - MontagFTB 6y ago
    Thanks!

jedimastert 6y ago

I just got my reMarkable 2 pre-order a few weeks ago, and it has already embedded itself into my workflow. I've really enjoying it. I haven't gotten into hacking yet, but I also haven't really had too many moment where I wished I could change something. The only real complaint I've had so far is that the pdf converter didn't put all of the pencil marks on all of the pages (I don't have a printer)

0-_-0 6y ago

I highly recommend installing KoReader, especially for PDFs. Works on Kobo readers as well.

tpolzer 6y ago
Is there already a port for the remarkable 2? It would be so nice to have a working epub reader...
- axiomdata316 6y ago
  I found YouTube videos help. Nice walkthroughs. Alot are for the first remarkable but I imagine in princable they work for both
  - Eeems 6y ago
    Anything that uses the screen on the reMarkable will not work on the rM2 yet. https://github.com/ddvk/remarkable2-framebuffer https://github.com/ddvk/remarkable2-framebuffer is being worked on to address that.
- Eeems 6y ago
  It's being worked on https://github.com/koreader/koreader/issues/6792 https://github.com/koreader/koreader/issues/6792

fny 6y ago

If there is a remarkable person that sees this, please embrace the hacker community. It is a huge asset to have us by your side, and it's a huge differentiator from all the other tablets which have walled off developers. Also, it would be pretty sweet some part of the API was documented.

detaro 6y ago
Aren't their devices already really hack-friendly?
- Majestic121 6y ago
  They are pretty hacker firendly, but it's always good to show that this is something that people like
  - SulfurHexaFluri 6y ago
    Just saying on the website or somewhere else officially that being able to ssh in is a feature and not something they just left there and may remove later would make the device a lot more attractive.
    - diggan 6y ago
      It's not a accident that ssh is enabled. It is mentioned in official documentation (https://support.remarkable.com/hc/en-us/articles/360002662557-Help https://support.remarkable.com/hc/en-us/articles/36000266255...) and also part of their promise to be compliant with GPLv3. Would be weird if they suddenly decided it was OK to break GPL and remove ssh access. Not only would the people who bought it because it's so open (like me) try to return it, I'm sure bunch of people would try to sue them for removing features post-launch as well.
Eeems 6y ago
They just recently released their toolchain for the reMarkable 2 https://github.com/reMarkable/linux/issues/7 https://github.com/reMarkable/linux/issues/7 The toolchain for the rM1 has been out for a long time. Since it's just a linux device, there is a ton of existing documentation on how to work with it.

andag 6y ago

Really wish there was a good official cloud API...

Eeems 6y ago
It's not official, but you could always use https://www.npmjs.com/package/remarkable-typescript https://www.npmjs.com/package/remarkable-typescript or write your own thing to work against https://github.com/splitbrain/ReMarkableAPI/wiki https://github.com/splitbrain/ReMarkableAPI/wiki

wodenokoto 6y ago

Are there any SRS applications available for remarkable? (Like Anki or superMemo?)

kadoban 6y ago
Don't believe so. For the rm1 there's a full linux distro (parabola-rm). I'd be surprised if you couldn't use anki or something in that. May not be the cleanest solution, but it should work.

bergstromm466 6y ago

Is the only thing stopping e-ink tablets/devices from becoming afforable because of the high rent/royalties for the patented e-ink technology? I'm keen to use one because 1) i think over it's lifetime it will likely consume less energy than an LCD/OLED tablet, and 2) because it would be better for my eyes when i'm reading articles/research or books.

afandian 6y ago
FWIW, the battery life is surprisingly short. I guess it's the Wacom digitiser broadcasting RF all the time.
- bergstromm466 6y ago
  > I guess it's the Wacom digitiser broadcasting RF all the time. Great, it has expensive royalties and it betrays the user.
  - krastanov 6y ago
    Short range analog RF signal to detect where the pen is, not something containing digital information. Your toothbrush motor and charger probably has comparable level of RF radiation come out.
    - reificator 6y ago
      They do, but it should be noted that there have been reports of toothbrushes exfiltrating accelerometer data so toothbrushes are no longer a good example of an innocuous device.
      - Loughla 6y ago
        What possible use would a company have for knowing when you pick up your toothbrush? What valuable data can they extract from that?

siraben 6y ago

Having used the reMarkable 1 tablet for over a year now, the hackability is so refreshing to have in a consumer device. The tablet runs Linux and you can SSH into with root access. The hacking community is quite active, one frequently asked question is how to get and run custom software on the device. There's the Entware[0] package repository for running ARMv7 software on the tablet. Recently a community maintained package repository, toltec[1] for tablet-specific software was created and is actively maintained. For Nix users, I've been helping build a Nix-based cross-compile toolchain[2], so you could easily cross-compile a good amount of the 60K packages on Nixpkgs for the tablet. Upstreaming the cross toolchain to Nixpkgs is in the works. To see what the community is up to, see the IRC channel[3], Reddit[4] and Discord server[5]. [0] https://github.com/evidlo/remarkable_entware https://github.com/evidlo/remarkable_entware [1] https://github.com/toltec-dev/toltec https://github.com/toltec-dev/toltec [2] https://github.com/siraben/nix-remarkable https://github.com/siraben/nix-remarkable [3] #reMarkable on Freenode [4] https://reddit.com/r/RemarkableTablet/ https://reddit.com/r/RemarkableTablet/ [5] https://discord.gg/JSSGnFY https://discord.gg/JSSGnFY

lovelyviking 6y ago
I stumbled on some article describing that Remarkable calls home and sends some statistics. I've checked and indeed it does. My hacking attitude says it is absolutely unacceptable. The good news you can disable it, and I did. But for poople to be aware , this is what it does by default. Can't say I like that part of rM software. Unfortunately now I've looked for the article and can't find it. If you saw one, please drop the link here, there is more info there.
- terpimost 6y ago
  Majority of consumer facing products collect usage analytics, otherwise they don’t know how to improve the product.
  - seneca 6y ago
    > Majority of consumer facing products collect usage analytics, otherwise they don’t know how to improve the product. Producers managed to improve products for thousands of years without violating the privacy of their customer. Equating slightly inconvenient with impossible doesn't make for a great argument.

runeks 6y ago

Does anyone know if it's possible to use a ReMarkable tablet as an external laptop monitor? In the summer I like to sit outside coding, but the sunlight outshines my laptops LCD display. So I'd like to use an eInk display as an external monitor. And I gather ReMarkable is the best bet because of their hackability.

smt88 6y ago
The refresh rate on e-ink is so low that coding on one would probably be excruciating. You should think of it as a replacement for paper, not a replacement for a monitor. If your laptop isn't very bright, you're mostly out of luck. You can work in the shade, try polarized glasses, buy a brighter laptop, or find a portable monitor that is brighter than your built-in panel.
- diggan 6y ago
  > If your laptop isn't very bright ... buy a brighter laptop ... and a portable monitor that is brighter As someone who works with my laptop outside in the sun a lot, the trick is not to have a brighter laptop but to have one with a matte display instead of glossy, and use bright backgrounds for everything. Even when I'm in direct sunlight, matte display and light themes make me able to see my code without any squinting or troubles. > The refresh rate on e-ink is so low that coding on one would probably be excruciating If you've edited files in vim over a spotty SSH connection and wasn't phased too much by it, you could probably survive the e-ink refresh rate as well.
  - smt88 6y ago
    I was under the impression that matte displays are uncommon these days, but I agree that's a good option if they're buying a new laptop.
    - diggan 6y ago
      Probably. It seems the X1 Carbon (the laptop I have) has most editions with anti-glare screen though. Found this site that could be helpful for people looking for matte displays: https://www.productchart.com/laptops/sets/1 https://www.productchart.com/laptops/sets/1

myself248 6y ago

I've been looking for an e-ink tablet that I can bend to my will, but the Kindle hacking scene seems to have peaked around 2012 and it's a desolate wasteland of dead links now. That's a shame, because the hardware is really cheap. ReMarkable is sort of astonishingly expensive, but that would be justified if these "hacks" were officially supported or at least acknowledged enough that some future firmware update wouldn't ruin any workflow I build with them. Is there any hint of such acknowledgment, or would I be risking $448 on a device that might turn itself into a paperweight?

detaro 6y ago
They officially give you SSH access to the device, various GPL-ed source code running on it and have done so for the previous generation too. I'd trust them with it, and even if they were to go against it it's the kind of device where missing out on future firmware releases doesn't seem that bad.
afandian 6y ago
The CEO (/CTO?) has work on GitHub and kind of non-commitally acknowledges it. The fact that you can literally SSH into it, out of the box, was a strong signal for me. I don't regret purchasing my RM1.
siraben 6y ago
The company provides a dev toolchain[0] and seems pretty committed to keeping the device open, even the CTO[1] hacks on it publicly, like this crossword app[2] with handwriting recognition. [0] https://remarkable.engineering/ https://remarkable.engineering/ [1] https://github.com/sandsmark https://github.com/sandsmark [2] https://github.com/sandsmark/recrossable https://github.com/sandsmark/recrossable
- thom 6y ago
  That is an impressive GitHub account!
jason_slack 6y ago
> ReMarkable is sort of astonishingly expensive, I have been contemplating buying a ReMarkable 2 as I prefer to handwrite everything/annotate/. The price tag is a bit hefty given the cost of an iPad and pencil and the zillion other things it does. I'm curious if you are indeed going to buy one?

the-mitr 6y ago

is there anyway to directly transfer files to the tablet without using their cloud services?

siraben 6y ago
You can connect the device to your computer via USB and SSH into it. There's a web interface that you can access, or you can use rsync, scp, etc.
- the-mitr 6y ago
  ok, thanks for the reply. I was wondering to buy, but was a bit skeptical if the access was only through their servers.
- svat 6y ago
  In fact you can ssh to the device over wifi, even without connecting the device via USB. The device just needs to be awake (not sleeping/suspended). The web interface works only over USB, but you can scp files onto the device directly (and create an appropriate .metadata file with a one-liner) — see https://remarkablewiki.com/tech/filesystem https://remarkablewiki.com/tech/filesystem and https://gist.github.com/Utopiah/e2d5c944bbd632e3ae0530e602977f45#file-remarkable_functions-sh-L6 https://gist.github.com/Utopiah/e2d5c944bbd632e3ae0530e60297... I'm yet to figure out (haven't searched enough yet) how to export the files out of the device (i.e. convert from their format to PDF/SVG) without using the USB web interface though; when I do, my workflow will be complete.
  - davisr 6y ago
    > I'm yet to figure out (haven't searched enough yet) how to export the files out of the device (i.e. convert from their format to PDF/SVG) without using the USB web interface though; when I do, my workflow will be complete. My software does that: reMarkable Connection Utility (RCU). Paid, but GPLv3+, and works over USB or WiFi. It has a custom renderer that exports bitmap PDFs very close to what the screen shows--reMarkable's PDF export looks like a photocopy because they rotoscope a bitmap (why? dunno). http://www.davisr.me/projects/rcu/ http://www.davisr.me/projects/rcu/

a1011 6y ago

I've thought about getting one of these. Even though I type about as fast as I write, I think better when I write in a notebook with drawings to organize my ideas. Can anyone who has one tell me how accurate the handwriting recognition is? And how responsive is the pen-tablet interface? Does it actually feel like writing on paper (responsiveness-wise)?

lieuzh 6y ago
The handwriting recognition seems OK for print, but not great when I write in cursive. The pen-tablet interface is very responsive --- I'd really like to know how they managed to get the refresh so quick with an e-ink display, actually. Apart from the texture, it's just as quick as writing on paper: I can't detect any latency.
- rchaud 6y ago
  Do you have the RM1 or the new RM2? apparently the input lag on the RM2 is very low.
  - kadoban 6y ago
    It's quite low on both, the RM2 is better though. Even on the RM1 I can't notice any myself.
diggan 6y ago
I have very bad handwriting, especially when not taking care to write carefully, which when making notes, I don't. Here is an example on how it parses my terrible handwriting: https://websites.instantwebsite.app/wPhkwSStQvStUrzPC9jW5Kw/35f2561ce9d04c4d8a62139f69ff0626dc214bb2/frame-1/ https://websites.instantwebsite.app/wPhkwSStQvStUrzPC9jW5Kw/... (no, I'm not a doctor) According to the licenses on the device, the handwriting is "partially powered by MyScript" which seems to be this service: https://www.myscript.com/ https://www.myscript.com/
- jaywalk 6y ago

axiomdata316 6y ago

This is really great timing. I ordered mine a few months ago and am part of the "Batch 8" shipping. I just got the notification today that mine is about to ship.

Vespasian 6y ago
So did I. That can't be a coincidence ;)
- chrisweekly 6y ago
  Mine arrives Friday; can't wait! :)

wiradikusuma 6y ago

I'm going to get my R2 soon. Does anyone know if it can open (read+write) basic Excel documents? I have a "Weekly Todo" XLS (it's just blank grids) that I always print for writing down notes in the grids, and by end of week, put those back to computer. Would be great if I can skip the print-transcribe loop.

callahad 6y ago
Nope. It's best to think of the rM just as a slightly digital notebook instead of as a computer. It handles PDFs, EPUBs, and its own notebook format wonderfully, but that's it.
_underfl0w_ 6y ago
To add to the sibling comment, there are multiple background images you can use when taking notes on the rM. Apparently you can customize them (from my research - haven't received my rM2 yet TBH) so you could likely drop in a grid image to use as a background.

calebkaiser 6y ago

I wish so badly that color e-ink was further along. I'd love a tablet that could replace my notebooks, but for some reason, needing a second screen to read my textbooks (color is nonnegotiable for diagram-heavy some textbooks, in my experience) makes me reticent. The ReMarkable 2 looks fantastic, and I love the idea of a distraction-free, dedicated writing/reading tablet, but $450 feels just a touch too far for a device that will require me to use a second device to read textbooks.

dheera 6y ago
Have you checked this one out? Not associated with them but I do own a Boox Max Lumi (not color) and just saw the announcement about this. https://onyxboox.com/boox_poke2color https://onyxboox.com/boox_poke2color
- 1996 6y ago
  Unfortunately, it's not a genuine eink display but a rebranding of Qi hybrid LCD that was made popular in the OLPC. Just look at the announced resolution in dpi in b&w vs color, and you'll see they use a LCD mask in front. If you want both color and eink, it's better to get a dual screen, like a Lenovo C930 book: use the screen clone mode and just turn off the color screen when you don't need it. This can also gives you a eink laptop if you use a USB keyboard.
  - calebkaiser 6y ago
    This an interesting option I never considered. Somehow, I wasn't aware of the C930 book. It looks like it's been discontinued, but there are still many being sold. I've also toyed with the idea of purchasing an old Surface Pro 3 because of the price and the ability to run a full Linux distro—though obviously, I lose all the benefits of e-ink with this option.
    - dheera 6y ago
      I just looked at it. I feel like I would have much preferred they put the e-Ink on the back side of the LCD screen instead of replacing the keyboard. It's really hard to use a non-tactile keyboard for any productivity.

6d6b73 6y ago

Does anyone know if syncing with cloud can be disabled?

lovelyviking 6y ago
Yes, it can be disabled. At least on my rM1 I've managed to disable all cloud syncing. For me it's very strange idea to put any personal notes in some cloud. The other thing to disable is sending some stats info to their server enabled by default to my surprise. It can be disabled with terminal through ssh and I did. Can't find though the article with detailed instructions.
messo 6y ago
You have to enable it explicitly. There are also several third party tools for offline syncing, and there is always the option to SSH into the device and do whatever you want.
kadoban 6y ago
Yeah, I never even so much as set up a cloud account. You can skip it and it doesn't break anything that's not obviously cloud based.
_underfl0w_ 6y ago
Yes. AFAIUI (haven't received mine yet) it's not required in the first place. You could likely unlink your account from the device though, if you already signed up. You can even edit the hosts file on the device to just block connections.

jakozaur 6y ago

A week ago I received Remarkable 2. One of the best device that lets me focus instead of getting distracted. Great tool for thinking, meeting notes, etc. People hate when you type notes during 1:1, but love when you take handwritten notes and remember previous conversations.

sAbakumoff 6y ago

My Remarkable 2 is on its way. Can't wait to try out some of these tools!

jron 6y ago

I'd love it if the reMarkable team focused more on eReader functionality. Unfortunately nothing has really been pushed since the initial release of the first reMarkable. Less than 7GB usable storage hurts as well. I'm hoping KoReader can salvage what the reMarkable team has ignored.

lovelyviking 6y ago
Isn't it already does? I am running KoReader on rM1 for eReader purposes. It works this way: I start by long press of the middle button on rM1. To switch back, I quit KoReader and it restarts built in UI utility. It needs small service running in background. The only issue I've noticed is with battery life which seems the same even in a sleep mode. I am curious is that because of this small service that ignores sleep mode?
- kadoban 6y ago
  Yeah, KOreader doesn't currently work on the RM2, but from what I can tell they're working on (unofficial devs). It would be nice if KOreader were better integrated into the official OS, but yeah I don't really care myself.
  - Eeems 6y ago
    https://github.com/koreader/koreader/issues/6792 https://github.com/koreader/koreader/issues/6792 If you'd like to follow the progress.

greggman3 6y ago

Is there any move to get a Kindle app on this? I suspect the market is not big enough for Amazon to care but maybe they'd be open to some partnership where someone else does the work? I mean they ship readers on Android, iOS, Windows, MacOS, and Web so it's not like they care that you buy a Kindle.

harrylepotter 6y ago
There's KOReader on the RM1 (with some progress happening on the RM2) but no official kindle client...
warkdarrior 6y ago
No native Kindle app to my knowledge, but there are e-readers (see https://github.com/reHackable/awesome-reMarkable#applications https://github.com/reHackable/awesome-reMarkable#application... ) that support PDF, epub, and DjVu.

mraza007 6y ago

Honestly Remarkable is a great device and plus I love how the community has played a huge role in providing with tools

prideout 6y ago

Great info, thanks! We received our reMarkable 2 a few days ago, I wonder if its hackability is the same as its predecessor.

brink 6y ago
Hope you're enjoying it! What batch were you in?
Eeems 6y ago
It is, but we are still working on sorting out the screen. You can follow progress here: https://github.com/ddvk/remarkable2-framebuffer https://github.com/ddvk/remarkable2-framebuffer

BoorishBears 6y ago

I preordered a ReMarkable 2 and after the very long wait started to question if it actually made sense... I ordered an iPad mini and a 20 dollar Apple Pencil clone (which imo is better than the actual Apple Pencil with its USB C charge port) That combined with a matte screen protector got me everything I wanted out of the Remarkable, without the wait, and with an incredibly fast computing device that can do far more. - I get that traditionally Tablet vs eReader is largely down to the eInk and some some other factors like battery life, but I really think the math has silently changed iPads have gotten so fast, yet the battery life has improved dramatically (in sleep mode I can forget about it for a week or two and find it still has enough charge left for a day of use. E readers can manage months, but these numbers are lightyears ahead of the early days where a day of standby was pretty good. Software support is excellent with the pen. Max brightness is plenty for direct sunlight when using a matte screen protector, and it gives it the writing feel of a proper digital notebook. - I think anyone considering one should take a look at the combination. I didn't cancel my order on the RM2 out of apathy honestly, but I would have taken the iPad if I realized how far they'd come.

justinclift 6y ago
> ... these numbers are lightyears ahead of the early days where a day of standby was pretty good. That doesn't seem right. I still use my original iPad (v1) for reading and note taking quite often, if not daily. That lasts for 6-8 hours of reading without needing a recharge. If I don't feel like reading for days/weeks there's no chance the battery has gone flat, as it lasts weeks (at least) in idle mode. Pretty sure the battery life has degraded significantly over time too, and is about 1/2 what it was when new.
- BoorishBears 6y ago
  The original iPad was never really in the running in the "tablet vs ereader" wars that I saw at 1.5 lbs. Usually it was Android tablets that would drain in a day of sleep because of random services draining them to death. (To put it into perspective, the iPad mini weighs less than the Remarkable 2)

igtztorrero 6y ago

Thanks !!!

exabrial 6y ago

In freaking love my RM2. Use it every day!!!

ChuckMcM 6y ago

I am really enjoying the ReMarkable 2. I wish the display were more "actual" paper size of course (it's 10.3" diagonal (no margins) rather than US Letter's more typical 13.8" diagonal (no margins), or even a moleskin's 11" diagonal (no margins)) That said, sketching/writing are just as good as they are on the iPad Pro or Surface Pro. The pen/glass "feel" is no worse than those other two solutions either (but no better either). Very low latency, easy page switching. The iPad's rapid zoom in / zoom out is helpful in sketchpad for drawing details which epaper clearly has challenges with. But In terms of taking notes or writing down things as I'm coding and need to get back to? It's super awesome. I've also put PDFs of data sheets on it which are easy to read (if a bit shrunk). The PDF reader is functional, same with the EPub viewer, would like to have the click the page to turn pages that the kindle and other apps on touch screens do. Syncing with the computer is pretty seamless. I don't like that it clears the screen and puts "reMarkable is sleeping" on the screen when I've had it sitting open with a PDF. There may be an option to change that but I haven't found it yet. All in all I'm glad I got it and I've been using it pretty much every other day or so.

kayodelycaon 6y ago
You can disable auto-sleep. And you can modify the png for sleeping. Any transparent pixels will show the screen contents. I changed mine to completely cover the entire screen when sleeping. (I use a passcode and don’t want people seeing the screen contents)
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
_ph_ 6y ago
Just replace suspended.png with a small image and the rest of the screen is not covered on sleep :)
- messo 6y ago
  Does this work with transparency? Would be nice with a watermark indicating sleep state, but still being able to see the content.

visarga 6y ago

I ordered on Apr 17, still waiting for my tablet to come. Two weeks ago I got a promise they are going to ship but there is no delivery yet. I am getting a little nervous about it.

jedimastert 6y ago
(As someone who just recently got theirs) I wouldn't be super worries about a no-show. They've got a proven track record and they've already shipped a huge amount, so it's not like they don't have factories already making it. It looks like they've just been hit particularly hard by the apocalypse, probably because of their relatively small batches, production wise
cycomanic 6y ago
I received mine about 3 weeks ago. It was the same for me as you describe, got an email with "we are about to ship your device you will receive notification from DHL" or something similar. Then it took another 2 weeks or so, and I received a notification directly from DHL that my device will arrive in 4 or 5 days (I think it came even faster like 2-3 days). Anyway, I wouldn't be worried, it seems after that initial notification you are only notified once the tablet it's already on its way.

cycomanic 6y ago

One of the very cool things I discovered is that you can use the remarkable as a graphics tablet: https://github.com/evidlo/remarkable_mouse https://github.com/evidlo/remarkable_mouse

reginaldo 6y ago

I bought a reMarkable 1 a few weeks ago, with plans to give it to a family member and buy the reMarkable 2 once it's generally available. The set with the marker and the polymer folio was USD 299. For the sake of comparison, just the 10.3 inch display plus the driving board on Waveshare is USD 234 plus shipping, and it's kind of a pain to deal with. The reMarkable, OTOH, "just works", as well as an i.MX6 machine with an e-paper display can. It's a Linux machine with a framebuffer, with the added difficulty that you have to explicitly tell the framebuffer to update itself, unless you put the driver on auto-update mode. For my application, explicitly refreshing the framebuffer works better, though.

qwerty456127 6y ago

This is a very cool thing. I am certainly going to buy it.

justinclift 6y ago

Does the Remarkable (1 or 2) have any vector based drawing applications? Asking because I've recently been getting into drawing with Grease Pencil in Blender (on a Wacom tablet). Grease Pencil is vector based (mostly). Being able to adjust drawn strokes after making them, really helps people (like me) that can't draw perfect curves and straight lines freehand. Hoping there's something similar available?

FlashBlaze 6y ago
Which Wacom tablet are you currently using?
- justinclift 6y ago
  Just an Intuos Pen & Touch (small): http://101.wacom.com/UserHelp/en/TOC/CTH-480.html http://101.wacom.com/UserHelp/en/TOC/CTH-480.html The small size is actually pretty annoying though. ;)

snvzz 6y ago

What is the bootloader status?

Eeems 6y ago
What do you mean by this? Are you asking what bootloader it uses?
- snvzz 6y ago
  Specifically, whether it's locked in any way, preventing alternative operating systems.
  - Eeems 6y ago
    Not locked at all[1]. The rM2 is not quite as known as the rM1, but it seems to still be just as open if you have the right hardware to tell it to get into recovery mode[2] [1] https://github.com/ddvk/remarkable-uuuflash https://github.com/ddvk/remarkable-uuuflash [2] https://github.com/ddvk/remarkable2-recovery https://github.com/ddvk/remarkable2-recovery

dnquark 6y ago

What really matters is not how "open" the device is, but the open-ness of its data format, which is where rM epically fails. It doesn't matter if a gadget is hackable if it locks you into a proprietary file format and doesn't have good interoperability. Exporting PDFs just doesn't cut it; the point of keeping your notes digital is being able to (a) maintain them as living documents and (b) use them on hardware of your choice. Buying an Android-based device like Onyx Note Air gives you an option to use apps like Xournal/Xournal++ (best-in-class for handwritten notes, but unfortunately still in alpha on the mobile), or Stylus Labs' Write. This means that your notes are available, in their original form, on virtually any platform, in an open format. This is way, way more important than being able to root or ssh your gadget du jour.

siraben 6y ago
You might be interested in the reverse engineering efforts[0] for the proprietary file format and the C++ library[1]. [0] https://remarkablewiki.com/tech/filesystem#lines_file_format https://remarkablewiki.com/tech/filesystem#lines_file_format [1] https://github.com/ax3l/lines-are-beautiful https://github.com/ax3l/lines-are-beautiful
diggan 6y ago
Might be different for different people but I sure prefer a "open device using a proprietary file format" over "proprietary device using a open file format" as the former allows me to change everything regarding the device, even what file format it uses. So I can continue using the proprietary file format or change it to a open one with a different reader/writer, but same hardware. "proprietary device using open file format" would make me be stuck with whatever format they decided to use, and stuck with the same reader/writer. This is less helpful to me than being able to change everything in the device.
Evidlo 6y ago
The notebook storage format is well understood, now. There are multiple libraries for parsing/exporting/syncing.

ElijahLynn 6y ago

I want to buy one of these but the deal breaker for me is that I can't read my Google Play Books on the device, nor sync the progress. Anyone heard of a way to do that? (I don't see it in the repo, or this HN thread)

sudosysgen 6y ago

The remarkable is more open than usual and that's great. That being said, if your priorities are openness, you should look at Onyx or Likebook devices, they run android and you can root them. That alone is leagues above anything in the Remarkable. They are cheaper with better screens and more powerful processors, too.

Eeems 6y ago
You already have root access to the reMarkable devices. Plus they are GPL compliant, so you have access to source for most of the software.
- sudosysgen 6y ago
  As a practical matter, for developing, a rooted Android device is going to be better for developing as everything's standard and easy to work with. As for GPL compliance, that really only means anything for the kernel. For the rest of the software, they can easily be closed sourced and not provided. Not that they necessarily wouldn't be, but I'd still rather have an Android device with an unlocked bootloader and no kernel sources.