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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

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?
- ericd 6y ago
  I bought one, I love it so far. I wouldn’t compare it to an iPad. This is much more tuned to helping you think - no notifications whatsoever, no web browser to offer opportunities to do something else. Or, put another way, the fact that it doesn’t do a zillion things is a good thing if your goal is to be able to think deeply. Kind of like how some writers use ancient equipment that doesn’t connect to the internet to get their writing done.
  - jason_slack 6y ago
    Thanks. I’m headed to medical school soon. Fingers crossed. My goal is zero distractions and a process for deep thought.
  - horsawlarway 6y ago
    I second this. This doesn't really replace my laptop or tablet, but it 100% replaces the notebook I carry everywhere for notes. I've had mine for about 4 weeks now, and I'm still consistently using it every day. It's fantastic for planning, diagramming (I use this to capture measurements and dimensions for items I'm going to be making in CAD software), getting signed forms, taking notes, and sketching. The hardware is delightful, even for left-handed folks like myself, where other tablets often make erroneous marks where my hand is resting. Now, all that said, the software can still come along way. My single biggest gripe is that I haven't found a way to search for text within notes. I'd really love to have an option to automatically convert handwriting to text on save/close and keep that around as meta data for searching. I may play with implementing it at some point - A large part of the reason I bought the device was because of the open ecosystem. I do software dev for a living, and knowing that I can get into the device as root and muck around REALLY makes it feel like it's mine.
abawany 6y ago
You can still buy the ReMarkable 1 from their store (or online) for a substantial discount and the hacks available for it are more numerous than the 2.
teek_xyz 6y ago
I’ve been happy with my Boox Nova 2, which is smaller and more portable. It’s an Android tablet so you can enable developer options.
- devindotcom 6y ago
  The Boox devices are pretty nice. The Note Air is a bit larger and close to the reMarkable 2 in form factor.
  - Valord 6y ago
    +1 on Note Air. Cancelled rM2 because of no browser and Android support in Boox. Was a good decision.

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?

ericd 6y ago
I bought one, I love it so far. I wouldn’t compare it to an iPad. This is much more tuned to helping you think - no notifications whatsoever, no web browser to offer opportunities to do something else. Or, put another way, the fact that it doesn’t do a zillion things is a good thing if your goal is to be able to think deeply. Kind of like how some writers use ancient equipment that doesn’t connect to the internet to get their writing done.
- jason_slack 6y ago
  Thanks. I’m headed to medical school soon. Fingers crossed. My goal is zero distractions and a process for deep thought.
- horsawlarway 6y ago
  I second this. This doesn't really replace my laptop or tablet, but it 100% replaces the notebook I carry everywhere for notes. I've had mine for about 4 weeks now, and I'm still consistently using it every day. It's fantastic for planning, diagramming (I use this to capture measurements and dimensions for items I'm going to be making in CAD software), getting signed forms, taking notes, and sketching. The hardware is delightful, even for left-handed folks like myself, where other tablets often make erroneous marks where my hand is resting. Now, all that said, the software can still come along way. My single biggest gripe is that I haven't found a way to search for text within notes. I'd really love to have an option to automatically convert handwriting to text on save/close and keep that around as meta data for searching. I may play with implementing it at some point - A large part of the reason I bought the device was because of the open ecosystem. I do software dev for a living, and knowing that I can get into the device as root and muck around REALLY makes it feel like it's mine.

abawany 6y ago

You can still buy the ReMarkable 1 from their store (or online) for a substantial discount and the hacks available for it are more numerous than the 2.

teek_xyz 6y ago

I’ve been happy with my Boox Nova 2, which is smaller and more portable. It’s an Android tablet so you can enable developer options.

devindotcom 6y ago
The Boox devices are pretty nice. The Note Air is a bit larger and close to the reMarkable 2 in form factor.
- Valord 6y ago
  +1 on Note Air. Cancelled rM2 because of no browser and Android support in Boox. Was a good decision.