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Remarkable is really a device for people who explicitly don't want those features. They're betting hard that the market exists, although it probably isn't as la

Remarkable is really a device for people who explicitly don't want those features. They're betting hard that the market exists, although it probably isn't as large as the market for an as-powerful-as-possible general-purpose computing device. I've seen it mentioned that someone got an USB keyboard working, and the device is pretty hackable overall (you can SSH to root over wifi out of the box!), but I think if you want to connect an external keyboard then it probably isn't for you anyway. You can't even type text in documents. Disclaimer: reMarkable 2 user, pretty happy with their focus, but I wish the device was more responsive in some scenarios (complicated drawings are very slow) and there's certainly many missing core drawing/writing/reading features.

Grumbledour 5y ago
Let me just add that I am not talking about a powerful all purpose computing device, because I think we pretty much have this with modern tablets/laptops. But I do feel the computing part could be much more utilized to make taking notes and reading text better. I am thinking of Hypertext, drawing tools like sketchpad, simple programming tools etc. Not a device that does as much as possible badly, but one that could really push forward computing and text to get something more akin to digital paper we have seen for years in science fiction. I don't begrudge people who like the extremely limited use case it has today, I personally just don't really get it why I should spend hundreds of dollars on something that I can pretty much get with a notebook and my smartphone camera. On the other hand, this is a general problem these days that hampers innovation. As hard as hardware seems to be, it is obviously much easier than software, which is why so many devices these days fall short.
- fouric 5y ago
  > But I do feel the computing part could be much more utilized to make taking notes and reading text better. I am thinking of Hypertext, drawing tools like sketchpad, simple programming tools etc. The problem is that even those "simple" things are a massive amount of work to get right (where "right" means bug-free, performant, well-documented (or intuitive - pick at least one), flexible, and with an ergonomic interface). Additionally, they're significantly more work than the even simpler restricted feature-set that the reMarkable currently offers. I believe that the reMarkable developers are shooting for "quality over quantity" - polishing a small feature-set to a blinding shine, rather than trying to implement a larger feature-set poorly - that is, an intentional trade-off. I'm happy with that trade-off, but I know that others might not be - in which case, you'll probably get the Android device that other people in the thread are discussing. Also, the reMarkable is open - you can add all these things yourself, if you're sufficiently motivated. > something that I can pretty much get with a notebook The reMarkable's features, as limited as they are, are still miles beyond what a notebook gives you. You have backup, synchronization, document export (PDF, raster, SVG), undo/redo, multiple documents, digital storage, cut/copy/paste, erasing (pen can't be erased, pencil usually leaves marks and has other problems), multiple brushes, page reordering, multiple page templates (lined, grid, music, blank canvas, and more), layers, really good handwriting recognition, and more. Yes, it's light-years behind what we could have - but we're stuck in the place we're at because of a number of computing decisions that we made in the past (and continue to make now) that hamper creativity and flexibility, and overcoming those choices requires a lot of resources and the ability to ignore/bypass/counteract a massive amount of market inertia. The reMarkable team simply doesn't have those resources, so they have to make a trade-off - and the trade-off they made was quality over quantity (of features).
  - codethief 5y ago
    > Also, the reMarkable is open - you can add all these things yourself, if you're sufficiently motivated. Since I had bought (and later returned) the RM2 largely due to misleading statements here on HN about it being "so very open", I'd like to add a warning to anyone reading the parent comment: The RM2 is open in the sense that anyone with a background in reverse engineering might be able to modify a few things. It is far from being an open platform, though. Remember how some people complain that Android is not really open because Google controls it, source code often gets released with a delay and some libraries are proprietary? Well, I've got bad news – in terms of openness Android is still light years ahead of the Remarkable software stack.
atatatat 5y ago
> you can SSH to root over wifi out of the box! Yeah. Let me rush to put that on my main network.
- ryanianian 5y ago
  You have to explicitly turn on SSH access, and each device has its own unique SSH password which is only accessible from the device itself. It's not a set of generic admin/admin creds.
  - atatatat 5y ago
    So...not out of the box.
- darkwater 5y ago
  Do you have SSH-exploiting self-replicating worms running on your main network?
  - asdf123wtf 5y ago
    One would hope not, but it makes connecting to less trusted networks much more risky than it needs to be. And I'm sure that's something users will regularly do. Software updates are infrequent and they certainly aren't pushing out standalone security errata that I've seen.
    - darkwater 5y ago
      I don't see this as a fair point when the option is disabled by default, like in this case. If you enabled it, then you should be aware of the risks of it, if you connect it to untrusted networks.
asdf123wtf 5y ago
Wow, I didn't realize it exposes root ssh over it's wifi interface. I just tested it and it works. I don't like that at all. The documentation makes it sound like it only exposes ssh through it's ethernet over USB interface.

Grumbledour 5y ago

Let me just add that I am not talking about a powerful all purpose computing device, because I think we pretty much have this with modern tablets/laptops. But I do feel the computing part could be much more utilized to make taking notes and reading text better. I am thinking of Hypertext, drawing tools like sketchpad, simple programming tools etc. Not a device that does as much as possible badly, but one that could really push forward computing and text to get something more akin to digital paper we have seen for years in science fiction. I don't begrudge people who like the extremely limited use case it has today, I personally just don't really get it why I should spend hundreds of dollars on something that I can pretty much get with a notebook and my smartphone camera. On the other hand, this is a general problem these days that hampers innovation. As hard as hardware seems to be, it is obviously much easier than software, which is why so many devices these days fall short.

fouric 5y ago
> But I do feel the computing part could be much more utilized to make taking notes and reading text better. I am thinking of Hypertext, drawing tools like sketchpad, simple programming tools etc. The problem is that even those "simple" things are a massive amount of work to get right (where "right" means bug-free, performant, well-documented (or intuitive - pick at least one), flexible, and with an ergonomic interface). Additionally, they're significantly more work than the even simpler restricted feature-set that the reMarkable currently offers. I believe that the reMarkable developers are shooting for "quality over quantity" - polishing a small feature-set to a blinding shine, rather than trying to implement a larger feature-set poorly - that is, an intentional trade-off. I'm happy with that trade-off, but I know that others might not be - in which case, you'll probably get the Android device that other people in the thread are discussing. Also, the reMarkable is open - you can add all these things yourself, if you're sufficiently motivated. > something that I can pretty much get with a notebook The reMarkable's features, as limited as they are, are still miles beyond what a notebook gives you. You have backup, synchronization, document export (PDF, raster, SVG), undo/redo, multiple documents, digital storage, cut/copy/paste, erasing (pen can't be erased, pencil usually leaves marks and has other problems), multiple brushes, page reordering, multiple page templates (lined, grid, music, blank canvas, and more), layers, really good handwriting recognition, and more. Yes, it's light-years behind what we could have - but we're stuck in the place we're at because of a number of computing decisions that we made in the past (and continue to make now) that hamper creativity and flexibility, and overcoming those choices requires a lot of resources and the ability to ignore/bypass/counteract a massive amount of market inertia. The reMarkable team simply doesn't have those resources, so they have to make a trade-off - and the trade-off they made was quality over quantity (of features).
- codethief 5y ago
  > Also, the reMarkable is open - you can add all these things yourself, if you're sufficiently motivated. Since I had bought (and later returned) the RM2 largely due to misleading statements here on HN about it being "so very open", I'd like to add a warning to anyone reading the parent comment: The RM2 is open in the sense that anyone with a background in reverse engineering might be able to modify a few things. It is far from being an open platform, though. Remember how some people complain that Android is not really open because Google controls it, source code often gets released with a delay and some libraries are proprietary? Well, I've got bad news – in terms of openness Android is still light years ahead of the Remarkable software stack.

atatatat 5y ago

> you can SSH to root over wifi out of the box! Yeah. Let me rush to put that on my main network.

ryanianian 5y ago
You have to explicitly turn on SSH access, and each device has its own unique SSH password which is only accessible from the device itself. It's not a set of generic admin/admin creds.
- atatatat 5y ago
  So...not out of the box.
darkwater 5y ago
Do you have SSH-exploiting self-replicating worms running on your main network?
- asdf123wtf 5y ago
  One would hope not, but it makes connecting to less trusted networks much more risky than it needs to be. And I'm sure that's something users will regularly do. Software updates are infrequent and they certainly aren't pushing out standalone security errata that I've seen.
  - darkwater 5y ago
    I don't see this as a fair point when the option is disabled by default, like in this case. If you enabled it, then you should be aware of the risks of it, if you connect it to untrusted networks.

asdf123wtf 5y ago

Wow, I didn't realize it exposes root ssh over it's wifi interface. I just tested it and it works. I don't like that at all. The documentation makes it sound like it only exposes ssh through it's ethernet over USB interface.