ReMarkable 2.0 – A digital notebook that feels like paper(remarkable.com)
remarkable.com
ReMarkable 2.0 – A digital notebook that feels like paper
https://remarkable.com/#What_Is_New
701 comments
It's funny how your comment immediately makes me want to buy it, because the description on the site with all these silly photos and such for some reason got me thinking like "looks kinda nice, but since it's obviously something very Apple-like, it will be as restrictive as it gets, I won't be able to use it without some obligatory shitty web-account and I probably even won't be able to read *.cbz comics on it, so... nah, no way I'm paying €400 for it, and it's not really worth to spend more time looking into it".
Now I'm not sure what effect this site has on the average customer, and if making it more selling for me would make it less selling for them, but they actually lost me, and after reading your comment I'm seriously likely to pre-order. And it's not about your positive evaluation, of course. So I've got a feeling all these marketing people do advertising wrong somehow.
Now I'm not sure what effect this site has on the average customer, and if making it more selling for me would make it less selling for them, but they actually lost me, and after reading your comment I'm seriously likely to pre-order. And it's not about your positive evaluation, of course. So I've got a feeling all these marketing people do advertising wrong somehow.
Same here last time ReMarkable came up. Saw the marketing page and really liked the hardware and expected it to be locked down, so moved on to reading the comments. Bunch of comments describing how it's open, runs linux and you can basically just ssh into it and run stuff. Made a pre-order right there and then and now waiting for it.
I think we're simply such a small user-base that they don't think to include it on their landing pages. Most people probably don't care. But since we're on HN, we most likely care to some degree.
I think we're simply such a small user-base that they don't think to include it on their landing pages. Most people probably don't care. But since we're on HN, we most likely care to some degree.
Same boat lol. Saw the open-source comments and decided to buy one so I could make a sheet-music reader that changes pages automatically using facial cues from an ESP32-CAM
I'm slightly astonished (have been for a while) at the fact that no-one (as far as I know) have developed a Guitar Hero style e-ink sheet-music reader. Imagine how much easier you'd make life for kids learning how to play music! Software and hardware wise, it's got to be well within the realm of feasibility.
ePaper does not refresh fast enough to do the falling notes thing you are thinking of. An ipad works infinitely better, costs less second hand (I got an ipad air 2 dirt cheap and its still getting updates) and it does more.
Also my experience with using those things is that you would be better off spending the time to learn sheet music because once you get past twinkle twinkle little star, the falling note style videos don't work. You can't keep up with them live and paused they only show you the very short term future.
Also my experience with using those things is that you would be better off spending the time to learn sheet music because once you get past twinkle twinkle little star, the falling note style videos don't work. You can't keep up with them live and paused they only show you the very short term future.
Yep, you might as well just learn to read music the traditional way. It's very common for musicians to be reading the sheet music a long way ahead of the actual music being played, especially while playing fast and complex pieces.
Having said that, an e-ink reader that could read visual cues would be awesome, but I feel it could be very frustrating unless it was incredibly smart. Maybe some kind of blink gestures might be useful.
Having said that, an e-ink reader that could read visual cues would be awesome, but I feel it could be very frustrating unless it was incredibly smart. Maybe some kind of blink gestures might be useful.
I think the best UI would just be a page change foot pedal. Not particularly difficult to implement and very reliable.
That's what many big-name classical pianists use, a pedal hooked to an iPad.
Why iPad though? I’ve seen a specialized electronic music sheet (seemingly based on e-ink) in some videos, I guess pages are flipped using a pedal since I didn’t notice any visible interaction with it to do so, e.g. https://youtu.be/oB-gF2Ncphg
I think the question quickly becomes why not an iPad. They're easy and pretty cheap to get hold of, have good screens, lots of people can easily write new software for them and they're also a tablet. Many people may already have one and so using hardware they already have is much cheaper than buying new special hardware.
Also, eink screens are nice to look at but so expensive for non-kindle sizes.
Also, eink screens are nice to look at but so expensive for non-kindle sizes.
I've played so much live music with an IPad, but after the 4-5th time having it freeze up mid live performance I gave up on the dream. It's just not 100% reliable, and nothing like standing there like an idiot desperately trying to swipe to the next page to make your realize how great paper is
cool video. looks like the remarkable, actually two of them. now i need to buy TWO
Not sure about the Guitar Hero bit, but there’s a really nice, albeit very expensive, e-ink “sheet music” device. Product name is Gvido (not a typo). I’ve been using it professionally for about a year. Clunky UI, but hugely nicer than carting around books and sheet music. Form factor is more like traditional sheet music size than is an iPad, and it opens like a book—two side-by-side big, non-backlit pages. Turn pages with a Bluetooth pedal.
Thanks, link for convenience: https://www.gvidomusic.com/
You should check out Rocksmith. Its guitar hero with real guitar, pretty cool stuff. I don't see how a scrolling format like guitar hero would fit the slow refresh rate of an e-ink display, but perhaps you imagine something different.
Absolutely love that toy, unfortunately they stopped producing DLCs for it some time ago to do something else... I wonder what that is.
They are working on RockSmith 2, you don't know this from me.
I remember a couple years ago getting Rocksmith for my ps4 and absolutely loving it. The controller mappings were a little unnatural in places but I did reasonably well with reading their notation/tab. Fast forward to when I tried to pick it up again a few weeks ago ... I can't read their notation/tab for the life of me. It's so confusing. Need to rewire my brain somehow.
Custom DLC is still going strong
Or Yousician. I'm not a fan of the Rocksmith presentation which relies on small position differences and colours, but there are alternatives.
you mean like this? not animated but up the same street. nothttps://www.padformusician.com/en/products/18-18-padmu-3.htm...
I ordered my remarkable2 yesterday. Wrt sheet music, Not exactly what you were talking about but there was a great app called jammit that did something similar --playing along with sheet music with existing songs, and either isolating the instrument or muting it. The app just disappeared one day and the community reverse engineered the app and you can still get it under the facetious name "crammit" on Mac and windows. I found it very helpful to learn drum set notation.
The Kala Ukulele app is a chords only version of this. It also includes videos showing how to play each section, and it plays accompaniment into your headphones as you play along.
I found it super helpful, and I believe it's based on technology originally developed for teaching guitar.
Not sure if it's open for programming your own songs in or not, and much of the library is behind a paywall.
I found it super helpful, and I believe it's based on technology originally developed for teaching guitar.
Not sure if it's open for programming your own songs in or not, and much of the library is behind a paywall.
Probably because you could just make an application like that on an iPad...
What a great idea! How can I learn if/when you build that music reader app?
That's why I'm saying I'm not sure about the average customer, so I'm not feeling comfortable assuming people responsible for sales strategy (who are obviously professional marketers) are bad at their job. But I seriously don't want to dismiss this thought. After all, are we "such a small user-base" that it doesn't matter? Maybe, but I don't know. We likely would be if they actually had customer base Apple has, but they surely don't. And given they don't have such a remarkable brand-recognition, it actually makes it kinda more likely that they are selling it to us, whether they like it or not. I mean, this thread here is the first time I've ever heard about them, so I'll probably be the first guy in the office that gets the tablet, and then if I'll like it some people who don't read HN will hear an endorsement. In fact, it wouldn't even be the first product introduced this way to numerous non-technical people I know (who now own one).
And even if I'm mistaken and none of this matters, well, after all a sale is a sale.
And even if I'm mistaken and none of this matters, well, after all a sale is a sale.
> I mean, this thread here is the first time I've ever heard about them,
They have been on HN a lot[1][2], and one of the founders posted here on some of the threads. My understanding is that they couldn't reach all of the openness they were hoping for, and in recent times they've taken VC money and (I predict) that will affect version 2 negatively for hacker types.
I recommend the Youtube channel "My Deep Guide", he uses Remarkable long term as a normal person (not trying to hack it) and has done several video reviews over the years about firmware changes, what he likes and dislikes; it's not a "great device thanks for the freebie, like and subscribe" hype channel, it's thoughtful and detailed: e.g. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a1B04TSL2cY (Looks like he's just done reviews of Remarkable version 2, I'll have to watch)
[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16321531
[2] https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&que...
They have been on HN a lot[1][2], and one of the founders posted here on some of the threads. My understanding is that they couldn't reach all of the openness they were hoping for, and in recent times they've taken VC money and (I predict) that will affect version 2 negatively for hacker types.
I recommend the Youtube channel "My Deep Guide", he uses Remarkable long term as a normal person (not trying to hack it) and has done several video reviews over the years about firmware changes, what he likes and dislikes; it's not a "great device thanks for the freebie, like and subscribe" hype channel, it's thoughtful and detailed: e.g. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a1B04TSL2cY (Looks like he's just done reviews of Remarkable version 2, I'll have to watch)
[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16321531
[2] https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&que...
It's not incompetence, it's most likely just resource prioritization. There's nothing in principle stopping companies (not just ReMarkable) from having a separate landing page / marketing copy targeted at the hacker audience. With a device like this, it would most likely have a positive ROI. Just not positive enough compared to other things the marketing team could be spending their time on.
I think including such details in marketing would even detract from the "it's easy and intuitive for everybody" point they try to make.
I really think they should push this, because if you are in the market for an e ink notebook like this, you are probably a niche customer to begin with. Everyone else and their mother draws on an iPad. This is nerd hardware, and they really should lean into it with the marketing.
There are various types of nerds, and an "I like paper" nerd seems mostly orthogonal to an "I like hackability" nerd. I mean, _I_ am the right type of nerd to appreciate the hackability, and yet I only use mine to scribble notes and read papers.
I think you hit on a good reflection there. I've half a foot in the consumer space and my intuition is that if consumer product marketing targeted their strategies at the HN crowd, they will likely have a small market share. Certain cognitive styles are over-represented in the HN comments section which, from my empirical observations, do not match that of the broader population. The glossy pictures are visually impactful and do matter to most people: it's not even the subject but the production values, which communicate either downmarket or premium.
I have a sense that "lack of restrictiveness" is not something most users prioritize, as witnessed by Apple's phenomenal success. My daily driver is Linux (I've used Kubuntu for over a decade) yet I own Apple devices and am rarely bothered by things being locked down because for the most part, the constraints are tastefully picked (well based on my aesthetic they are -- others may disagree).
I watch MKBHD reviews regularly and it's not lost on me that Android phones for instance are so much more cutting edge and unrestricted relative to Apple devices. (I've owned Android devices in the past and have to admit they're objectively better in many ways -- Google apps for instance are more responsive and have more features than their iOS counterparts).
But I still find myself preferring the iPhone experience because everything feels right.
p.s. I ordered a reMarkable 2 earlier this year, but canceled my order because I decided that an iPad Pro (for consumption) + fountain pen/paper (for scribbling) fit my habits better. No knock on the reMarkable -- from all the YouTube reviews I've seen, it seems like a solid device.
It's just that from a social perspective, it's unlikely I'd use a reMarkable in a meeting room. It's still a touch too tech-y and liable to make others feel I'm not paying attention/being present (a sentiment which somehow pen-and-paper don't convey -- folks are ok with me jotting down notes with pen and paper. Don't know why. It's weirdly psychological.)
p.p.s. it sounds like reMarkable might gain a few extra orders by including "dev-friendliness" as a benefit. Why not add it to the marketing material? (I remember when Apple laptops were marketed to creatives, but the dev crowd -- who weren't being marketed to -- jumped on board when OS X became the main OS).
I have a sense that "lack of restrictiveness" is not something most users prioritize, as witnessed by Apple's phenomenal success. My daily driver is Linux (I've used Kubuntu for over a decade) yet I own Apple devices and am rarely bothered by things being locked down because for the most part, the constraints are tastefully picked (well based on my aesthetic they are -- others may disagree).
I watch MKBHD reviews regularly and it's not lost on me that Android phones for instance are so much more cutting edge and unrestricted relative to Apple devices. (I've owned Android devices in the past and have to admit they're objectively better in many ways -- Google apps for instance are more responsive and have more features than their iOS counterparts).
But I still find myself preferring the iPhone experience because everything feels right.
p.s. I ordered a reMarkable 2 earlier this year, but canceled my order because I decided that an iPad Pro (for consumption) + fountain pen/paper (for scribbling) fit my habits better. No knock on the reMarkable -- from all the YouTube reviews I've seen, it seems like a solid device.
It's just that from a social perspective, it's unlikely I'd use a reMarkable in a meeting room. It's still a touch too tech-y and liable to make others feel I'm not paying attention/being present (a sentiment which somehow pen-and-paper don't convey -- folks are ok with me jotting down notes with pen and paper. Don't know why. It's weirdly psychological.)
p.p.s. it sounds like reMarkable might gain a few extra orders by including "dev-friendliness" as a benefit. Why not add it to the marketing material? (I remember when Apple laptops were marketed to creatives, but the dev crowd -- who weren't being marketed to -- jumped on board when OS X became the main OS).
> Certain cognitive styles are over-represented in the HN comments section which, from my empirical observations, do not match that of the broader population.
I'd call it groupthink but your assessment is probably fairer.
I'd call it groupthink but your assessment is probably fairer.
Groupthink isn't the right term to describe a fluid group of Internet commenters that post semi-anonymously, and only on the topics of their choosing. There's no pressure forcing a common belief system, other than self-selection.
No, but HN produces self-reinforcing discourse.
For meetings I use a Neo smartpen, which syncs back to Evernote. It's a regular pen and paper experience, so nobody is offended.
> folks are ok with me jotting down notes with pen and paper. Don't know why.
Maybe because everybody had the experience of taking notes at school, university, work meetings. And everybody spent time googling and chatting on their digital devices when they should not.
Maybe because everybody had the experience of taking notes at school, university, work meetings. And everybody spent time googling and chatting on their digital devices when they should not.
Indeed.
"All your work is instantly synced to the cloud"
Ugh. Nope nope nope.
But now maybe sounds like I could turn that off and just rsync the files to my Debian tower.
That is more win.
"All your work is instantly synced to the cloud"
Ugh. Nope nope nope.
But now maybe sounds like I could turn that off and just rsync the files to my Debian tower.
That is more win.
> But now maybe sounds like I could turn that off and just rsync the files to my Debian tower.
Yes, I can confirm this. I have never connected my device to wifi. I backup my notes to my home server using rsync.
Yes, I can confirm this. I have never connected my device to wifi. I backup my notes to my home server using rsync.
You mean rsync via USB? Or can you rsync by WiFi without allowing it to send requests to their services?
> You mean rsync via USB?
I mean rsync via USB (but over ssh protocol - the USB mounts as a network device, rather than as a disk drive).
> Or can you rsync by WiFi without allowing it to send requests to their services?
I have never connected the device to wifi, so I don't know about this.
I mean rsync via USB (but over ssh protocol - the USB mounts as a network device, rather than as a disk drive).
> Or can you rsync by WiFi without allowing it to send requests to their services?
I have never connected the device to wifi, so I don't know about this.
While I haven't used this device, because it's just a standard Linux system, certainly.
Their support page does imply if you want to avoid cloud sync you should keep it offline, but perhaps that is just because it is the most brief/user friendly way to describe the situation. There definitely isn't an explicit option to turn off the cloud sync in the device settings, but I wouldn't be surprised if there are workarounds to this once you ssh in. You could also maybe block internet access to the device via your router settings, so you could at least use rsync while at home?
https://support.remarkable.com/hc/en-us/articles/36000264829...
https://support.remarkable.com/hc/en-us/articles/36000264829...
The cloud sync requires an account, which the device works fine without. So just don't sign up.
I think I'm missing out on features I don't care about, like OCR and emailing docs to people, but it's well worth it.
I think I'm missing out on features I don't care about, like OCR and emailing docs to people, but it's well worth it.
But can you have it sync automatically in the same way with your own private cloud? That would be really awesome.
Sounds like you could maybe use git-annex on it for that? (I use rsync (via "FolderSync") on the android-based onyx boox max, so as soon as I turn on wifi it pushes to one of my personal boxes (internal format is a hideous sqlite-based thing, but after the third round of updates they generate competent PDFs so I just push those) - sounds like on this I'd also just use rsync from an ifup script or something...)
Sounds like the optimal approach would be to run some kind of server on your own hardware, and update the /etc/hosts on the device to point at it.
Shouldn't be too hard to figure out what it's communicating over the network, then put together a server to match that and do useful things with it.
Shouldn't be too hard to figure out what it's communicating over the network, then put together a server to match that and do useful things with it.
I don't own one of them, but I would surely be able to instruct my router to put it in jail like I can every other device.
LAN-only.
LAN-only.
Fine until you're elsewhere.
Eh?
When I'm elsewhere it can continue to not have the passwords to anyone else's wifi.
When I'm elsewhere it can continue to not have the passwords to anyone else's wifi.
Wouldn't you still need to be careful about the device auto-joining to open public wifi? Basically, if you were going to be away from your house you'd have to always remember to disable the wifi before you left. Alternatively, just keeping wifi off and only using the USB cable means you don't have to worry about forgetting to disable wifi before you leave home. :)
Most devices don't auto connect to open wifi unless you tell them to. I'd assume this would have an option for that as well.
This requires being militant about never connecting under any conditions. If the device ever is even briefly connected to a particular network (especially any commonly-named public network), unless that entry is cleared, the device may reconnect later unintentionally and with no obvious indication of having done so..
For those with more expansive threat models, intentional dvice or network spoofing or cloning might bebrisks.
Since firewalling is performd off-device (on the home-LAN router), this will resut in an unsecured evice.
My preference would be for some on-device configured networking limits. Putting full reliance in fixed-site infrastructure migh be unpleasantly surprising.
For those with more expansive threat models, intentional dvice or network spoofing or cloning might bebrisks.
Since firewalling is performd off-device (on the home-LAN router), this will resut in an unsecured evice.
My preference would be for some on-device configured networking limits. Putting full reliance in fixed-site infrastructure migh be unpleasantly surprising.
This.
People have mentioned you can ssh into it, so it might be possible to make changes to the /etc/hosts file.
That's assuming the device doesn't use straight IP addresses for whatever it's communicating with. That's possible, but pretty unlikely.
That's assuming the device doesn't use straight IP addresses for whatever it's communicating with. That's possible, but pretty unlikely.
Or update/modify the networking, WiFi, routing, gateway, firewall, or other configurations on the device itself such that it connects to and communicates over only specified networks and/or hosts.
Again my point is that relying on off-device, local-netork hardware and configs is brittle.
Again my point is that relying on off-device, local-netork hardware and configs is brittle.
...and now I, too, have reason to consider ordering one. Looking like it was dependent on the cloud was what turned me off before.
>"All your work is instantly synced to the cloud"
It's opt-in, FWIW, it doesn't work unless you log in to a ReMarkable account and you can just store everything locally. It has ~6GB of usable space (8GB but 1-2GB reserved by OS)
And if you mod it, it looks like you can fairly trivially handle the syncing yourself: https://github.com/verbavolant/reMarkable-autosync
It's opt-in, FWIW, it doesn't work unless you log in to a ReMarkable account and you can just store everything locally. It has ~6GB of usable space (8GB but 1-2GB reserved by OS)
And if you mod it, it looks like you can fairly trivially handle the syncing yourself: https://github.com/verbavolant/reMarkable-autosync
My thoughts exactly
Ultimately the software matters little to the average consumer so long as it does what they want and looks nice.
Us 'hackers' have the dual detriment of being cheap people and demanding on company resources. It's just more profitable to focus on the larger client base.
That said, it may work well if they launch their own software sharing platform.
Us 'hackers' have the dual detriment of being cheap people and demanding on company resources. It's just more profitable to focus on the larger client base.
That said, it may work well if they launch their own software sharing platform.
> So I've got a feeling all these marketing people do advertising wrong somehow.
I have a feeling the HN crowd is a rather unusual one :)
High-quality normal user experience and a good power-user experience luckily aren't mutually exclusive at all (just appear together much too rarely).
I have a feeling the HN crowd is a rather unusual one :)
High-quality normal user experience and a good power-user experience luckily aren't mutually exclusive at all (just appear together much too rarely).
Yeah, I pre-ordered one because a friend has an rM1 and used a bunch of hacks and that was what made me interested. At the time (~18 months ago), I was uninterested in paying the money for one, but when the rM2 came out at pre-order for the lower price (the reMarkable 1 is now $100 less than the rM2) and with better battery/faster processor/USB-C, I pre-ordered.
I'm in the second batch and because of delays, I won't get it until early October (they claim) but it's the hackability that sold me on it, rather than anything else. I have an 11" iPad Pro and Apple Pencil and a 2018 Kindle Oasis (second-gen is I guess the parlance), so I don't actually need something like this, but I want it.
That said, I don't think they are marketing it wrong at all -- they might just not be marketing it to all potential audiences. This is definitely an enthusiast device with a niche audience -- people that want really a really good drawing/writing experience that is as similar to paper as possible. There are a number or e-Ink devices similar to this and most run Android, which has the advantage of opening it up to more consumer apps (Kindle, Kobo Reader, etc) but also tends to lead to a less ideal writing/drawing experience.
Some of the people who really want that pen on paper experience are like you and I and are really intrigued by the open nature/hackability of the device but the vast majority really want something simple and task focused. If you look at the Reddit for the reMarkable and the community around YouTube/Facebook/etc, although there are plenty of people who are hacking on it, that's not the core audience at all. In fact, the original reMarkable was criticized a bit for not being intuitive enough, even though the ink performance was always excellent. Even now, the biggest complaints are about the lack of features (primarily an e-reader), even though this is very much a uni-task device.
Small companies like this have limited marketing budgets so I don't think going after hacker enthusiast types at first is the right move -- especially when the people willing to spend $500 on an e-Ink notebook in the age of the iPad is fairly small. That said, I hope that the marketing can expand to the DIY/hacker crowd more after the rM2 is released because I do think that could attract some additional users and also help contribute to the ecosystem.
I'm in the second batch and because of delays, I won't get it until early October (they claim) but it's the hackability that sold me on it, rather than anything else. I have an 11" iPad Pro and Apple Pencil and a 2018 Kindle Oasis (second-gen is I guess the parlance), so I don't actually need something like this, but I want it.
That said, I don't think they are marketing it wrong at all -- they might just not be marketing it to all potential audiences. This is definitely an enthusiast device with a niche audience -- people that want really a really good drawing/writing experience that is as similar to paper as possible. There are a number or e-Ink devices similar to this and most run Android, which has the advantage of opening it up to more consumer apps (Kindle, Kobo Reader, etc) but also tends to lead to a less ideal writing/drawing experience.
Some of the people who really want that pen on paper experience are like you and I and are really intrigued by the open nature/hackability of the device but the vast majority really want something simple and task focused. If you look at the Reddit for the reMarkable and the community around YouTube/Facebook/etc, although there are plenty of people who are hacking on it, that's not the core audience at all. In fact, the original reMarkable was criticized a bit for not being intuitive enough, even though the ink performance was always excellent. Even now, the biggest complaints are about the lack of features (primarily an e-reader), even though this is very much a uni-task device.
Small companies like this have limited marketing budgets so I don't think going after hacker enthusiast types at first is the right move -- especially when the people willing to spend $500 on an e-Ink notebook in the age of the iPad is fairly small. That said, I hope that the marketing can expand to the DIY/hacker crowd more after the rM2 is released because I do think that could attract some additional users and also help contribute to the ecosystem.
They're spending a ton of Facebook. I wanted to buy one until the 500th ad that was presented to me. I think 1/2 the price of the device is marketing spend.
I don’t think so. The first version was more expensive and it didn’t have much (any?) marketing at all. And it’s not much more expensive than the Chinese E Ink devices. They are selling this at a premium for sure but I don’t think it’s 50% or anything close to that. ReMarkable raised $15m USD last fall and I think that is where the Facebook/Instagram budget came from. I imagine preorders are funding the first wave of rM2 production and the additional funding is paying for the hardware development and Facebook ads.
> so I don't actually need something like this, but I want it.
I understand what you mean but it makes me uncomfortable.
> there are plenty of people who are hacking on it.
https://github.com/reHackable/awesome-reMarkable Has many great examples indeed.
I was remembering mostly as binary patches on the UI components and it seems that it developed further, with source project on GitHub... I feel a lot more comfortable with this kind of community than with Android mods, which always felt like colourful forum posts Over git, binary packages over source and leet speak over documentation.
In the mean time, no one has come with a way to export Apple iOS notes to markdown + images.
I understand what you mean but it makes me uncomfortable.
> there are plenty of people who are hacking on it.
https://github.com/reHackable/awesome-reMarkable Has many great examples indeed.
I was remembering mostly as binary patches on the UI components and it seems that it developed further, with source project on GitHub... I feel a lot more comfortable with this kind of community than with Android mods, which always felt like colourful forum posts Over git, binary packages over source and leet speak over documentation.
In the mean time, no one has come with a way to export Apple iOS notes to markdown + images.
> primarily an e-reader
It has no capability to be used as an e-reader? eg ePub's, etc.
Ouch. That outright kills the idea of this for me. :(
It has no capability to be used as an e-reader? eg ePub's, etc.
Ouch. That outright kills the idea of this for me. :(
It can read epub without DRM: https://support.remarkable.com/hc/en-us/articles/36000676163...
That's, that's workable. :)
It does according to the website: https://remarkable.com/#Reading_on_reMarkable
Marketing in its current virulent incarnation is a scam, and front for wholesale population level surveillance. I've yet to see a convincing argument to the contrary.
All a business needs to be successful is a good product, and word of mouth. Advertising gets people to buy stuff they don't need. Instead companies scrimp on the product and spend more on advertising. The sooner society finds a way to clothe, house and feed everyone the better all of us and our planet will be.
All a business needs to be successful is a good product, and word of mouth. Advertising gets people to buy stuff they don't need. Instead companies scrimp on the product and spend more on advertising. The sooner society finds a way to clothe, house and feed everyone the better all of us and our planet will be.
That seems naive. Very few products succeed without marketing. Only tesla, for example, in autos succeeds without much marketing. I'd never have heard about remarkable2 without current marketing around the v2.
It's pretty obvious, however I'm gonna say it anyway - they probably don't target people that are active here.
They could add all of that, though thatd be disrupting their intended Apple-like presentation of the product.
They could add all of that, though thatd be disrupting their intended Apple-like presentation of the product.
Same here, but we are a super niche market, not even worth a couple of small letter on the landing page. I learned about that a lot as early adopter of products that inevitable had to switch to address a more mainsteam market and in the process completely alienate me. Examples are Pebble (I don't care about fitness, OI care about minimalism and battery life), bunq, a fintech "bank", went from nerdy minimalism, IT company with a banking license to a comapany that that integrated Instagram and Tree saving counter into the banking app. Another, less strong, example is OnePlus who lost me after the 3.
HAHA it is funny indeed. Last time when someone posted a similar comment about reMarkable (the original edition) here on HN, I was immediately hooked. I checked out the tablet and was impressed by it. I immediately placed the order for reMarkable 2. Just waiting to get my hands on this device. I take down a ton of notes and I think this would be perfect for me.
Same here. Looks like great hardware and I even had a pre-order, but I canceled it in part over concern there wouldn't be much of a third party application ecosystem and I'd mainly be restricted to notetaking and viewing/annotating PDF's. I recognize for lots of people note-taking alone is enough to justify it; I just realized I'd personally get more utility out of an iPad or similar.
If I'd seen the "open-source" pitch it might have enticed me to stay onboard.
If I'd seen the "open-source" pitch it might have enticed me to stay onboard.
[deleted]
I had the same thought. Knowing we can develop software on top is delightful
Same here - the website led me to assume the software was all locked down, and forever restricted to reading two file formats.
I contacted their support about the openness of their device. This is their response in case others are interested:
Aug 28, 2020, 3:44 PM GMT+2
Hello there.
Users can gain root access to the device by using SSH, so the device is open for developing your own software.
The GPL and LGPL version 3 requires us to give users access to their own devices. It's part of the anti-tivoization clauses in the licenses.
A lot of our software is open-source. You'll find a lot of our open source code here: https://github.com/reMarkable/. If you're interested in developing for the reMarkable, a good place to start would be on here https://remarkable.engineering/deploy/.
Note that we do not currently provide any support for SSH related issues. Accessing the device and making changes through SSH is at the customers own risk.[deleted]
Thanks, this was the question I had before purchasing, if they might decide to pull a Tivo in a future software update and kill off everything on https://github.com/reHackable. I mean, with enough resources they could replace everything with non-GPL3 licenses then lock it down, but that doesn't look likely, so I think I will go ahead and buy this.
Some of the projects on https://github.com/reHackable talk about having to be re-installed after upgrades, and other unfriendly vendor behaviour (e.g. https://github.com/reHackable/scripts/wiki/webui_invincibili...), which is slightly worrying, it'd be more assuring if they had better support for 3rd party software, or at least just a webpage saying "yes you can install 3rd party software, but note that it's not preserved over upgrades". The company I work for also sells a linux box, allows 3PS, and does have such a web page. Such a webpage might also cater to all the other people here commenting that their marketing dept is ignoring us.
Some of the projects on https://github.com/reHackable talk about having to be re-installed after upgrades, and other unfriendly vendor behaviour (e.g. https://github.com/reHackable/scripts/wiki/webui_invincibili...), which is slightly worrying, it'd be more assuring if they had better support for 3rd party software, or at least just a webpage saying "yes you can install 3rd party software, but note that it's not preserved over upgrades". The company I work for also sells a linux box, allows 3PS, and does have such a web page. Such a webpage might also cater to all the other people here commenting that their marketing dept is ignoring us.
Yeah I'm still on the fence but decided i'd take them up on the 30 day free return and evaluate it directly
I bought the ReMarkable 1 because I thought it was just a Linux device. It turned out to be not exactly true. Their whole interface is closed source and they use a (IIRC) closed but reverse-engineered format to store PDF metadata. I installed Syncthing to synchronize papers and sheet music but because of their metadata format it didn't work for me at all, I got annoyed, eventually stopped bothering and sent it back.
Also, their GUI/DE is closed so there's no (easy) way to extend it with nice functionality. In my opinion the software was the bad part about that device that lead to a really bad experience with that device.
The hardware was great though. Wasn't super fast but it was light, felt good. I was very excited when I first took it out of the box.
They did a lot of great stuff with the ReMarkable but unfortunately it felt a lot closer to the semi-open Android than the Linux on my desktop.
Also, their GUI/DE is closed so there's no (easy) way to extend it with nice functionality. In my opinion the software was the bad part about that device that lead to a really bad experience with that device.
The hardware was great though. Wasn't super fast but it was light, felt good. I was very excited when I first took it out of the box.
They did a lot of great stuff with the ReMarkable but unfortunately it felt a lot closer to the semi-open Android than the Linux on my desktop.
You can, with Parabola-rM. http://davisr.me/projects/parabola-rm
Oh wow, that is pretty cool. It is a different approach from what I was envisioning, which was taking an existing lightweight terminal codebase written in Qt[0], and porting it to the ReMarkable's Qt SDK. The Parabola approach is actually running X Windows, which is pretty amazing!
[0] https://github.com/lxqt/qterminal
[0] https://github.com/lxqt/qterminal
Really curious whether anyone’s actually used Parabola-rM often? It lacks support for Wi-Fi and the sdma port. Not sure what that leaves you to rely on for file transfers or much of anything. I can at least imagine a lack of networking as a plus though for lack of distractions.
SDMA isn't related to networking. As I mentioned here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24294868
The device is exposed over USB as a composite device, consisting of a virtual Ethernet port and a virtual serial port. Network communications may happen over that link, as well as SSH/SCP'ing files.
It also supports USB OTG, so one could plug in a libre-compatible Wi-Fi card and use that.
The device is exposed over USB as a composite device, consisting of a virtual Ethernet port and a virtual serial port. Network communications may happen over that link, as well as SSH/SCP'ing files.
It also supports USB OTG, so one could plug in a libre-compatible Wi-Fi card and use that.
Ah, I was wondering about OTG support, thanks for mentioning it!
Boox devices are also very accessible as the run Android and you can install anything on them either from the Play store (requires manual setup at first) or F-droid, along with the usual adb access. I have the Nova Pro which I absolutely love. It has configurable screen refresh rates so it's possible to use a web browser with scrolling. You can install your favourite file sync app. Lately I've been using KDE connect to send/receive files. Writing on it is good and the notes app supports OCR that I found can make reasonable sense of my chicken scratches.
Been using Onyx/Boox since ever. Own a Max2 and Note2 for instance. Happy with them... Use the Wacom One pen for input. Android apps a plenty
Boox are GPL violators though.
Yeah, that's one of my main concerns with the Boox. A good friend of mine loves hers [1], but the unclear point of origin, the GPL violations (and I don't even like the GPL that much as a license -- but if you're going to build off of a GPL base, you better follow the damn license!), and the fact that Android -- while flexible -- is not ideal for note taking stuff (my friend said all the Android note taking apps are unusable so you're stuck with the built-in app -- and I'm less confident about the upkeep of that app when the company won't respect the GPL for the base OS/firmware of the device) is why I went with a reMarkable instead.
But Onyx definitely has a much wider variety of E Ink devices that's for sure.
[1]: https://gizmodo.com/i-unabashedly-love-this-android-e-ink-ta...
But Onyx definitely has a much wider variety of E Ink devices that's for sure.
[1]: https://gizmodo.com/i-unabashedly-love-this-android-e-ink-ta...
> Boox are GPL violators though.
Hadn't heard of this. Can you provide some references? A quick DDG search didn't turn up anything.
Hadn't heard of this. Can you provide some references? A quick DDG search didn't turn up anything.
Case in point, this thread about running Parabola as OS on the reMarkable was also on the front page today: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24294176
I'm not sure they realize what a big selling point this is.
Feel free to tell them here: https://support.remarkable.com/hc/en-us/requests/new
Continually impressed with this company.
Feel free to tell them here: https://support.remarkable.com/hc/en-us/requests/new
Continually impressed with this company.
I'm impressed as well - but I do think many of us here are overestimating the size of the audience that sort of technical messaging would apply to. It being open is a big deciding factor for us on HN - but there's a much larger audience for whom it would simply dilute the messaging. (I'm guessing their product marketing team did a substantial bit of research on this before going live).
I could, however, see them building out a 'developer community'-focused microsite. But I wouldn't expect them to put anything related to that on their homepage, as it would likely be confusing and irrelevant to their target audience.
I could, however, see them building out a 'developer community'-focused microsite. But I wouldn't expect them to put anything related to that on their homepage, as it would likely be confusing and irrelevant to their target audience.
On the other hand, their marketing copy isn't going to win them a thousand-device order from a large company, the way satisfying a hacker who leads corporate IT can.
It's been verified that the ReMarkable 2 is just as open as the 1?
- What is the latest word (as of 2020) on reading Kindle books on the ReMarkable? Is there a tool that makes it easy to buy Kindle books and strip them of their DRM?
- Is the ReMarkable capable of running an open source OS behind the hood? Is it a hacker-friendly piece of hardware in case ReMarkable runs out of business in the future?
I was thinking about getting the ReMarkable 2 if only because my Kindle's display is too small. For ebooks it's okay but I do would like to be able to use an eink reader for sheet music as well.
- Is the ReMarkable capable of running an open source OS behind the hood? Is it a hacker-friendly piece of hardware in case ReMarkable runs out of business in the future?
I was thinking about getting the ReMarkable 2 if only because my Kindle's display is too small. For ebooks it's okay but I do would like to be able to use an eink reader for sheet music as well.
> What is the latest word (as of 2020) on reading Kindle books on the ReMarkable? Is there a tool that makes it easy to buy Kindle books and strip them of their DRM?
You go to amazon.com/myk, switch to the Content tab, three dots next to the book, Download & transfer via USB. You then drag-and-drop them into Calibre with this add-on set up: https://github.com/apprenticeharper/DeDRM_tools
There's some initial setup required to get your decryption key (easy if you have their e-reader — just enter the key you'll find in device info, slightly complicated if you don't), but once that's done, the friction for decrypting ebooks is pretty negligible.
You'll have to convert them to epub or PDF to be able to read them on ReMarkable, but that's as easy as right-clicking a book within Calibre and choosing "convert".
Most of the other ebook decrypters are basically slapping some interface on top of this Calibre plugin and hiding it behind a paywall.
You go to amazon.com/myk, switch to the Content tab, three dots next to the book, Download & transfer via USB. You then drag-and-drop them into Calibre with this add-on set up: https://github.com/apprenticeharper/DeDRM_tools
There's some initial setup required to get your decryption key (easy if you have their e-reader — just enter the key you'll find in device info, slightly complicated if you don't), but once that's done, the friction for decrypting ebooks is pretty negligible.
You'll have to convert them to epub or PDF to be able to read them on ReMarkable, but that's as easy as right-clicking a book within Calibre and choosing "convert".
Most of the other ebook decrypters are basically slapping some interface on top of this Calibre plugin and hiding it behind a paywall.
> You'll have to convert them to epub or PDF to be able to read them on ReMarkable, but that's as easy as right-clicking a book within Calibre and choosing "convert".
There is a significant omission here. Converting Epub to PDF doesn't necessarily yield a good quality.
As a matter of fact, at some point I was so annoyed by the relatively nondeterministially poor quality (I stress "relatively"), that now, every time I purchase something from the Kindle store, I download and use the pirated PDF version, which is never worse than the Calibre output (I guess pirates actually use Calibre and tweak the process per-book).
It's very annoying to highlight a converted ebook, and find 80 pages into it, that the conversion cut text lines/diagrams in half.
There is a significant omission here. Converting Epub to PDF doesn't necessarily yield a good quality.
As a matter of fact, at some point I was so annoyed by the relatively nondeterministially poor quality (I stress "relatively"), that now, every time I purchase something from the Kindle store, I download and use the pirated PDF version, which is never worse than the Calibre output (I guess pirates actually use Calibre and tweak the process per-book).
It's very annoying to highlight a converted ebook, and find 80 pages into it, that the conversion cut text lines/diagrams in half.
>Converting Epub to PDF doesn't necessarily yield a good quality.... at some point I was so annoyed by the relatively nondeterministially poor quality...
Is this ever true! I use three different workflows for converting ePub to PDF, and then look through each one and pick the one that converted best for that particular book. Generally speaking, the default Calibre conversion is almost always the weakest.
Is this ever true! I use three different workflows for converting ePub to PDF, and then look through each one and pick the one that converted best for that particular book. Generally speaking, the default Calibre conversion is almost always the weakest.
Just as a tip - everything on Remarkable is PDF. Yes, it reads epub files but it then converts them to a PDF for viewing. On RM1 this could be a bit annoying if you are the type to change the font style or size as it then must recreate the pdf - that can take more than a few seconds on a large file.
I've taken to using calibre or similar programs to output the epub as a pdf (with my preferred sytle at RM screen dimensions). I've also bulk cropped pdf's to the RM screen size instead of using the built in crop feature.
I've taken to using calibre or similar programs to output the epub as a pdf (with my preferred sytle at RM screen dimensions). I've also bulk cropped pdf's to the RM screen size instead of using the built in crop feature.
Yeah, I don't think I've ever been happy with an epub conversion. I've always assumed the pirated pdfs are sold in some countries, so they are incentivized to clean up the conversions. I've just gone back to dead-tree library books, but selection and availability isn't always the best.
Does the ReMarkable have an ePub reader? My existing ebook collection is mostly DRM-free ePubs.
On the rm1 you can install KOreader which works very well.
It has an integrated reader as well I think but I never tried, I heard it's not great.
It has an integrated reader as well I think but I never tried, I heard it's not great.
Yes - this is primarily how I use mine. It doesn't have close to the polish of something like iBooks unfortunately, but it works.
See, this is the main problem about buying new technology. The device is marketed as a graceful solution for all your "paper needs."
My principle need for a tablet has always been ebook consumption. The ebook readers on Linux I've seen all look like hot garbage. Sure, Calibre allows you to manage massive ebook collections. Now let me have a book experience that doesn't look like 1999.
My principle need for a tablet has always been ebook consumption. The ebook readers on Linux I've seen all look like hot garbage. Sure, Calibre allows you to manage massive ebook collections. Now let me have a book experience that doesn't look like 1999.
Removing DRM from kindle books and converting to PDF, and shipping them as PDFs to the remarkable cloud to sync to the device, are independently solved problems, available as OSS.
To my knowledge there is no tool that does both. Nor, better, that also includes the purchase and download steps at Amazon.
I personally have automation for all 3 individually but have not wired them together. I think there is a nice little business awaiting someone who does that.
To my knowledge there is no tool that does both. Nor, better, that also includes the purchase and download steps at Amazon.
I personally have automation for all 3 individually but have not wired them together. I think there is a nice little business awaiting someone who does that.
Epub would be better than PDF for the use case. AFAIK, you can't reflow text in PDF, so if the page size isn't exactly matched to the device size, all you can do is pan&zoom. Yuck.
Not necessarily, as a significant part of a reading experience is the reader.
For example, I'm bound to a specific PDF reader that has a very powerful annotations system. The last time I checked Epub readers, there was nothing that satisfied my requirements.
A couple of additional notes:
- the downside of reflowing is that you may not be able to take annotations that require absolute positioning
- for almost all the PDF books I've read (books; magazines are a different story, but that won't work with Epub anyway), a 3:2 10" tablet is enough; if the text is not large enough, good PDF readers can mass-crop the pages. Of course, there are ugly exceptions - books that have a different text positioning on odd and even pages (I hate them).
For example, I'm bound to a specific PDF reader that has a very powerful annotations system. The last time I checked Epub readers, there was nothing that satisfied my requirements.
A couple of additional notes:
- the downside of reflowing is that you may not be able to take annotations that require absolute positioning
- for almost all the PDF books I've read (books; magazines are a different story, but that won't work with Epub anyway), a 3:2 10" tablet is enough; if the text is not large enough, good PDF readers can mass-crop the pages. Of course, there are ugly exceptions - books that have a different text positioning on odd and even pages (I hate them).
Which reader is that?
It's Xodo. It has a good range of annotations, they work well, and they're very immediate to use/switch. It also has good enough scroll/zoom capabilities (its locking functionality is a bit lacking, but it's still good enough).
I don't imply it's best suited for everybody, that's the reason why I didn't specify the name.
I don't imply it's best suited for everybody, that's the reason why I didn't specify the name.
> Is there a tool that makes it easy to buy Kindle books and strip them of their DRM
Yes, the most common one is Calibre, which is also great for converting formats and bulk operations. There is a "DeDRM Plugin" for it on GitHub that does what you're asking.
> Is the ReMarkable capable of running an open source OS behind the hood?
Yes, and there has been some success with this including Parabola-rM. However, there seems to be no open driver for the radio chipset (so no WiFi!).
Yes, the most common one is Calibre, which is also great for converting formats and bulk operations. There is a "DeDRM Plugin" for it on GitHub that does what you're asking.
> Is the ReMarkable capable of running an open source OS behind the hood?
Yes, and there has been some success with this including Parabola-rM. However, there seems to be no open driver for the radio chipset (so no WiFi!).
The ReMarkable is already running an open source OS behind the hood. It's a bit complicated, the UI isn't open, but it's just running on linux, you can write and run your own programs.
Is it an ARM Debian-based distro or Android or something else?
It's definitely an ARM linux distro, I'm not entirely sure which one to be honest.
It is a customised yocto Linux iirc.
The device is open -- does that extend to the notes and filesystem itself? I'm very interested in the ReMarkable 2, but I want to be able to write scripts to handle stuff like syncing.
If this is something where I know I can get good integration with Emacs/Org-mode on my desktop (letting me insert diagrams on the fly into org-mode files, making one searchable interface between handwritten notes and typed notes, etc), I'd be very tempted to preorder right now. Especially if the handwriting recognition stuff they have is something I could hook around.
If this is something where I know I can get good integration with Emacs/Org-mode on my desktop (letting me insert diagrams on the fly into org-mode files, making one searchable interface between handwritten notes and typed notes, etc), I'd be very tempted to preorder right now. Especially if the handwriting recognition stuff they have is something I could hook around.
> The device is open -- does that extend to the notes and filesystem itself? I'm very interested in the ReMarkable 2, but I want to be able to write scripts to handle stuff like syncing.
Yes, the notes just live on the filesystem. You can fetch them using scp or rsync. They are in a proprietary file format, but they are not encrypted, and I think there are some open source projects on github that let you view them on your desktop.
> Especially if the handwriting recognition stuff they have is something I could hook around.
I think the handwriting stuff lives on their cloud and is proprietary, so I have never tried it.
Yes, the notes just live on the filesystem. You can fetch them using scp or rsync. They are in a proprietary file format, but they are not encrypted, and I think there are some open source projects on github that let you view them on your desktop.
> Especially if the handwriting recognition stuff they have is something I could hook around.
I think the handwriting stuff lives on their cloud and is proprietary, so I have never tried it.
The notes file format itself, I believe is proprietary, but it's been reverse engineered. The general storage I don't believe is actually folder based, but have a look at the unofficial wiki, it should answer most of your questions.
"reverse engineered" means you can't trust them not to break things at any time
In version 1 the converted text couldn't be saved on the device, it could only be sent by e-mail, and so because the text didn't exist on the filesystem it couldn't be accessed via ssh obviously.
I'd love an eInk terminal actually!! Or even an eInk laptop. Would be great to work on some code in the sun.
I've been chasing that dragon for years. Just look at the video hosted http://davisr.me/projects/parabola-rm and imagine a terminal app that was actually optimized around eInk (and using an external keyboard). I remain convinced that it could be completely usable for non GUI work.
Take a look here: https://old.reddit.com/r/RemarkableTablet/comments/iis4fo/em...
Emacs in '-nw' mode uses mostly black/white, with external keyboard via USB OTG.
Emacs in '-nw' mode uses mostly black/white, with external keyboard via USB OTG.
This reminds me that what I'd really like in an ebook reader is something that will sync a local library down from 'the cloud' in some automated way over wifi, without having to manually go in and update or import or whatever with books like everything else I've seen. ReMarkable seems like it wouldn't be practical for that for lack of enough storage for my Calibre library, though.
Remarkable's onboard storage paucity is incomprehensible.
Not just that, but that combined with the lack of a microSD card slot.
If it had an SD/microSD reader, the openness would make me what to pre-order one. I can just imagine the 8GB internal storage quickly running out with all the extra stuff I'd want to do to it.
It might be possible to add a usb-c flashdrive. I'll let you know in a few weeks when I get mine. In any event, document storage of 8GB is quite a lot - I have many pdf textbooks on mine.
My collection of ebooks is about 50 GB. Once you get into art-heavy PDFs like those for tabletop games you can be looking at 5-25 MB per file, and that adds up fast.
Look at u/rmhack on reddit. They managed to get a normal arm Linux image to boot on it.
My main complaints are that it's not encrypted at rest, and the only way to use cloud features are to go through reMarkable's cloud (and you can't host a private instance). Makes it really hard to get approved in an enterprise environment.
My main complaints are that it's not encrypted at rest, and the only way to use cloud features are to go through reMarkable's cloud (and you can't host a private instance). Makes it really hard to get approved in an enterprise environment.
I sent them an email asking about encryption at rest; the lack of reply was what made me decline to approve the purchase at our company. It's a shame because it does look like an incredible device apart from that.
Your comment just made me buy it. I didn't realize it was an open device running linux. That sold me. There are probably some marketing lessons to be learned from these comments.
For anyone interested in this type of setup, I highly recommend considering the onyx book note 2, (or max 3, or nova 2) it runs android 9.1 with a relatively fast 8-core processor, have bluetooth and wifi, and I have found that the experience in termux is very good.
I currently use one with a brydge ipad keyboard which fits quite well.
I currently use one with a brydge ipad keyboard which fits quite well.
I get their ads all the time on IG, but they should have advertised it to me as open, Qt powered, and ssh friendly.
> The device is open. It's just an embedded linux
> device. You can ssh into it, and run arbitrary code.
> The SDK is based on Qt.
I use a Barnes & Noble e-ink Nook (Kindle competitor) to run AnkiDroid [1][2]. I have tried to use some note-taking Android apps on the device, but they all had horrible feedback due to the very slow CPU and very limited memory of the device.
Is it possible to run either an Android app (AnkiDroid) or a Qt/Python Linux application (Anki) on the ReMarkable 2? If so, I would happily buy such a device.
[1] https://apps.ankiweb.net/ [2] https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ichi2.anki
I use a Barnes & Noble e-ink Nook (Kindle competitor) to run AnkiDroid [1][2]. I have tried to use some note-taking Android apps on the device, but they all had horrible feedback due to the very slow CPU and very limited memory of the device.
Is it possible to run either an Android app (AnkiDroid) or a Qt/Python Linux application (Anki) on the ReMarkable 2? If so, I would happily buy such a device.
[1] https://apps.ankiweb.net/ [2] https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ichi2.anki
You are say that the ReMarkable is open, but where is the GPLv2 code for the underlying Linux OS? As far as I can see there is nothing on the site that makes mention to it. That includes the Legal section which makes no mention of the GPL licensing.
The (L)GPL license only requires you to offer source code to the customers (the people that get a copy of the binaries).
The (L)GPLv2 requires offering physical copies of the source, so the required information is in a printed notice in the box (on the first tablet).
(L)GPLv3, which e. g. Qt is under, allows for only distributing the source digitally.
The full list of licenses for all pieces of software are on the device as well, and the SSH information is available as a part of the license page (explaining how the (L)GPLv3 requires companies to give access to the devices/anti-tivoization).
The (L)GPL requirement seems to be also fulfilled with https://remarkable.engineering/deploy/copyleft_sources/ apparently (the github repos are probably just more convenient for them).
The (L)GPLv2 requires offering physical copies of the source, so the required information is in a printed notice in the box (on the first tablet).
(L)GPLv3, which e. g. Qt is under, allows for only distributing the source digitally.
The full list of licenses for all pieces of software are on the device as well, and the SSH information is available as a part of the license page (explaining how the (L)GPLv3 requires companies to give access to the devices/anti-tivoization).
The (L)GPL requirement seems to be also fulfilled with https://remarkable.engineering/deploy/copyleft_sources/ apparently (the github repos are probably just more convenient for them).
Reminds me of this digital typewriter project using a e-ink display: https://alternativebit.fr/posts/ultimate-writer
The problem with this project was the lack of a affordable e-ink display with a decent refresh rate.
Would love to see a real terminal on the ReMarkable. A terminal + vim + usb keyboard would be the perfect distaction-free writing tool.
The problem with this project was the lack of a affordable e-ink display with a decent refresh rate.
Would love to see a real terminal on the ReMarkable. A terminal + vim + usb keyboard would be the perfect distaction-free writing tool.
I would buy the RM2 in a heartbeat if it supported a keyboard over usb or Bluetooth.
Having an outdoor-friendly typewriter where text is saved seamlessly would be awesome for focused writing. I did my best to make it easy on a phone+keyboard+kindle (with SolarWriter https://msolomon.github.io/solarwriter-website/ ), but the Remarkable is so so close to the ideal experience—it just needs keyboard support.
Having an outdoor-friendly typewriter where text is saved seamlessly would be awesome for focused writing. I did my best to make it easy on a phone+keyboard+kindle (with SolarWriter https://msolomon.github.io/solarwriter-website/ ), but the Remarkable is so so close to the ideal experience—it just needs keyboard support.
Same! There's https://github.com/dps/remarkable-keywriter but its author is, ah, busy, so may need another person to adapt it to work with bluetooth and the rM2 (if possible)
> Reminds me of this digital typewriter project using a e-ink display: https://alternativebit.fr/posts/ultimate-writer
Related: https://github.com/dps/remarkable-keywriter
> Would love to see a real terminal on the ReMarkable. A terminal + vim + usb keyboard would be the perfect distaction-free writing tool.
I agree: e-ink display + terminal + vim + mechanical keyboard would make me very happy.
Related: https://github.com/dps/remarkable-keywriter
> Would love to see a real terminal on the ReMarkable. A terminal + vim + usb keyboard would be the perfect distaction-free writing tool.
I agree: e-ink display + terminal + vim + mechanical keyboard would make me very happy.
> Would love to see a real terminal on the ReMarkable. A terminal + vim + usb keyboard would be the perfect distaction-free writing tool.
someone seems to have ported a terminal already https://github.com/dixonary/fingerterm-reMarkable
someone seems to have ported a terminal already https://github.com/dixonary/fingerterm-reMarkable
What's it like for drawing?
Do we know the ReMarkable 2.0 will be just as open as well?
I mailed them back in March about SSH access when they announced the 2.0 and this is what they responded:
“Appreciate the kind words and support. We are working to improve our products based on the feedback from our customers. If you are still wondering about SSH support for reMarkable 2, the answer is yes, the reMarkable 2 will have SSH access, just like reMarkable 1.”
Not same as guaranteeing the same level of openness, but it is indicative and promising at the very least.
“Appreciate the kind words and support. We are working to improve our products based on the feedback from our customers. If you are still wondering about SSH support for reMarkable 2, the answer is yes, the reMarkable 2 will have SSH access, just like reMarkable 1.”
Not same as guaranteeing the same level of openness, but it is indicative and promising at the very least.
Is there any open source (DIY) hardware that goes with these APIs? Since $400 seems a little steep for a white screen I suspect it is possible to DIY similar hardware too. Any ideas?
Historically the "current generation" of e-ink displays are notoriously annoying to hack on with devkits being expensive and waveforms being available only under NDA. This was true 5 years ago, not sure if it's still true.
I've done a fair bit of tinkering with ePaper displays attached to little Linux and MCU boards, and it is not trivial. Few if any have touch overlays, the graphics APIs are usually at the level of: magic initialization happens in this opaque chunk of bit-bashing, then you get a raw framebuffer; have fun!
You absolutely could homebrew a touchscreen ePaper "slate" with a similar broad set of features, but much like the Libre laptops (Purism, Novena, etc.) it's going to be slow, power-hungry, and chunky compared to a complete consumer device like the reMarkable.
You absolutely could homebrew a touchscreen ePaper "slate" with a similar broad set of features, but much like the Libre laptops (Purism, Novena, etc.) it's going to be slow, power-hungry, and chunky compared to a complete consumer device like the reMarkable.
This may interest you; might not be what you were asking for. I haven't built one, but keep an eye on it and dream of free time to surface mount solder and poke around with it. The repo used to have a cost estimate and think it came out to around $100 but my memory may be fuzzy.
https://github.com/joeycastillo/The-Open-Book
https://github.com/joeycastillo/The-Open-Book
It is not just a "white screen." The display is designed specifically for use as a paper substitute for writing/drawing. It actually feels like paper when using the stylus.
Thanks for the link.
> I have been imagining porting a lightweight Qt-based virtual terminal to the device and using it as an e-ink unix terminal. Alas, I have not yet had the cycles to complete this project.
That would be really cool! I pre-ordered a RM2 (my 1st such device) and am in the November cohort... if you make time for said terminal, I'd love to know about it.
> I have been imagining porting a lightweight Qt-based virtual terminal to the device and using it as an e-ink unix terminal. Alas, I have not yet had the cycles to complete this project.
That would be really cool! I pre-ordered a RM2 (my 1st such device) and am in the November cohort... if you make time for said terminal, I'd love to know about it.
Fantastic. I didn’t see anything about this on their site (admittedly a small percent of users would know/care what this means.)
Do you know of any RSS or saved articles sync? I use Feedly right now. Would love to save Reader Mode versions of long form to read/annotate. Right now I print them but…a lot of paper.
Do you know of any RSS or saved articles sync? I use Feedly right now. Would love to save Reader Mode versions of long form to read/annotate. Right now I print them but…a lot of paper.
I use Mozilla Pocket for saved articles, and I have been meaning to try this:
https://github.com/glidergeek/pocket2rm
https://github.com/glidergeek/pocket2rm
I thought I would like using an ereader to read PDFs but the touch screen (on this kobo) actually really bothered me; I always felt like I had to be very careful where I put my fingers and was always accidentally turning pages.
Do you find that bothers you, or can you just hold it like a notebook?
Do you find that bothers you, or can you just hold it like a notebook?
I haven't experienced such issues and I've had mine for years. On the first remarkable model you either use the physical buttons to turn page or use the somewhat recent swiping feature. Touching the surface while reading doesn't do anything, you have to explicitly swipe left or right to turn a page. Moving your finger or hand doesn't turn a page either, so I'd say you're pretty safe in that regard.
The reading experience on the remarkable is however not as feature rich as eink tablets that label themselves as 'ebook readers' but otherwise I think it's fine. I primarily use mine to draw and write notes, which it does very well but I also read.
The reading experience on the remarkable is however not as feature rich as eink tablets that label themselves as 'ebook readers' but otherwise I think it's fine. I primarily use mine to draw and write notes, which it does very well but I also read.
> The device is open. It's just an embedded linux device.
That's all I needed to hear. Preordered.
That's all I needed to hear. Preordered.
Can I bug you when you get the remarkable 2.0 to find out if it still does all that?
That would be awesome. I have ordered the Remarkable and would like to use it as a dashboard connected to my computer. Just to display time, the calendar and other information which needs to be updated only very infrequently.
There are alternatives that are cheaper:
https://www.amazon.com/waveshare-7-5inch-HAT-Raspberry-Consu...
https://www.amazon.com/waveshare-7-5inch-HAT-Raspberry-Consu...
Thanks for the link, that looks interesting. I have to see, where I could buy it (Amazon doesn't ship it to Germany). I will certainly check this out for tinkering with my Pie.
Of course, I wouldn't buy the ReMarkable just for using it as a second display, but that would be an added value, if it could be done with some more software I can install on it.
My main usage would be as a reader/note tool.
Waveshare have lots of such screens, big, small, some colour: https://www.waveshare.com/product/displays/e-paper/epaper-1....
moonbug(1)
I sent mine back when I first got it (for a number of reasons) but this makes me want to re-buy one, I figured it would become hackable as I seem to remember the team saying they wanted to encourage it!
Have you used it as an e-reader (using KOReader I would assume)? How is the experience? It sounds like the prefect e-ink device if the hardware lends itself to other purposes.
Man, they should really advertise the openness more. I'm considering this as a general re-reader and notebook replacement, now.
Any way to sync it with Linux? It strikes me as odd that it’s that open, Linux based...but doesn’t have a Linux app.
You can ssh in either over wifi or via usb (it exposes a network device in usb).
Everything is just files in there. The notes formats are proprietary, but there's tools out there for them.
Everything is just files in there. The notes formats are proprietary, but there's tools out there for them.
Really nice to see high end hardware that is completely open.
they really should also use this ability to be able to ssh and develop etc in their marketing material. It might get even more users.
Is the screen more paper-like than the olpc?
Ok, this comment convinced me to get it.
Do you use the text OCR feature?
Is that component opensource?
Is that component opensource?
Note they mean open as in "it runs a random old Linux kernel and you can have the root password", not as in "open source". Nothing whasoever from their software is actually open source, and nothing indicates they may not decide to simply close down the platform in the future (e.g. for "security" reasons)
The CTO is a KDE developer and they use and contribue some KDE libraries (like the KArchirve). They have a github with some projects: https://github.com/reMarkable/ but sadly the software is not open.
This is the thing I'm wary of. That when it does get to mass-market appeal, it'll be targetted by bad people, and then locked down, and this is why we can't have nice things.
I don't want to buy an expensive hackable pad of paper that I then have to fight the manufacturer to keep hackable.
I'm fed up of tech that stops me owning it properly so that idiots can be saved from their ignorance.
I'm waiting for v3. Let's see what happens then.
I don't want to buy an expensive hackable pad of paper that I then have to fight the manufacturer to keep hackable.
I'm fed up of tech that stops me owning it properly so that idiots can be saved from their ignorance.
I'm waiting for v3. Let's see what happens then.
Sure, but that's miles ahead of almost any other consumer device you can buy today. I'll take it.
I think it's not as good as you think. There is a difference between "it happens to be open" and "manufacturer cares", and here it's more like the former. The experience here is in fact identical to e.g. using any device whose bootloader has been cracked. You are locked to very old kernel versions, or attempts to run a mainline kernel in various degrees of stability (or lack of). You cannot really modify the existing user interface to your liking, as it is even more closed than Android; it's either take it or replace it entirely. And if you stay on the official firmware then there is a non-negligible risk that they will lock it down. I've been through that route...
It's in no way comparable to a some other devices (mentioned on HN too) where e.g. manufacturer actually cares about it. I agree it's technically better than "locked down bootloader with few chances of ever being unlocked" like some newer devices are, just not "miles better".
Plus the fact that it does run GNU/Linux rather than Android makes it more hacker-friendly out of box, at least for some types of hackers.
It's in no way comparable to a some other devices (mentioned on HN too) where e.g. manufacturer actually cares about it. I agree it's technically better than "locked down bootloader with few chances of ever being unlocked" like some newer devices are, just not "miles better".
Plus the fact that it does run GNU/Linux rather than Android makes it more hacker-friendly out of box, at least for some types of hackers.
Well, unlike nearly all consumer devices, they did intentionally leave it open and hackable, and promote this on their homepage. I think that makes it likely that they'll leave it open in the future as well. So sure, yes, I'd love it if it was a 100% FOSS project. But I'll take what I can get.
Do they actually promote this in their webpage? I didn't see it anywhere.
> It's in no way comparable to a some other devices (mentioned on HN too)
what sort of devices?
what sort of devices?
Yes, I meant "open" in the sense that you do not need to jailbreak it to run software that has not been approved by the manufacturer, not "open" in the sense that the operating system is open source.
Although, I think a lot of their operating system is open source and on their github page (linux kernel and uboot configuration): https://github.com/reMarkable
Their Qt-based shell software, xochitl, is not open source.
Although, I think a lot of their operating system is open source and on their github page (linux kernel and uboot configuration): https://github.com/reMarkable
Their Qt-based shell software, xochitl, is not open source.
In other words, they open sourced just what they're legally obliged to. The fact that this is surprising nowadays is heavily depressing.
It seems not, unless the server code is hiding somewhere publically.
https://support.remarkable.com/hc/en-us/articles/36000266143...
> Wi-Fi connection and log-in is required
> You need to be connected to a Wi-Fi network and logged in to a reMarkable account (my.remarkable.com) in order to use the handwriting conversion feature.
https://support.remarkable.com/hc/en-us/articles/36000266143...
> Wi-Fi connection and log-in is required
> You need to be connected to a Wi-Fi network and logged in to a reMarkable account (my.remarkable.com) in order to use the handwriting conversion feature.
I would be very surprised if a commercial-grade handwriting conversion tool could run on that device. It sounds to me like they're sending off the data somewhere else to get converted into text.
Running Emacs on it would be cool. - Can‘t do it on my expensive iPad Pro.
You can! Check out the demo video at 13m30s. It demos the X version of Emacs, but Emacs runs faster in '-nw' mode from the console.
http://www.davisr.me/projects/parabola-rm/
http://www.davisr.me/projects/parabola-rm/
It's not emacs, but I've been enjoying iVim (1) on my iPad Pro. With `:idocuments` I can edit files in Working Copy (it opens the Files picker).
I also copied my plugins (Goyo for focus, etc) and config from my linux box.
1: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/ivim/id1266544660
I also copied my plugins (Goyo for focus, etc) and config from my linux box.
1: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/ivim/id1266544660
I'm planning on trying to do that as soon as I get mine.
Being able to use org mode and org roam would be a huge plus.
I almost impulse per-ordered the RM2 when I first read about the SD card mod here on HN. I decided to wait after hearing about the limitations as a reader and the slow software development. If you're considering the RM2 for anything other than a sketch/note pad, I highly encourage you to watch this fantastic review from My Deep Guide: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4iIAYMsugzM
Full review: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLsSI9-gaSSmiXwb7Vjk5V...
I ultimately passed on the device for a few reasons:
1. The RM1 and 2 both don't allow file transfers as a mass storage device. If you want local, non cloud based transfer, you need to use a flaky local web UI that hasn't been improved in years
2. The internal storage still hasn't been updated from 8 (6 usable) GB. This is an obvious attempt to sell cloud storage in the future
3. While the hardware is amazing the software moves at a snail's pace. This is either management holding development back by trying to simplify the device out of existence or the team simply lacks the resources or ability to improve it
4. There has been almost no attempt to improve reader functionality in years. Things as simple as font resizing are 30x slower than on a Kindle
5. It seems obvious to me that management doesn't understand the target audience for the device
Full review: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLsSI9-gaSSmiXwb7Vjk5V...
I ultimately passed on the device for a few reasons:
1. The RM1 and 2 both don't allow file transfers as a mass storage device. If you want local, non cloud based transfer, you need to use a flaky local web UI that hasn't been improved in years
2. The internal storage still hasn't been updated from 8 (6 usable) GB. This is an obvious attempt to sell cloud storage in the future
3. While the hardware is amazing the software moves at a snail's pace. This is either management holding development back by trying to simplify the device out of existence or the team simply lacks the resources or ability to improve it
4. There has been almost no attempt to improve reader functionality in years. Things as simple as font resizing are 30x slower than on a Kindle
5. It seems obvious to me that management doesn't understand the target audience for the device
> 1. The RM1 and 2 both don't allow file transfers as a mass storage device.
In the FAQ at https://remarkable.com/store/remarkable-2:
> reMarkable 2 features USB-C for faster charging and data transfer.
Even if this does not mean that mass storage is or will be supported officially, maybe unofficial support could be added using the Linux Kernel's USB Gadget API g_mass_storage as a module. More info:
To be fair it looks like a pretty small team (7 people listed with 2-3 actively developing) so I doubt it is management. More likely not a priority right now, limited resources, or in the too hard basket.
There is this repo in their Github org: https://github.com/reMarkable/vfatbuse
Looks like the CTO had a crack at implementing mass storage in v1
In the FAQ at https://remarkable.com/store/remarkable-2:
> reMarkable 2 features USB-C for faster charging and data transfer.
Even if this does not mean that mass storage is or will be supported officially, maybe unofficial support could be added using the Linux Kernel's USB Gadget API g_mass_storage as a module. More info:
https://www.kernel.org/doc/Documentation/usb/mass-storage.rst
https://developer.ridgerun.com/wiki/index.php?title=How_to_use_mass_storage_gadget
https://github.com/reMarkable/linux
https://remarkable.engineering/ -- toolchain here
To be fair it looks like a pretty small team (7 people listed with 2-3 actively developing) so I doubt it is management. More likely not a priority right now, limited resources, or in the too hard basket.
There is this repo in their Github org: https://github.com/reMarkable/vfatbuse
Looks like the CTO had a crack at implementing mass storage in v1
Based on the review posted, there is still no way to natively transfer files other than the web interface. The reviewer is a developer so he should know what he is talking about.
This is the only other method I've found: https://github.com/nick8325/remarkable-fs
You'd think scp would work also but I haven't found info on the subject and I don't own the RM1 to try.
edit: found someone's scp script: https://github.com/reHackable/scripts/blob/master/host/repus...
The changelog is public so you can see the rate of development if you're interested: https://support.remarkable.com/hc/en-us/articles/11500546010...
This is the only other method I've found: https://github.com/nick8325/remarkable-fs
You'd think scp would work also but I haven't found info on the subject and I don't own the RM1 to try.
edit: found someone's scp script: https://github.com/reHackable/scripts/blob/master/host/repus...
The changelog is public so you can see the rate of development if you're interested: https://support.remarkable.com/hc/en-us/articles/11500546010...
Other comments here have said that both rsync and scp work.
Thanks for the changelog... you're totally right about the software moving slow. Lots of UX changes, lots of battery improvements, but the only major feature added that I saw was handwriting recognition.
I get it isn't possible from an end user point of view to connect as mass storage. But I wonder if it might be possible with the hardware after modifications to the kernel configuration.
I get it isn't possible from an end user point of view to connect as mass storage. But I wonder if it might be possible with the hardware after modifications to the kernel configuration.
> It seems obvious to me that management doesn't understand the target audience for the device
> If you're considering the RM2 for anything other than a sketch/note pad
It is marketed as a sketch/note pad and that's about it. The e-reader feature is like the youtube functionality on a Switch. It's there because "lolwhynot" and little more.
I have one and I really love mine. But all I wanted was a digital notebook. If I wanted more than that I would have gotten a Surface tablet or an Ipad Pro. It's definitely expensive for what it is, but it's not really marketed as a mass market device either.
> If you're considering the RM2 for anything other than a sketch/note pad
It is marketed as a sketch/note pad and that's about it. The e-reader feature is like the youtube functionality on a Switch. It's there because "lolwhynot" and little more.
I have one and I really love mine. But all I wanted was a digital notebook. If I wanted more than that I would have gotten a Surface tablet or an Ipad Pro. It's definitely expensive for what it is, but it's not really marketed as a mass market device either.
> It is marketed as a sketch/note pad and that's about it. The e-reader feature is like the youtube functionality on a Switch. It's there because "lolwhynot" and little more.
I personally disagree with this. I almost bought one because I wanted a good notebook and a lot of notes I write these days is specifically related to ebooks and pdf documentation that I work against. I almost ordered one after seeing this post.
However, from the review it appears like this will be impossible to annotate documents with. I want to be able to highlight text on an epub (like I can on my kindle) and write notes to reference later about that section. I want to draw some diagrams as I'm reading the book to make sure I'm understanding code/workflows properly, etc...
I'm not sure why that's so out of the realm for a notebook style device.
I personally disagree with this. I almost bought one because I wanted a good notebook and a lot of notes I write these days is specifically related to ebooks and pdf documentation that I work against. I almost ordered one after seeing this post.
However, from the review it appears like this will be impossible to annotate documents with. I want to be able to highlight text on an epub (like I can on my kindle) and write notes to reference later about that section. I want to draw some diagrams as I'm reading the book to make sure I'm understanding code/workflows properly, etc...
I'm not sure why that's so out of the realm for a notebook style device.
Drawing and marking up PDFs works really well, I do this with math textbooks frequently, but you're correct that the highlighting is nothing more than a "drawing" You can't go to the pages you've highlighted, or even extract text you've highlighted.
It's almost equivalent to being able to write directly on a textbook, however you can export your marked up document as a PDF.
It's almost equivalent to being able to write directly on a textbook, however you can export your marked up document as a PDF.
epub gets converted to pdf internally on the device which can be annotated. I have found it is easier in the long run to do this myself with Calibre on my desktop or laptop.
Whatever the Remarkable is marketed as, it's an e-reader.
Pretty much by definition people buying e-readers are buying them to read with.
Clearly the Surface/iPad are not comparable to e-screens for that specific purpose and the obvious UX (usability) fail in the Remarkable in that regard means there is still a significant market gap for people who want an e-reader which bridges those two worlds, particularly (for me and many others) reading technical manuals.
Pretty much by definition people buying e-readers are buying them to read with.
Clearly the Surface/iPad are not comparable to e-screens for that specific purpose and the obvious UX (usability) fail in the Remarkable in that regard means there is still a significant market gap for people who want an e-reader which bridges those two worlds, particularly (for me and many others) reading technical manuals.
> it's an e-reader
It isn't though. It's a note taking device and marketed as such. Heck, when it was released, the e-reader functionality was even more deficient than it is today and barely mentioned. It's a note taking device and marketed as such. They improved the e-reader aspect a lot since then, so now it's kind of usuable as one, sortoff, but it's very much not an e-reader first.
It isn't though. It's a note taking device and marketed as such. Heck, when it was released, the e-reader functionality was even more deficient than it is today and barely mentioned. It's a note taking device and marketed as such. They improved the e-reader aspect a lot since then, so now it's kind of usuable as one, sortoff, but it's very much not an e-reader first.
To be fair to you, they are pretty keen on stressing that, while marketing within the e-reader segment.
Conceding the point to you though means that there is still clearly a gap for those of us who want to read technical manuals (unless there is a device that somebody can recommend) between the brilliant linear-reading experience of e-readers and the smooth larger screen random-access UX experience of tablets like those you cite.
Conceding the point to you though means that there is still clearly a gap for those of us who want to read technical manuals (unless there is a device that somebody can recommend) between the brilliant linear-reading experience of e-readers and the smooth larger screen random-access UX experience of tablets like those you cite.
Absolutely, though the gap is somewhat niche. Even for e-readers, the amount of people who still care about e-ink is getting smaller. In my peer group everyone moved to ipads or whatever (I don't know how they can stand it, but...).
> Things as simple as font resizing are 30x slower than on a Kindle
It's not a constant factor. This is best understood as a bug. Here's what the reviewer demonstrated: If you change the font size, then the interface locks up and you can't do anything, until the backend has generated new page images for the entire PDF—no matter how many pages there are. He showed that, while it was fast for a small document, it locked up for about 50 seconds when resizing the font on The Count of Monte Cristo (a large novel, perhaps 1200 pages). Furthermore, he said that if, during that time, you changed any of the other settings (resizing again, changing line spacing, etc.), it would take another 50 seconds, and another if you pressed two of the buttons, and so on. It is very clear that no QA person (whose reports are heeded) tested out those operations on a decent-sized novel or technical manual. (If they tried Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire—not the largest book in the series—then, going by word count, it would have locked up for 20.5 seconds.)
A sane viewer app—one of which the reviewer demonstrated—would redraw the current page, then give control back to the user, while continuing to redraw other pages in the background. It's a bit tricky, because until you render the previous pages at some level, it might not be clear where the page break for the current page would be; but you could choose an arbitrary point, use that temporarily, and eventually correct it when rendering catches up.
The reviewer did show convincingly that the viewer app is very lacking in features or basic polish. (Another example: You can zoom into a page, selecting a smaller section of it to view. However, you cannot drag this view around the page; if you want to see elsewhere on the page at the same magnification, you must undo the zoom, then select a new region to zoom into.) This is odd for an e-ink device, whose homepage has a section titled "An eye-friendly reading experience: Comfortably read PDFs or ebooks for hours on end without backlight, glare, or eye strain."
It's not a constant factor. This is best understood as a bug. Here's what the reviewer demonstrated: If you change the font size, then the interface locks up and you can't do anything, until the backend has generated new page images for the entire PDF—no matter how many pages there are. He showed that, while it was fast for a small document, it locked up for about 50 seconds when resizing the font on The Count of Monte Cristo (a large novel, perhaps 1200 pages). Furthermore, he said that if, during that time, you changed any of the other settings (resizing again, changing line spacing, etc.), it would take another 50 seconds, and another if you pressed two of the buttons, and so on. It is very clear that no QA person (whose reports are heeded) tested out those operations on a decent-sized novel or technical manual. (If they tried Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire—not the largest book in the series—then, going by word count, it would have locked up for 20.5 seconds.)
A sane viewer app—one of which the reviewer demonstrated—would redraw the current page, then give control back to the user, while continuing to redraw other pages in the background. It's a bit tricky, because until you render the previous pages at some level, it might not be clear where the page break for the current page would be; but you could choose an arbitrary point, use that temporarily, and eventually correct it when rendering catches up.
The reviewer did show convincingly that the viewer app is very lacking in features or basic polish. (Another example: You can zoom into a page, selecting a smaller section of it to view. However, you cannot drag this view around the page; if you want to see elsewhere on the page at the same magnification, you must undo the zoom, then select a new region to zoom into.) This is odd for an e-ink device, whose homepage has a section titled "An eye-friendly reading experience: Comfortably read PDFs or ebooks for hours on end without backlight, glare, or eye strain."
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> Things as simple as font resizing are 30x slower than on a Kindle
Wow, thanks, I was very interested in this for marking up documents + notes. I guess I could still use my kindle for most of my reading anyway, but the video gave me the impression the RM2 was very fluid and fast.
If I'm understanding correctly, the screen's responsiveness to input is great, but the UI's responsiveness is not?
Wow, thanks, I was very interested in this for marking up documents + notes. I guess I could still use my kindle for most of my reading anyway, but the video gave me the impression the RM2 was very fluid and fast.
If I'm understanding correctly, the screen's responsiveness to input is great, but the UI's responsiveness is not?
I've been using the RM1 for a few months. The screen and UI responsiveness are both fine. What is astonishingly slow is their ereader implementation. Basically, the model is something like this:
• The ReMarkable is primarily like a sheet of paper you can write on (or a paper notepad).
• This "sheet of paper" can also have a background template (like dots, a grid, or an arbitrary image), different for every page. (You can add your own images/templates onto the device with scp and editing a JSON config file.)
• When you read PDFs on it, each page (at your specified zoom level / crop region) is rasterized (reasonably quickly) into such a background image, with the result that you can write on the PDF page if you want. (These won't be "PDF annotations" in the PDF-standard's sense AFAIK, which some people complain about: it's just like writing/drawing on some image. But you can export your annotated PDF as PDF/PNG/SVG.)
• When you read EPUBs on it, the whole epub gets converted by some incredibly slow process into the equivalent of what it does for PDF (my understanding is that it's basically rasterizing each page). This means that if you're reading an EPUB (that you downloaded from the internet or transferred from your Kindle or whatever), and you do something as simple as changing the font size, you can expect it to take tens of seconds(!) even for a small 200-page book, as it's "regenerating" an image for each (resulting) page of the book. Once that is done, though (i.e. you don't change/resize font again), it's reasonably quick and straightforward to use.
So, now, I don't bother with trying to read EPUBs on the device; I convert to PDF first on my computer (where I can more quickly and interactively tweak font size, page size, etc), then read the PDF on the device. That works very well.
• The ReMarkable is primarily like a sheet of paper you can write on (or a paper notepad).
• This "sheet of paper" can also have a background template (like dots, a grid, or an arbitrary image), different for every page. (You can add your own images/templates onto the device with scp and editing a JSON config file.)
• When you read PDFs on it, each page (at your specified zoom level / crop region) is rasterized (reasonably quickly) into such a background image, with the result that you can write on the PDF page if you want. (These won't be "PDF annotations" in the PDF-standard's sense AFAIK, which some people complain about: it's just like writing/drawing on some image. But you can export your annotated PDF as PDF/PNG/SVG.)
• When you read EPUBs on it, the whole epub gets converted by some incredibly slow process into the equivalent of what it does for PDF (my understanding is that it's basically rasterizing each page). This means that if you're reading an EPUB (that you downloaded from the internet or transferred from your Kindle or whatever), and you do something as simple as changing the font size, you can expect it to take tens of seconds(!) even for a small 200-page book, as it's "regenerating" an image for each (resulting) page of the book. Once that is done, though (i.e. you don't change/resize font again), it's reasonably quick and straightforward to use.
So, now, I don't bother with trying to read EPUBs on the device; I convert to PDF first on my computer (where I can more quickly and interactively tweak font size, page size, etc), then read the PDF on the device. That works very well.
Ah, ok, that is slow, but makes more sense if it is processing the entire book vs just the page you are on. Thank you for explaining further how it works. Still piques my interest - and would be nice to be able to templatize some scaffolded notes (i.e. daily planner, without having to re-buy physical notebooks)
For PDFs, any chance you’ve tried reading science journal articles on it? I’m thinking this could be a great way to finally get a greener way to read on paper without printing, but I’m worried its still annoying to do.
Yes, I've read quite a few maths and CS journal articles and conference papers on it, including some two-column ones. Things I'd have previously printed on paper. It's a good substitute (I'm happy, and I'm reading more, as this device can help me stay away from laptop/phone), with a couple of caveats:
- The screen size is slightly smaller than a regular A4 or Letter sized sheet of paper. You can go to "Adjust View" on the reMarkable and choose a smaller region of each page to fill the available screen (i.e., get rid of the margins and header/footer), which increases the size a bit.
- Academic papers often have footnotes / references on the last page or two, and if you care about them you'll want to flip back and forth (or in some cases you may also want to flip between two separate documents), which is quite a bit more annoying on this device than it would be on paper. Using https://github.com/ddvk/remarkable-hacks adds some features that make it better.
On the plus side, on this device I feel more free to write on it and mark up etc (can always undo / erase cleanly), while on paper (even printouts, let alone books) I somehow hesitate a bit more.
- The screen size is slightly smaller than a regular A4 or Letter sized sheet of paper. You can go to "Adjust View" on the reMarkable and choose a smaller region of each page to fill the available screen (i.e., get rid of the margins and header/footer), which increases the size a bit.
- Academic papers often have footnotes / references on the last page or two, and if you care about them you'll want to flip back and forth (or in some cases you may also want to flip between two separate documents), which is quite a bit more annoying on this device than it would be on paper. Using https://github.com/ddvk/remarkable-hacks adds some features that make it better.
On the plus side, on this device I feel more free to write on it and mark up etc (can always undo / erase cleanly), while on paper (even printouts, let alone books) I somehow hesitate a bit more.
I'm not quite sure what you mean by the PDFs and EPUBs being rasterized - that's always happening with anything that is displayed on a screen. Do you mean that it is converted to a raster format and stored like that? (outside of a frame buffer that is)
Yes, there seems to be a cache somewhere. They have a nice trick: when you flip pages, a lower-resolution cached image renders and you can immediately start reading/writing, before being (almost immediately) replaced by the actual-resolution one. (See about 15:15 to 20:00 in this video: https://youtu.be/YWLJPyTrHnM?t=915)
You can mod it to accept sd-cards. I think it was feautured on HN a while ago
http://www.davisr.me/projects/remarkable-microsd/
Breaks the warranty for sure.
Unsure if this works for the RM2
2 - If they were that interested in selling cloud storage I suspect this would have happened by now. I have numerous large physics, math and comp sci text books on my RM1 and have no storage issus.
3 - They have issued numerous updates to the software. 4 - They have made improvements to reader functionality. As I and others have noted - font resizing and first use of epubs is slow because those files are converted to a pdf which is what is actually displayed on the device. 5 - The company would not be on a 2nd generation device if they did not understand their target audience. What is clear (to me) is that they don't see everyone as their audience ala Apple or Amazon.
3 - They have issued numerous updates to the software. 4 - They have made improvements to reader functionality. As I and others have noted - font resizing and first use of epubs is slow because those files are converted to a pdf which is what is actually displayed on the device. 5 - The company would not be on a 2nd generation device if they did not understand their target audience. What is clear (to me) is that they don't see everyone as their audience ala Apple or Amazon.
The reviewer mentions a Norwegian source for future monetization plans involving cloud storage.
I would have bought this if it had a microSD card slot. I will stick with my Surface Go. So close, so easy, yet so far.
You just now saved me $530.
Thank you.
Thank you.
When I thought about it I just compared it to the price of a notebook and pen which costs virtually nothing. The RM isn't 500x more useful than a real pen. It also hardly stacks up against an ipad with the pen accessory.
As someone who has been a paper notebook writer for decades, who went through boxes of paper ergonomic for writing a year, low dozens of pens, including fountain pens and ink, and who stored square meters of old notebooks for those decades, paying for every inch- for some users, the R reaches 1x ROI in less than a year.
Cheers.
Cheers.
Yeah for someone who writes that much it could make sense. But for me, I don't write notes on paper, I use it to draw diagrams and visualize things for myself as well as communicating. I use paper a bit like a whiteboard and a single notebook can last me years. The RM looks like a very cool tool but I would never justify the price.
I recently bought the ReMarkable 1 (wasn't willing to wait for preorder on the 2, and the differences don't look that significant). I kinda love it: I'm a professor, and 99% of my use is in reading article PDFs---it's a vastly better experience than reading on an eyestrain-inducing glossy screens or printing off.
One major annoyance, though, is that it's clunky to switch between documents---I like to take notes in a separate document from the articles (mainly so I don't have to deal with the hassle of trying to export marked-up PDFs, which is a very suboptimal experience---the ios/mac apps are, uh, not good.). There's a pretty big lag there.
But the reading experience qua reading is so much nicer that I keep it anyway.
One major annoyance, though, is that it's clunky to switch between documents---I like to take notes in a separate document from the articles (mainly so I don't have to deal with the hassle of trying to export marked-up PDFs, which is a very suboptimal experience---the ios/mac apps are, uh, not good.). There's a pretty big lag there.
But the reading experience qua reading is so much nicer that I keep it anyway.
For a better PDF experience, you might want to try 'koreader'. The native PDF support on my Kobo Forma was so bad I was ready to return it, before finding this. It's an open source PDF/epub reader that you can install on Remarkable and other eInk readers. It's just an app - it doesn't replace or degrade any existing functionality.
https://github.com/koreader/koreader
https://github.com/koreader/koreader
The Onyx Boox 3 max is great for that. the main function I use (articles and books) is the split screen with notes in one side and book/article in the other. The main downside is the price (~$800). It is also bulkier than other options.
This is a relief to hear! The only downside with the RM1/2 for me is the lackluster epub/PDF functionality, but if it is possible to put koreader on it without interference with existing functionality, I might just sell my Kobo e-reader and use the RM2 for all my reading and writing needs!
I pre-ordered the RM2 a couple a months ago and just got an email notifying me about a slight COVID-related delay. I don't really mind, I am confident that the company can deliver without to much fuzz.
I pre-ordered the RM2 a couple a months ago and just got an email notifying me about a slight COVID-related delay. I don't really mind, I am confident that the company can deliver without to much fuzz.
how’s the Forma compared to the Oasis?
I've always partially wanted something like this, but can't get away from paper. I recently completed a PhD and tried an iPad and my computer, but ended up always printing off articles. It's annoying having a lot of physical paper around, but I'm constantly flipping back and forth in papers and it's so inconvenient to do that digitally. I also find it's so much easier for me to recall information based on where it was, and I completely lose that in a digital device.
Curious if those have been issues for you or not. I wonder if it's just how my mind works, or if I'm not "doing it right"?
Curious if those have been issues for you or not. I wonder if it's just how my mind works, or if I'm not "doing it right"?
I'm in the middle of my PhD and switched from printing papers to reading them on my iPad roughly two years ago.
There are some things I miss from paper but overall I found the pros to overweight the cons.
I haven't found that flipping back and forth on iPad is that horrible, to be honest.
Not sure how helpful this will be but I'll share what I've been doing for now. I use the following apps:
* Mendeley (to organize papers)
* PDF Expert (to annotate PDFs)
* GoodNotes (mostly when working out the maths)
My usual workflow is:
* Read through the paper
* Annotate in the paper using Apple pencil as I read through
* Figure out the maths on the iPad when needed
* When I get back to a computer, upload the annotated file to Mendeley and type summary notes in Mendeley
A few things that I like/dislike about iPad when compared to paper.
+ Search for information on the web while reading paper more easily
+ Check notes/annotations quickly from my computer
+ Share notes easily
+ Search notes easily
+ Clean desk =D
- More context switching needed when I need to scramble something
- Mendeley misses some basic features on iOS (e.g. attach PDF to existing paper) so need to context switch with computer at some point after reading the paper
I would say that for 90% of the papers I go through, where I don't dive that deep in the paper, the experience is just as good on iPad. For the 10% of the papers I read where I go in-depth, redo proofs, etc, it's a little more tedious. While it's for sure not perfect, given the above pros, I can live with the cons.
There are some things I miss from paper but overall I found the pros to overweight the cons.
I haven't found that flipping back and forth on iPad is that horrible, to be honest.
Not sure how helpful this will be but I'll share what I've been doing for now. I use the following apps:
* Mendeley (to organize papers)
* PDF Expert (to annotate PDFs)
* GoodNotes (mostly when working out the maths)
My usual workflow is:
* Read through the paper
* Annotate in the paper using Apple pencil as I read through
* Figure out the maths on the iPad when needed
* When I get back to a computer, upload the annotated file to Mendeley and type summary notes in Mendeley
A few things that I like/dislike about iPad when compared to paper.
+ Search for information on the web while reading paper more easily
+ Check notes/annotations quickly from my computer
+ Share notes easily
+ Search notes easily
+ Clean desk =D
- More context switching needed when I need to scramble something
- Mendeley misses some basic features on iOS (e.g. attach PDF to existing paper) so need to context switch with computer at some point after reading the paper
I would say that for 90% of the papers I go through, where I don't dive that deep in the paper, the experience is just as good on iPad. For the 10% of the papers I read where I go in-depth, redo proofs, etc, it's a little more tedious. While it's for sure not perfect, given the above pros, I can live with the cons.
I would avoid Mendeley. Firstly, they are trying to create a researchgate-style social media spam network layer. Secondly they are owned by the maximally vile Elsevier. Thirdly, their software quality is poor eg. they couldn’t get sync working properly for maybe 5 years (until I gave up).
On the other hand, I love https://paperpile.com/app
On the other hand, I love https://paperpile.com/app
As much as I agree with you on all the points, in my case I kind of have to stick with what my research group is using for now.
Let me know what you think about Polar:
https://getpolarized.io/
We launched about a year ago and are REALLY close to a 2.0 release.
https://getpolarized.io/
We launched about a year ago and are REALLY close to a 2.0 release.
It would be nice if you did not initiate a download on my behalf when I merely visit the "download" page via the main navigation. I would expect at least prompt for confirmation before you push a 180 MB binary to me.
I'm a huge Polar fan! I'm considering buying an iPad just for using Polar, but I was wondering about the ReMarkable as well, since I like e-ink better for reading.
Do you have any recommendations for a tablet to use with Polar?
Do you have any recommendations for a tablet to use with Polar?
What app do you use for Polar? I used Polar for a bit on my Mac but gave up because I do most of my reading on an iPad. Would give it another shot if I could get Polar running on iPad.
I just use it on my laptop and desktop (Mac/Linux). I think I'd prefer to use a tablet though as I'm not a huge fan of reading on computers. Currently looking around and I've seen your sentiment about Polar and iPads before. Hopefully better support is coming in the 2.0 release though.
Looks great - will check it out.
Noticed you have a typo on the homepage under the uni logos.
"Discovery why Polar [...]" should read "Discover why Polar [...]"
Noticed you have a typo on the homepage under the uni logos.
"Discovery why Polar [...]" should read "Discover why Polar [...]"
Oh this looks really cool and your free tier is awesome. I'm going back to school in the fall and will be giving this a shot.
Do you any plans to support math symbols in annotations?
I think it's not only you.
I have the same problem with e-readers and books, I miss the ease of moving backward and forward in a paper book.
Also, I have observed that I remember better what I read in physical books. Maybe it's because the content is associated to something real out there in the world with a cover, a weight, and a position of the content in the book and a position of the book in my bookshelves.
It's kind of weird because the first intuition is that the support where you read something shouldn't matter.
I have the same problem with e-readers and books, I miss the ease of moving backward and forward in a paper book.
Also, I have observed that I remember better what I read in physical books. Maybe it's because the content is associated to something real out there in the world with a cover, a weight, and a position of the content in the book and a position of the book in my bookshelves.
It's kind of weird because the first intuition is that the support where you read something shouldn't matter.
i have the same experience. there is less retention when the object isn't permanent. that's another reason why i think it's important to keep notes as handwritten visually and not convert/OCR into typed text.
Then check the Rocketbook:
https://youtu.be/-h_rZHWmke8
It feels like paper because you actually write over it with a real pen.
https://youtu.be/-h_rZHWmke8
It feels like paper because you actually write over it with a real pen.
Not just you. I tried hard to adapt to ebooks; spent the better part of a year trying to find an arrangement for reading on the train that worked as well as a paperback, and failed.
If I'm reading more than maybe 10 pages, or if it is material that I'm flipping back and forth in a lot, I print.
If I'm reading more than maybe 10 pages, or if it is material that I'm flipping back and forth in a lot, I print.
Is note taking good? How good is OCR? Do you know if it works with other languages/alphabets (cyrillics)? Can it handle usual stuff used in formulas, subscripts/superscripts, fractions, integrals, f : S³ → G, H⊲G ≡ ∀g∈G gHg⁻¹ = H and other weird symbols we use? How about stuff that comes with several columns/rows, like matrices? How about tables?
OCR is pretty bad IME, but I also have terrible handwriting...
I was on the fence about this but the clunky zooming when reading PDFs made me decide not to get it. I think a tablet is better for browsing PDFs.
That's the deal-breaker for me as well. I'm always resizing PDF's so that the text is a legible size (neither too small or big), and therefore scrolling across larger pages, and the smoothness of a tablet is necessary.
I've tried reading PDF's on my Kindle, but it's just so frustrating to navigate around the page. But the iPad is perfect.
I've tried reading PDF's on my Kindle, but it's just so frustrating to navigate around the page. But the iPad is perfect.
There are apps for windows that allow cropping pdfs and/or reflowing. I generally avoid the latter and have found that cropping pdf's almost always works well enough.
Most documents have more than enough margin that the final cropped document is then readable on the RM1. (Eventhough I wear readers I don't like to see microtype). Those same programs can also be used to split two column papers.
RM1 has a built in crop tool but I find it slows things down a bit and it won't work to split a two column layout.
Most documents have more than enough margin that the final cropped document is then readable on the RM1. (Eventhough I wear readers I don't like to see microtype). Those same programs can also be used to split two column papers.
RM1 has a built in crop tool but I find it slows things down a bit and it won't work to split a two column layout.
I just bought an Ipad Pro for this purpose and I love it. I have tons of PDFs open for research and I can annotate super easily.
Plus, I can draw, animate, and watch youtube on the same device. It's been quite nice.
I was going to get the ReMarkable, but am very happy with my Ipad
Plus, I can draw, animate, and watch youtube on the same device. It's been quite nice.
I was going to get the ReMarkable, but am very happy with my Ipad
Which size did you find appropriate for your needs?
It must be heaven for Math teachers and professors. No more mounds of discarded paper. I'm sure they use tablets already, but the look and feel of writing figures on an iPad isn't as nice as epaper.
An iPad with a paper-like screen protector is very close.
This is true, but the paper-like screen protector market is a mess. I spent $40 on the official Paperlike 2, waited a month (preordered), applied it, and it was pretty bad. Not really like paper at all. Then I bought the knockoff-sounding "XIRON Paperfeel" for $15 and it was a vast improvement. Unfortunately they don't make one for the 12.9" iPad Pros with home button.
I've found they chew up the nib on the Apple Pencil as well.
I think that's unavoidable, even on ReMarkable. That's why they sell replacement tips: https://remarkable.com/store/marker-tips
Same with grafic tablets. You can't get around that. Which is okay – normal pencils wear down as well.
Have there been any that solve this problem?
+1. Plus an open access to the web with a choice of browsers is super important too! You can't do all of that with proprietary trash from e-ink––there's nothing good about physical paper (dead-trees) anyway to be promoting your product with.
Well I just got absolutely pipelined by this website. Went from never hearing about it "hmm, what's this link on the top of HN?" to spending $700 on it in about 3 minutes. Good product, great marketing, excellent website, I guess.
I love my reMarkable — got the 1.0 once the price dropped due to 2.0.
e-Ink is a blessing after so much time on screens, and the rudiments make it quite hackable. So I get a device that pretty much CAN'T try to grab my attention, a calm device, and I can modify it to do more if I want.
(For example, since it can OCR and send notes, I've prototyped a little "message queue" on the other end to receive my notes, parse them ["TEXT Jake this is a text"], and do actions.)
I've even produced some custom e-ink maps which look great for no-phone navigation. (Feel free to let me know if that's interesting to you, happy to share an example and how.)
e-Ink is a blessing after so much time on screens, and the rudiments make it quite hackable. So I get a device that pretty much CAN'T try to grab my attention, a calm device, and I can modify it to do more if I want.
(For example, since it can OCR and send notes, I've prototyped a little "message queue" on the other end to receive my notes, parse them ["TEXT Jake this is a text"], and do actions.)
I've even produced some custom e-ink maps which look great for no-phone navigation. (Feel free to let me know if that's interesting to you, happy to share an example and how.)
I've been interested in eink displays and eink readers for a long time. Kindle owner since version 1. But...
Is the ReMarkable really worth $500 ($400 + the $100 pencil which seems like a requirement)? For that amount you're getting a low end iPad which has greatly wider use cases. I understand that for the "paper on pencil" feel an iPad is no where near... but then again you can also just write using real paper and pencil.
Clearly I'm not the target demo, so what are the real target markets?
Is the ReMarkable really worth $500 ($400 + the $100 pencil which seems like a requirement)? For that amount you're getting a low end iPad which has greatly wider use cases. I understand that for the "paper on pencil" feel an iPad is no where near... but then again you can also just write using real paper and pencil.
Clearly I'm not the target demo, so what are the real target markets?
I co-work with an architect who loves his ReMarkable 1. He'll do initial sketches on it, keep meeting notes, read contract docs etc on it, and so on.
It's an ideal "work support" device for what he does, vs an iPad which can do everything _if_ you find a good app, but still won't do those things as well, and is full of distractions like notifications and other anti-productivity cruft.
It's an ideal "work support" device for what he does, vs an iPad which can do everything _if_ you find a good app, but still won't do those things as well, and is full of distractions like notifications and other anti-productivity cruft.
That makes sense. I supposed professions with lots of contracts or similar documents could benefit from "reading and note taking like paper" experience.
To be fair, the iPad is only as anti-productive as you want to make it. The default is distracting, but those notifications can easily be turned off or not installed.
To be fair, the iPad is only as anti-productive as you want to make it. The default is distracting, but those notifications can easily be turned off or not installed.
iPad has a remarkable number of Pro apps for note taking, drawing, architecture, design, and so on. There are screen protectors that try to create the paper feeling for the screen. I love my Apple for drawing and note taking
I recently bought an Onyx Boox Android tablet with eInk screen for $340. It comes with a Wacom stylus included which feels kinda cheap (it's plastic) but works better than any other stylus I've owned before (and it has a proper eraser on back which reMarkable charges extra for).
I think the main draw for the Onyx over a reMarkable is that you get access to full fat Android and all the apps in the Google Play store. An iPad still provides more functionality since it can watch videos and take pictures (my tablet has no webcam, speakers, etc.), but for reading (books, web, HN, Reddit, webcomics, etc.) the eInk screen is just so much nicer.
I also run the Android version of Microsoft Office and use it with a Bluetooth keyboard as a typewriter.
I think the main draw for the Onyx over a reMarkable is that you get access to full fat Android and all the apps in the Google Play store. An iPad still provides more functionality since it can watch videos and take pictures (my tablet has no webcam, speakers, etc.), but for reading (books, web, HN, Reddit, webcomics, etc.) the eInk screen is just so much nicer.
I also run the Android version of Microsoft Office and use it with a Bluetooth keyboard as a typewriter.
Did you get the Nova or Kontiki. I can't figure out the difference
I got the Nova 2.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B085NQV3NF/
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B085NQV3NF/
10,000 sketches/scratch papers/PDFs in your hand.
Bigger than a Kindle, syncs with phone/laptop, doesn't feel like screen time.
For me it replaced a small whiteboard, printer paper, planner, and sketchpads.
If you do storyboarding, wireframing, process mapping, planning, or frequent note taking, it's brilliant.
To my knowledge, it's the best thinking tool available.
Edit: it's also brilliant for meeting notes.
Also, anything backlit is a non-starter for me. Too much screen time and I love working outside.
Bigger than a Kindle, syncs with phone/laptop, doesn't feel like screen time.
For me it replaced a small whiteboard, printer paper, planner, and sketchpads.
If you do storyboarding, wireframing, process mapping, planning, or frequent note taking, it's brilliant.
To my knowledge, it's the best thinking tool available.
Edit: it's also brilliant for meeting notes.
Also, anything backlit is a non-starter for me. Too much screen time and I love working outside.
Yeah, every time I see the ReMarkable anywhere I'm like "I'd love to have one of these." and I go look at their website and it's $600 and I realize I already own a kindle and a paper notebook and never buy one.
I'm sure it's great, but for something sold as, as far as I can tell, a notebook replacement, it's... a little crazy it seems? Like, no amount of better is gonna be $570 better than my paper notebook.
I'm sure it's great, but for something sold as, as far as I can tell, a notebook replacement, it's... a little crazy it seems? Like, no amount of better is gonna be $570 better than my paper notebook.
Can your paper notebook read PDF’s?
No but the kindle I picked up for $30 can and, from the sounds of it, better. Is the ReMarkable $540 better than a kindle and a notebook?
If I really need to annotate PDFs, is the ReMarkable really $600 better than the tablets they're literally giving away for free these days?
If I really need to run arbitrary software on something that I can also use to read and annotate PDFs, is the ReMarkable really competitive against an entire Core i5 laptop with a touchscreen and stylus?
Yes, the ReMarkable has a one of a kind writing experience. I'm not arguing it's not better in certain aspects than the alternatives. But the premium here seems absolutely nuts.
If I really need to annotate PDFs, is the ReMarkable really $600 better than the tablets they're literally giving away for free these days?
If I really need to run arbitrary software on something that I can also use to read and annotate PDFs, is the ReMarkable really competitive against an entire Core i5 laptop with a touchscreen and stylus?
Yes, the ReMarkable has a one of a kind writing experience. I'm not arguing it's not better in certain aspects than the alternatives. But the premium here seems absolutely nuts.
> For that amount you're getting a low end iPad which has greatly wider use cases.
If you like to read outside in the sun, then an iPad is not an option. This is where eInk shines, in my opinion. I have a Kindle and it’s so enjoyable to read on in full sunlight. Exactly the opposite of an iPad (or any light-emitting display for that matter).
If you like to read outside in the sun, then an iPad is not an option. This is where eInk shines, in my opinion. I have a Kindle and it’s so enjoyable to read on in full sunlight. Exactly the opposite of an iPad (or any light-emitting display for that matter).
You should see the crazy Psion devices my dad used to spend £500 on in the 90s. There's a market
FWIW, I put a PaperLike brand screen cover on my ipad and it is eerily similar to paper when using the apple pen.
But no mention and video evidence of the pen input lag and precision, which is what's supposed to set this apart from other eink display solutions. The 1 has some lag, just enough to still be a nuisance: did the 2 fix that?
I have the 2 right here and it's better than the first. There's still a perceptible lag (that is, it isn't imperceptible) but it's better than anything else out there including other eink devices (I also have a Boox here that I compared it to, and the Sony DPT before it).
In terms of latency, I have trouble believing it's better than the newer iPad Pros (120Hz screen, 240Hz pencil scan).
I have an iPad Pro and the deal breaker is using the pencil over glass.
I wouldn't mind a little latency if they get the paper feel right.
I wouldn't mind a little latency if they get the paper feel right.
I have an iPad pro 11" (the last gen) and it's in par with professional drawing tablets from Wacom in terms of feel on glass, and that's solveable with a $15 screen protector.
It also has access to procreate or Adobe fresco if you're still up to getting abused by Adobe as opposed to whatever remarkable can come up with. It seems odd to be coming down on the iPad pro for drawing/writing - it's a lot of money but the experience is on par with much more expensive Wacom devices.
It also has access to procreate or Adobe fresco if you're still up to getting abused by Adobe as opposed to whatever remarkable can come up with. It seems odd to be coming down on the iPad pro for drawing/writing - it's a lot of money but the experience is on par with much more expensive Wacom devices.
Yeah but it's also a locked ecosystem, so no thanks. The nice thing about a device like this is that it's purpose built: it can basically do one thing, and claims it does it well.
An ipad is a walled garden of expensive hardware and software that does everything, at a high price. Those are completely different worlds, and if we're talking "it costs a lot of dollars", I already own a universal tablet monitor. I don't need something that does less and costs more.
An ipad is a walled garden of expensive hardware and software that does everything, at a high price. Those are completely different worlds, and if we're talking "it costs a lot of dollars", I already own a universal tablet monitor. I don't need something that does less and costs more.
Couldn't the paper feel be solved by a simple screen overlay on an iPad? Something thin enough to give the texture? Almost like an anti-glare screen protector. I'll admit, the pencil on glass just doesn't feel right. I'd rather some perceptible drag/friction. It also helps me reduce errors as my drawing and writing styles are abysmal so I need something to keep some traction.
I have Sony's Digital Paper. It is beyond awesome. I notice no lag while writing, and yes it does feel like writing on paper. Is there some way maybe you can measure the difference in what you are observing, lag-wise? Lag has never been an issue I even perceive with Digital Paper. It 'just works'.
I had the DPT too and the remarkable 1 was noticeably better, and the 2 is noticeably better than the 1. I put some gifs in this article but it's really easier to feel than see.
https://techcrunch.com/2017/10/05/sony-and-remarkables-dueli...
https://techcrunch.com/2017/10/05/sony-and-remarkables-dueli...
generally the approach is to point a camera at it and record yourself under real world conditions writing and drawing. For instance, if a fast stroke starts to show up by the time you're already done drawing it, that's problematic latency, even if you personally don't notice.
would you be willing to actually point a camera at your device and show what the latency and precision is while writing and drawing? So far I haven't found a single device that doesn't start showing a fast stroke on the screen before I'm already done drawing it.
Just to confirm, when you say, "better than anything else out there," that includes the latest generation of iPad Pro with Apple Pencil 2, correct?
Of course not. That wouldn't be an apple-to-apple comparison.
In what way? I find the lag on the iPad to be annoying enough that I've never bothered with it. I've never found any of the E-Ink devices to come close enough to paper to make me consider giving up paper notebooks - Though it's been about 3 years since I last checked them out.
Have you tried the current generation of iPad Pro? They claim a 9ms lag, and coupled with their technology for up-rezzing refresh rate and touch sensitivity when using the Pencil, it's quite a substantial improvement in experience.
That being said, the iPad Pro is clearly a high-end general-purpose device, with a price to match. The device that fits our pocketbook is always superior to the device that is amazing, but remains in a box in the manufacturer's shop because we can't justify the price.
That being said, the iPad Pro is clearly a high-end general-purpose device, with a price to match. The device that fits our pocketbook is always superior to the device that is amazing, but remains in a box in the manufacturer's shop because we can't justify the price.
It's better than any e-ink device for sure and it's competitive with the iPad Pro. I think the latter now has somewhere around 15-20ms of lag? So it's close.
But honestly they're different devices. Similar in many ways of course but different too. I don't think it's really apples to apples.
But honestly they're different devices. Similar in many ways of course but different too. I don't think it's really apples to apples.
IpadOS cut pencil latency to 9ms.
That number was calculated by taking a high-speed camera and watching how long it took the line to catch up with the pencil. They cheat on the metric by juicing up the prediction. You can see this by flicking the pencil and then picking it up -- the line will go farther than you intended. And if you change directions, the line will take more than 9ms to catch up with you.
Do you normally draw or write by flicking the pencil? Prediction that increases the speed usefully is not cheating
Apple are cheating the 9ms lag measurement the way speculative execution and aggressive cache population are cheating performance benchmarks.
In general, this point makes me think of computational photography. If you have extra computing power, you can do things that are synthetic, but nevertheless real enough to deliver satisfaction, in real time.
In general, this point makes me think of computational photography. If you have extra computing power, you can do things that are synthetic, but nevertheless real enough to deliver satisfaction, in real time.
Is iPad Pro an e-ink device?
The iPad Pro is not an e-Ink device, however since the OP was speaking of it being better than anything else out there _including other eink devices_, I wanted to confirm that "anything else" refers to devices like the current generation of iPad Pro.
[deleted]
Looks like there is an Engadget review from earlier today: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jVhTtl2iPkg
Immediate red flags: all the actual drawing/writing shots have the pen move unrealistically slowly. Real people write fast, and draw fast. And then we we DO see normal paced drawing, it's either sped up, or obscured with a tactical camera angle. What the hell is this video?
A Youtuber made a Lego robot that moves a pen at a constant speed and took 480fps video of it. He says the 1 had a latency of 54ms and the 2 has its advertised 21ms.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wpwbVwfWIKE&t=17m53s
About precision, I'm not really sure. There's a bunch of writing footage in this video, which might have what you're looking for: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9wudCMFWPQ&t=8m10s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wpwbVwfWIKE&t=17m53s
About precision, I'm not really sure. There's a bunch of writing footage in this video, which might have what you're looking for: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9wudCMFWPQ&t=8m10s
See https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24300982 for how that video is the poster child of "very intentionally making it impossible to actually determine real life lag".
I have RM1 and though I don't do a ton of sketching, I do annotate papers. Never felt there was lag in anything other than perhaps erasing, but I'm not a speed writer either.
Yes, apparently it only has a latency of 21ms
21ms sounds really low, which is good of course.
But as humans, would we notice 21ms lag while writing even if we paid close attention?
But as humans, would we notice 21ms lag while writing even if we paid close attention?
You would definitely notice a 21ms lag while writing. Ideally you want to get below 10ms, but for physical-object-like responsiveness 1ms is the standard. See this old video from Microsoft research which demonstrates
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOvQCPLkPt4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOvQCPLkPt4
I just watched the video and maybe I missed it but doesn't that mean that in order to have 1ms latency you'd have to have a screen refresh rate of 1000 frames per second? That seems like it would cause serious cost increases for displays, controllers, and graphics cards.
If it helps, you just have to refresh the (very small number of) pixels under pressure, and only at such a high right for a brief moment while they are being pressed.
I wonder if you could have a separate layer which physically (chemically) responded to the pressure to make it look like the screen was drawing your line, but which only lasted for about 50ms after the pressure is removed.
This chemical layer would be visible for just enough time for the real eInk pixels to actually refresh underneath the "pressure mask".
I wonder if you could have a separate layer which physically (chemically) responded to the pressure to make it look like the screen was drawing your line, but which only lasted for about 50ms after the pressure is removed.
This chemical layer would be visible for just enough time for the real eInk pixels to actually refresh underneath the "pressure mask".
re: setr
> You'd be stuck with essentially one "material" though -- eg color or brush or whatever -- but I could see its utility as a dedicated single-purpose device (like only intended for sketching/notes -- which I guess is mostly true of remarkable anyways)
I'd be curious about human perception of color matching/etc at the <50ms level - I'd suspect if you had _something_ that then became the actual color/brush, our visual system would probably just backfill to say it'd always been that color/texture.
> You'd be stuck with essentially one "material" though -- eg color or brush or whatever -- but I could see its utility as a dedicated single-purpose device (like only intended for sketching/notes -- which I guess is mostly true of remarkable anyways)
I'd be curious about human perception of color matching/etc at the <50ms level - I'd suspect if you had _something_ that then became the actual color/brush, our visual system would probably just backfill to say it'd always been that color/texture.
You'd be stuck with essentially one "material" though -- eg color or brush or whatever -- but I could see its utility as a dedicated single-purpose device (like only intended for sketching/notes -- which I guess is mostly true of remarkable anyways)
The 10ms demo is almost as good and much easier to accomplish, requiring only 100 fps instead of 1000. Actually you would need more than 1k fps - suppose it takes 0.5 ms for the touch sensors and CPU processing and graphics updates; then half the time after a touch you would miss the frame and have to wait 1 ms for the next display update.
To me 1ms doesn't seem worth it given the diminishing returns. Something like 5-10 would be way easier to do.
To me 1ms doesn't seem worth it given the diminishing returns. Something like 5-10 would be way easier to do.
Most devices these days actually heavily extrapolate, continuing drawing the line where they think you're going to draw it even before they've actually sensed where you drawed it. The effect is rather easy to see on a Surface Pro, but it actually works pretty well.
You can cheat, Samsung was just bragging about this earlier in August when they showed off the new Note and smart pen. They used AI to predict where the user was likely to move the pen next to cut the perceived latency even further, some really clever stuff.
The original Apple Pencil and first generation of iPad Pro boasted of a 20ms lag. That was considered impressive, but perceptible if you look at your writing carefully.
I found it fine for note-taking, but lots of people would still notice the latency, especially those using creative tools where there is a strong feedback loop between what you see and what you draw.
They are now claiming 9ms lag. I suspect this is imperceptible for the use case of note-taking and marking up PDF documents (e.g. highlighting, making notes in the margin).
But then again, 20ms is going to be more than fine for that use case as well.
I found it fine for note-taking, but lots of people would still notice the latency, especially those using creative tools where there is a strong feedback loop between what you see and what you draw.
They are now claiming 9ms lag. I suspect this is imperceptible for the use case of note-taking and marking up PDF documents (e.g. highlighting, making notes in the margin).
But then again, 20ms is going to be more than fine for that use case as well.
I think you have to get below 10ms for humans to be unable to notice. Drawing is a worst case scenario for exposing screen latency; it's hard to match reality's 0ms and a pen with a fine tip doesn't help hide any of it like a comparatively chunky finger does. That said, 40ms -> 21ms is a really big improvement which could make the experience go from awkward to quite usable.
I can absolutely tell the difference between an early iPad Pro (20ms) and later (9ms), when using a pencil. With the lower, it feels more like paper, like color is coming out of the pencil.
"Close"? Anything over 3~4ms starts to be noticable, and anything over 10ms is "clearly" noticable for folks who expect the response of a pencil on paper.
That's not an "only", that's still at least twice what it needs to be to cross the uncanny valley of input latency.
The display is marketed as twice as fast as the 1
I'd guess that this is a much better experience for left handers than right.
I'm fairly certain the RM2 will have both left and righ handed modes changable in settings.
I meant that as a lefty I'm used to my view of what I'm writing being obscured. I think a left hander is less likely to notice or be annoyed by the latency.
It does, it shares the settings with rM 1
[deleted]
Is anyone else excited purely on the basis that this isn't a hardware product from Apple, Google, Samsung, Amazon or some other large company?
I know little about it, but it looks great too.
I know little about it, but it looks great too.
Scares me too - wouldn't wanna drop hundreds of dollars on a thing with limited functionality (esp I/O) that might go out of business.
You have root on it, you can always customize it (even fully replacing the OS) instead of using the vendor software.
But limited functionality is kinda the whole point. No distractions and all that.
But limited functionality is kinda the whole point. No distractions and all that.
Definitely a bet. But as a user, and observer of the org, I would buy equity. Who knows what the future brings but they have been doing all the right things and...the gut likes them.
Cheers.
Cheers.
It being a smaller company has its risks for sure. But having the product be their sole focus, rather than it being one among a hundred products of a large company that's ready to throw it away at any time, that too has its advantages - a lesson many of us have learnt the hard way.
Would anyone here be interested in a eink phone running something like WebOS optimized for eink displays? I really feel WebOS was too early and PWAs make the barrier to entry much lower for a WebOS-like device.
I tried making an e-ink phone a few years back with some friends. E-ink was tough, refresh rate didn't quite work for a phone with text messaging etc. Decided to use Sharp's memory LCD, that was better but it was cost-prohibitive for a mass market phone and difficult to develop on.
E-ink has become cheaper and more responsive since we gave it a shot, glad to see companies like Mudita trying to bring something like this to life. https://mudita.com/
E-ink has become cheaper and more responsive since we gave it a shot, glad to see companies like Mudita trying to bring something like this to life. https://mudita.com/
Yes, but would prefer PostmarketOS or other pure Linux smartphone OS and there are couple of e-Ink phones out there running android apart from the YotaPhone.
[1]https://www.gizmochina.com/2019/10/24/hisense-a5-with-an-e-i...
[2]https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/kingrow-k1-the-healthy-ph...
[1]https://www.gizmochina.com/2019/10/24/hisense-a5-with-an-e-i...
[2]https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/kingrow-k1-the-healthy-ph...
There's a company called Yota that made YotaPhone, an Android phone with a normal screen on the front and an e-ink screen on the back. Very cool concept, but it was poorly executed. The last version was released in 2017, and the company went bankrupt in 2019.
Yota the carrier is still going strong though. I would've noticed if it went bankrupt because that would've left me with no service. You meant Yota Devices.
There have been many attempts to find the right phone interface for eink displays. So far, I like the Light Phone 2 the best; it runs a version of Android that's totally stripped down to have a streamlined set of features that work well on eink.
https://www.thelightphone.com/
https://www.thelightphone.com/
Definitely. It would need a lot of custom software though. I’d be happy with maps, podcasts, email, browser plus the usual dumb phone features but I think everyone has a different set of essentials and you just need brand new UX and UI to make things legible in 2 colors and the slow refresh rate.
I would buy a Light Phone[1] if it came with a camera. A few other features like voice memos, google translate, and wikipedia previews would be nice.
https://www.thelightphone.com/
https://www.thelightphone.com/
I would gladly trade a single-digit screen refresh for a week of battery life... and then I would trade back a couple of days of battery for an extra on-demand screen for videos :/
I'd love to see an eInk display on the exterior of a clamshell like the Razr or Samsung Z-Flip/Fold. It'd be perfect for always-on notifications.
I don't think eink makes much sense on a phone especially if your phone is also your camera.
Even if you aren't using it as a camera, eink displays aren't great for content that needs to be updated frequently. Aside from the slow refresh, they physically wear out relatively quickly.
Even if you aren't using it as a camera, eink displays aren't great for content that needs to be updated frequently. Aside from the slow refresh, they physically wear out relatively quickly.
They do? My 7 year old kindle still seems to work just fine
Right, because the Kindle refreshes when you turn the page or use the menus. That would be a refresh every 30 seconds or so while you are using it.
If you are using it as a primary display on a phone showing dynamic content, you are going to be refreshing it as quickly as you can the entire time you are using it. I think modern low end panels can maintain about 7 fps or a refresh every 0.15 seconds. That's a two order of magnitude difference.
If you are using it as a primary display on a phone showing dynamic content, you are going to be refreshing it as quickly as you can the entire time you are using it. I think modern low end panels can maintain about 7 fps or a refresh every 0.15 seconds. That's a two order of magnitude difference.
I have never seen or heard of an epaper display wearing out but I don't know of anyone who has tested. I'm tempted to grab one of my spare screens and just hook it up to an arduino to constantly refresh it.
The e-ink corporation has some lifespan information in their datasheets. For example, their Pearl screen is listed as having a life of 10 million refreshes. If you are updating more than once per second when in use, you will use that up in a year or two.
Absolutely, as long as there was a maps app with traffic updates.
How good is a ReMarkable as an ebook reader? I don't care that much about the writing, but having a large size ebook reader that can display A4 pdfs in acceptable quality would be a game changer for me...
Not sure about normal ebooks, but it's been a fantastic tool for getting through IETF RFCs.
No distractions, easy on the eyes. Would be nice if the contrast were even better for low light environments. Maybe this 2.0 would do it.
I seem to have lost my pen though, so I'm not sure what I'll do for any annotation now.
No distractions, easy on the eyes. Would be nice if the contrast were even better for low light environments. Maybe this 2.0 would do it.
I seem to have lost my pen though, so I'm not sure what I'll do for any annotation now.
I second RFC, I've implemented plenty of them while scribbling over them on the RM1. Also great to quickly show a colleague something on a page.
But, the eBook (as in published books) experience is pretty bad compared to basically anything. What even the RM2 does is just load the epub/pdf into the editing buffer and other than somewhat faster navigation and a hidden menu, it's not good at all for consumption.
But, the eBook (as in published books) experience is pretty bad compared to basically anything. What even the RM2 does is just load the epub/pdf into the editing buffer and other than somewhat faster navigation and a hidden menu, it's not good at all for consumption.
That's disappointing, I'd love it to be a great e-book reader, I want to love it...
If they could just side load the Kindle or kobo app I'd buy it in a second. For now, I'll keep reading ebooks on my phone.
If they could just side load the Kindle or kobo app I'd buy it in a second. For now, I'll keep reading ebooks on my phone.
[deleted]
knew they had to skimp somewhere to bring the costs down, predictably, they went with software.
I'm curious, what format do you consume IETF RFCs in?
I personally get the PDFs, sometimes links work.
PDFs are also a bit friendly for annotation, at least in my experience with GoodReader on the ipad.
PDFs are also a bit friendly for annotation, at least in my experience with GoodReader on the ipad.
They sell replacement pens.
It sounds pretty basic from what other commenters are saying, but you can install koreader, which is outstanding (and also supports PDF, DjVu, XPS, CBZ, FB2, PDB, TXT, HTML, RTF, CHM, EPUB, DOC, MOBI):
https://github.com/koreader/koreader
https://github.com/koreader/koreader
It doesn't support any of the proprietary ebook formats, but it does display PDFs wonderfully and I use mine often this way.
I also export trip itineraries, lists, project files and so on to PDF and keep them on my ReMarkable. It's handy for that.
I also export trip itineraries, lists, project files and so on to PDF and keep them on my ReMarkable. It's handy for that.
Does it support epub?
I remembered having trouble with this previously, so I just tried it again.
It "supports" epub in that I can load a DRM-free epub file onto it and then view it on the device, but it's not formatted well. The default font is unnecessarily large, some italicized text isn't being italicized, icons and other images are missing, and other layout elements aren't being rendered (sidebars for instance). This could be a problem with this specific file, but the PDF version renders fine and I think this might be the same trouble I was having with another epub file.
It "supports" epub in that I can load a DRM-free epub file onto it and then view it on the device, but it's not formatted well. The default font is unnecessarily large, some italicized text isn't being italicized, icons and other images are missing, and other layout elements aren't being rendered (sidebars for instance). This could be a problem with this specific file, but the PDF version renders fine and I think this might be the same trouble I was having with another epub file.
Their website suggests yes:
> The reMarkable paper tablet supports the open ebook format EPUB without DRM, a format available with many ebook retailers.
> Some ebooks are DRM-protected (Digital Rights Management), which the reMarkable does not support at this time.
> The Amazon Kindle ecosystem is not open to third parties, so you can't read Kindle books directly on the reMarkable.
https://support.remarkable.com/hc/en-us/articles/36000265873...
> The reMarkable paper tablet supports the open ebook format EPUB without DRM, a format available with many ebook retailers.
> Some ebooks are DRM-protected (Digital Rights Management), which the reMarkable does not support at this time.
> The Amazon Kindle ecosystem is not open to third parties, so you can't read Kindle books directly on the reMarkable.
https://support.remarkable.com/hc/en-us/articles/36000265873...
[deleted]
apparently yes, as long as there's no DRM
https://support.remarkable.com/hc/en-us/articles/36000265873...
https://support.remarkable.com/hc/en-us/articles/36000265873...
It's great at PDFs. Looks good, and you can mark them up easily and the changes sync back to the app, where you can export them or whatever.
It reads epubs and rtfs, but not mobi or lit or a few others. Its text handling and formatting aren't great but they're working on it. If I was reading a novel I'd stick with an ereader but if I had 20 research papers to go through it's the remarkable by a long shot.
It reads epubs and rtfs, but not mobi or lit or a few others. Its text handling and formatting aren't great but they're working on it. If I was reading a novel I'd stick with an ereader but if I had 20 research papers to go through it's the remarkable by a long shot.
Same question, but for sheet music... Would be amazing to hook this up to a pedal to turn pages, or some even more advanced MIDI-USB solution...
It speaks usb-c and it runs a fairly unlocked embedded linux if I'm well informed. You'd probably get lucky hooking it up to a page turn pedal...
If I weren't such a cheapskate, or if there were a budget for these kind of things where I teach the guitar, I'd probably experiment with this for teaching...
If I weren't such a cheapskate, or if there were a budget for these kind of things where I teach the guitar, I'd probably experiment with this for teaching...
I have the current version, and between my Kindle and iPad Pro and spending 10 hours per day in front of my laptop I don't use it as much.
However, there is no better device on this planet for reading long-form PDF documents, research papers, or scans of textbooks. It wins. I wish the annotations were more useful (they're sort of kept a separate layer) but the reading experience is great.
Andy Matuschak has some good notes on the current version here too:
https://notes.andymatuschak.org/reMarkable
However, there is no better device on this planet for reading long-form PDF documents, research papers, or scans of textbooks. It wins. I wish the annotations were more useful (they're sort of kept a separate layer) but the reading experience is great.
Andy Matuschak has some good notes on the current version here too:
https://notes.andymatuschak.org/reMarkable
What features does the Kindle have that make you use it more than the ReMarkable?
For ebooks specifically (not PDFs) I find the Kindle is lighter and has a number of nice features like the built-in dictionary and Amazon's X-ray view making it much more comfortable.
Regarding the claim that it feels more like paper than the first version, the Engadget reviewer felt otherwise:
>The company says it used a new textured resin layer on top of the glass to make writing on the reMarkable 2 feel more like writing on paper, which I don't buy. If anything, the original reMarkable's screen had a more pronounced, paper-like grittiness that doesn't come through here. That's hardly a dealbreaker, though, because writing on the r2 still feels absolutely fantastic, I think this one strikes a better balance of tactility and flow. [0]
[0] https://www.engadget.com/remarkable-2-tablet-e-ink-hands-on-...
>The company says it used a new textured resin layer on top of the glass to make writing on the reMarkable 2 feel more like writing on paper, which I don't buy. If anything, the original reMarkable's screen had a more pronounced, paper-like grittiness that doesn't come through here. That's hardly a dealbreaker, though, because writing on the r2 still feels absolutely fantastic, I think this one strikes a better balance of tactility and flow. [0]
[0] https://www.engadget.com/remarkable-2-tablet-e-ink-hands-on-...
This looks so nice, and I've been desperate for years for a great, fast-refreshing e-ink device and/or monitor, but the closed ecosystem is so disappointing. Their 'avoid distractions' marketing is fine and good, but locking down the device makes it a non-starter for me. At the very least I'd need a feed reader I can use (without some workaround where I send stuff through the "remarkable cloud").
Am I reading things correctly that the only external interface to the device is through their cloud tool?
Am I reading things correctly that the only external interface to the device is through their cloud tool?
Yes you can log in and run code. There is a proprietary driver for the fast screen refresh but everything else is open.
The top comment suggests the device is open: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24295820
Oh nice, very glad to be wrong! I'll have to do some closer reading.
There's a fairly healthy dev community around it too fwiw, e.g. a bunch of linked projects here: https://github.com/reHackable/awesome-reMarkable
e-reader app ports, screen mirroring, full OS replacements, etc. It's a relatively niche device so of course there are significant gaps in what's available, but it's active and the depth is fairly impressive.
e-reader app ports, screen mirroring, full OS replacements, etc. It's a relatively niche device so of course there are significant gaps in what's available, but it's active and the depth is fairly impressive.
>This looks so nice, and I've been desperate for years for a great, fast-refreshing e-ink device and/or monitor,
Unfortunately, the e-ink monitor space has still just two major players - Dasung/Onyx and there is a need gap for 'Affordable E-Ink large external displays'[1]. I hope that these newer e-Ink tablet/reader makers graduate soon to make large external monitors, but then again I've been hoping that for past several years.
[1]https://needgap.com/problems/43-affordable-e-ink-large-exter...
Unfortunately, the e-ink monitor space has still just two major players - Dasung/Onyx and there is a need gap for 'Affordable E-Ink large external displays'[1]. I hope that these newer e-Ink tablet/reader makers graduate soon to make large external monitors, but then again I've been hoping that for past several years.
[1]https://needgap.com/problems/43-affordable-e-ink-large-exter...
I showed this to my friends at work and one of them replied that she used a Rocketbook throughout grad school, suggested I check that out as a way of upgrading my note taking. Their products look very different from this but they’re also a fraction of the price with similar value proposition where basic note-taking is concerned. Anyone have any experience with them? This is a field I know nothing about.
https://getrocketbook.com/products/rocketbook-core?variant=3...
Regarding the reMarkable, I’d probably be open to it if reviews indicated it was a premium eReader in addition to everything else.
https://getrocketbook.com/products/rocketbook-core?variant=3...
Regarding the reMarkable, I’d probably be open to it if reviews indicated it was a premium eReader in addition to everything else.
Beyond the obvious differences to a tablet like the iPad, an interesting fact about the reMarkable is, that you can just ssh into the device to do your data exchange. Syncing documents should be as easy as writing some scripts on your PC. Which should appeal especially to Linux users.
I like my ReMarkable 1. I want to love it...but I'm not quite there yet. The company keeps focusing on improving the note-taking and drawing aspect of the device (which is awesome now!) but they haven't improved the reading experience to nearly the same degree. Reading eBooks, PDFs, etc is an acceptable experience, but there are many UX improvements they could make.
That said, they have been releasing updates for years and improving the experience. The writing experience is by far the best of any tablet I've ever personally used. It does feel like writing on paper. The 2.0 looks really slick.
Finally, the hackability of the device is awesome. You can SSH to it without having to enable any special settings, and start messing around with stuff right away.
That said, they have been releasing updates for years and improving the experience. The writing experience is by far the best of any tablet I've ever personally used. It does feel like writing on paper. The 2.0 looks really slick.
Finally, the hackability of the device is awesome. You can SSH to it without having to enable any special settings, and start messing around with stuff right away.
I'm glad is in the front page. I own the first version and I'm quite happy and use it massively. I use it to read and annotate papers and technical books. This is for me what keeps it from perfection:
- Bigger screen would be great for my use case
- Software. As have been said repeatedly here the tablet is open. This is true in the sense that in order to comply with the GPL3 it's very easy to SSH to the tablet which runs Linux. This is awesome. However I think a little more support to developers would be great in the form of documentation instead of reverse engineering. Lot's of people think of ways of improving the software and this would make it much easier and better for end users (for example better file transfer, more file formats... in a reliable way)
Edit: formatting
- Bigger screen would be great for my use case
- Software. As have been said repeatedly here the tablet is open. This is true in the sense that in order to comply with the GPL3 it's very easy to SSH to the tablet which runs Linux. This is awesome. However I think a little more support to developers would be great in the form of documentation instead of reverse engineering. Lot's of people think of ways of improving the software and this would make it much easier and better for end users (for example better file transfer, more file formats... in a reliable way)
Edit: formatting
Remarkable haven't yet delivered the 2.0 device. Let's first see when it appears on the market. I has been delayed twice so far. So far it's in "pre-order" mode.
They have had two delays so far, and both of them were announced literally days before the "expected" shipping deadline. They are checking many checkboxes on my "likely vaporware" checklist.
The only thing they have in their favor is that they shipped v1 succesfully.
The only thing they have in their favor is that they shipped v1 succesfully.
Ohh, ok that explains why my March order has not shipped. I sort of expected that... but given that they did ship RM1 I was hoping for quicker delivery.
Definitely one of those 'cool product, and I'll be happy to buy it when it ships, but am declining to preorder' scenarios.
I love my remarkable 1 but don’t use it very much because I don’t want to be tethered to yet another company’s cloud, and I want document syncing not to require another app or website. I won’t buy a R2 until they add support for one of the big cloud storage providers like Dropbox or OneDrive or gDrive or something.
The device itself is great; the OS is a little slow and takes a little getting used to navigate; recent updates made it better. The tactile feel is great.
The device itself is great; the OS is a little slow and takes a little getting used to navigate; recent updates made it better. The tactile feel is great.
As the top comment mentions the remarkable runs embedded Linux, it would be pretty simple to make your own syncing software and there’s likely alternative open source programs already made to do exactly what you want
Most people don't want to have to ssh in and hack some solution together that probably doesn't work well or would take a load of your time. They just want a setting screen with a list of cloud services so they can log in to the one they want.
This reminds me of the top comment on the original HN launch for Dropbox
Note that they're a bit behind on order processing due to covid-19. I bought one a few months ago and it's scheduled to be delivered in October. If you buy one today, it's scheduled for November delivery.
It happens every single time. I like a product and want to order and it doesn't get shipped to India. Frustrating!
It's a shame indeed. Then again we are a pretty small market with arbitrary customs screening at border.
I usually ask one of my friends to get similar products when they visit India but with the pandemic, it doesn't look like it'll happen for a year.
I usually ask one of my friends to get similar products when they visit India but with the pandemic, it doesn't look like it'll happen for a year.
For owners of this (or v1) who are also using a GNU/Linux as their primary desktop - how's the workflow?
I note that you can sync files easily enough -- but I'm curious on what the interop experience is like for people that don't use Microsoft Windows or Apple OSX. Syncing, updating, making notes & squiggles changes off-device and sending it back, etc.
I note that you can sync files easily enough -- but I'm curious on what the interop experience is like for people that don't use Microsoft Windows or Apple OSX. Syncing, updating, making notes & squiggles changes off-device and sending it back, etc.
Here you go, save yourself $590
https://www.amazon.com/Cimetech-Electronic-Scribble-Erasable...
You're welcome.
https://www.amazon.com/Cimetech-Electronic-Scribble-Erasable...
You're welcome.
If only you can download the image, it would be perfect for my use. Does anyone have a suggestion for such a device? All I want is an inexpensive device that can digitize what I write to replace my pile of notebooks. Doesn't need to erase, or display PDFs, or browse the web, or perform OCR.
you could just take a photo with your phone?
there are some smart pens that do what you're asking for - https://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/best-smart-pens/
there are some smart pens that do what you're asking for - https://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/best-smart-pens/
I have a similar device and while it's good for quick scribbling, it's really frustrating that you can't erase. The only option is to clear the whole screen. Still nice for quick whiteboarding though
newer models have erasing, still similar price
I have the first version, and I really like it. The experience of writing on a textured e-Ink display is completely different than trying to do the same thing on smooth glass. (iPad Pro/Apple Pencil)
How does it compare to writing on paper?
It’s not quite as good, but for me it falls into the “good enough/pretty good” category. I write quickly so for me latency is very important; the latency on version one is pretty good, and so if they’ve improved that on version two, even better.
It's a shame it is biased toward right handed users. And no, flipping it over leaves you with a narrow bezel on the bottom. Will not buy.
I'm not sure how useful it is, but they do have a left-handed mode: https://support.remarkable.com/hc/en-us/articles/36000687545...
As a left handed person that's the first thing I've noticed.
This is the only reason I'm not buying it either.
Just finished watching a review:
- no USB disk mode to download your notes
- 8 GB storage (of which about 6 are available)
- any Linux support seems to be nebulous/unofficial, especially because of point 1
- no search feature
- no backlight
- no landscape mode
Personally I've cancelled my pre-order, not worth the 450 GBP in my opinion.
- no USB disk mode to download your notes
- 8 GB storage (of which about 6 are available)
- any Linux support seems to be nebulous/unofficial, especially because of point 1
- no search feature
- no backlight
- no landscape mode
Personally I've cancelled my pre-order, not worth the 450 GBP in my opinion.
> - no USB disk mode to download your notes
The website is very unclear about the I/O options of the device, which I don't get at all, that's clearly one of the most important things about it; I'm not writing stuff down for the bin after all.
How do I get stuff off it? Is OCR done on the device? What formats does it support? etc. etc.
It says it has USB-C "for file transfers", but then also "Sync notes and documents via Wi-Fi only", wayyyy down below it says "PDF and ePUB", but obviously when I'm taking notes I'm not generally interested in a PDF, because that works with _zero_ of my workflows.
Their opener is strong; it's an obviously interesting product. Yet everything else is unspecific fluff that wastes my time and only irks me by being vague or silent about core functional aspects of the product.
The website is very unclear about the I/O options of the device, which I don't get at all, that's clearly one of the most important things about it; I'm not writing stuff down for the bin after all.
How do I get stuff off it? Is OCR done on the device? What formats does it support? etc. etc.
It says it has USB-C "for file transfers", but then also "Sync notes and documents via Wi-Fi only", wayyyy down below it says "PDF and ePUB", but obviously when I'm taking notes I'm not generally interested in a PDF, because that works with _zero_ of my workflows.
Their opener is strong; it's an obviously interesting product. Yet everything else is unspecific fluff that wastes my time and only irks me by being vague or silent about core functional aspects of the product.
The original RM (and all signs point towards the RM2 being the same) had direct root ssh access via a virtual network device on the USB port. This could be used to SCP backup the notebooks, add custom executables, etc.
I understand why they don't list it in their marketing materials - it isn't intended as a polished experience and is more of a "hacker" option. The CTO of Remarkable is a KDE dev though, so there are a lot of subtle niceties you wouldn't expect like a full toolchain and bootloader available on their github.
I am deeply disappointed in the general progress in this field. I had the CrossPad so long ago, you see. What the CrossPad could do was drawing on a piece of paper (any paper, this was not one of this magical dot things) and transfer the strokes in a vector format to the computer. What the ReMarkable can do is the ... same except the paper step is skipped and now you draw on a screen. But you still can't do anything remarkable ;) on the device with your strokes. It's clear from https://support.remarkable.com/hc/en-us/articles/36000266143... OCR is not on device because you need to be on wifi and logged in. Hurrah for twenty plus years of progress...?
Why do I have tears in my eyes because of a technology ad? I have not felt this emotional about a technology product since Steve Jobs. I think even more. That was an amazing ad (video on their home page).
I have loved and used paper and pen as a primary tool for thinking since I was young. However, typing is much faster, and now that is my tool - the keyboard. Still, this clearly has its place.
My main interest now is whether it can be 'rooted' and a native Linux OS used on it, and/or whether it can be used with end-to-end encryption compatible self-cloud services like Nextcloud.
To me, open hardware and software is a necessary way forward for humanity.
Edit: I see it's very hackable indeed, from comments above, e.g.: http://www.davisr.me/projects/parabola-rm/
I have loved and used paper and pen as a primary tool for thinking since I was young. However, typing is much faster, and now that is my tool - the keyboard. Still, this clearly has its place.
My main interest now is whether it can be 'rooted' and a native Linux OS used on it, and/or whether it can be used with end-to-end encryption compatible self-cloud services like Nextcloud.
To me, open hardware and software is a necessary way forward for humanity.
Edit: I see it's very hackable indeed, from comments above, e.g.: http://www.davisr.me/projects/parabola-rm/
Anyone know whats the story on a color e-ink version of something like this?
That would be really compelling to me. Especially if you can get the latency down into the 10 ms range.
That would be really compelling to me. Especially if you can get the latency down into the 10 ms range.
10 ms sounds completely out of reach right now. A quick search shows some black-and-white boards advertising 7.5 FPS (150ms) in 2019.
I was working with a three-color e-ink board from Pimoroni recently and a full screen refresh would take 20+ seconds. Looks very nice when it's done, but definitely unusable for anything real-time.
I was working with a three-color e-ink board from Pimoroni recently and a full screen refresh would take 20+ seconds. Looks very nice when it's done, but definitely unusable for anything real-time.
What are your expectations and applications for color in an e-ink writable tablet? The best available color e-ink displays support a spot color palette of 3-7 colors. They're nowhere near being able to show a full-color image. If you want something for illustration, a Cintiq is the best option and you get to use software (like Illustrator) that's up to the task. Even the Cintiq Pro displays are only able to hit about 15 ms response time.
I'm hoping for a world where e-ink gets iPad levels of repsonsiveness, honestly. I like the displays alot, they render text beautifully at a high DPI (at least ones i've seen).
Its just that they don't have the best response time. Thats really my limiting factor.
I don't expect them to replace the iPad, for instance, but for using as a true digital notebook and book reader (magazines too, if the color e-inks get better) they look and feel ideal for this, except for the lag time in responsiveness, that's the part that kills it for me every time I investigate it.
Its just that they don't have the best response time. Thats really my limiting factor.
I don't expect them to replace the iPad, for instance, but for using as a true digital notebook and book reader (magazines too, if the color e-inks get better) they look and feel ideal for this, except for the lag time in responsiveness, that's the part that kills it for me every time I investigate it.
I love hand writing and note taking and been eyeing ReMarkable for a while.
However, each time I think about buying it, I have a hard time justifying it over an iPad Pro with a pencil. It feels like an iPad will give me more bang for a buck though with heftier weight.
And with this protector you can get the same feel as paper https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07QMV54LY
Have you tried this one for a while? Reviews suggest it's very harsh on the pencil tip.
It definitely is abrasive, but the tips are replaceable and cheap enough. You used to get a free replacement tip with the first generation pencil, but now they cost like $19 for four.
Thanks! Added to wishlist.
I'll have to echo what has been said. ReMarkable is the best e-ink tablet hardware I've laid my hands on, but I ended up returning it because of how hard it was to push and manage content in the device.
I now have a Onyx Boox Note that has inferior hardware. But at least I can use Google Drive and easily export documents.
I'm happy they have made a Chrome plugin because when I got my device, before returning it, I had a go at making exactly that: A Firefox extension that renders a simplified version and pushes it to ReMarkable as PDF https://github.com/sergioisidoro/push-to-remarkable
I now have a Onyx Boox Note that has inferior hardware. But at least I can use Google Drive and easily export documents.
I'm happy they have made a Chrome plugin because when I got my device, before returning it, I had a go at making exactly that: A Firefox extension that renders a simplified version and pushes it to ReMarkable as PDF https://github.com/sergioisidoro/push-to-remarkable
I highly suggest this Paperfeel screen protector for iPad Pro
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07QMV54LY
I've heard these damage the pencil, is that not the case?
Some of the reviews call that out, eg: https://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-reviews/RRKL2ML06BX89?ASI...
It definitely is abrasive, but the tips are replaceable and cheap enough. You used to get a free replacement tip with the first generation pencil, but now they cost like $19 for four.
i guess more friction will wear the nub down more but it's not a big effect
I've been holding off on buying it until handwritten text recognition works on device without sending the data to the cloud. I had hoped it would have happened by now, but it looks I'm gonna have to wait a while longer.
If I didn't misunderstand the keyknote, iPadOS 14 supposedly does handwriting recognition on the device.
I was interested in buying one of these but was concerned as it didn't have disk encryption. Once again I can't find any info about that so I assume this still hasn't been added?
I want to like products like this but I ultimately question the improvement versus actual pen and paper. I have a great notebook that I love, I found a pen that I love, and neither require power, take up much room, and have the best tactile experience possible. I can always use a computer whenever I need to get a lot of “digital” work done. Maybe I’m just not the target? But I do take a lot of notes frequently, just not annotations of PDFs.
I was really excited about this until reading about the limitations and performance. Can’t tell if I have unreasonable expectations from a device like this or it’s unnecessarily limited due to limited development resources. In any case, it’s an exciting prospect. Wonderful design, too. I’d love to try one out at least, get a sense of what it’s actually like to use it. Some reviews are pretty terrible for R1, though.
I've been considering this but I'm not sure if it fits my use case.
My main thing would be reading pdf's - specifically with Polar (https://getpolarized.io/ ). I use it for keeping track of notes/annotations and syncing across devices. Does anyone know if it would work with ReMarkable?
(Or does anyone have a Polar alternative?)
My main thing would be reading pdf's - specifically with Polar (https://getpolarized.io/ ). I use it for keeping track of notes/annotations and syncing across devices. Does anyone know if it would work with ReMarkable?
(Or does anyone have a Polar alternative?)
Looks like a nice device, but my main issue with it is the price.
The regular price is €556, and i can get a regular laptop for that. Even at the discounted price of €399 i can get an iPad or Surface Go, all devices that has much more generalized use.
I have no doubt it's a quality product, and i guess i just don't value my handwritten notes highly enough to warrant one :)
I have no doubt it's a quality product, and i guess i just don't value my handwritten notes highly enough to warrant one :)
I have the Onyx boox 3 with 13.3" screen, so I can read conveniently programming and math books and paper (wanted the big screen especially for papers). Pen works perfect for scratching, selecting and taking notes, it's perfection I can also split the screen on the left side exercises on the right side a blank page I solve the exercise.
I looked at those but the price (859) and being tied to Android were no goes. Perhaps in time the price of the screen will come down so as to get the device cost to a more acceptable 400 ish.
Could I connect this thing to my computer and use it as a whiteboard in a Zoom meeting, or something like that?
https://www.reddit.com/r/RemarkableTablet/comments/g0y2j2/ov...
Check https://github.com/reHackable/awesome-reMarkable for more open source projects.
Check https://github.com/reHackable/awesome-reMarkable for more open source projects.
Thank you! So in a nutshell, it's doable through VNC (among other solutions), but there's noticeable lag.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qwkSVVwZO9o has a demo.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qwkSVVwZO9o has a demo.
I was close to buying this—the price is right, at least with the preorder discount in place; I think $400 is the upper limit—but it's missing a web browser! I need a good web browser, not this read-later stuff.
I want to be able to load up the homepage of TheVerge.com and browse as I would on any other device, except with text that's as easy to read as if it were on paper. I'd have to use paged scrolling, and images would be black-and-white, but that would be okay—they'd be crisp and clear.
This tablet is close to what I want, but it doesn't look like the software is there. (Or maybe it's hardware too—is one gigabyte of ram enough for a web browser these days if you don't use multiple tabs?)
I want to be able to load up the homepage of TheVerge.com and browse as I would on any other device, except with text that's as easy to read as if it were on paper. I'd have to use paged scrolling, and images would be black-and-white, but that would be okay—they'd be crisp and clear.
This tablet is close to what I want, but it doesn't look like the software is there. (Or maybe it's hardware too—is one gigabyte of ram enough for a web browser these days if you don't use multiple tabs?)
Been seeing a lot of FB adverts on RM 2.0 did a second take when I saw it at the top of HN! Feels like and advert but its not I guess yet the product is not live so a lot of speculation on how good or not it might be. Just strange to see this on top of HN.
The review embargo just lifted so there's some extra interest currently.
That said it was announced months ago, so the seeing it on HN the first thought on my mind was PR campaign.
To a certain extent that is the point of sites like HN, but there's always the implication that it's just something someone stumbled upon rather than an "advertisment". (I figure more often than not OP is a stakeholder of some sort whenever it involves a product for sale)
Not accusing anyone of anything, but it took a surprising amount of scrolling to have someone actually mention the deficiencies such as the reading functionality being subpar.
That said it was announced months ago, so the seeing it on HN the first thought on my mind was PR campaign.
To a certain extent that is the point of sites like HN, but there's always the implication that it's just something someone stumbled upon rather than an "advertisment". (I figure more often than not OP is a stakeholder of some sort whenever it involves a product for sale)
Not accusing anyone of anything, but it took a surprising amount of scrolling to have someone actually mention the deficiencies such as the reading functionality being subpar.
We have a review of it on our website + unboxing and videos.
https://goodereader.com/blog/reviews/remarkable-2-hands-on-r...
https://goodereader.com/blog/reviews/remarkable-2-hands-on-r...
I have the Kindle DX, the original(ish) large eReader and it's slow enough to be pretty useless at reading tech docs - which is why I bought it. I'd love to be able to walk into a shop and try the Remarkable or similar out.
I couldn't give a stuff about writing (though it's a nice secondary feature) - I do however want to be able to throw a tech manual at my e-Reader (say, an O'Reilly programming manual) and be able to flip through it back and forth easily like you can on a tablet.
The Remarkable looks beautiful in the link, but gives absolutely no indication as to whether that long-standing core flaw in e-readers has been solved here, which is very, very unreassuring.
I couldn't give a stuff about writing (though it's a nice secondary feature) - I do however want to be able to throw a tech manual at my e-Reader (say, an O'Reilly programming manual) and be able to flip through it back and forth easily like you can on a tablet.
The Remarkable looks beautiful in the link, but gives absolutely no indication as to whether that long-standing core flaw in e-readers has been solved here, which is very, very unreassuring.
I use 'briss' to trim PDF margins from a laptop, then send to a Kobo Forma (8-inch 4x3 screen) and read using the open source 'koreader', which also works with Remarkable. I was reading on an iPad mini before (same exact screen size), but that's collecting dust now. I expect with the Remarkable's 10.3-inch display you wouldn't even need to trim margins.
Yes - but my interest is in the UX responsiveness, the whole point of the bigger screen size is to fit them on without stuff like Briss (which I've used before); the issue is not screen fit, but performance when browsing back and forth - tech manuals are not linear reads like novels, for which kindles etc are ideal.
To be fair, learning.oreilly.com is pretty good on iPad (not so much on mobile).
It's pretty expensive, but potentially worth it if you read a lot of technical books.
It's pretty expensive, but potentially worth it if you read a lot of technical books.
Sure, but the whole point of using ereaders compared to tablets (like iPad) is the screen which tablets can't compare with for pure reading.
But eReaders don't traditionally have remotely comparable UX performance so are only suitable for linear reads like novels.
My question is whether Remarkable have solved that. It's far more important to me and similar potential users than the writing/whatever stuff they are selling on the webpage linked.
But eReaders don't traditionally have remotely comparable UX performance so are only suitable for linear reads like novels.
My question is whether Remarkable have solved that. It's far more important to me and similar potential users than the writing/whatever stuff they are selling on the webpage linked.
Ah I see.
For me, the writing on a screen is enough, I take a lot of notes in meetings, and having these digitised would be incredibly useful for me.
Additionally, being able to annotate PDFs would also prove great for me, I don't want to print out large amounts of paper, but I would like to take notes.
For me, the writing on a screen is enough, I take a lot of notes in meetings, and having these digitised would be incredibly useful for me.
Additionally, being able to annotate PDFs would also prove great for me, I don't want to print out large amounts of paper, but I would like to take notes.
Anybody know how to do MS OneNote integration?
I have many years' worth of content there and use on multiple OS's, so I'd rather stay there than use their internal note-taking app, or at least be able to do import/export.
They offer a companion app for mobile and desktop so you might want to move your reMarkable contents to OneNote when you are done editing. The device is also hacker friendly so you could probably just plug some APIs to export to OneNote automatically
Doesn't look like the desktop app has any OneNote import/export functionality, so yeah looks like DIY project.
Still waiting on my pre-order. Absolutely love e-ink and it was incredibly sad to me when Google effectively killed Android e-ink by forcing OEMs to have a non-eink screen if they wanted to be a certified Android device with access to Google apps.
I understand Google's business position, but it was a shame to let an entire market segment die overnight.
Sadly my Re2 preorder has been delayed so long I went ahead and ordered an iPad so I could get down to work. iPad, and especially the apple pencil, has been incredibly useful and I'm looking forward to a head-to-head comparison. No longer sure I'll be keeping my re2
I understand Google's business position, but it was a shame to let an entire market segment die overnight.
Sadly my Re2 preorder has been delayed so long I went ahead and ordered an iPad so I could get down to work. iPad, and especially the apple pencil, has been incredibly useful and I'm looking forward to a head-to-head comparison. No longer sure I'll be keeping my re2
I'm curious if there are other folks like me here - I have a peculiar hate of touch-screen pens/pencils. They're too thick at the tip.
When I write on (real) paper, I try to use the thinnest pen that I can still grip. I think I hold the pen at an odd enough angle that if the pen is fat enough before tapering, it starts covering the point where the tip touches the paper. Once that happens, I feel like I'm writing while holding one end of a yardstick. The alternative is to start angling the pen so I can still see the tip, but that makes writing awkward - I rather just type at that point.
When I write on (real) paper, I try to use the thinnest pen that I can still grip. I think I hold the pen at an odd enough angle that if the pen is fat enough before tapering, it starts covering the point where the tip touches the paper. Once that happens, I feel like I'm writing while holding one end of a yardstick. The alternative is to start angling the pen so I can still see the tip, but that makes writing awkward - I rather just type at that point.
Yeah, I like very thin tip stylus (physical or digital). reM v1 stylus with new nib is like a fine point, which is ok. Could try shaving a nib and getting to extra fine. Once nib is in use it becomes medium point fairly quickly- tho the width of the line it produces on the screen is determined by software, not the actual nib size.
Interested in ordering this, but my country isn't on their very limited list (basically EU + Five Eyes). A bit frustrating, it's not like I live in Yemen or Easter Island. Why not ship to anywhere with DHL?
I purchased the original one during the crowdfunding campaing, and paid a really low price (iirc less than $300). It’s a great device, I used it for a few years. Pen latency was really good, paper feeling is true, battery was awesome. The handwriting->text conversion was poor, but my handwriting is horrible. I changed to an iPad Pro 6 months ago and have not looked back, but mostly because I went back to orgmode as my main note taking and using a keyboard is much easier.
Having said that, I’m actually considering getting this upgrade just to focus on taking notes and brainstorming.
Having said that, I’m actually considering getting this upgrade just to focus on taking notes and brainstorming.
Sony DPT-RP1 user here. It's a similar large screen e-ink reader with writing support. It's of great help to me for PDF reading and taking notes. My opinion on reMarkable 2 (from the page):
Disadvantages: - can only transfer with WiFi - not A4 sized (I find this important for most of books and papers)
Advantages: + epub support (DPT only works with PDF) + customization (DPT software is completely uncustomizable, but good enough for most daily use, e.g. the screen can be synced to the computer screen for remote meetings) + OCR + cheaper (the A4 version of DPT is $600)
Disadvantages: - can only transfer with WiFi - not A4 sized (I find this important for most of books and papers)
Advantages: + epub support (DPT only works with PDF) + customization (DPT software is completely uncustomizable, but good enough for most daily use, e.g. the screen can be synced to the computer screen for remote meetings) + OCR + cheaper (the A4 version of DPT is $600)
I recently decided to purchase either this or an ipad, and ended up going with the ipad.
My primary use is reading academic articles, and I use Endnote to organize my pdfs and citations. I ended up going with the ipad because it has an endnote app and automatically syncs with my desktop, so I just always have all of my papers handy. If I had to manually sync papers to the remarkable it would be very annoying.
So I ended up going with the ipad despite wanting the experience of the remarkable. Though the ipad was cheaper and has other uses (entertainment).
My primary use is reading academic articles, and I use Endnote to organize my pdfs and citations. I ended up going with the ipad because it has an endnote app and automatically syncs with my desktop, so I just always have all of my papers handy. If I had to manually sync papers to the remarkable it would be very annoying.
So I ended up going with the ipad despite wanting the experience of the remarkable. Though the ipad was cheaper and has other uses (entertainment).
I'm hoping to wait for reviews for this. I've been watching this for months. While waiting I've been thinking about how I'm going to use a combination of RSS reads, web archiving tools, pandoc, and some custom daemons on the device to setup syncing of hackernews + articals + news sites to the device to read during my commute (assuming we still have commutes in 4 months from now).
Very excited to see a polished device that is linux based that isn't hostile to developers trying to do cool stuff.
Very excited to see a polished device that is linux based that isn't hostile to developers trying to do cool stuff.
Looks like the embargo just lifted today. reMarkable just sent out an email with links to reviews:
https://mailchi.mp/remarkable.com/first-remarkable-2-reviews...
https://mailchi.mp/remarkable.com/first-remarkable-2-reviews...
I'm more interested in reviews from other HN users and programmers and the volume of activity in the awesome-reMarkable lists.
I have no desire for any of the built in cloud features or even doing much writing through the tablet. I however have many use cases for the hacking and modding abilities of the software that can run on this device.
I'm pretty sure major news outlets won't be sshing into the device and installing custom daemon services and measuring the impact they have on battery life.
I have no desire for any of the built in cloud features or even doing much writing through the tablet. I however have many use cases for the hacking and modding abilities of the software that can run on this device.
I'm pretty sure major news outlets won't be sshing into the device and installing custom daemon services and measuring the impact they have on battery life.
I got the reMarkable as a tool to make my writing process more natural, and less cumbersome. I have been editing a novel, which means carrying around a stack of 250 pages so I can add notes in the margins before I get back to the computer to write the next revision. It’s heavy, and I’m tired of printing the full book so that I can have that tactile experience of writing on the page. The reMarkable tablet gives me a way to continue my writing processes without paper. Going to try this new version!
I can't help but feel like e-ink may eventually be replaced by something similar to this https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_micromirror_device
The advantage would be immensely faster switching speed.
Imagine one side of the mirror being totally reflective and the other side totally black. If you can turn the mirror far enough, you could replicate to some degree, what e-ink is doing.
The advantage would be immensely faster switching speed.
Imagine one side of the mirror being totally reflective and the other side totally black. If you can turn the mirror far enough, you could replicate to some degree, what e-ink is doing.
Texture matters. I bought this screen cover for my iPad for the explicit use of adding texture since 99% of my iPad usage is with Apple Pencil. I had read it has a paper texture unlike other slick covers: https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00G4SA1FG/ref=ppx_yo_mob_b_i...
Curious what others have tried!
Curious what others have tried!
I have the XIRON Paperfeel. Sketchy name, totally worth it.
I've got mine on pre-order, scheduled for delivery in October. One of the things i'm most looking forward to experimenting with is reStream - https://github.com/rien/reStream . It'd be amazing to be on meetings and be able to share diagrams and drawings in real-time! Certainly better than the webcam i've got pointing down at my desk at the moment!
Wondering if anyone is using it for Music Sheet?
Im tempted to buy it just wondering if its any good for this use case since this is what im using my current tablet for.
For someone with the current ReMarkable or with the 2.0, is it possible to use it as a drawing pad for remote meetings?
I pre-ordered mine, but I want to know if this is even feasible.
I pre-ordered mine, but I want to know if this is even feasible.
$900AUD (with the upgraded marker and folio). I love the idea and that it seems to be fairly open, but ouch. It'll be even more expensive after the pre-order.
Does remarkable2 have Bluetooth though, that's really what I am looking for. I want to be able to pair this with a keyboard and stop staring at my laptop.
What an utterly stunning bit of marketing. Some true talent in site building, set dressing, photography, and copy. Sheer quality. I’m heartened by it.
Does anyone remember NoteSlate from like 2011? I came across it right before going off to college, and I was so ready for a writable e-ink tablet.
It ended up being a scam/vaporware so I was stuck taking notes on paper, but I'm glad things like this are becoming somewhat more common.
(I think they may have come out with some actual hardware like 5 years later, but from what I remember it was too little too late)
It ended up being a scam/vaporware so I was stuck taking notes on paper, but I'm glad things like this are becoming somewhat more common.
(I think they may have come out with some actual hardware like 5 years later, but from what I remember it was too little too late)
1. $399 is kinda expensive. They should get it down to < $200 to be friendlier with younger generation.
2. Offer a place for getting books as well - or partner with Amazon for books - if not there, this may be coming I guess. Then people don't need Kindle.
3. They do not talk about security in their demo video. Don't know how they save what I write. Encryption / password / backup etc.,
2. Offer a place for getting books as well - or partner with Amazon for books - if not there, this may be coming I guess. Then people don't need Kindle.
3. They do not talk about security in their demo video. Don't know how they save what I write. Encryption / password / backup etc.,
It would be great if there were a regular pen/pencil that had the ability to capture a copy of notes to a digital medium in real-time while also operating like a normal pen/pencil. From what i can tell, capturing the orientation and positioning doesn't seem feasible yet and using image capture doesn't seem great either because of privacy and cost.
I ordered a ReMarkable 2.0 on 7th of May 2020 and they emailed me:
"reMarkable 2 orders will be processed in batches. Your order is in batch 5, which is set to ship in Early September. You can follow the status of your batch at remarkable.com/delivery."
I opened the link again today (28th of August) and saw batch 5 is now postponed of 2 months to Early November :(
I opened the link again today (28th of August) and saw batch 5 is now postponed of 2 months to Early November :(
I ordered the ReMarkable last year. It was truly awesome and paper-like to write on but I ended up sending it back for a refund because I needed a more computing like device.
The device is fantastic, I love the idea and the company but the refund process (unless they have fixed it) is truly awful so expect to use a couple of days on it if you want to get your money back.
The device is fantastic, I love the idea and the company but the refund process (unless they have fixed it) is truly awful so expect to use a couple of days on it if you want to get your money back.
Bullshit EULA.
https://support.remarkable.com/hc/en-us/articles/36000028275...
https://github.com/reMarkable
https://support.remarkable.com/hc/en-us/articles/36000028275...
https://github.com/reMarkable
I don't think it's that bad. It's not entirely open source, no, it's proprietary software on top of open source. The same is true of Android phones running Google Services. I'll note the EULA for the hardware doesn't seem to indicate you can't run other operating systems on it, but I am not a lawyer so YMMV. They've separated the EULAs for the hardware sales from the EULA for the software you can download. Makes sense to me, and is actually more liberal and easier to read than other EULA's I've read. Could it be more open? Of course, especially to allow the use of the product brand name with other third-party software, to open the device up more, and support more open uses. To me the real question will be if business and enterprise customers end up demanding code signing restrictions to the point where it becomes a cloud-managed device with a closed boot loader, like Chromebooks or iOS. Hopefully like Chromebooks, or Android, they'll still preserve a mode where you can turn off those features if you want to run third-party software and have the authority to do so. But they're not a charity, it's not completely open hardware, they're trying to build a business, at scale, and openness is one of their strategies, just not their only one.
What about it is BS? It's 100 pages shorter and less weird than most other EULAs I've seen. (Probably because EULAs are basically unenforceable in Norway)
Care to explain what's bullshit about it?
I ordered ReMarkable 2.0, returned 13" Sony DPT. Then I got tired of waiting for ReMarkable 2 and got iPad Prod 13" with discount and ipad is enough for a little of technical reading (plus course videos and it is nice to have extra 13" display with mac os sidecar feature). So I'm going to cancel my batch 2 order...
Is the market for “paper like substitutes” this large? What’s wrong with a multi-use tablet (iPad or otherwise) and silencing your notifications for X amount of hours?
I personally hate writing on paper and trying to decipher barely legible handwriting. Seems like this product is just trying to appease the people who refuse to adapt to change.
I personally hate writing on paper and trying to decipher barely legible handwriting. Seems like this product is just trying to appease the people who refuse to adapt to change.
This is a remarkable device. The configuration looks good as well. It reminds me of the primary concept of Microsoft Courier.
While going through pros and cons for considering a buy, I found no email client, messenger or a browser. For the targeted audience, at that price point, and with that hardware config, those features are unavoidable.
While going through pros and cons for considering a buy, I found no email client, messenger or a browser. For the targeted audience, at that price point, and with that hardware config, those features are unavoidable.
The absence of those features is a feature to me. I want a digital notebook not another damn computer.
I have the Remarkable 1. It's the kind of jank hardware whose flaws you come to find endearing because the device as a whole is so good to you. I immediately ordered a Remarkable 2 when I caught wind of it. I'm going to give my Remarkable 1 to a friend or relative and hope it brings them as much joy as it did me.
Does anyone have one of these in their hands yet? I'd love to see a good video on it before pulling the trigger.
My concern has been that there is no support for micro sd card and local storage is just 8GB which is quite small.
Let me start by saying that my comment might be downvoted. However, I'm just wondering if the device justifies the price tag. For a little more I could get an iPad Air, which can do a lot more. Granted the battery needs to be charged everyday but it's probably not a deal breaker for many.
I currently use iPad and I am considering reMarkable. One of the main things I do with iPad is share screen on meetings. Is the share screen option available and what about meeting platforms such as zoom, bluejeans, google? Are their compatible apps for all of the major online meeting platforms?
No, none of that. A similar device called Papyr seems to support shared whiteboarding features, but sharing and meetings are not what reM does. Just for writing, secondary use for reading.
PDFs can get massive when they're from scans. An e-Ink device should support better formats such as DJVU.
KOReader[1] runs on ReMarkable and supports DJVU and other formats.
[1] https://github.com/koreader/koreader
[1] https://github.com/koreader/koreader
Is the hand writing correction any good? I really have to rely on this myself. My handwriting is very poor.
Any reason why should i buy it instead of iPad Pro 2020 or recently announced Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 plus ?
ReMarkable tablets don't have the same use case as LCD screen tablets. With an e-ink screen battery time is in another league.
If you want to watch videos and browse internet this isn't the tablet to get. If you want a notepad that can store and display every document you might want that is where "paper replacement" tablets come in.
If you want to watch videos and browse internet this isn't the tablet to get. If you want a notepad that can store and display every document you might want that is where "paper replacement" tablets come in.
Well, it’s $399, which is very different price point than an iPad Pro with Apple pencil.
They detail some other advantages, like the texture of the surface, though we can’t evaluate that without getting one in hand.
It’s a much more focused device, which is a pro and a con.
Personally, I’ll stick with my iPad Pro, but I hope this is actually good and successful.
They detail some other advantages, like the texture of the surface, though we can’t evaluate that without getting one in hand.
It’s a much more focused device, which is a pro and a con.
Personally, I’ll stick with my iPad Pro, but I hope this is actually good and successful.
I put a textured surface on my iPad Pro to great effect. It's one of those stick-on "screen protector" affairs. I find it much nicer if you predominantly use the Apple pencil (Procreate, etc.). I haven't yet tried it with the new handwriting recognition in iOS.
I frequently hear that screen protectors which mimic paper surface lead to a much faster abrasion of the tip of the Apple pencil. Is this the same in your case?
I also added a screen cover to my iPad to get texture with Pencil.
I haven't seen fast abrasion with this cover. Pencil tips seem to last a really long time.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00G4SA1FG/ref=ppx_yo_mob_b_i...
I haven't seen fast abrasion with this cover. Pencil tips seem to last a really long time.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00G4SA1FG/ref=ppx_yo_mob_b_i...
Just to add some figures from UK:
With the pen that has an eraser, and the flip cover, is £479. Normal price ~£600 (~$800) in UK.
iPad Pro 11" with pencil comes to £890. Surface Pro 7 £870.
But a Surface Go 2 with pen is £500 and chapter iPad options are around too.
With the pen that has an eraser, and the flip cover, is £479. Normal price ~£600 (~$800) in UK.
iPad Pro 11" with pencil comes to £890. Surface Pro 7 £870.
But a Surface Go 2 with pen is £500 and chapter iPad options are around too.
The feel on Remarkable 1 vs a tablet was quite drastic when it comes to writing, tablets were not even close. Without having tried iPad Pro 2020 or reMarkable 2, my guess is that the gap will still be considerable.
And this is a single-use-case device, with pro's and cons based on that. Battery time, for instance. And like less than half the price of the cheapest iPad pro configuration without even getting a pen for your iPad at that price.
And this is a single-use-case device, with pro's and cons based on that. Battery time, for instance. And like less than half the price of the cheapest iPad pro configuration without even getting a pen for your iPad at that price.
> iPad Pro 2020
against that? no thats about $1100, pencil, folio and ipad. The remarkable is a bargain compared to that. Granted the iPad can do a lot more.
Where it struggles is against an ipad air/mini and apple pencil. Its roughly the same price point, but the ipad does a lot more. Goodnotes is a very capable journalling tool. On the plus side you get the full iOS universe of apps and media.
On the downside the battery life is nowhere near as good, and the screen isn't optimised for text like the remarkable is.
I have no idea about the galaxy tab. I'm weary of android tablets as they are a mixed bag. Some are awesome, some are brilliant for the price, and some are just trash.
against that? no thats about $1100, pencil, folio and ipad. The remarkable is a bargain compared to that. Granted the iPad can do a lot more.
Where it struggles is against an ipad air/mini and apple pencil. Its roughly the same price point, but the ipad does a lot more. Goodnotes is a very capable journalling tool. On the plus side you get the full iOS universe of apps and media.
On the downside the battery life is nowhere near as good, and the screen isn't optimised for text like the remarkable is.
I have no idea about the galaxy tab. I'm weary of android tablets as they are a mixed bag. Some are awesome, some are brilliant for the price, and some are just trash.
I would say Remarkable is superior when taking notes. Mostly because it feels like regular paper without any bells and whistle. And you still do some advanced organization and editing.
Because it has an eInk display instead of a lcd. I ordered one while already owning an iPad Pro.
Good point I have a kobo forma which at 7.8 is a bigger than normal ereader that is good for technical books. Outside I use the kobo (and I use less often than I expected), but inside I have a cheap windows tablet which is faster, easier to read and does other stuff too.
Did you look at this product? It has an e-ink display. That makes it very different from an Ipad.
How durable is the e-Ink display on these?
Whilst I could see myself wanting to own one, I've so far managed to bust the screens on three e-Ink devices I've owned. And I'm not exactly treating them rough. They seem to break with the slightest of knocks. Bad enough when it's a sub £100 e-Reader. But, if I was paying 3 or 4 times that much, I'd expect something that was a bit less fragile.
Whilst I could see myself wanting to own one, I've so far managed to bust the screens on three e-Ink devices I've owned. And I'm not exactly treating them rough. They seem to break with the slightest of knocks. Bad enough when it's a sub £100 e-Reader. But, if I was paying 3 or 4 times that much, I'd expect something that was a bit less fragile.
Um... In my household we've gone through seven ereaders, used by four persons. Nobody has ever been able to bust the screen -- the reason people replaced their ereader was because the battery stopped being able to hold charge or the usb port to start wobbling. But the screens were fine, all the time. And e-ink screens are made by one manufacturer anyway.
1st one: Kobo Mini. Was inside a case and between two books in my rucksack and broke just carrying it home from work
2nd one: Another Kobo Mini. Broke inside the thigh pocket of my combat trousers. It was also in a case and had the screen facing inwards, towards my leg, specifically to avoid the risk of me bumping it against something.
3rd one: Kobo Aura. I had high hopes of this one as, unlike the previous two, where the screen seemingly had no form of overlaid protection, this one's outer screen was actually made of hard plastic. However, after a drop of a mere two or three feet onto carpet, the e-Ink screen in that somehow managed to break inside, leaving the hard plastic outer unmarked.
Maybe I've just had really bad luck [or maybe I should try a different brand than Kobo next time!] but e-Ink screens just seem ridiculously fragile to me. I was especially annoyed with the last one [the Kobo Aura] where the vibration of it hitting the carpetted floor was enough to break the screen, even behind a layer of hard plastic.
Even if I could afford it, there's no way I would risk £300 or £400 on an e-Ink device. Not until the technology toughens up a hell of a lot.
2nd one: Another Kobo Mini. Broke inside the thigh pocket of my combat trousers. It was also in a case and had the screen facing inwards, towards my leg, specifically to avoid the risk of me bumping it against something.
3rd one: Kobo Aura. I had high hopes of this one as, unlike the previous two, where the screen seemingly had no form of overlaid protection, this one's outer screen was actually made of hard plastic. However, after a drop of a mere two or three feet onto carpet, the e-Ink screen in that somehow managed to break inside, leaving the hard plastic outer unmarked.
Maybe I've just had really bad luck [or maybe I should try a different brand than Kobo next time!] but e-Ink screens just seem ridiculously fragile to me. I was especially annoyed with the last one [the Kobo Aura] where the vibration of it hitting the carpetted floor was enough to break the screen, even behind a layer of hard plastic.
Even if I could afford it, there's no way I would risk £300 or £400 on an e-Ink device. Not until the technology toughens up a hell of a lot.
Just an anecdote but I broke a Kobo Aura exactly like you did but never had any issues with kindle or with a pocketbook
I really like Kobo but they do seem rather fragile.
Yeah, the correct question is probably how it competes with something like Kindle.
The presentation made me fairly intrigued.
The presentation made me fairly intrigued.
It's not an e-reader but a tablet computer. The founder of ReMarkable is (or was?) a KDE developer, so they supposedly do a lot of things right when it comes to developer experience, openness, and documentation.
> The founder of ReMarkable is (or was?) a KDE developer
The CTO is a KDE Developer and a long-time member of the Arch community.
The CTO is a KDE Developer and a long-time member of the Arch community.
Unless there are some newer Kindle models I'm unaware of, they are very different. The Kindle is a passive device, where one can read and barely interact with buttons and stuff. It's great for reading books and I use it often for that, but not much more.
The reMarkable is a device for production, where you can write, sketch, organize etc. The display is much quicker to update and the pen is really good. I also like that it's a bit bigger, so reading PDFs isn't as much hassle as on a smaller Kindle.
At least that's my take on it. Kindle for leisure, reMarkable for work.
The reMarkable is a device for production, where you can write, sketch, organize etc. The display is much quicker to update and the pen is really good. I also like that it's a bit bigger, so reading PDFs isn't as much hassle as on a smaller Kindle.
At least that's my take on it. Kindle for leisure, reMarkable for work.
It probably doesn't spy on your reading habits the way a Kindle does.
https://nullsweep.com/kindle-collects-a-surprisingly-large-a...
https://nullsweep.com/kindle-collects-a-surprisingly-large-a...
It features a distraction free OS and an eInk display. That lack of distractions and specialized goal is the reason to buy it.
Apples and oranges. If you are writing/drawing a lot on paper, you might find this very useful.
No reason at all. At least we get to enjoy books, videos, notes and most importantly open web on proper hardware with the iPad.
How well does text conversion work for joined handwriting? All the examples I've seen appear to use carefully segmented handwriting, which is a bit of a red flag to me.
Bonus points if someone could answer this for languages other than English (I'm thinking of diacritics)...
Bonus points if someone could answer this for languages other than English (I'm thinking of diacritics)...
I ordered Remarkable 1.0 six months ago, used it for a few days before deciding to return it. I submitted a request to return and was supposed to get DHL to pick it up but it never happened. I was left feeling they really don't want you to return.
Where did it let you down that made you want to return it?
I ordered mine back in feb, just got an email yesterday how it's delayed yet again :(
I’m glad to see [developer] excitement around this device, and look forward to ReMarkable 3 when all this new feedback is implemented into a new product.
Seriously, genuinely excited to use something like this as a consumer once the kinks have been sorted
Seriously, genuinely excited to use something like this as a consumer once the kinks have been sorted
Unfortunately I had to buy an iPad (first apple product I buy ever) for my girlfriend since she needs an app (for work, she's a teacher) that only runs in iOS.
I say unfortunately because I would have bought a ReMarkable instead :(
Aside from the form factor, they are very different devices.
One isn't really a substitute for the other unless all you do is write notes and read.
One isn't really a substitute for the other unless all you do is write notes and read.
Sounds like you made the right choice, the iPad serves many functions, while the Remarkable services a small subset.
It is a very strange to compare two. They are absolutely serving different purposes.
In a similar vein, I was really hoping that Ambient Devices would escape their niche market and we'd have a wide range of devices that looked analog but are actually digital.
They were just way, way too early (and on the wrong side of a recession).
They were just way, way too early (and on the wrong side of a recession).
Some features of reading my books on an android tablet are the ability to lookup words with the dictionary service, and to sync all of my notes automatically to google drive.
Does anyone know how the reading features of the R2 stack up in this regard?
Does anyone know how the reading features of the R2 stack up in this regard?
I didn't know about this before I bought an iPad. I recently added a paper-textured screen protector (similar to Paperlike) and now I can't stop using it. I really recommend it for those who have an Apple Pencil - its great
Which screen protector do you recommend? Also, does using such paper-textured protector decrease the life of Apple pencil?
The best one I've tried is the Nilkin brand. As to the Apple pencil, I'm on ~9 months of use and the nib feels the same as the spare that came in the box when I got the pencil so I don't have reason to believe its damaging it
Is the desktop app available on Linux or does the Windows version work under Wine?
I have been using apple most of my life. I considered waiting for iPad this year, but apple decided to reuse am2 year old processor, so I back in the market to experiment. I am hoping this will deliver what it promises.
Being dropped to the #What_Is_New section is confusing, because I was expecting a landing page with a hero image, and instead had context-less comparison numbers. Maybe update the url to not include the section?
Do they have a live draw feature? In recently purchased the Bamboo Slate. The live write is really handy when trying to express something on a Teams/Zoom meeting. I just share my screen and start drawing.
The one thing I wish the Remarkable 2.0 had is a backlight similar to the one from the kobo, it really makes it much more convenient in planes, train or anywhere where there's not enough light...
I gave in and ordered one. Thought I had previously, but no email to be found. The hackability is a useful feature. And it'll be interesting to compare it with an iPad Pro for notes/etc.
Does this integrate with something like OneNote? Because this would still be only half my notes. If I can keep my hand-written ones and the ones I type when I work, for example, NOW we’re talking.
I'm wandering whether the device is suitable for geometry style drawings? Just the type from the high school. Lines, circles and so on. Does someone has such an experience with this device?
I am surprised there is no discussion of alternative readers like Onyx Boox, which allow infinite customization through Android OS. Remarkable is a closed ecosystem with no third party apps.
Looking for a great e-paper device, but the marketing of the video where deficiencies (no notifications etc) are treated as features sounds like bullshit spin and its really off-putting.
I vaguely remember pre-ordering RM2 in the spring and being given a June delivery date.
Who has received the earlier batches?
PS. I just checked and I did pay for RM2 in March.. Let's hope their support responds.
Who has received the earlier batches?
PS. I just checked and I did pay for RM2 in March.. Let's hope their support responds.
The first version of this tablet had a slight lag between pencil and writing. I wonder if that's gone and ended up going with an Apple tablet for the time being.
The product looks great, but, how does it work in terms of privacy? Is your stuff uploaded to the "cloud" automatically? Can you opt-out from that?
I'm wondering if there is an application that can be installed on a Kindle to provide a similar interface, it will be a game changer. Any thoughts?
I wonder how far off we are from eink with something like 16 bit color and a refresh rate of something like 20hz. A decade away? Or is it impossible?
Has anyone had an experience with this? It looks pretty cool, although I'm probably never going to use it since I write mostly with my keyboard.
I was looking into buying a ReMarkable 1.0 last year until I saw that it didn't have an SD card slot, so I couldn't fit my library in it.
Can you touch/tap the screen with your finger to go to the next page of an ebook? Or do you need to use the pencil for "next page"?
Where can I find more details about hardware implementation? The website doesn't seem too helping for that. What are batteries, for example?
Anyone have a remarkable 2, and have they been delivered? If unhappy can buy it from you.
I recall they said it would be shipping in August?
My slot says delivery in November.
I recall they said it would be shipping in August?
My slot says delivery in November.
Another question - is there anyway to take these notes and integrate with Evernote? Or has anyone tried a creative solution for this?
Does it support two-page display? Given how you can take notes, I’d love to be able to read on one side and take notes on the other.
Just bought a boox note 10 inch , same screen but android 9. Very nice device. You can even watch video on it with some ghosting.
I think it would be cool to do 3d design in a format like this, openscad, fusion360 etc. the pencil feels like a natural fit.
I own the Sony DPT-RP1 and I love it because it’s 13” (US letter size paper is 13.5”).
The R2 is 10.3”. Do peeps think smaller is better?
The R2 is 10.3”. Do peeps think smaller is better?
I am looking to buy Sony DPT-RP1 or very similar Fujitsu product. A quick review from actual user may be helpful in making decision. What do you not like about this Sony product?
I first heard about e-ink in a Newsweek article ~1999 featuring IDEOs technologies of the future. I’ve waited years for a full-size display.
The RP1 was something like 1.5k when it came out. Thankfully the RP1 was half that. Never regretted the purchase.
I’m imagining some MBA dips#it at Remarkable doing some kind of regression analysis on cost of device, screen size compared to competitors in the market—and missing the point. Full size paper is everywhere.
As far as the Sony’s UE. finding files seems unrefined. You only notice if you store a lot of files on the device or have deep folders. Annoying but not a deal breaker.
FWIW, I posted here at HN some of my ideas for improvement: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17220073
The RP1 was something like 1.5k when it came out. Thankfully the RP1 was half that. Never regretted the purchase.
I’m imagining some MBA dips#it at Remarkable doing some kind of regression analysis on cost of device, screen size compared to competitors in the market—and missing the point. Full size paper is everywhere.
As far as the Sony’s UE. finding files seems unrefined. You only notice if you store a lot of files on the device or have deep folders. Annoying but not a deal breaker.
FWIW, I posted here at HN some of my ideas for improvement: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17220073
Anyone have a lighting solution for the remarkable? I read mostly in bed and that's kind of a deal breaker.
Damn this looks nice! How is the pen latency?
Sadly they don’t ship to Japan so getting my hands on one is gonna be hard :(
Sadly they don’t ship to Japan so getting my hands on one is gonna be hard :(
$399 when I set my country to US, £399 when set to the UK? That's not how currency works :/
Interesting feature set but I don't see much value getting it if you already have iPad with Apple Pencil. There are several apps including Apple Notes that convert handwritten text to digital text. Also it doesn't replace a Tablet so will be another gadget taking space. I would rather wait for iPad or another full fledged Tablet to get some of these features.
Battery life and look-feel of paper. I love my kindle for reading because it doesn’t do anything else. Mostly I agree with you.
If combined with kindle I would definitely want one.
If combined with kindle I would definitely want one.
Why has this been pinned to the top all day? Is ReMarkable associated with YCombinator somehow?
The handwriting to text seems cool but these things never work for anything else than English.
[deleted]
Which formats are notes exported to? Can they be exported to markdown + latex + images?
To me this is a bit absurd--if we're trying to replicate paper, maybe using a tree would be best? You can put the ink in the pen.
I guess the advantage is you can save many documents--but this is actually a disadvantage to me as I like having a physical copy I can splay out on my desk. Or even an entire wall covered with my designs.
I guess the advantage is you can save many documents--but this is actually a disadvantage to me as I like having a physical copy I can splay out on my desk. Or even an entire wall covered with my designs.
A honest question, who really need this ? A pen and a notebook is a couple of euros ..
Do you still have to replace the pencil tips often and are they still expensive?
This image from the order page implies 'yes': https://cdn.sanity.io/images/0e4kwcjv/production/6b0df7dbf80...
Although $12 ($17 inc shipping to US) for 8 tips doesn't seem too expensive to me.
Although $12 ($17 inc shipping to US) for 8 tips doesn't seem too expensive to me.
that sound from the stylus tip - I'm assuming the tip will wear down very quickly?
How intuitive is the wireless content transfer on the 1st gen model? At lot times on my iPad, I'm sourcing notes from web content.
How intuitive is the wireless content transfer on the 1st gen model? At lot times on my iPad, I'm sourcing notes from web content.
I wonder how well it would do as a replacement for the abandoned Kindle DX?
Am I reading this right? It’s a Linux OS but it doesn’t work with Linux?
i use ipad pro with some sort of 'paperlike' screen protector. Feels like writing on paper to me.
So other than supposedly reducing eyestrain( is this a proven claim?). What is the benefit?
So other than supposedly reducing eyestrain( is this a proven claim?). What is the benefit?
How is the latency when "turning" pages or taking notes?
Does anyone have any opinions on this vs. the Sony Digital Paper?
I have the 13.3 inch Digital Paper but not the ReMarkable. The A4 size is great for reading Magazines and Journals. The writing experience is good but the stylus does not support pressure sensitivity. One feature that stands out: split screen, i.e. one side as a reader and the other side for taking note. By the way, the stylus supports erasing and highlighting.
I wish it supports EPUB (PDF-only reader). Was interested in getting a ReMarkable, but the A4 size won me over.
Thank you. Appreciate it.
They announced a 2nd delay a few days ago. Hoping it’s the last.
I just ordered mine Remarkable 1 since there was a delay in 2
How does this compare to something like a kindle for reading?
I looked into this when I first heard about the ReMarkable 2.0, general consensus was usable but not as good. Some work is required to convert books to be used on the device and make fonts look OK. I also remember something about the built in reader not being as well designed.
Can’t click on the pre-order link on mobile Safari (iOS 13.6.1), no bueno. Trying hold the button down gives me the text options pop up (instead of the link preview) which makes me think there’s an element over it
I would had bought it, but no shipping to my country ️
I just want the software. (And use it on my two in one)
A display with >10ms response times for writing does not cut it for me. I love the product, but this is something I can't compromise on. I really hope this problem on e-ink screens gets solved!
If I plugged a keyboard into the USB-C, would it work?
Does this have any advantage against Boox Note 10.1?
remarkable is nice, but it definitely needs someone to replace the main proprietary note taking application with an open source equivalent.
Now I have to carry three devices around...
Just pretend you are carrying Star Trek tablets :)
Man that's a really beautiful website
Too bad it has only 8GB and no SD card.
8GB for text formats is quite a lot. The primary reason Kindle e-readers have larger storage is to support Audible.
In United States it costs 399$ or 337 Euro, but if I buy it in Germany, then it will cost 399 Euro - 20% more expensive...
In United States you make so much more money as a software developer comparing to Europe and then you pay much less than in Europe for all electronic devices. This is probably because Europe decided to go the communism way, charging everyone with INSANELY HUGE TAXES. Europe will soon become the next Africa with that kind of mindset.
In United States you make so much more money as a software developer comparing to Europe and then you pay much less than in Europe for all electronic devices. This is probably because Europe decided to go the communism way, charging everyone with INSANELY HUGE TAXES. Europe will soon become the next Africa with that kind of mindset.
I think I'll spend that money on fancy notebooks and fountain pens/nice pencils. 0 latency, smell really good too.
how is this different than any other tablet? just because the edges look like a notebook?
Holding out for a larger version
These will not ship to my country. Can anyone recommend a good eink note-taking alternative?
Not shipped in India :-(
I’ll just put a matte / paper feel screen protector on my iPad and use GoodNotes.
the marketing video intrigued me.. then I found real world reviews.. It's gonna be a nope for me.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJF_HmMsGRE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJF_HmMsGRE
Everyone I know that has it uses it for note taking, pdf reading and drawing simple diagrams. Unless you're buying it do draw art I wouldn't buy it based on it's merit of drawing art.
the thing doesn't even support Adobe DRM Epub... what a waste of opportunity!
To be fair DRM is a waste of opportunity. If I buy a book, movie, or album I want to use it however I choose as long as it doesn't breach copyright laws.
I've been burned too many times by DRM'd content that stops working after a service/app update, is useless when the company goes out of business, or when it works on one of my devices but not another.
I've been burned too many times by DRM'd content that stops working after a service/app update, is useless when the company goes out of business, or when it works on one of my devices but not another.
Libraries all use Adobe DRM. Kindle doesn't support it, so it's not in consideration for me.
I don't want to buy ebooks.. I want to check it out via my local library
I don't want to buy ebooks.. I want to check it out via my local library
I guess some marketing guys lurking in this forum. Remarkable2 is very strong on Instagram and there must be a catch whenever marketing is heavily used.
Nice, but so expensive!
Will it run doom?
Does it run vim?
boox max 3 or note 2, are way better than what remarkable can offer
oh my god HN is like reading ads. what shite front page news....
[deleted]
Honest question: who works like that? Handwriting is slower than typing. Handwriting OCR is unreliable as well. I don't find myself doing a ton of diagrams either, and if I did need that, the e-ink lag would make me hate this device. The only real advantage I see is browsing internet would be uncomfortable on it, which aids productivity in those who are addicted.
The availability of this e-reader is frustrating, I want it so bad but have to wait two months.
For me a big problem is that a lot of the things I want to save, mark up, and revisit (archive or search or share) are articles from webpages or PDFs - neither of which this eInk display is practical for.
It claims to support PDFs, does that not work well for some reason?
PDFs work fine. I converted many Kindle books to PDF and sent them to the remarkable via their cloud API. I don't do it much but writing
notes on PDF pages works fine.
How do you convert kindle books into PDFs?
Wiring together the work done in the Calibre project.
http://www.geoffstratton.com/remove-drm-amazon-kindle-books
Start by downloading the owned book from Amazon, targeting one of the compatible devices. I have a bunch of old kindles still registered under my account that I use for this, for which I have the serial #. Then just follow instructions.
All the steps described as using the UI can be done with some digging from the command line.
Shipping a PDF up to the remarkable cloud also takes little digging and wiring, but it works totally reliably.
http://www.geoffstratton.com/remove-drm-amazon-kindle-books
Start by downloading the owned book from Amazon, targeting one of the compatible devices. I have a bunch of old kindles still registered under my account that I use for this, for which I have the serial #. Then just follow instructions.
All the steps described as using the UI can be done with some digging from the command line.
Shipping a PDF up to the remarkable cloud also takes little digging and wiring, but it works totally reliably.
> …on an eyestrain-inducing glossy screens.
Are you sure about that? [1]
[1] https://bubblin.io/blog/daylight-energy-fatigue
Are you sure about that? [1]
[1] https://bubblin.io/blog/daylight-energy-fatigue
Paper scatters light, smooth glass will reflect perfectly any window, light or glare. We usually don't notice it because we have trained ourselves to tilt our devices to minimize reflections.
Glossy glass is 21st century sexy, though. It looks premium compared to clear plastic.
Glossy glass is 21st century sexy, though. It looks premium compared to clear plastic.
> Glossy glass is 21st century sexy, though. It looks premium compared to clear plastic.
I really hate the glossy screen thing. I have this strange idea where I want to see what is actually on the screen, instead of a detailed reflection of stuff behind me. Crazy, right?
I really hate the glossy screen thing. I have this strange idea where I want to see what is actually on the screen, instead of a detailed reflection of stuff behind me. Crazy, right?
Most monitors and laptops have matte screens. Its just apple stuff thats glossy. Apparently it gives better color which helps for video/image editing but for programming the matte screens are clearly better.
Every screen I own is glossy, and I don't own any Apple stuff. External screens, laptops, all-in-ones, all glossy. The last matte screen I had was on a 2010 ThinkPad, and I think I had to pay extra for that.
Maybe it's touch related? Every screen I own is also a touch screen (so's that old ThinkPad though), and with my physical needs I can't really consider non-touch.
Maybe it's touch related? Every screen I own is also a touch screen (so's that old ThinkPad though), and with my physical needs I can't really consider non-touch.
> Maybe it's touch related?
I got a Thinkpad T490 this year, which has a matte touch screen (I really wish it wasn't a touchscreen, my only gripe with it. I never want to interact with the laptop via touch. Never.)
I got a Thinkpad T490 this year, which has a matte touch screen (I really wish it wasn't a touchscreen, my only gripe with it. I never want to interact with the laptop via touch. Never.)
It's probably pretty easy to turn the touch off, by uninstalling the driver or something. My ThinkPad developed a tendency to sometimes do that automatically, and I had to restart a certain .exe to bring it back.
Yeah its almost certainly touchscreen related. My LG 4k monitor and 2018 dell xps are matte.
You are very much not alone here. Especially on portable devices.
People are very much attracted (I would say addicted) to bright shiny colors. Device manufacturers know this and thus glossy screens are the norm.
People are very much attracted (I would say addicted) to bright shiny colors. Device manufacturers know this and thus glossy screens are the norm.
As I read this on a Macbook Pro I'm staring also at the ceiling light behind me.
Oh how I wish I could leave my light on and still use my multi-thousand dollar machine without strain!
Oh how I wish I could leave my light on and still use my multi-thousand dollar machine without strain!
Insert shrug here. I definitely get headaches after staring at iPad screens all day, and definitely have to squint to see them outside. Don't really care if that subjective suffering doesn't reflect some medically recognizable consequence, I still choose to avoid it.
Is this written by a lobbyist?
Blue light causes cataracts if nothing else. It also affects sleep cycles which can cause fatigue and all sorts of strain on the eye and body.
But “ Does this blue-light pose any hazard to our eyes?
Nope, not to my knowledge”
Animations are not perfectly smooth causing strain on scrolling (I can see the unevenness even on my 11 pro with every scroll). Colors are constructed - ever look at a phone on acid? This also can cause subconscious strain.
The article also fails to recognize that most eink displayed are in fact illuminated.
The bottom line is reading on eink is relaxing in ways a tablet is not.
Blue light causes cataracts if nothing else. It also affects sleep cycles which can cause fatigue and all sorts of strain on the eye and body.
But “ Does this blue-light pose any hazard to our eyes?
Nope, not to my knowledge”
Animations are not perfectly smooth causing strain on scrolling (I can see the unevenness even on my 11 pro with every scroll). Colors are constructed - ever look at a phone on acid? This also can cause subconscious strain.
The article also fails to recognize that most eink displayed are in fact illuminated.
The bottom line is reading on eink is relaxing in ways a tablet is not.
Cool story bro
We detached this subthread from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24296217.
I can buy 399 notebooks for 399
Buy the Pen and Paper.
Nothing can feel like Pen and Paper without Pen and Paper. I stopped all this and bought $2 5 subject notebook and it relieved my anxiety and give me outlet to express.
Just buy Pen and Paper and stopped looking nostaliga and looking things in other things.
Nothing can feel like Pen and Paper without Pen and Paper. I stopped all this and bought $2 5 subject notebook and it relieved my anxiety and give me outlet to express.
Just buy Pen and Paper and stopped looking nostaliga and looking things in other things.
I'm a big fan of pen-and-paper.
But years ago, on a Windows 8 Tablet, I copy/pasted my first handwritten note. That's when I knew that there's a huge future in the UI design of "paper-like" digital written notes.
Copy/paste. "Insert". Zoom. The digital landscape can make superior paper for thinking. It's still not as good as paper, but every year new devices come out and push the limits of UI / paper-like feel.
Eventually, someone will figure it out. Until then, tech-nerds will play with the toy and try to figure out how to make it better.
Artists have largely moved to digital ink / digital drawing styles. Its a bit odd that "thinkers" haven't found a computerized tool for "writing & thinking" yet.
Clearly, Remarkable (I never used this tablet before) is aiming at this niche. I'd probably give it a try, with a cautious degree of pessimism. I still haven't found anything as good as a $20 paper-notebook (Leuchtturm1917) and a $10 pencil (Pentel Kerry). But I await the day when some technology can replicate the experience.
But years ago, on a Windows 8 Tablet, I copy/pasted my first handwritten note. That's when I knew that there's a huge future in the UI design of "paper-like" digital written notes.
Copy/paste. "Insert". Zoom. The digital landscape can make superior paper for thinking. It's still not as good as paper, but every year new devices come out and push the limits of UI / paper-like feel.
Eventually, someone will figure it out. Until then, tech-nerds will play with the toy and try to figure out how to make it better.
Artists have largely moved to digital ink / digital drawing styles. Its a bit odd that "thinkers" haven't found a computerized tool for "writing & thinking" yet.
Clearly, Remarkable (I never used this tablet before) is aiming at this niche. I'd probably give it a try, with a cautious degree of pessimism. I still haven't found anything as good as a $20 paper-notebook (Leuchtturm1917) and a $10 pencil (Pentel Kerry). But I await the day when some technology can replicate the experience.
I kick started the first Remarkable and found it indispensable for grad school. It's just not practical to carry around a printout of every paper you've ever read for any of your classes, but a nice eink tablet meant I could read without eye strain and have older sources if I needed them.
I agree it's a poor replacement for writing notes on paper and I paired it with traditional notebooks for notes in class.
I agree it's a poor replacement for writing notes on paper and I paired it with traditional notebooks for notes in class.
I tried some of solutions. But I could not replace. My needs are less. I use for journaling and some study.
I like the feel of paper and pen and I just think it can't be replaced.
I like the feel of paper and pen and I just think it can't be replaced.
This seems like a perfect device for the single use of note taking. But something like https://www.boox.com would probably make more sense for a lot of people since it can run other Android note taking and e-reader apps.
I have a Boox Note and its has tragically lousy software. Its stuck on Android Lollipop with an ancient, vulnerable kernel, SELinux disabled by the manufacturer and the device phones home to Chinese servers for just about everything. Handwriting recognition doesnt work without phoning home. Ony,x does not respect the GPL, the bootloader is locked on their devices, and the firmware is obfuscated.
I explain it all in this comment: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21041543
This received some attention in the re--it community last month--the company still does not care [0]. I preordered a remarkable 2. As said by other people: after being abused by all of these conpanies who intentionally lock down the devices that /we purchase/ from them, spying on us and making the devices intentionallu obselescent, remarkable, purism, pine64 have infinite goodwill from me for making devices that you have actual control over.
[0]: https://reddit.com/comments/hl09g7
I explain it all in this comment: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21041543
This received some attention in the re--it community last month--the company still does not care [0]. I preordered a remarkable 2. As said by other people: after being abused by all of these conpanies who intentionally lock down the devices that /we purchase/ from them, spying on us and making the devices intentionallu obselescent, remarkable, purism, pine64 have infinite goodwill from me for making devices that you have actual control over.
[0]: https://reddit.com/comments/hl09g7
I have an onyx boox note 2 and like it quite a bit, but note taking only really works on the built-in app, play store apps that support handwriting input are not responsive enough so it's a very glitchy experience. The stock note taking app is a pleasure to use, at least, and it is nice to be able to install and use a variety of e-book store/reader apps natively.
I'm happy with my iPad. I can read books, watch videos or take notes all in one, plus I get to surf the open web on a super fast browser on top hardware that doesn't try to mimic the dead-tree. Not sure what the use-case for a sluggish 'paper-like' interface would ever be?
I know some folks will jump to suggest less eyestrain but neither paper books nor e-ink help with that. Since eyestrain stems from overworked eyes and a tired brain [1], it doesn't help to claim that the nature of surface revealing the text has anything to do with it.
[1] https://bubblin.io/blog/daylight-energy-fatigue
I know some folks will jump to suggest less eyestrain but neither paper books nor e-ink help with that. Since eyestrain stems from overworked eyes and a tired brain [1], it doesn't help to claim that the nature of surface revealing the text has anything to do with it.
[1] https://bubblin.io/blog/daylight-energy-fatigue
The Remarkable does one thing and tries to do that one thing well. For a lot of people, not having Hacker News a swipe away is a feature. Having a much, much longer battery life is also nice.
Have you ever compared the screen of an iPad and Kindle outside? The Kindle is far easier to read in bright light. Even inside I prefer an eink screen because it isn't flashing 60 or 120 times per second.
Have you ever compared the screen of an iPad and Kindle outside? The Kindle is far easier to read in bright light. Even inside I prefer an eink screen because it isn't flashing 60 or 120 times per second.
Eyestrain also stems from trying to use an LCD outside.
When this device has an e-ink colour display then I would purchase it.
Until then: No Thanks and No deal.
EDIT: Not only that, Remarkable 2.0 and 1.0 are not even 64 bit and still use 32 bit processors in 2020. Completely pointless to use beyond 2038.
Like I said, wait for e-ink colour and 64 bit or don't bother.
Until then: No Thanks and No deal.
EDIT: Not only that, Remarkable 2.0 and 1.0 are not even 64 bit and still use 32 bit processors in 2020. Completely pointless to use beyond 2038.
Like I said, wait for e-ink colour and 64 bit or don't bother.
> EDIT: Not only that, Remarkable 2.0 and 1.0 are not even 64 bit and still use 32 bit processors in 2020. Completely pointless to use beyond 2038.
32-bit isn't an issue. You reference Y2038, but this is only an issue when you care about binary compatibility, which you do not. Wikipedia says:
"Linux originally used a 64-bit time_t for 64-bit architectures only; the pure 32-bit ABI was not changed due to backward compatibility.[15] Starting with version 5.6, 64-bit time_t is supported on 32-bit architectures, too. This was done primarily for the sake of embedded Linux systems."
There is absolutely no need for a 64-bit processor in a device with less than 4GB RAM.
32-bit isn't an issue. You reference Y2038, but this is only an issue when you care about binary compatibility, which you do not. Wikipedia says:
"Linux originally used a 64-bit time_t for 64-bit architectures only; the pure 32-bit ABI was not changed due to backward compatibility.[15] Starting with version 5.6, 64-bit time_t is supported on 32-bit architectures, too. This was done primarily for the sake of embedded Linux systems."
There is absolutely no need for a 64-bit processor in a device with less than 4GB RAM.
This is a bizarre take. Would you expect that same length of life from a tablet or phone?
If not, why would you apply it to this device?
If not, why would you apply it to this device?
I can see the argument for color, but I'm curious why, for its intended use-case, 32/64 matters?
I agree with you. Don't understand why people are downvoting your observation though.
Because the required hardware technology does not exist.
> does not exist.
Oh really? Lets have a look at the market shall we?
What is this then? [0]
Or this? [1]
Maybe this? [2]
Finally, an actual colour e-ink e-reader product. [3]
64 Bit e-reader bonus review: [4]
I have high hopes for reMarkable to do better than what is on the market right now which is why I would rather wait for a color e-ink version with a 64 bit CPU, which the technologies DO exist today. But unfortunately, what they are offering for a competitive e-reader tablet tells me that they are not even trying, even when they are selling a product with outdated technology. That isn't really a good deal is it?
[0] https://www.eink.com/color-technology.html
[1] https://www.gizmodo.co.uk/2020/07/this-could-finally-be-the-...
[2] https://blog.the-ebook-reader.com/2019/12/18/e-ink-releasing...
[3] https://goodereader.com/blog/reviews/pocketbook-color-e-read...
[4] https://goodereader.com/blog/reviews/remarkable-1-vs-fujitsu...
Oh really? Lets have a look at the market shall we?
What is this then? [0]
Or this? [1]
Maybe this? [2]
Finally, an actual colour e-ink e-reader product. [3]
64 Bit e-reader bonus review: [4]
I have high hopes for reMarkable to do better than what is on the market right now which is why I would rather wait for a color e-ink version with a 64 bit CPU, which the technologies DO exist today. But unfortunately, what they are offering for a competitive e-reader tablet tells me that they are not even trying, even when they are selling a product with outdated technology. That isn't really a good deal is it?
[0] https://www.eink.com/color-technology.html
[1] https://www.gizmodo.co.uk/2020/07/this-could-finally-be-the-...
[2] https://blog.the-ebook-reader.com/2019/12/18/e-ink-releasing...
[3] https://goodereader.com/blog/reviews/pocketbook-color-e-read...
[4] https://goodereader.com/blog/reviews/remarkable-1-vs-fujitsu...
Hacker News might be interested in the active development community around the device: https://github.com/reHackable/awesome-reMarkable
The device is open. It's just an embedded linux device. You can ssh into it, and run arbitrary code. The SDK is based on Qt. You can also connect a keyboard to it over a USB-on-the-go port.
I have been imagining porting a lightweight Qt-based virtual terminal to the device and using it as an e-ink unix terminal. Alas, I have not yet had the cycles to complete this project.