Kindle DX, the discontinued one with the really big screen. It fits a whole page nicely. One day its battery is going to die, and I have no idea what I'll do then.
Sony has more current hardware in the size range.
Ask HN: What device do you use to read academic papers with?
81–90 of 147 posts
Re: Ask HN: What device do you use to read academic papers with?
#82I really tried to use a 6'' kindle for that, but it just doesn't work. I tried it with .pdf, but the screen is just to small and scrolling is not really comfortable. When I tried to convert them to .mobi with calibre, all formulas just looked nasty. Today, I read them on my 14'' ThinkPad with Redshift installed. It does its job well, but it isn't as handy as a Kindle would be.
What is Redshift? (Tried Googling it.)
http://jonls.dk/redshift/
(If you know f.lux, it's an open source version of that)
Re: Ask HN: What device do you use to read academic papers with?
#83To organise/track papers:
I’m currently using Mendeley[1]. Previously, I used Papers[2]. Unfortunately, the latest version of Papers (3.x) is terrible compared to how slick the old version (2.x) was. I’ve tried ReadCube[3], but somehow I find Mendeley easier to work with. I used EndNote[4] before I discovered Papers, and wouldn’t recommend it. I keep all my .pdf files in Dropbox.
Discussions/recommendations for papers:
In-person, well run, reading groups still seem to work best. Although I’ve seen good discussions on /r/maths and /r/physics on Reddit. ResearchGate[5] is useful for finding recent papers, while Mendeley is good for more historical connections.
Reading papers:
I’ve tried a Kindle, but having to convert with Calibre adds too much friction to the process, and the result still isn’t that easy to work with. Reading for long periods of time on a laptop or desktop monitor is painful. An iPad with a Retina display comes close, but old school paper printout still wins the day. You can carry paper anywhere and scribble annotations on it with ease. I also find being able to have multiple pages “in view” at the same time is sometimes helpful for understanding. Not easily (cheaply) done with iPads or laptops.
Re: Ask HN: What device do you use to read academic papers with?
#84HP LaserJet 4200dtn and 20 lb white paper.
Re: Ask HN: What device do you use to read academic papers with?
#85Earlier quoted context omitted.
Agreed, an iPad with goodreader is the way to go (in particular its notetaking and extensive file management options). I might even go for the 12.9" pro model at some point but the standard 9.7" model is enough for most pdf's.
GoodReader's zoom in-out is so fast (at least on iPad Air 2), even on complex PDFs, that it's easy enough to zoom in on the occasional thing that's too small to read. I've been thinking about upgrading to a 12.9" iPad Pro myself, but the additional benefits (larger screen, Apple Pencil support, better colour fidelity) aren't worth it for my use cases.
I tried switching from an iPad Air 2 to a 12.9" iPad Pro primarily because I wanted something larger to read PDFs with, and quickly discovered it was too large to be my iPad for everything else.
So, I'm waiting for a refresh and then I'll decide whether I can justify having two iPads.
Re: Ask HN: What device do you use to read academic papers with?
#86My desktop. Adobe Acrobat Reader DC is actually really nice for reading and annotating pdfs.
Re: Ask HN: What device do you use to read academic papers with?
#87I like to print them out. Reading from any type of screen hurts my eyes. Has anyone got experience reading papers in Kindle. How does it feel like?
Re: Ask HN: What device do you use to read academic papers with?
#88Portrait orientation 24" Dell Ultrasharp monitor, with the page fit to screen. I find viewing at >100% scale makes a difference.
Zotero + Zotfile + Dropbox keeps my papers synced across all devices. PDF X-change is such a good PDF editor/viewer that I happily pay for it.
As as aside: Why do journals permit authors to submit plots and other line art as raster images. Have they no shame?
Re: Ask HN: What device do you use to read academic papers with?
#89I find kbibtex quite nice, and emacs for editing the raw bibtex if I feel like it.
mupdf is pretty lightweight for skimming.
Re: Ask HN: What device do you use to read academic papers with?
#90To organise/track papers: I’m currently using Mendeley[1]. Previously, I used Papers[2]. Unfortunately, the latest version of Papers (3.x) is terrible compared to how slick the old version (2.x) was. I’ve tried ReadCube[3], but somehow I find Mendeley easier to work with. I used EndNote[4] before I discovered Papers, and wouldn’t recommend it. I keep all my .pdf files in Dropbox. Discussions/recommendations for paper…
I'll second Mendeley. I've used several other options, but Mendeley has a Chrome plug-in that will download the PDF as well as try to read author and other bibliographical info. The desktop app helps in searching for key words within all documents as well as individual documents.