Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

The ReMarkable Tablet: A Review

blog.liw.fi

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

61–70 of 165 posts

Re: The ReMarkable Tablet: A Review

#61

Post by marvindanig »

Tharkun wrote: post #22

I've stopped using mine. It's gathering dust in a corner somewhere. The hardware is pretty decent, and the writing experience is good. The software, on the other hand, is not good. There have been a couple of updates since I bought it, but they've been few and far between. Everything about it is mediocre. The file manager, meh. The note taking app, meh. The sync, meh. Getting stuff on it automatically is all but impo…

Oh I love the iPad Pro. I'm betting my dollars on books coming on to web straight up—like websites—and there are startups working on this already with an "iPad first" approach to experience of reading books online. I am loving this churn! :-)

Re: The ReMarkable Tablet: A Review

#62

Post by lima »

ACS_Solver wrote: post #41
diggan wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> * It's an open-source Linux-based device but not entirely. The actual UI application isn't open source. But as others have said here, it has pretty good hacking potential, and it's definitely more open than most commercial devices. The company's support of open-source was another reason for me to buy it. Can you tell us a bit more about this? Took a look at their website and searched around a bit, but don't find an…

For one, unlike most Android devices, you don't have to root the RM. It comes with SSH running and you have the root password. The company's Github [1] has most of the source code, from their Linux kernel to the software update daemon. Their CTO, Martin Sandsmark, is a long-time KDE developer. Unfortunately, xochitl (the device's main UI) isn't open. It's a major miss in their open approach, and frankly I don't get w…

And most importantly: their full toolchain is available.

https://remarkable.engineering/

Re: The ReMarkable Tablet: A Review

#63

Post by jfim »

Tharkun wrote: post #22

I've stopped using mine. It's gathering dust in a corner somewhere. The hardware is pretty decent, and the writing experience is good. The software, on the other hand, is not good. There have been a couple of updates since I bought it, but they've been few and far between. Everything about it is mediocre. The file manager, meh. The note taking app, meh. The sync, meh. Getting stuff on it automatically is all but impo…

I love mine, even though I can't use it at work due to having a very secretive employer.

It's essentially an electronic notebook with zero distractions, which IMO is the whole point. The iPad pro has a browser, Facebook, Twitter, email, messenger, hacker news, Instagram, and a million other ways to get distracted. Even if I don't use them, you still get the temptation to use those, and it's pretty distracting.

When I take the reMarkable to write on it, my brain seems to switch gears to thinking mode. It's similar to the way that having a home office puts you in working mode when you enter it, even though you could technically work from the couch with your laptop.

The software could definitely be improved, especially the cloud stuff (can't even revoke anything connected to the rM cloud from the web UI), but as a thinking device it works great for me.

You could get quite a few notebooks and pens for the price of the device, but they don't have an undo button. Whether you prefer the finality of ink on paper (with colors!) or the ability to erase and redo strokes is up to you. I carry both in my bag, ymmv.

Re: The ReMarkable Tablet: A Review

#64

Post by rjzzleep »

minimalist wrote: post #58
Erlich_Bachman wrote: post #4

A good alternative seems to be Onyx Boox Max2 which seems to be more open (android based and can use all the normal apps including sync etc), have similar functionality and can also work as an external hdmi screen. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSv0g-pYMAk

I wouldn't recommend any of the Onyx Boox products. Sure they may run android, but: * They run an ancient version of android (Android 6 or Android 5, I don't remember) * This ancient version of android runs a kernel that is susceptible to multiple vulnerabilities (like DirtyCOW)[0], and the developers have disabled selinux * Kernel sources are not released, in violation of the GPL and the last time I checked, it seem…

All of what you say is true, but I'd still recommend the devices. The nova pro has been the best ereader device I've had. The software has gotten quite good as well. They said they will release android 9 for other devices than the Max3 but I believe it when I see it.

I know that they actually submitted requests to incorporate changes into third party apps like evernote to support better rendering for their devices, which was denied. I think this is a limitation of android which they work around with their "SDK", but I could be wrong.

The GPL thing, judging from the forum discussion to me seems like whoever is responding is a middle man. And the Leadership quite literally doesn't understand it. IP theft doesn't really matter for China in the way it does for the US anyway. And it doesn't really matter for the kernel anyway. Actually it doesn't matter in most places unless you're big enough to have big license issues and even then even when strings match historically it was hard to make a case in court. What I'm trying to say is that I don't think they're hiding it because of IP theft but rather because they don't understand the GPL or the value of open source. The flip side is that you can easily root the device because of the exploits.

I've used the Max 2 both with termux and vim to ssh outdoor and as a monitor for a one mix 2s laptop I had at the time. 2GB Ram(the original max 2) wasn't really enough for my emacs setup so it would crash emacs when I was using org mode. I think the Max 3 is probably nice, but at the same time it's not really that big an upgrade that I would pay for it.

Re: The ReMarkable Tablet: A Review

#65

Post by xvilka »

tapia wrote: post #13

I was thinking about buying it, because the stylus seemed to be much better than the one from the Sony DPT-RP1. However, I decided to buy the DPT-RP1 mainly for its size (13" is just perfect to read papers and taking notes!). The writing experience of the DPT-RP1 is not great, but I have been using it for almost a year now and would never go back. The amount of paper that I have laying around at work now is minimal.…

Problem with Sony for that amount of cash is the lack of ePub support. This is why I bought iReader Smart. The biggest nuisance with iReader is the Chinese only interface.

Re: The ReMarkable Tablet: A Review

#66

Post by Erlich_Bachman »

minimalist wrote: post #58
Erlich_Bachman wrote: post #4

A good alternative seems to be Onyx Boox Max2 which seems to be more open (android based and can use all the normal apps including sync etc), have similar functionality and can also work as an external hdmi screen. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSv0g-pYMAk

I wouldn't recommend any of the Onyx Boox products. Sure they may run android, but: * They run an ancient version of android (Android 6 or Android 5, I don't remember) * This ancient version of android runs a kernel that is susceptible to multiple vulnerabilities (like DirtyCOW)[0], and the developers have disabled selinux * Kernel sources are not released, in violation of the GPL and the last time I checked, it seem…

> Access to the wacom digitizer is only possible through a proprietary blob, which has to be incorporated into an application that wishes to use it. Therefore, the stylus support has a tremendous lag for any application that is not an onyx-made application.

Don't know what the technical details are, but I have an Onyx device and this is not true. I use other apps with a stylus and there is no lag. If there is some technical lag, perceptually it is not there.

Regarding the old version of the kernel, I would obviously not use such a device as an internet-facing server, but for reading ebooks and sketching and syncing files? What attack surface are we afraid of here?

Re: The ReMarkable Tablet: A Review

#67

Post by m-p-3 »

foolano wrote: post #51

I'm a happy user of this tablet. I also created a [Go app]( https://github.com/juruen/rmapi ) to interact with the cloud API. I mainly use the tablet as a "virtual printer". Using the app I just mentioned above, I print directly to the device from my Mac. Yeah, this just saves me a couple of clicks and one drag and drop :) Here's a [tutorial]( https://github.com/juruen/rmapi/blob/master/docs/tutorial-pr... ) on how t…

I hope the idea of a virtual printer catches on for these type of devices. It would make the switch to a paperless environment in the corporate world so simple.

Re: The ReMarkable Tablet: A Review

#68

Post by sandsmark »

ACS_Solver wrote: post #50
knolax wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It comes with SSH running and you have the root password Is the password different for every device? Is the ssh daemon updated regularly? Seems like a massive security vulnerability otherwise.

The password is randomly generated for each device, yes. And of course the network only becomes available once you connect the device to your WiFi, or via cable to a PC. Once you're connected, you can also change to key-only authentication if you want. The SSH daemon is Dropbear, and it doesn't seem to be updated though: > reMarkable: ~/ dropbear -V > Dropbear v2016.72

Hmm, I thought we were at 2017.75, are you sure your device is up to date?

We shipped the first software with an old dropbear, though it had backported patches for the known CVEs: http://cgit.openembedded.org/openembedded-core/tree/meta/rec...

Re: The ReMarkable Tablet: A Review

#69

Post by m-p-3 »

minimalist wrote: post #58
Erlich_Bachman wrote: post #4

A good alternative seems to be Onyx Boox Max2 which seems to be more open (android based and can use all the normal apps including sync etc), have similar functionality and can also work as an external hdmi screen. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSv0g-pYMAk

I wouldn't recommend any of the Onyx Boox products. Sure they may run android, but: * They run an ancient version of android (Android 6 or Android 5, I don't remember) * This ancient version of android runs a kernel that is susceptible to multiple vulnerabilities (like DirtyCOW)[0], and the developers have disabled selinux * Kernel sources are not released, in violation of the GPL and the last time I checked, it seem…

The Onyx Boox Max3 will release at Android 9 at least, and they're saying they'll upgrade previous versions but no ETA.

Re: The ReMarkable Tablet: A Review

#70

Post by sweetheart »

Tharkun wrote: post #22

I've stopped using mine. It's gathering dust in a corner somewhere. The hardware is pretty decent, and the writing experience is good. The software, on the other hand, is not good. There have been a couple of updates since I bought it, but they've been few and far between. Everything about it is mediocre. The file manager, meh. The note taking app, meh. The sync, meh. Getting stuff on it automatically is all but impo…

Any interest in selling it? I’ve been curious about trying one, and I’ve also been trying to get better at reusing things, rather than buying new ones outright, so one with a sufficient layer of dust seems perfect.
Post reply on HN