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ReMarkable tablet open source tools and hacks

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Re: ReMarkable tablet open source tools and hacks

#81

Post by lovelyviking »

joshspankit wrote: post #23
runeks wrote: post #15

Does anyone know if it's possible to use a ReMarkable tablet as an external laptop monitor? In the summer I like to sit outside coding, but the sunlight outshines my laptops LCD display. So I'd like to use an eInk display as an external monitor. And I gather ReMarkable is the best bet because of their hackability.

There is a VNC client which would allow to to do just that

Are you talking about this one:

https://github.com/matteodelabre/vnsee

Or you know another one? Did you manage to conntect it with Mac?

Re: ReMarkable tablet open source tools and hacks

#82

Post by mackrevinack »

dheera wrote: post #49
jason_slack wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> ReMarkable is sort of astonishingly expensive, I have been contemplating buying a ReMarkable 2 as I prefer to handwrite everything/annotate/. The price tag is a bit hefty given the cost of an iPad and pencil and the zillion other things it does. I'm curious if you are indeed going to buy one?

I ended up going with a Boox tablet, mainly because it can run arbitrary Android apps. This means that among other things, installing the Kindle app turns it into a Kindle, and I can also install Dropbox, Google Drive, and Slack on it to transfer PDF sheet music and papers, among other things.

yes! having the option to run android apps is why I am leaning towards something like the boox. im thinking of a setup where i would have the help manual for whatever open on the ereader when im doing programming stuff, and to be able to select some text on my laptop and have it search that on the ereader using tasker and also autoinput to control the app. dunno how well all that will work though

Re: ReMarkable tablet open source tools and hacks

#84

Post by lovelyviking »

jron wrote: post #73

I'd love it if the reMarkable team focused more on eReader functionality. Unfortunately nothing has really been pushed since the initial release of the first reMarkable. Less than 7GB usable storage hurts as well. I'm hoping KoReader can salvage what the reMarkable team has ignored.

Isn't it already does? I am running KoReader on rM1 for eReader purposes. It works this way: I start by long press of the middle button on rM1. To switch back, I quit KoReader and it restarts built in UI utility. It needs small service running in background. The only issue I've noticed is with battery life which seems the same even in a sleep mode. I am curious is that because of this small service that ignores sleep mode?

Re: ReMarkable tablet open source tools and hacks

#85

Post by BoorishBears »

I preordered a ReMarkable 2 and after the very long wait started to question if it actually made sense...

I ordered an iPad mini and a 20 dollar Apple Pencil clone (which imo is better than the actual Apple Pencil with its USB C charge port)

That combined with a matte screen protector got me everything I wanted out of the Remarkable, without the wait, and with an incredibly fast computing device that can do far more.

-

I get that traditionally Tablet vs eReader is largely down to the eInk and some some other factors like battery life, but I really think the math has silently changed

iPads have gotten so fast, yet the battery life has improved dramatically (in sleep mode I can forget about it for a week or two and find it still has enough charge left for a day of use. E readers can manage months, but these numbers are lightyears ahead of the early days where a day of standby was pretty good.

Software support is excellent with the pen. Max brightness is plenty for direct sunlight when using a matte screen protector, and it gives it the writing feel of a proper digital notebook.

-

I think anyone considering one should take a look at the combination. I didn't cancel my order on the RM2 out of apathy honestly, but I would have taken the iPad if I realized how far they'd come.

Re: ReMarkable tablet open source tools and hacks

#87

Post by dheera »

mackrevinack wrote: post #82
dheera wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I ended up going with a Boox tablet, mainly because it can run arbitrary Android apps. This means that among other things, installing the Kindle app turns it into a Kindle, and I can also install Dropbox, Google Drive, and Slack on it to transfer PDF sheet music and papers, among other things.

yes! having the option to run android apps is why I am leaning towards something like the boox. im thinking of a setup where i would have the help manual for whatever open on the ereader when im doing programming stuff, and to be able to select some text on my laptop and have it search that on the ereader using tasker and also autoinput to control the app. dunno how well all that will work though

I recently wrote a review on Reddit where I used split screen to code in termux and look at reference in the other. Admittedly Android's split screen mode is super clunky to use but if you're not constantly switching between apps in the reference pane it's okay.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Onyx_Boox/comments/jt41e1/my_max_lu...

Having a Laptop + ereader setup would probably be a mess to set up with the cut+paste stuff. If e-Ink reference materials is your use case I'd probably suggest instead that you either get one of the Boox models that has HDMI in (Max Lumi does) or if you have $ to spend, get the Dasung e-Ink monitor instead, and use it as a 2nd monitor for your laptop. That would be much easier to cut and paste between your coding environment and reference materials.

(Also, Boox tablets aren't easily rootable so auto-inputting stuff into apps isn't easy. You could solve that by building a virtual bluetooth or USB keyboard with an Arduino that your laptop controls, though.)

Re: ReMarkable tablet open source tools and hacks

#88

Post by afandian »

ericd wrote: post #45
afandian wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

FWIW, the battery life is surprisingly short. I guess it's the Wacom digitiser broadcasting RF all the time.

Eh? Are you talking about the RM2? Mine goes for a few weeks of occasional use without needing a charge. Is that what you’re seeing? It’s supposedly much, much better than RM1.

Sorry, I'm talking about RM1.

Re: ReMarkable tablet open source tools and hacks

#89

Post by einpoklum »

fny wrote: post #5

If there is a remarkable person that sees this, please embrace the hacker community. It is a huge asset to have us by your side, and it's a huge differentiator from all the other tablets which have walled off developers. Also, it would be pretty sweet some part of the API was documented.

Are none of the other eBook readers "hackable", and/or running a mostly-plain-vanilla Linux distribution?

Re: ReMarkable tablet open source tools and hacks

#90

Post by lovelyviking »

siraben wrote: post #14

Having used the reMarkable 1 tablet for over a year now, the hackability is so refreshing to have in a consumer device. The tablet runs Linux and you can SSH into with root access. The hacking community is quite active, one frequently asked question is how to get and run custom software on the device. There's the Entware[0] package repository for running ARMv7 software on the tablet. Recently a community maintained p…

I stumbled on some article describing that Remarkable calls home and sends some statistics. I've checked and indeed it does.

My hacking attitude says it is absolutely unacceptable. The good news you can disable it, and I did. But for poople to be aware , this is what it does by default. Can't say I like that part of rM software.

Unfortunately now I've looked for the article and can't find it. If you saw one, please drop the link here, there is more info there.

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