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The rise of E Ink Tablets and Note Takers: reMarkable 2 vs Onyx Boox Note Air

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Re: The rise of E Ink Tablets and Note Takers: reMarkable 2 vs Onyx Boox Note Air

#141
post #137

I bought a Remarkable 2 a month or two ago because I wanted a cool hackable e-ink Linux computer. But instead I immediately started using it as an e-book and document reader and note-taking pad, and nothing else. And, so far at least, that's perfect. The screen is beautiful (a bit gray, but the black is really black so the contrast is still good), the device is thin and reasonably light, I only have to charge it once…

Actually you can. The IP address is shown at the bottom of the copyright notice, you can ssh into the device and once your have put your ssh keys onto it, just scp onto it (the ip changes on reboot). Unfortunately, you cannot just copy the documents, but you have to bundle them with some meta data, it is pretty trivial to construct, I made a small script, will try to share it at some time.

you can fix the ip changing on reboot by pegging the MAC to an IP in your router. if you are also running something like pi-hole you can give it a local dns entry too, which makes it even easier to remember.

Re: The rise of E Ink Tablets and Note Takers: reMarkable 2 vs Onyx Boox Note Air

#142

I bought a Remarkable 2 a month or two ago because I wanted a cool hackable e-ink Linux computer. But instead I immediately started using it as an e-book and document reader and note-taking pad, and nothing else. And, so far at least, that's perfect. The screen is beautiful (a bit gray, but the black is really black so the contrast is still good), the device is thin and reasonably light, I only have to charge it once…

https://twitter.com/KenoFischer/status/1333952722849198084

Re: The rise of E Ink Tablets and Note Takers: reMarkable 2 vs Onyx Boox Note Air

#143
post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can actually SCP into the device without any modification. It's under the Copyright section of the device. It'll show you the default SSH password for your device and then you can drop files in there. :)

You can, but getting the reader to pick up a new pdf involves - Setting up a bit of metadata - Restarting the system service it's not quite as simple as `scp file remarkable:/folder`

i don't haven the device but the above sounds like a 10 line shell script to me. slap files in a local directory, execute script, see screen flash on device, items loaded.

Re: The rise of E Ink Tablets and Note Takers: reMarkable 2 vs Onyx Boox Note Air

#144
post #89
post #14

I bought the Onyx Boox Note Air some months ago, and I must say that I'm really happy with it. Screen refresh is good, there's almost no ghosting in default mode, and refresh rates are acceptable. There are only two downsides about it: The vendor does not respect FOSS and does not publish the sources for their modified Linux kernel, and the device constantly phones home to China. However, the device can be rooted eas…

I don’t like the software on my Onyx boox. It’s over engineered with too many options often not intuitive. Unless you opt in for their cloud service syncing sucks. I still can’t figure out how to access documents from Dropbox and edit them and sync it back.

I use google drive from the play store. There is an extra step to enable play store.

Re: The rise of E Ink Tablets and Note Takers: reMarkable 2 vs Onyx Boox Note Air

#145
Boox Note Air seems like the best fit for me, because it runs full Android, instead of a restricted device-only OS. So for example, if you want to use it as a glare-free word processor, connect a BT keyboard, fire up Word and you're good to go. The refresh rate is fine for normal typing.

The problem is that Boox is a Chinese/HK brand with no customer support depot overseas. So if you get a lemon, you might be able to return it, but it'll be expensive, and your refund might be subject to a restock fee depending on the vendor.

The Kobo Elipsa is coming in a few weeks, and looks similar to the Note Air, and is cheaper as well. It would be well-supported in Canada, but it's running a custom Linux OS that's pretty locked down and only integrates with Dropbox, Pocket and Kobo's e-store. You can't sideload apps.

Re: The rise of E Ink Tablets and Note Takers: reMarkable 2 vs Onyx Boox Note Air

#146
post #6

I wonder which will happen faster: A) classic displays (LCD/OLED/Mini-LED/Micro-LEDs) reaching a point where the quality and power consumption are so low as to be indistinguishable from paper B) Color e-ink displays get good enough for interactive use, movie watching, etc. Maybe someone who's an expert in display tech can chime in? My money's on A) since so much is invested in it.

I work in the display industry. My take is neither will happen. Lets start with B. > B) Color e-ink displays get good enough for interactive use, movie watching, etc. There is no commercially sold genuine color e-ink today. Kaleido is a grayscale e-ink with a color filter laminated on top. Kaleido Plus is just the same with a light guide. E Ink did show off a genuine color display back in 2018 called Advanced Color a…

> these are all emissive technologies

LCD doesn't have to be emissive. Black-and-white LCDs are most often not. It's unlikely but not impossible for there to be some breakthrough in colors LCDs

Re: The rise of E Ink Tablets and Note Takers: reMarkable 2 vs Onyx Boox Note Air

#147
post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can, but getting the reader to pick up a new pdf involves - Setting up a bit of metadata - Restarting the system service it's not quite as simple as `scp file remarkable:/folder`

i don't haven the device but the above sounds like a 10 line shell script to me. slap files in a local directory, execute script, see screen flash on device, items loaded.

That sounds about right in terms of complexity.

Maybe 20, the metadata format is a bit verbose.

Screen more than flashes, it exits to the entry screen, navigation state isn't saved.

Re: The rise of E Ink Tablets and Note Takers: reMarkable 2 vs Onyx Boox Note Air

#148
post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Man, I don't know. I have the Onyx Poke 3 and I find the software pretty janky. For instance, in order to install a dictionary, I have to jump through a whole series of hoops to download one to a PC and then upload/install it on the tablet. I could install the Kindle app (after I enable the Google Play Store), but then I might as well buy a Kindle. In order to upload epub or pdf documents to the Poke3, I have to inte…

I use Syncthing [1] to do all the syncing, works like a charm. I have a folder synchronized between my reader, my PC and my phone, and whenever I need to send a document to the reader or from the reader to my PC, I just put it into that folder. [1] https://syncthing.net/

I discovered Syncthing last week, and it's exactly what I was looking for: a local server that syncs between Device A and Device B on the same network. No need for a middleman like Dropbox.

This is why I'm leaning towards the Note Air. The Kobo Elipsa is coming out soon but it syncs with Dropbox only.

Re: The rise of E Ink Tablets and Note Takers: reMarkable 2 vs Onyx Boox Note Air

#149
post #23

I have a Remarkable 2 and the device is great, software is improving as well and taking notes is a joy BUT finding those notes later on is next to impossible. OCR is very bad and basically makes indexing and full-text searching impossible (and off device)

This is EXACTLY the reason why, after weeks of review, I ended up with an iPad pro.

Clearly it's a very different look and feel. However, using GoodNotes, it immediately finds whatever I've written (even in my sloppy handwriting) on any page I wrote it. It's kind of amazing actually.

I'd have preferred eInk, but notes that I can't find are not useful to me.

Re: The rise of E Ink Tablets and Note Takers: reMarkable 2 vs Onyx Boox Note Air

#150

> Later this month I'll take a look at Supernote which already has a enthusiastic community and promises to have a rich API for 3rd parties to explore and expand. I tried the Remarkable 2 for a month but ended up returning it and ordering the Supernote A5X instead – I couldn't be happier! Its main advantages (IMO): - The Supernote acts as a regular USB mass storage device, so syncing files (w/o resorting to the cloud…

> Sure, you can "hack" your RM2 but the chances that the next official update will then completely brick your device are rather high – /r/RemarkableTablet/ is full of these stories

No... they're approximately 0.

The next update will wipe out your modifications, everything outside of the home directory is wiped, but the device will still work.

People bricking their devices are people actively doing things that brick their devices, not updates coming along and bricking them later.

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