The PineNote is an e-ink notebook that runs Linux • Hacker News Board

Re: The PineNote is an e-ink notebook that runs Linux

#21

Post by Youden » Mon, Aug 30, 2021, 2:06 PM UTC

Enginerrrd wrote: post #6

Let me just say that the Remarkable also runs linux. Not only that, but I've been blown away by the ongoing results from the team at Remarkable. I only have the Remarkable 1 but they continue to ship updates for it, and these updates are often really substantive with sometimes profound new features. Their cloud service is free, no aggravating subscription stuff and even though they have the remarkable 2 now, they con…

I like the idea of Remarkable but the thing that bothers me a lot is that it doesn't have a backlight. I'd really like to use it to read at night and no backlight kinda kills that.

Do you not use it at night or do you use some other solution for nighttime lighting (like bright ceiling lights)?

Re: The PineNote is an e-ink notebook that runs Linux

#22

Post by Buttons840 » Mon, Aug 30, 2021, 2:08 PM UTC

eloeffler wrote: post #14

Enginerrrd wrote: post #6

Let me just say that the Remarkable also runs linux. Not only that, but I've been blown away by the ongoing results from the team at Remarkable. I only have the Remarkable 1 but they continue to ship updates for it, and these updates are often really substantive with sometimes profound new features. Their cloud service is free, no aggravating subscription stuff and even though they have the remarkable 2 now, they con…

And they give root access to the device along with GPL compliance statements, allowing for a flourishing developer community that creates tons of useful programs that can run on the embedded device. See for example https://github.com/reHackable/awesome-reMarkable for a list. There is also an opkg-based package manager and repo with many packages: https://toltec-dev.org/

I'm scared by that link warning about how easy it is to brick your device. Should I be?

Re: The PineNote is an e-ink notebook that runs Linux

#23

Post by mbreese » Mon, Aug 30, 2021, 2:09 PM UTC

Youden wrote: post #21

Enginerrrd wrote: post #6

Let me just say that the Remarkable also runs linux. Not only that, but I've been blown away by the ongoing results from the team at Remarkable. I only have the Remarkable 1 but they continue to ship updates for it, and these updates are often really substantive with sometimes profound new features. Their cloud service is free, no aggravating subscription stuff and even though they have the remarkable 2 now, they con…

I like the idea of Remarkable but the thing that bothers me a lot is that it doesn't have a backlight. I'd really like to use it to read at night and no backlight kinda kills that. Do you not use it at night or do you use some other solution for nighttime lighting (like bright ceiling lights)?

What about a normal book light that you’d use with a traditional book? I find that even the Kindle light can be uncomfortable when in complete darkness, so I try to always keep a little bit of ambient light, which is usually enough to read by.

Re: The PineNote is an e-ink notebook that runs Linux

#24

Post by someperson » Mon, Aug 30, 2021, 2:09 PM UTC

salamandersauce wrote: post #17

Enginerrrd wrote: post #6

Let me just say that the Remarkable also runs linux. Not only that, but I've been blown away by the ongoing results from the team at Remarkable. I only have the Remarkable 1 but they continue to ship updates for it, and these updates are often really substantive with sometimes profound new features. Their cloud service is free, no aggravating subscription stuff and even though they have the remarkable 2 now, they con…

Kobo and Kindle both run Linux too. Kobo still updates every single model they've released except for the first two non-touch models and the 5" mini stretching back a decade. And Amazon is pretty good with updates too. Kobo is pretty similarly hackable to the Remarkables but they are not nearly as open and free as the Pine stuff. I take a look at what remarkable has updated, and they just still haven't gotten ePub su…

> Kobo still updates every single model they've released except for the first two non-touch models and the 5" mini stretching back a decade.

Wow you're right (at least until this year?): https://wiki.mobileread.com/wiki/Kobo_Firmware_Releases

The Mk3 is the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kobo_Touch released 10 years ago.

Re: The PineNote is an e-ink notebook that runs Linux

#25

Post by megous » Mon, Aug 30, 2021, 2:11 PM UTC

shortformblog wrote: post #2

It’s worth noting that this is a bit more powerful than Pine64’s other hardware releases, in part because it’s using the same base chipset as its Quartz64 SBC, released earlier this year: https://wiki.pine64.org/wiki/Quartz64

I wouldn't call this more powerful than pine's rk3399 products. It's a bit less powerful than that. Though I've just started playing with my quartz64.

Re: The PineNote is an e-ink notebook that runs Linux

#26

Post by jxdxbx » Mon, Aug 30, 2021, 2:12 PM UTC

I have a Boox Note Air--it runs Android, and can do cool stuff to apps to make them work better on e-ink (mostly tweaking the contrast).

It's still kind of slow in practice, like all e-ink. Page turns will take longer than a tablet or of course a book.

It comes with a stylus, but the only note-taking app that works well with it is the built-in one, which is not great though at least it can sync your notes off the device. But standard Android apps that support pen input are unusable.

If you want to read PDFs on an e-ink screen, I think this is probably the best option. You need a much larger screen than Kindles have of course, and the Android ecosystem has some ok apps for PDFs and comics (the Boox has a decent PDF reader but I'd suggest using a different app that syncs).

When it comes down to it, though, I've never really been happy with e-ink. Tablets are just so much faster and more versatile, and for reading in the sun and so forth I'd rather just take a book.

Re: The PineNote is an e-ink notebook that runs Linux

#27

Post by megous » Mon, Aug 30, 2021, 2:13 PM UTC

zamadatix wrote: post #9

shortformblog wrote: post #2

It’s worth noting that this is a bit more powerful than Pine64’s other hardware releases, in part because it’s using the same base chipset as its Quartz64 SBC, released earlier this year: https://wiki.pine64.org/wiki/Quartz64

Does boot/ethernet/PCIe/wifi/USB work with a mainline kernel?

boot/ethernet/wifi will work with 5.15. At least linux-next from a few days ago boots and has working ethernet, here where I sit. :)

Re: The PineNote is an e-ink notebook that runs Linux

#28

Post by megous » Mon, Aug 30, 2021, 2:14 PM UTC

mthld wrote: post #4

Is the input lag in par with other e-ink notebooks?

There's some video on the pine twitter.

https://twitter.com/LukaszErecinsk1/status/14308835069477150...

Re: The PineNote is an e-ink notebook that runs Linux

#29

Post by marvindanig » Mon, Aug 30, 2021, 2:14 PM UTC

Enginerrrd wrote: post #6

Let me just say that the Remarkable also runs linux. Not only that, but I've been blown away by the ongoing results from the team at Remarkable. I only have the Remarkable 1 but they continue to ship updates for it, and these updates are often really substantive with sometimes profound new features. Their cloud service is free, no aggravating subscription stuff and even though they have the remarkable 2 now, they con…

How is the web browser experience on the ReMarkable? It kinda sucks on the Kindle and forces me to consider an iPad to make up for open access.

Re: The PineNote is an e-ink notebook that runs Linux

#30

Post by motohagiography » Mon, Aug 30, 2021, 2:17 PM UTC

This reminds me of another HN thread today about ncurses and text based UIs. Writing software for e-ink displays could be an efficient interface hybrid that included Ncurses-like navigation.

From a general SaaS product perspective, your product comes down to the value of the data you provide, and the best possible user experience is in fact an API (imo), which customers integrate into their own systems, and it just sticks there and generates revenue. If you can develop a SaaS that works on an e-ink display, that's valuable data. It's choosing and solving for an arbitrary constraint, which is inferior to just finding out what people want and making it for them, but it requires us to build a meaningful tool instead of just another dazzling representation. In terms of refining ideas, that it should work in lynx could be an interesting enhancment to the creative process.