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

I bricked then recovered my reMarkable 2

operand.ca

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

21–30 of 242 posts

Re: I bricked then recovered my reMarkable 2

#21

Post by ryanianian »

davidandgoliath wrote: post #11
CPLX wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I got one as well, almost mad at myself when I did because I was 90% sure I would use it for a week and then never again. But I said what the hell. And I'm so glad I did, it's a great device that definitely fills a niche in my workflow. I mostly use it for brainstorming sessions. I like it a lot. I wish it synced more seamlessly but perhaps that'll happen at some point.

Me too! I thought it'd be a paperweight, but I immensely enjoy it. It's esp. nice if you throw a custom calendar on it (via reCalendar https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ys2fNQu0v0o&feature=youtu.be )

Killer app that I didn't know I needed: its built-in screen-share feature lets you easily and reliably share the tablet's screen with a desktop app over wifi. This has been super useful for whiteboarding/diagramming over Zoom.

(Older versions of the software had a very buggy implementation that has since been fixed.)

Re: I bricked then recovered my reMarkable 2

#22

Post by Someone1234 »

cortesoft wrote: post #6

Isn't `bricked then recovered` a contradiction in terms?

Bricked is a [current] state (wherein there's no official recovery workflow available, and the device is as usable as a brick).

To give an example, certain dead devices can be saved after being baked in the oven to re-seat components that have worked loose. According to the "No True Bricking" argument that constantly comes up, those devices were never really bricked because they were later fixable, even though you're literally performing a re-manufacturing step.

In fact what exactly would a "True Bricking" look like? Even in cases where a major component dies, if you desolder it, and re-solder a new one is that a "True Bricking?"

See I have zero patience for the "No True Bricking" stuff since it is a logical Swiss cheese.

Re: I bricked then recovered my reMarkable 2

#23

Post by chefandy »

Andrex wrote: post #4

Not trying to shill too hard, but it's rare I fall in love with a device the way I've fallen in love with my Remarkable 2. I can't say it was 100% worth the price (half was paid as a gift), but everything about it is refreshingly elegant and simple. Great to know recovering from a brick is possible too.

Would you mind sharing a bit about you use case? Do you use it for any sketching or artwork or primarily notes/etc?

Re: I bricked then recovered my reMarkable 2

#24

Post by aidenn0 »

cortesoft wrote: post #13
aidenn0 wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

given that the term "unbricking" exists, I would say no?

If you can fix it, it wasn't bricked it was just not working.

If you have to de-solder the flash, reprogram the flash and re-solder it back in, is that bricked?

If yes to above, then what about using an in-circuit programmer?

If yes to above then what about having to move a jumper to get a ROM monitor?

If yes to above then what about having to enter some magic button combination at boot?

The line is fuzzy, no?

Re: I bricked then recovered my reMarkable 2

#25

Post by Loughla »

chefandy wrote: post #23
Andrex wrote: post #4

Not trying to shill too hard, but it's rare I fall in love with a device the way I've fallen in love with my Remarkable 2. I can't say it was 100% worth the price (half was paid as a gift), but everything about it is refreshingly elegant and simple. Great to know recovering from a brick is possible too.

Would you mind sharing a bit about you use case? Do you use it for any sketching or artwork or primarily notes/etc?

I'm not the OP, but I absolutely love my RM2.

Use case: I work in a publicly funded institution where the contents of my notes are often required for lawsuits, settlements, and general FOIA inquiries on occasion. Being able to carry around 50 different notebooks for various uses, cordon them off from each other, and reproduce them in either original form, or converted to text is a remarkable time saver.

The only thing it doesn't have that I desperately wish it did is to be able to tag pages and search via tag. That would make my life so much better.

It's fun to draw on, but I'm a garbage artist. So it's pleasant to be able to doodle while I'm thinking in meetings and then immediately erase the doodle, but I don't use it for more than that.

Marking up pdf or other files is pretty great, too.

Re: I bricked then recovered my reMarkable 2

#26

Post by 83457 »

Andrex wrote: post #4

Not trying to shill too hard, but it's rare I fall in love with a device the way I've fallen in love with my Remarkable 2. I can't say it was 100% worth the price (half was paid as a gift), but everything about it is refreshingly elegant and simple. Great to know recovering from a brick is possible too.

My main gripe is lack of direct bookmarking of pages in ebooks or even listing jump links to highlighted areas. I like writing on it but also want to use for reading large ebooks, highlighting important info, and keeping notes in context. Not realistic to do that if have to scroll through all pages.

Re: I bricked then recovered my reMarkable 2

#27

Post by namero999 »

Andrex wrote: post #4

Not trying to shill too hard, but it's rare I fall in love with a device the way I've fallen in love with my Remarkable 2. I can't say it was 100% worth the price (half was paid as a gift), but everything about it is refreshingly elegant and simple. Great to know recovering from a brick is possible too.

Joining the bandwagon of happy remarkable users. It's the only device I own that respect my attention and focus. I use it mainly to take notes of (paper) books I read and to send web articles to it via its awesome browser extension.

Re: I bricked then recovered my reMarkable 2

#28

Post by hellotomyrars »

cortesoft wrote: post #6

Isn't `bricked then recovered` a contradiction in terms?

I absolutely think the term gets overused and I think the term “soft-bricked” is even more peculiar.

But given the extent of the required work to recover the device here (actual hardware work, non-trivial and not for a layperson) then I think it’s appropriate.

Not a hill I’m going to die on but it does kind of bother me when someone describes their device as bricked and all they need to do is plug it in and run some kind of simple restore utility or otherwise.

Re: I bricked then recovered my reMarkable 2

#29

Post by cortesoft »

Someone1234 wrote: post #22
cortesoft wrote: post #6

Isn't `bricked then recovered` a contradiction in terms?

Bricked is a [current] state (wherein there's no official recovery workflow available, and the device is as usable as a brick). To give an example, certain dead devices can be saved after being baked in the oven to re-seat components that have worked loose. According to the "No True Bricking" argument that constantly comes up, those devices were never really bricked because they were later fixable, even though you're…

You obviously have some patience for it because you spent the time to make some pretty good arguments as to why you can unbrick something. I think you have me convinced.

Re: I bricked then recovered my reMarkable 2

#30

Post by RicoElectrico »

edoceo wrote: post #20
RicoElectrico wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A decade ago I managed to brick my brother's Nokia 5300 (custom firmware - PPM mods) and thankfully recovered it by "dead phone USB flashing" - the last resort method in Phoenix, Nokia internal software for service people. It's super finicky and works on n-th attempts, but has a non-zero change of success.

> works on n-th attempts, but has a high change of success 60% of the time it works every time.

Just get lucky with the timing :) Like a QTE but without the prompt, that was the main problem. But as programming was done in parts (firmware, PPM (like Win32 resources), content (FAT32 image of storage) it depended on which part was corrupted.

Edit: some people had success on 50th attempt[1], talk about perseverance ;)

[1] http://nokiahacking.pl/naprawianie-niewlaczajacego-sie-telef...

Post reply on HN