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I bricked then recovered my reMarkable 2

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Re: I bricked then recovered my reMarkable 2

#81

Post by jiveturkey »

cortesoft wrote: post #33
aidenn0 wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

Yeah, I think you are right. I am convinced. I would probably draw the line at physical work, meaning if it requires physically opening the device and changing/fixing/bypassing wiring it can count as bricked.

Well, I mean, that is a reasonable line. But it's still moving the goalposts. I'll stick with bricked meaning bricked.

I lost that personal battle for 'hacker' and 'begs the question' but dammit I am sticking to it for 'brick'!!

Re: I bricked then recovered my reMarkable 2

#82

Post by loloquwowndueo »

Back in the day “bricked” meant it was actually and permanently about as useful as a brick - no chance of recovery. These days it just seems to mean “can’t boot and can’t be fixed/reflashed easily”.

Having to plug a resistor into the device to put it in any sort of recovery mode does walk a very fine line between “not really bricked” and “dude you squeezed water out of a stone, you are a demigod”.

Re: I bricked then recovered my reMarkable 2

#83

Post by LegitShady »

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 problem with it is that I'd rather have an iPad and a cheaper e-reader to get access to many more apps and functions. If it was 1/2 the price it would be at least interesting but I use the iPad to read ebooks, to browse the web, to paint in procreate, to sequence synths and record using an audio interface, to watch YouTube in the kitchen or Netflix in bed, and with a logitech keyboard work on documents in Microsoft office. As I find new useful apps it becomes more and more useful itself.

The remarkable does cost less than the iPad but it has maybe an 1/8th or a 1/16th of the functionality, and my Kobo reader cost me less than $100 for most of the benefits of having an e-ink reader. It lacks an app ecosystem and seems aimed as a tinker device instead of an end user product.

But I guess if you have to have a larger e-ink tablet the remarkable seems to be the thing.

Re: I bricked then recovered my reMarkable 2

#85

Post by Eeems »

kayodelycaon wrote: post #70

Oh boy do I have opinions with this one. This seems like a lot of work to avoid using a perfectly good package manager on the device . They could have used rsync without installing rsync on the device. The target device doesn't need to have rsync for rsync to be used. They could have installed the package manager and left it. It doesn't run anything in the background on my device. It's easy enough to verify you don't…

I know I reacted hard to this statement:

> Going further down the rabbit hole, the toltec GitHub page mentions that it works on top of the Entware distribution, and recommends what is basically “wget | bash”. I’m not a fan of this. Could I install my own rsync?

We made sure that the toltec install process includes a hash of the install script to prove that it isn't modified by a man-in-the-middle. Toltec itself requires the use of SSL to connect after the fact, which lowers the risk after it's been installed. We are also exploring the implications of adding package signing[0].

0. https://github.com/toltec-dev/build/issues/14

Re: I bricked then recovered my reMarkable 2

#86

Post by matheusmoreira »

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…

The requirement for electronics knowledge and skills is a clear dividing line for me.

I've recovered and hacked devices for friends using software. Especially phones which have recovery functions I can use but I've also hacked some older game consoles. I can't do anything if electronics skills are required though. At that point it becomes specialized repair work.

I suppose nothing's really bricked if you're smart enough. Just desolder a chip, reprogram it and resolder it back in? I don't know how. I tried to learn what I could but it turned out hardware is a lot harder than software.

Re: I bricked then recovered my reMarkable 2

#87

Post by heleninboodler »

83457 wrote: post #26
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.

Bookmarks would be super nice. Also, a more secure way of storing the stylus. When I slide mine into my backpack I have a high chance of swiping the stylus onto the floor because it knocks off very easily. A couple of times, I haven't noticed and ended up going somewhere and being unable to use the reMarkable because it was at home under my desk or couch. One of these days I'm going to do that while I'm not at home and I'm going to be incredibly annoyed that I have to buy another $50 stylus.

Re: I bricked then recovered my reMarkable 2

#88

Post by Matthias1 »

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.

I had one for a couple weeks right about a year ago. I was very impressed by its ability to mimic paper. Unfortunately, it didn't do much more than mimic paper, so I sold it and bought some nice notebooks.

However, I think that was before the software projects mentioned in this post. I never tried to SSH into it, so maybe it's possible to use it for things that you can't replace with paper.

Re: I bricked then recovered my reMarkable 2

#89

Post by throwaway09223 »

kayodelycaon wrote: post #70

Oh boy do I have opinions with this one. This seems like a lot of work to avoid using a perfectly good package manager on the device . They could have used rsync without installing rsync on the device. The target device doesn't need to have rsync for rsync to be used. They could have installed the package manager and left it. It doesn't run anything in the background on my device. It's easy enough to verify you don't…

"They could have used rsync without installing rsync on the device. The target device doesn't need to have rsync for rsync to be used."

This is not true.

Re: I bricked then recovered my reMarkable 2

#90

Post by Eeems »

matheusmoreira wrote: post #71
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.

It's a really impressive product. The fact it runs Linux makes it exceptionally interesting. > Codex — A purposely designed Linux-based operating system for low-latency digital paper displays I wonder how it works. Are the drivers proprietary?

It's an eInk screen, so yes-ish.

We get around this by just piggybacking on the build in application's screen display routines[0]

https://github.com/ddvk/remarkable2-framebuffer

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