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Boox Mira Pro – 25.3" E Ink Monitor

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Re: Boox Mira Pro – 25.3" E Ink Monitor

#241
post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No one is going to sell a device that costs significantly more than any other for the same power to provide what 99% of users would consider a sub par/ unusable display. Like seriously can you imagine trying to sell a laptop that is unable to watch any media, play any games and has the refresh rate / perceived performance of a 15 year old tablet. This stuff isn't ready to be a 'main' display yet.

And these days: if it cannot make video calls it is not a computer for work.

My work computer can’t take video calls. It is better that way.

I have an iPad for that.

Re: Boox Mira Pro – 25.3" E Ink Monitor

#242
post #184

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is the sort of device you either replace the OS, or put on a segregated network.

I use NetGuard on mine to prevent it from phoning home, and restrict internet connections to Firefox and a couple of other apps that I trust. I also mostly use mine with wifi off, since it's an ereader/notetaking device that doesn't need to constantly drain battery via wireless internet. I am a little nervous about the trustworthiness of Onyx, but at the same time... I don't really trust my smart TV, or my old Kindle…

It’s not moot. Choose devices with FLOSS like https://pine64.org/pinenote.

Re: Boox Mira Pro – 25.3" E Ink Monitor

#244
post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> There is a whole market of enterprise products out there, and there is certainly a use case for a _work_ laptop which needs no multimedia support. You think in 2021, when I'd argue the majority of folks that own a laptop are working remote, there's huge demand for a laptop that can't display a video feed from a zoom or WebEx meeting? That sounds extremely unlikely to me. I'd wager the demand for such a device would…

> a laptop that can't display a video feed Actually, those displays do. They may work fairly well for the purpose. When I tested those capabilities years ago, the chief issue was with ghosting; the second with choosing either high definition with strong artefacts or fast, cleaner low definition; the third was with having algorithms that minimize dot switching (which is energy costly). But there is a possibility that…

The ghosting on that even as good as it is would drive me crazy.

Re: Boox Mira Pro – 25.3" E Ink Monitor

#245
post #128
post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'll admit that that example did more than I expected with the limited tools it has, but it is still rather far from the things full color highlighting can do.

I remember having a chat with Andrew Gerrand at some Go conference, about how syntax highlighting is mostly done wrong, we just got used to it being that way. It's not like we colour words in a sentence based on their type, but we do enjoy tools highlighting misspelled words or grammatical errors. In my experience syntax highlighting as a tool mostly help with certain classes of errors (e.g unclosed string or comment…

> It's not like we colour words in a sentence based on their type,

All of today's human languages were developed in a time without computers, pens (and their predecessors) have trouble switching ink color for every word. If goose quills and inkwells could change color as easily as computer monitors, I bet there would have been at least a few languages that use color to denote meaning.

Re: Boox Mira Pro – 25.3" E Ink Monitor

#246
post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Boox tablets are full android devices and support USB-C connectivity and Bluetooth for keyboards. They even have a clamshell keyboard case/attachment for sale that I have and use with my Note 2 Termux + Termux.Styling set to Black on White is surprisingly powerful, and works better than I expected. Adjusting the refresh rate helps too.

Can it talk to my laptop via bluetooth? That would be rad. I'd use it outdoors, with my laptop running but still folded in my bag.

In what way? It’s got Bluetooth and can do anything an android device can :)

If there’s something specific you have in mind I can give it a try?

Re: Boox Mira Pro – 25.3" E Ink Monitor

#247

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Or, an EPD tablet with the ability to use more than Android... This is my hope with the future PineNote running a Linux distro.

Mind you, Android can be pretty effective on the tablet for some tasks. But when you will want to use a complete Office Automation suite, instead of the more toyish mobile alternatives... What I finally did, this June, was: I coded my own word processor for Android. A dual boot system (Android vs Linux Desktop) would be the best solution.

I'm idly curious about the word processor you put together. You're not saying "text editor", which suggests some level of interesting/novel functionality.

Re: Boox Mira Pro – 25.3" E Ink Monitor

#248
post #67
post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which brings us back to another thread, brightness. Freakin' OLEDs are brighter than the bloody sun!!! The sun! I half expect my face to get sunburned looking at them!

It’s certainly not, not even close. Try this: set your brightness to maximum, put it in the direction of the sun and use another device to take a photo of them both.

It is as if the sun has become one with my PDA.

Re: Boox Mira Pro – 25.3" E Ink Monitor

#249
post #184

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is the sort of device you either replace the OS, or put on a segregated network.

I use NetGuard on mine to prevent it from phoning home, and restrict internet connections to Firefox and a couple of other apps that I trust. I also mostly use mine with wifi off, since it's an ereader/notetaking device that doesn't need to constantly drain battery via wireless internet. I am a little nervous about the trustworthiness of Onyx, but at the same time... I don't really trust my smart TV, or my old Kindle…

What is Onyx? I didn’t see that mentioned.

Re: Boox Mira Pro – 25.3" E Ink Monitor

#250

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mind you, Android can be pretty effective on the tablet for some tasks. But when you will want to use a complete Office Automation suite, instead of the more toyish mobile alternatives... What I finally did, this June, was: I coded my own word processor for Android. A dual boot system (Android vs Linux Desktop) would be the best solution.

I'm idly curious about the word processor you put together. You're not saying "text editor", which suggests some level of interesting/novel functionality.

Exactly: full fledged Word Processor, optimized for the contextual technology of a ~13'' EPD display (so, for example, no scrolling, corner-to-corner (but the margins) use of the display in two columns landscape - for use with a slotted BT keyboard). Native Java for Android (no need for NDK). Rich text and full paragraph justification, spacing and indenting - from scratch: text is rendered and placed on the bitmap of the screen canvas bit by bit whenever necessary upon editing. Functions through touchscreen and keyboard shortcuts. I structured a markup (using both paragraph styles and ad-hoc "direct formatting" - bold, italics etc.) which allows for simplicity and comfort in file manipulation, but the translation to .fodt (or .xml in general) is almost trivial (there are libraries around to manage typical formats: I have checked but not implemented as for personal use I do not really need the feature). Battery wise, I managed to remain very conservative: sometimes even 2%/hour (~100mA, equivalent to many days of work) of consumption (fortunately, also the use of BT keyboards consume very little).

It was started this June (2021), and I have used it for many hundred of hours with good productivity. I have not published it (yet) as I would want to polish the code first. It was quite rewarding to get it done (the best tailored product is the one you develop for yourself) - but still with a sensation of quite absurd oddity, since I had been using full-fledged word processors in the early nineties, and "there I was", almost thirty years later, with tablets much more powerful than the desktops of yore, coding a word processor because all was available for Android was unfit for use if compared to desktop tools, and I was just losing time waiting for "the product"... It's not "normal".

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