I learnt over the weekend that the reMarkable writing pad is far more open than I thought. You can SSH in to it, mount the filesystem, install software on it - it even has a built-in webserver. (it is Linux after all)
This is far more open than Kindle devices, and especially the new (pending) Kindle Scribe When I saw the announcement of this, I thought that I would wait for that, but now I realise even though the Kindle ecosystem integration is a big plus, I might actually get more joy out of a reMarkable after all.
Does anyone else have a reMarkable and would like to share some thoughts on the pros and cons?
@epoz I ❤️ mine! I regularly use @euanc's send2remarkable to push PDF and EPUB docs to it without messing with the cloud: https://gitlab.com/EG-tech/send2remarkable
Maybe you've already seen it but there's a wiki with lots of crazy stuff: https://remarkablewiki.com/start and a Matrix chat
I have only done minor customizations so far myself, just changing the sleep and off screen images which I have to rerun after some updates that switch things back: https://github.com/edsu/remcustom/
@edsu@social.coop right, I caved, and ordered one for the princely sum of €309 (bare, without a marker or folio)
I plan on using the STAEDTLER Digital marker, for that oldskool feelz.
@epoz nice, I got one of the basic pens from them, but had my eye on one of those!
I did get a felt sleeve from Etsy which I really like: https://www.etsy.com/shop/phocket
Unfortunately it didn't stop me from dropping it on the power button once (don't do that!). I had to rip it apart to get the button to pop out again:
https://social.coop/@edsu/108852611067180471
Now it's kind of dented and scratched but I still love it :-)
@edsu @epoz that's @The_BFOOL's send2remarkable I believe
@euanc @epoz @The_BFOOL oh yeah, my bad!
@epoz
I used to have one. Had difficulties using it from linux without their cloud service. Used shell scripts from github to import pdfs. But it worked. It seemed like good hardware with clunky software. Disclaimer: this was over 3y ago.
It seemed they weren't sure whether to be a drawing tab for artists or reading/note taking tab.
I recently got a Boox Lumi 2. Very happy. Full android - can do whatever. Better for reading arxiv papers. Ok for writing too, but RM feels more natural.
@epoz There’s a whole hacker community around it, some resources are also collected here: https://github.com/reHackable/awesome-reMarkable I do like it, also the eco-system around it. It’s just a shame that they don’t offer their own desktop app for Linux users. I really wish there was a better integration with Zotero, though. (But I know someone simply would have to step up and build it, and that someone could also be me, so no complaint).
@epoz I've been using mine for reading/reviewing for about a year. I quite like it, but worry about their subscription-based file management (though mine is old enough that it was grandfathered in without paying that), so am curious if this works independently from that?
@epoz The kobos are pretty open too. I run koreader on it. I see that should also work on the Remarkable. I do believe koreader is also supported on kindles though.
@epoz I finally bought one recently after I learned, that there are cheaper - but still good - covers and as well also alternative pens like from Lamy (which I have) or Stadler, etc. And - as you wrote - it's now much more open and you don't need the connect abo anymore for basic operation. That were enough reasons.
So, what can I say? Already after a little more than a week I don't want to miss it anymore. Writing is really great. And the usability (UI, etc.) in general is also very good.
@epoz There is of course room for improvement.
You can upload PDFs and can annotate them. You can even create dedicated layers (up to 5). Ok, it's in b&w, but the annotation is so much better than on the computer/tablet or other pen-enabled devices. However, a4/letter can be a bit small and you need to zoom. What I miss is rotating the PDF into landscape having half the page - so far I only managed to rotate the UI for landscape documents.
@epoz The other thing is, that you cannot (yet) upload documents via the USB interface, only download. But as that is in beta state, I guess that will also come.
What I don't miss is the eraser on the pen. There is way to enable the button on the Lamy, but I didn't do that yet. The UI is good enough for me.
One thing I forgot, which I like, is that highlighting/annotating PDFs can be done in colors for export. You don't see it in full glory on the display, but in the exported PDF.
@epoz I personally opted to go with Supernote A6X to avoid the subscription model in reMarkable2
@ole@mstdn.ca Turns out you don’t need the subscription if you are technically inclined…
@epoz too late for me ^^ even though I am. Just not done the research