ReMarkable 2.0 – A digital notebook that feels like paper
remarkable.com
remarkable.com
Hacker News might be interested in the active development community around the device: https://github.com/reHackable/awesome-reMarkable
The device is open. It's just an embedded linux device. You can ssh into it, and run arbitrary code. The SDK is based on Qt. You can also connect a keyboard to it over a USB-on-the-go port.
I have been imagining porting a lightweight Qt-based virtual terminal to the device and using it as an e-ink unix terminal. Alas, I have not yet had the cycles to complete this project.
Now I'm not sure what effect this site has on the average customer, and if making it more selling for me would make it less selling for them, but they actually lost me, and after reading your comment I'm seriously likely to pre-order. And it's not about your positive evaluation, of course. So I've got a feeling all these marketing people do advertising wrong somehow.
Aug 28, 2020, 3:44 PM GMT+2
Hello there.
Users can gain root access to the device by using SSH, so the device is open for developing your own software.
The GPL and LGPL version 3 requires us to give users access to their own devices. It's part of the anti-tivoization clauses in the licenses.
A lot of our software is open-source. You'll find a lot of our open source code here: https://github.com/reMarkable/. If you're interested in developing for the reMarkable, a good place to start would be on here https://remarkable.engineering/deploy/.
Note that we do not currently provide any support for SSH related issues. Accessing the device and making changes through SSH is at the customers own risk.Also, their GUI/DE is closed so there's no (easy) way to extend it with nice functionality. In my opinion the software was the bad part about that device that lead to a really bad experience with that device.
The hardware was great though. Wasn't super fast but it was light, felt good. I was very excited when I first took it out of the box.
They did a lot of great stuff with the ReMarkable but unfortunately it felt a lot closer to the semi-open Android than the Linux on my desktop.
Feel free to tell them here: https://support.remarkable.com/hc/en-us/requests/new
Continually impressed with this company.
- Is the ReMarkable capable of running an open source OS behind the hood? Is it a hacker-friendly piece of hardware in case ReMarkable runs out of business in the future?
I was thinking about getting the ReMarkable 2 if only because my Kindle's display is too small. For ebooks it's okay but I do would like to be able to use an eink reader for sheet music as well.
If this is something where I know I can get good integration with Emacs/Org-mode on my desktop (letting me insert diagrams on the fly into org-mode files, making one searchable interface between handwritten notes and typed notes, etc), I'd be very tempted to preorder right now. Especially if the handwriting recognition stuff they have is something I could hook around.
My main complaints are that it's not encrypted at rest, and the only way to use cloud features are to go through reMarkable's cloud (and you can't host a private instance). Makes it really hard to get approved in an enterprise environment.
I currently use one with a brydge ipad keyboard which fits quite well.
I use a Barnes & Noble e-ink Nook (Kindle competitor) to run AnkiDroid [1][2]. I have tried to use some note-taking Android apps on the device, but they all had horrible feedback due to the very slow CPU and very limited memory of the device.
Is it possible to run either an Android app (AnkiDroid) or a Qt/Python Linux application (Anki) on the ReMarkable 2? If so, I would happily buy such a device.
[1] https://apps.ankiweb.net/ [2] https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ichi2.anki
The problem with this project was the lack of a affordable e-ink display with a decent refresh rate.
Would love to see a real terminal on the ReMarkable. A terminal + vim + usb keyboard would be the perfect distaction-free writing tool.
> I have been imagining porting a lightweight Qt-based virtual terminal to the device and using it as an e-ink unix terminal. Alas, I have not yet had the cycles to complete this project.
That would be really cool! I pre-ordered a RM2 (my 1st such device) and am in the November cohort... if you make time for said terminal, I'd love to know about it.
Do you know of any RSS or saved articles sync? I use Feedly right now. Would love to save Reader Mode versions of long form to read/annotate. Right now I print them but…a lot of paper.
Do you find that bothers you, or can you just hold it like a notebook?
That's all I needed to hear. Preordered.
Is that component opensource?
Full review: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLsSI9-gaSSmiXwb7Vjk5V...
I ultimately passed on the device for a few reasons:
1. The RM1 and 2 both don't allow file transfers as a mass storage device. If you want local, non cloud based transfer, you need to use a flaky local web UI that hasn't been improved in years
2. The internal storage still hasn't been updated from 8 (6 usable) GB. This is an obvious attempt to sell cloud storage in the future
3. While the hardware is amazing the software moves at a snail's pace. This is either management holding development back by trying to simplify the device out of existence or the team simply lacks the resources or ability to improve it
4. There has been almost no attempt to improve reader functionality in years. Things as simple as font resizing are 30x slower than on a Kindle
5. It seems obvious to me that management doesn't understand the target audience for the device
In the FAQ at https://remarkable.com/store/remarkable-2:
> reMarkable 2 features USB-C for faster charging and data transfer.
Even if this does not mean that mass storage is or will be supported officially, maybe unofficial support could be added using the Linux Kernel's USB Gadget API g_mass_storage as a module. More info:
https://www.kernel.org/doc/Documentation/usb/mass-storage.rst
https://developer.ridgerun.com/wiki/index.php?title=How_to_use_mass_storage_gadget
https://github.com/reMarkable/linux
https://remarkable.engineering/ -- toolchain here
To be fair it looks like a pretty small team (7 people listed with 2-3 actively developing) so I doubt it is management. More likely not a priority right now, limited resources, or in the too hard basket.
There is this repo in their Github org: https://github.com/reMarkable/vfatbuse
Looks like the CTO had a crack at implementing mass storage in v1
> If you're considering the RM2 for anything other than a sketch/note pad
It is marketed as a sketch/note pad and that's about it. The e-reader feature is like the youtube functionality on a Switch. It's there because "lolwhynot" and little more.
I have one and I really love mine. But all I wanted was a digital notebook. If I wanted more than that I would have gotten a Surface tablet or an Ipad Pro. It's definitely expensive for what it is, but it's not really marketed as a mass market device either.
It's not a constant factor. This is best understood as a bug. Here's what the reviewer demonstrated: If you change the font size, then the interface locks up and you can't do anything, until the backend has generated new page images for the entire PDF—no matter how many pages there are. He showed that, while it was fast for a small document, it locked up for about 50 seconds when resizing the font on The Count of Monte Cristo (a large novel, perhaps 1200 pages). Furthermore, he said that if, during that time, you changed any of the other settings (resizing again, changing line spacing, etc.), it would take another 50 seconds, and another if you pressed two of the buttons, and so on. It is very clear that no QA person (whose reports are heeded) tested out those operations on a decent-sized novel or technical manual. (If they tried Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire—not the largest book in the series—then, going by word count, it would have locked up for 20.5 seconds.)
A sane viewer app—one of which the reviewer demonstrated—would redraw the current page, then give control back to the user, while continuing to redraw other pages in the background. It's a bit tricky, because until you render the previous pages at some level, it might not be clear where the page break for the current page would be; but you could choose an arbitrary point, use that temporarily, and eventually correct it when rendering catches up.
The reviewer did show convincingly that the viewer app is very lacking in features or basic polish. (Another example: You can zoom into a page, selecting a smaller section of it to view. However, you cannot drag this view around the page; if you want to see elsewhere on the page at the same magnification, you must undo the zoom, then select a new region to zoom into.) This is odd for an e-ink device, whose homepage has a section titled "An eye-friendly reading experience: Comfortably read PDFs or ebooks for hours on end without backlight, glare, or eye strain."
Wow, thanks, I was very interested in this for marking up documents + notes. I guess I could still use my kindle for most of my reading anyway, but the video gave me the impression the RM2 was very fluid and fast.
If I'm understanding correctly, the screen's responsiveness to input is great, but the UI's responsiveness is not?
3 - They have issued numerous updates to the software. 4 - They have made improvements to reader functionality. As I and others have noted - font resizing and first use of epubs is slow because those files are converted to a pdf which is what is actually displayed on the device. 5 - The company would not be on a 2nd generation device if they did not understand their target audience. What is clear (to me) is that they don't see everyone as their audience ala Apple or Amazon.
Thank you.
One major annoyance, though, is that it's clunky to switch between documents---I like to take notes in a separate document from the articles (mainly so I don't have to deal with the hassle of trying to export marked-up PDFs, which is a very suboptimal experience---the ios/mac apps are, uh, not good.). There's a pretty big lag there.
But the reading experience qua reading is so much nicer that I keep it anyway.
Curious if those have been issues for you or not. I wonder if it's just how my mind works, or if I'm not "doing it right"?
e-Ink is a blessing after so much time on screens, and the rudiments make it quite hackable. So I get a device that pretty much CAN'T try to grab my attention, a calm device, and I can modify it to do more if I want.
(For example, since it can OCR and send notes, I've prototyped a little "message queue" on the other end to receive my notes, parse them ["TEXT Jake this is a text"], and do actions.)
I've even produced some custom e-ink maps which look great for no-phone navigation. (Feel free to let me know if that's interesting to you, happy to share an example and how.)
Is the ReMarkable really worth $500 ($400 + the $100 pencil which seems like a requirement)? For that amount you're getting a low end iPad which has greatly wider use cases. I understand that for the "paper on pencil" feel an iPad is no where near... but then again you can also just write using real paper and pencil.
Clearly I'm not the target demo, so what are the real target markets?
It's an ideal "work support" device for what he does, vs an iPad which can do everything _if_ you find a good app, but still won't do those things as well, and is full of distractions like notifications and other anti-productivity cruft.
I think the main draw for the Onyx over a reMarkable is that you get access to full fat Android and all the apps in the Google Play store. An iPad still provides more functionality since it can watch videos and take pictures (my tablet has no webcam, speakers, etc.), but for reading (books, web, HN, Reddit, webcomics, etc.) the eInk screen is just so much nicer.
I also run the Android version of Microsoft Office and use it with a Bluetooth keyboard as a typewriter.
Bigger than a Kindle, syncs with phone/laptop, doesn't feel like screen time.
For me it replaced a small whiteboard, printer paper, planner, and sketchpads.
If you do storyboarding, wireframing, process mapping, planning, or frequent note taking, it's brilliant.
To my knowledge, it's the best thinking tool available.
Edit: it's also brilliant for meeting notes.
Also, anything backlit is a non-starter for me. Too much screen time and I love working outside.
I'm sure it's great, but for something sold as, as far as I can tell, a notebook replacement, it's... a little crazy it seems? Like, no amount of better is gonna be $570 better than my paper notebook.
If you like to read outside in the sun, then an iPad is not an option. This is where eInk shines, in my opinion. I have a Kindle and it’s so enjoyable to read on in full sunlight. Exactly the opposite of an iPad (or any light-emitting display for that matter).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wpwbVwfWIKE&t=17m53s
About precision, I'm not really sure. There's a bunch of writing footage in this video, which might have what you're looking for: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9wudCMFWPQ&t=8m10s
I know little about it, but it looks great too.
E-ink has become cheaper and more responsive since we gave it a shot, glad to see companies like Mudita trying to bring something like this to life. https://mudita.com/
[1]https://www.gizmochina.com/2019/10/24/hisense-a5-with-an-e-i...
[2]https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/kingrow-k1-the-healthy-ph...
Even if you aren't using it as a camera, eink displays aren't great for content that needs to be updated frequently. Aside from the slow refresh, they physically wear out relatively quickly.
No distractions, easy on the eyes. Would be nice if the contrast were even better for low light environments. Maybe this 2.0 would do it.
I seem to have lost my pen though, so I'm not sure what I'll do for any annotation now.
I also export trip itineraries, lists, project files and so on to PDF and keep them on my ReMarkable. It's handy for that.
It reads epubs and rtfs, but not mobi or lit or a few others. Its text handling and formatting aren't great but they're working on it. If I was reading a novel I'd stick with an ereader but if I had 20 research papers to go through it's the remarkable by a long shot.
However, there is no better device on this planet for reading long-form PDF documents, research papers, or scans of textbooks. It wins. I wish the annotations were more useful (they're sort of kept a separate layer) but the reading experience is great.
Andy Matuschak has some good notes on the current version here too:
>The company says it used a new textured resin layer on top of the glass to make writing on the reMarkable 2 feel more like writing on paper, which I don't buy. If anything, the original reMarkable's screen had a more pronounced, paper-like grittiness that doesn't come through here. That's hardly a dealbreaker, though, because writing on the r2 still feels absolutely fantastic, I think this one strikes a better balance of tactility and flow. [0]
[0] https://www.engadget.com/remarkable-2-tablet-e-ink-hands-on-...
Am I reading things correctly that the only external interface to the device is through their cloud tool?
Unfortunately, the e-ink monitor space has still just two major players - Dasung/Onyx and there is a need gap for 'Affordable E-Ink large external displays'[1]. I hope that these newer e-Ink tablet/reader makers graduate soon to make large external monitors, but then again I've been hoping that for past several years.
[1]https://needgap.com/problems/43-affordable-e-ink-large-exter...
https://getrocketbook.com/products/rocketbook-core?variant=3...
Regarding the reMarkable, I’d probably be open to it if reviews indicated it was a premium eReader in addition to everything else.
That said, they have been releasing updates for years and improving the experience. The writing experience is by far the best of any tablet I've ever personally used. It does feel like writing on paper. The 2.0 looks really slick.
Finally, the hackability of the device is awesome. You can SSH to it without having to enable any special settings, and start messing around with stuff right away.
- Bigger screen would be great for my use case
- Software. As have been said repeatedly here the tablet is open. This is true in the sense that in order to comply with the GPL3 it's very easy to SSH to the tablet which runs Linux. This is awesome. However I think a little more support to developers would be great in the form of documentation instead of reverse engineering. Lot's of people think of ways of improving the software and this would make it much easier and better for end users (for example better file transfer, more file formats... in a reliable way)
Edit: formatting
The only thing they have in their favor is that they shipped v1 succesfully.
The device itself is great; the OS is a little slow and takes a little getting used to navigate; recent updates made it better. The tactile feel is great.
I usually ask one of my friends to get similar products when they visit India but with the pandemic, it doesn't look like it'll happen for a year.
I note that you can sync files easily enough -- but I'm curious on what the interop experience is like for people that don't use Microsoft Windows or Apple OSX. Syncing, updating, making notes & squiggles changes off-device and sending it back, etc.
https://www.amazon.com/Cimetech-Electronic-Scribble-Erasable...
You're welcome.
- no USB disk mode to download your notes
- 8 GB storage (of which about 6 are available)
- any Linux support seems to be nebulous/unofficial, especially because of point 1
- no search feature
- no backlight
- no landscape mode
Personally I've cancelled my pre-order, not worth the 450 GBP in my opinion.
The website is very unclear about the I/O options of the device, which I don't get at all, that's clearly one of the most important things about it; I'm not writing stuff down for the bin after all.
How do I get stuff off it? Is OCR done on the device? What formats does it support? etc. etc.
It says it has USB-C "for file transfers", but then also "Sync notes and documents via Wi-Fi only", wayyyy down below it says "PDF and ePUB", but obviously when I'm taking notes I'm not generally interested in a PDF, because that works with _zero_ of my workflows.
Their opener is strong; it's an obviously interesting product. Yet everything else is unspecific fluff that wastes my time and only irks me by being vague or silent about core functional aspects of the product.
I have loved and used paper and pen as a primary tool for thinking since I was young. However, typing is much faster, and now that is my tool - the keyboard. Still, this clearly has its place.
My main interest now is whether it can be 'rooted' and a native Linux OS used on it, and/or whether it can be used with end-to-end encryption compatible self-cloud services like Nextcloud.
To me, open hardware and software is a necessary way forward for humanity.
Edit: I see it's very hackable indeed, from comments above, e.g.: http://www.davisr.me/projects/parabola-rm/
That would be really compelling to me. Especially if you can get the latency down into the 10 ms range.
I was working with a three-color e-ink board from Pimoroni recently and a full screen refresh would take 20+ seconds. Looks very nice when it's done, but definitely unusable for anything real-time.
I now have a Onyx Boox Note that has inferior hardware. But at least I can use Google Drive and easily export documents.
I'm happy they have made a Chrome plugin because when I got my device, before returning it, I had a go at making exactly that: A Firefox extension that renders a simplified version and pushes it to ReMarkable as PDF https://github.com/sergioisidoro/push-to-remarkable
My main thing would be reading pdf's - specifically with Polar (https://getpolarized.io/ ). I use it for keeping track of notes/annotations and syncing across devices. Does anyone know if it would work with ReMarkable?
(Or does anyone have a Polar alternative?)
I have no doubt it's a quality product, and i guess i just don't value my handwritten notes highly enough to warrant one :)
Check https://github.com/reHackable/awesome-reMarkable for more open source projects.
I want to be able to load up the homepage of TheVerge.com and browse as I would on any other device, except with text that's as easy to read as if it were on paper. I'd have to use paged scrolling, and images would be black-and-white, but that would be okay—they'd be crisp and clear.
This tablet is close to what I want, but it doesn't look like the software is there. (Or maybe it's hardware too—is one gigabyte of ram enough for a web browser these days if you don't use multiple tabs?)
That said it was announced months ago, so the seeing it on HN the first thought on my mind was PR campaign.
To a certain extent that is the point of sites like HN, but there's always the implication that it's just something someone stumbled upon rather than an "advertisment". (I figure more often than not OP is a stakeholder of some sort whenever it involves a product for sale)
Not accusing anyone of anything, but it took a surprising amount of scrolling to have someone actually mention the deficiencies such as the reading functionality being subpar.
https://goodereader.com/blog/reviews/remarkable-2-hands-on-r...
I couldn't give a stuff about writing (though it's a nice secondary feature) - I do however want to be able to throw a tech manual at my e-Reader (say, an O'Reilly programming manual) and be able to flip through it back and forth easily like you can on a tablet.
The Remarkable looks beautiful in the link, but gives absolutely no indication as to whether that long-standing core flaw in e-readers has been solved here, which is very, very unreassuring.
It's pretty expensive, but potentially worth it if you read a lot of technical books.
I understand Google's business position, but it was a shame to let an entire market segment die overnight.
Sadly my Re2 preorder has been delayed so long I went ahead and ordered an iPad so I could get down to work. iPad, and especially the apple pencil, has been incredibly useful and I'm looking forward to a head-to-head comparison. No longer sure I'll be keeping my re2
When I write on (real) paper, I try to use the thinnest pen that I can still grip. I think I hold the pen at an odd enough angle that if the pen is fat enough before tapering, it starts covering the point where the tip touches the paper. Once that happens, I feel like I'm writing while holding one end of a yardstick. The alternative is to start angling the pen so I can still see the tip, but that makes writing awkward - I rather just type at that point.
Having said that, I’m actually considering getting this upgrade just to focus on taking notes and brainstorming.
Disadvantages: - can only transfer with WiFi - not A4 sized (I find this important for most of books and papers)
Advantages: + epub support (DPT only works with PDF) + customization (DPT software is completely uncustomizable, but good enough for most daily use, e.g. the screen can be synced to the computer screen for remote meetings) + OCR + cheaper (the A4 version of DPT is $600)
My primary use is reading academic articles, and I use Endnote to organize my pdfs and citations. I ended up going with the ipad because it has an endnote app and automatically syncs with my desktop, so I just always have all of my papers handy. If I had to manually sync papers to the remarkable it would be very annoying.
So I ended up going with the ipad despite wanting the experience of the remarkable. Though the ipad was cheaper and has other uses (entertainment).
Very excited to see a polished device that is linux based that isn't hostile to developers trying to do cool stuff.
https://mailchi.mp/remarkable.com/first-remarkable-2-reviews...
The advantage would be immensely faster switching speed.
Imagine one side of the mirror being totally reflective and the other side totally black. If you can turn the mirror far enough, you could replicate to some degree, what e-ink is doing.
Curious what others have tried!
I pre-ordered mine, but I want to know if this is even feasible.
It ended up being a scam/vaporware so I was stuck taking notes on paper, but I'm glad things like this are becoming somewhat more common.
(I think they may have come out with some actual hardware like 5 years later, but from what I remember it was too little too late)
2. Offer a place for getting books as well - or partner with Amazon for books - if not there, this may be coming I guess. Then people don't need Kindle.
3. They do not talk about security in their demo video. Don't know how they save what I write. Encryption / password / backup etc.,
I opened the link again today (28th of August) and saw batch 5 is now postponed of 2 months to Early November :(
The device is fantastic, I love the idea and the company but the refund process (unless they have fixed it) is truly awful so expect to use a couple of days on it if you want to get your money back.
I personally hate writing on paper and trying to decipher barely legible handwriting. Seems like this product is just trying to appease the people who refuse to adapt to change.
While going through pros and cons for considering a buy, I found no email client, messenger or a browser. For the targeted audience, at that price point, and with that hardware config, those features are unavoidable.
If you want to watch videos and browse internet this isn't the tablet to get. If you want a notepad that can store and display every document you might want that is where "paper replacement" tablets come in.
They detail some other advantages, like the texture of the surface, though we can’t evaluate that without getting one in hand.
It’s a much more focused device, which is a pro and a con.
Personally, I’ll stick with my iPad Pro, but I hope this is actually good and successful.
And this is a single-use-case device, with pro's and cons based on that. Battery time, for instance. And like less than half the price of the cheapest iPad pro configuration without even getting a pen for your iPad at that price.
against that? no thats about $1100, pencil, folio and ipad. The remarkable is a bargain compared to that. Granted the iPad can do a lot more.
Where it struggles is against an ipad air/mini and apple pencil. Its roughly the same price point, but the ipad does a lot more. Goodnotes is a very capable journalling tool. On the plus side you get the full iOS universe of apps and media.
On the downside the battery life is nowhere near as good, and the screen isn't optimised for text like the remarkable is.
I have no idea about the galaxy tab. I'm weary of android tablets as they are a mixed bag. Some are awesome, some are brilliant for the price, and some are just trash.
Bonus points if someone could answer this for languages other than English (I'm thinking of diacritics)...
Seriously, genuinely excited to use something like this as a consumer once the kinks have been sorted
They were just way, way too early (and on the wrong side of a recession).
Does anyone know how the reading features of the R2 stack up in this regard?
Who has received the earlier batches?
PS. I just checked and I did pay for RM2 in March.. Let's hope their support responds.
I recall they said it would be shipping in August?
My slot says delivery in November.
The R2 is 10.3”. Do peeps think smaller is better?
Sadly they don’t ship to Japan so getting my hands on one is gonna be hard :(
I guess the advantage is you can save many documents--but this is actually a disadvantage to me as I like having a physical copy I can splay out on my desk. Or even an entire wall covered with my designs.
How intuitive is the wireless content transfer on the 1st gen model? At lot times on my iPad, I'm sourcing notes from web content.
So other than supposedly reducing eyestrain( is this a proven claim?). What is the benefit?
In United States you make so much more money as a software developer comparing to Europe and then you pay much less than in Europe for all electronic devices. This is probably because Europe decided to go the communism way, charging everyone with INSANELY HUGE TAXES. Europe will soon become the next Africa with that kind of mindset.
Are you sure about that? [1]
Nothing can feel like Pen and Paper without Pen and Paper. I stopped all this and bought $2 5 subject notebook and it relieved my anxiety and give me outlet to express.
Just buy Pen and Paper and stopped looking nostaliga and looking things in other things.
I know some folks will jump to suggest less eyestrain but neither paper books nor e-ink help with that. Since eyestrain stems from overworked eyes and a tired brain [1], it doesn't help to claim that the nature of surface revealing the text has anything to do with it.
Until then: No Thanks and No deal.
EDIT: Not only that, Remarkable 2.0 and 1.0 are not even 64 bit and still use 32 bit processors in 2020. Completely pointless to use beyond 2038.
Like I said, wait for e-ink colour and 64 bit or don't bother.