[kayodelycaon]

The reMarkable is surprisingly good for its primary purpose. Everything else it does... is limited. They things they did do are done well given how they are implemented. The epub/pdf experience sucks because it doesn't have a real pdf reader. It just renders the epub to pdf and then throw the pdf into the note-taking app.

Arguably, none of the functionality is half-assed. It works very well as a writing tablet. It absolutely sucks as a general purpose device because everything except the very core experience is flat-out missing.

There isn't a good general purpose eInk tablet and the reMarkable is the closest thing we have. :(

[laserbeam]

> It just renders the epub to pdf and then throw the pdf into the note-taking app.

I found it weird at first... But then you realise you're supposed to be able to write on the pages any time. The moment you support general epub rendering your pages are no longer fixed and your notes should move around as well. The moment you change your font size, all your notes, drawings and highlights no longer match the underlying text. I actually think "render to pdf", or more specifically to some fixed page format, is the ideal experience on this device. Realigning your notes is an impossible problem to solve and if I were a dev I would also discourage any features that reflow text on demand.

Missing features (search in document, bookmarks, whatever) should be implemented for both pdfs and epubs.

[zahllos]

The remarkable 2 still doesn't support pdf bookmarks? Seriously?

I use a Fujitsu Quaderno (was from Sony). Similar idea, no epub support but pdf links and bookmarks, on device search? These all work.

[laserbeam]

Not yet. But honestly, the latest few updates have been great! Navigation between docs is much much better, pinch to zoom was a great addition, and screenshare is now better than on any eink tablet.

In general, I haven't felt like I'd reaaaaally need bookmarks since software version 2.8 (but that's a matter of taste).

[laserbeam]

Pdf links and pdf table of contents work.

User generated bookmarks in PDFs are not supported yet.

Search is rudimentary/useless and only goes through document titles.

[thaumasiotes]

> Realigning your notes is an impossible problem to solve

Kindles have solved this problem, but instead, notes are not visible on the page but must be specially consulted.

[aeturnum]

It seems like a different problem if they are not rendering handwriting on the 'page' of the epub.

[thaumasiotes]

OK, but both problems are "realigning your notes".

It is possible to render an element to the side of the main text in a flowing epub; I did this when I wanted to include line numbers in a text. You could use that idea to keep visible notes near their original location while reflowing the epub. But it wouldn't work at all with notes that appear over the main text.

It's also possible to just print the notes within the text; this is the approach taken by this recent edition of a selection of the 太平广记 ( https://www.amazon.com/dp/7540351934/ ). Rather than being reproduced images of older printings that include notes, it's all flowing text and marginalia is reproduced inline, within brackets and in a smaller font. (This goes so far as to indicate which part of the page the marginalia originally appeared in, though I think this is more a matter of there being different words for marginalia from different locations.)

That approach, of course, will not handle non-textual notes well.

[aeturnum]

I think OP could have used a more specific description for the sake of clarity.

The idea is that using a reMarkable is just like using a pad of paper, so you can make arbitrary handwritten notes on the text. It's hard to imagine how arbitrary notes like that would be displayed on different epub renderings, so I think it's understandable why they use their approach. I also think it's a different problem than kindles have solved.

[laserbeam]

That is exactly what I meant. The simplest UX you can have for arbitrary notes of any kind, scribbles, drawings, highlights, is to not encourage page reflow. You can come up with a bunch of other funky weird technical solutions, but once the user hits them there's a strong chance of confusion.

For tablets which encourage writing on your document, the rm2 approach of "just render epub as you would a pdf" feels by far like the best strategy.

The original epub is still stored within their document format btw. You could technically still do things with that file if you wanted.

[thaumasiotes]

Marginalia does not generally appear over the text on which it comments, because that would make both the text and the marginalia difficult to read. (Just look at the word - it's text that appears in the margins.)

So for practically all purposes, treating each note as an image which should be rendered to the side of a particular part of the dynamically-flowed text will solve the problem. This isn't that hard to do.

If someone is underlining parts of the text itself, that isn't independent of the flow of the text, and so it's harder to reflow. But I'm taking "notes" to mean commentary.

[syshum]

hmm I found the eBook functionality to be passable. I read ebooks and PDF's on my Remarkable 2 all the time

>It absolutely sucks as a general purpose device because everything except the very core experience is flat-out missing.

As is intended, I do not want a general purpose device, I want an electronic notebook, to replace what used to be many many paper notebooks I used to keep meeting notes, daily activity logs, quick todo lists, etc.

I do not want email on it, I do not want notifications on it, I wanted to replace my paper notebook, and be able to read ebooks

The Remarkable 2 replaced my Paper-white and all physical notebooks for me.

[CPLX]

I am completely on your side, that's the same reason I bought mine.

But damm I sure wish I had a way to take a note on my iPhone and have it show up on my Remarkable. That would mean when I pick up the Remarkable it has all my notes on it.

Anyone know a good way to do that?

[syshum]

This is one area I agree they should look to improve or have offical API's so the community could improve.

I am not in the Apple echosystem but I would love a way to better sync with OneNote, and/or have my Task list manageable by ToDo, ToDoist, or some other task manager, but appear on the Remarkable to check things off.

[NoGravitas]

Maybe keep an eye out on the PineNote. It's bound to be much worse than the reMarkable as a writing tablet, but it should also be general purpose in a lot of ways the rm isn't.

[kayodelycaon]

Don't have the skills to hack on one myself but I can't wait to see what people do with it. :)

[salamandersauce]

I find my Boox Note Air pretty good. It runs Android basically every app I've thrown at it works although the fact that's eInk means stuff like Netflix, games etc. is obviously not a good experience. Some apps take a little fiddling to get working well on eInk like filtering out page turn animations or page refresh settings but once that's done it works well. The stock reader is very good at PDFs and passable at ePubs but you can just download another app so it's no big deal.

Remarkable seems like it's still a little better at writing feel/writing latency but the Boox line is very good as eInk tablets.

[andrei_says_]

Have you been able to use a drawing app different from the stock one? I own the nova3 and nothing else refreshes the screen properly.

[salamandersauce]

No that is one other caveat I forgot to mention. Apps need to use Boox's API to refresh the screen properly but as far as I am aware no 3rd party apps do. I think the API is available on their github page. I find the built in one is at least decent.

[lottin]

What do you mean a real pdf reader? The pdf reader displays pdfs, allows you to navigate the document and to scribble on it. Sure, it could do some things better, but it's perfectly functional as it is.

[zhdc1]

The Onyx Boox series is really good. The writing experience is almost as good as a Remarkable. The reading experience is excellent, and it's runs Android.

[mariusor]

> and it's runs Android

I apologize for the snark, but I refuse to see how this is a plus over "it runs vanilla linux".

[scotu]

I would also add that last I heard Onyx was probably violating the GPL if that is a decision factor for anybody reading this https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23735962

(please correct me if there were more recent developments)

[kybernetikos]

If you have ebooks in a number of different ecosystems, perhaps kobo, comixology, kindle, adobe digital editions, pdf, actual epubs, microsoft word documents, then it's amazing having access to the official apps to read those file formats and connect to the online services.

[dredmorbius]

You have access to the Android app ecosystem.

In the event you're not a fan of prorprietary Android apps, the BOOX also does F-Droid quite well.

(I use a mix of F-Droid and APK-Mirror sources.)

There seem to be a good set of mostly-works-on-eink apps on Android. Onyx's bookreader and note-taking apps (native and with better e-ink support) are also quite good. I've been disappointed by Linux e-book support on desktop, and the even smaller tablet space is quite probably worse.

Another available tool is Termux, and while no Linux replacement, it vastly increases the usefulness of Android devices.

[nsomaru]

I just ordered a boox max lumi, I noticed that there’s an option to install play services.

I am hesitant to do it, except for the security fixes Google apparently brings to Android via these updates. Boox might not update the device in the future which is my main worry.

[dredmorbius]

The Max Lumi is what I picked up this past March. It's big, but an excellent choice for scientific articles, note-taking (a surprise --- not my intended use but one I'm finding I do make use of extensively), or reading comics at full-size.

Onyx updated the device once shortly after it arrived, but not since.

I've not been able to activate the Google Play Store ... I think because of Google's "you must register an account" bullshit, so I've just stuck with F-Droid and APK-Mirror for a couple of apps (mostly Pocket, as the F-Droid version is badly out of date).

Since I install few apps regardless, this is not much of a handicap, and I consider it a benefit.

[salamandersauce]

There's no vanilla linux version of Libby, Kindle app, Kobo, Marvel Unlimited, Pressreader etc. At best you can maybe use a web browser for those which is a sub-par experience. For reading content Android is IMO better because there is general an app for DRM'd content. Linux doesn't have that and not all content can be made DRM free.

[jlkuester7]

Have you used Linux on a mobile device? It is getting better, but it is not an enviable experience yet for your average user.

Take something like Spotify, for example. There is a desktop Linux client and an Android app. Guess which one works better on a small touch screen with only a bit of power?

[smhost]

vanilla linux doesn't have any good ereader apps

[orbital-decay]

koreader is one of the best reader apps out there.

https://github.com/koreader/koreader

[salamandersauce]

Koreader has a lot of options but IMO the UI is perhaps the worst I've ever used. Also has giant use case gaps that will never be fixed like the fact it can't handle vertical Japanese writing.

[sofixa]

It's a plus when talking about a tablet-sized device with a touch screen - there are more Android apps for those use cases than Linux ones.

That will hopefully change with the PineNote.

[rchaud]

> There isn't a good general purpose eInk tablet

I have a Boox Note Air that's fantastic and about the same price as the RM2 after import taxes. The built in Epub reader is far better than most off the shelf apps, because it supports E-ink centric features such as "embolden text" and "darken image" that are especially helpful when reading colour PDFs.

Note taking quality is more than good enough for me with the stock pen, although there are fancier options available. Best of all, you can split screen between the note app and the reading app, so you can take notes as you read.

[sharikone]

In defense of the Remarkable its primary purpose is a very useful use-case. No iPad or Android tablet could get me to ditch paper and notebooks altogether. The Remarkable did it.

And since it is hackable the community made interesting strides in other use cases as well

[2fast4you]

That fact that it isn’t a general purpose device is a huge plus for me honestly. I don’t need it to be much more than digitally enhanced paper