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by vcmiraldo 1671 days ago
I bought one, then returned it. For the price they're selling it at, the following points were a deal breaker for me:

1. Custom file system: this means I can ssh into it, but I can't rsync my bibliography into it, since it won't display regular pdf files whose name is not hashed and registered in some sort of index. Moreover, the lack of a Linux client meant it was very hard to put my pdfs on it, or extract my notes from it.

2. Left hand support is ridiculous. They just flip the screen left-to-right; which means you lose the nice bevel and it becomes very uncomfortable to use in "handheld" mode. Finally, the "close" button gets placed on the top-left corner of the screen, which is the first place a left-handed writer touches.

3. The lack of some sort of backlight and slightly gray background means I can't read under suboptimal light. Sure, I get it, its e-ink; but for the price they charge, it would be a very nice-to-have feature.

I ended up returning mine and went for the Samsung Galaxy Tab s7 and that thing is amazing! Plus, I get to follow through bibliography immediately without needing to go back to my computer and get another article then do the whole sync'ing dance again.

3 comments

> 1. Custom file system: this means I can ssh into it, but I can't rsync my bibliography into it, since it won't display regular pdf files whose name is not hashed and registered in some sort of index. Moreover, the lack of a Linux client meant it was very hard to put my pdfs on it, or extract my notes from it.

FWIW, rmfuse [0] allows you to mount the reMarkable cloud and you have easy access to sync with real filenames.

[0] https://github.com/rschroll/rmfuse

> RMfuse provides access to your reMarkable Cloud files in the form of a FUSE filesystem. These files are exposed either in their original format, or as PDF files that contain your annotations. This lets you manage files in the reMarkable Cloud using the same tools you use on your local system.

Interesting, thanks, I didn't know this one!

I did find a few similar projects back when I had the reMarkable, but none quite worked well for me. I'm sure this will help some other people out there though! :)

1. I'm with you here. I'd like to be able to just copy files directly on/off

2. Also left handed. I just turn off the menu when I'm drawing/writing, so the close button and everything else is fine until I need it. However, what annoys me is that the pen's mark on the screen is about 0.2mm off from the tip of the contract point, to account for the angle of the pen and the thickness of the screen glass. While it's a subtle problem, it is noticeable.

3. I don't think this is a cost issue, it's battery life. I'm happy with their choice, and you certainly can't please everybody

> 2. Also left handed. I just turn off the menu when I'm drawing/writing [...]

I know, but I often forgot to turn off the menu when annotating a pdf, and would close the pdf as soon as I touched the screen. After a few dozen repetitions it got quite annoying!

> [...] However, what annoys me is that the pen's mark on the screen is about 0.2mm off from the tip of the contract point, to account for the angle of the pen and the thickness of the screen glass. While it's a subtle problem, it is noticeable.

Interesting! I don't think I noticed that

> 3. I don't think this is a cost issue, it's battery life. I'm happy with their choice, and you certainly can't please everybody

You can always turn the light on or off, preserving the battery life. I found that reading something on a rainy day could be challenging depending on where I sat on the house. For a 500 euro device, I thought it was a bit of a shame.

For me it's the size. I used to say that if they came out with a full page (A4 or letter) display I would buy one, but since then I've become very fond of the iPad + Pencil + iOS focus mode combination. I'm not sure the Remarkable offers much for me anymore.