[calamari4065]

The RM homebrew community has answers for some of the problems the author poses. I haven't tried it personally, but there is a VNC package that will let you use your tablet as an auxiliary screen.

The hacking community is small but pretty dedicated. There's a few exciting projects in the works, like a complete desktop interface called Oxide.

The RM tablets are kinda neat in that you get root access out of the box. You have a lot of power to write or isntall custom software.

That said, Remarkable the company has been fairly shitty. They removed the links to the dev tools, and don't really respond to requests for source that they are obligated to release under the GPL in any reasonable time.

They also made the inexplicable decision to ship a keyboard case for the thing, but the only way their software supported it at launch was a fixed textbox in the middle of the screen. You couldn't move or resize it, so it was basically useless.

Fortunately, homebrew has your back. There's an app that just gives you a terminal with keyboard support. You can ssh to another machine or write in vi or whatever you do with a normal terminal

[terminus]

> That said, Remarkable the company has been fairly shitty. They removed the links to the dev tools, and don't really respond to requests for source that they are obligated to release under the GPL in any reasonable time.

Which project did they not release GPL'd code for? They do have the kernel source available: https://github.com/reMarkable/linux/tree/zero-sugar

The top level github page also lists their trees for other projects.

[gottoupvote]

Last updated 3 years ago

[cge]

I think it's important to note the wider limitations of the homebrew community. I bought an rM2 relatively early on, enough to have lifetime free subscription access that I've never used, as I've always used homebrew arrangements instead.

There is a definite sense that the community is tired and diminishing. I think most packages are only compatible with the at this point quite old v2 software version, including the entirety of the toltec system. Some of the most important hacks, ddvk's packages, are both stagnant and closed source, with hints that being closed source comes from direct threats from Remarkable, not hypothetical concern over legalities. Toltec's maintainers, and others, respond with suggestions that they're going to be updating at some point, and that users are just being impatient, but it seems more likely that much of the homebrew infrastructure at this point will not be moving forward. The homebrew community was once small but dedicated, now I think it would be more accurate to just call it small.

And I somewhat understand that. As much as it has its defenders, Remarkable has been at worst hostile, and at best unwittingly unhelpful. It often provides exactly what it thinks is legally required. V3 changed the format and system enough to break all homebrew software. Whether intentionally, or in response to a well meaning but enormously damaging user suggestion, Remarkable changed its kernel configuration in a very non-standard, non-recommended way with the only significant impact being to make compilation of modules impossible without entirely replacing the kernel (they did, after years, finally change this back). Kernel sources are available, but good luck compiling then. Does the keyboard case even work unless you're using V3, and this break everything homebrew, including that terminal? Remarkable seems like a textbook case of a company respecting the letter but not the spirit of free software. And that isn't even considering the dark patterns they have more generally: the intentionally non-standard USB C port so that third party keyboards that would otherwise work without any problems don't work, the wonky Ethernet-adapter behaviour rather than a virtual mass storage device, the tendency of the USB web interface to repeatedly turn off... there are justifications given for many of these, but as a whole they paint a problematic picture.

And so those of us who use our modified Remarkables increasingly, at this point, are just using devices frozen in time, with everything working for us.

[Eeems]

3.x support will come to toltec, I've been blocked by stuff outside of my control a couple of times. Including things happening in my life that I won't get into.

You can see the current progress here: https://github.com/toltec-dev/toltec/issues/820

As for the comment on the kernel change, that was actually an ask by someone in the community: https://github.com/reMarkable/linux/issues/8

[mdekkers]

I spent a lot of time looking for a digital notepad, and the RM2 was high up on my list. I ended up buying a Supernote recently for exactly the reasons you mention in your post. Remarkable just come across as a really shitty company with a really shitty (and inexplicable) approach to software for their platform.

[m463]

> That said, Remarkable the company has been fairly shitty.

Except for the fact that they've released a product that you can do with what you will and use offline.

It seems most other products require you to create an account and log into someone's service to even use the device. They're so scared they can't monetize you!

[cge]

I think the difference in opinions here is the feeling amongst those of us who don't particularly like Remarkable as a company that they do what they are legally required to do, based on the licences of the software they've used. To an extent, I think there's also the sense that the company may have, earlier on, been more open and supportive. Outside of the homebrew community, I think there's also the sense that, while they do technically have a product you can 'do with what you will and use offline', they have made doing so inconvenient.

It is difficult to interpret, for example, the repeated tendency of the USB interface to turn itself off in the settings as anything other than a dark pattern designed to make offline use for non-technical users inconvenient. The needlessly-browser-based interface that involves a fake ethernet adapter and additional private network is itself a dubious choice. For a device that markets itself as removing distractions, it creates distractions for someone trying to use it offline. This is even worse for non-technical users than those in the homebrew community.

There is, of course, always an excuse, always an explanation as to why these choices make sense, and anyone complaining is being unreasonable. But the combination of choices is frustrating and unlikely to generate much good will toward Remarkable.

[Eeems]

Thanks for mentioning oxide :) kinda cool to see people find my stuff exciting.

As for the statement that they don't respond to requests for source that they are obligated to release. They have everything that they are obligated to release on GitHub, and they have always released updated toolchains (that include a bunch of source) when. requested of them. They have been kinda late with the latest request, so yes they aren't timely right now. I've been poking what contacts I have, but I think a bunch of people had some extended vacations around the holidays or something.