Join the discussion
Write your take first — we'll ask for email only when you're ready to publish.
- Hacker News
- I always thought that the reMarkable ecosystem was tightly locked in, forcing your to have an ongoing subscription to do anything useful with it. It seems not to be. Has anyone setup an ecosystem that is not tied to a reMarkable subscription? The hardware itself is super cool.by yitchelle
- Several of my notes got lost in the ReMarkable cloud. I don’t think you are missing much.by hartator
- The reMarkable cloud is crap and has been since the beginning. I wrote a free/libre offline management tool called reMarkable Connection Utility (RCU) that is decently popular, used by several thousand people. Beyond backup/restore of editable notebook data, it has a lot of unique features the manufacturer can't/won't support (like exporting with native PDF highlight annotations).by davisr
- I bought a Remarkable 2 tablet a while back. I quickly realised two things -
1. Remarkable's own software is a steaming pile of poo. Their inbuilt web server for uploading files is extremely buggy and unusable. It's dog slow. You can't try to drag many files in one go, or it crashes. You can't try to upload a large file, or it crashes. There is also a hard limit on the file size you can upload (something like 100MB) which makes it unusable for some heavy PDF files I have. They push you towards paying for their cloud service subscription, which I will never do, just to be able to sync files. There is also no way to just ssh files over because their pdf reader will refuse to read them. All I want is to connect the remarkable every day for a few minutes to my computer and have it sync my files, and there is no way to do that.
2. Most of the "hacks" online are written assuming that you can install toolchains like Toltec on the device, and they are NOT updated for the newer firmware. My remarkable came with 3.15 and while there are some instructions on how to downgrade the firmware before installing the toolchain, they never worked for me. So I stuck with the subpar software and reading experience...
... until I discovered [ReManager](https://github.com/rmitchellscott/reManager). It just worked out of the box, did not require a firmware update, and I was able to install KoReader and other goodies (such as some launcher improvements). It can also transfer large files easily. What's ironic is that KoReader can read djvu files, which removes my need to use large PDFs in the first place. Equivalent djvu files are much much smaller.
Thanks to everyone in the remarkable community who contributed to ReManager and other assorted remarkable hacking!
EDIT: Also must point out a cool thing that I discovered recently - ReManager comes with a one click installer for the Zig toolchain on the Remarkable 2! It is slow, but I was able to compile and run zig programs on the tablet.
by haskman - Thanks for pointing out ReManager. After moving to the Move, I've sorely missed my handful of toltec packages (koreader, etc.).by wingmanjd
- Re: the software, I do think the on device software is good, if somewhat minimal, and the core writing experience is greatby tomduncalf
- I'm still using my remarkable from 2020. Has been receiving updates since AFAIK. Happy customer.by som
- I still have my remarkable 1 and love it. RM 2 didn’t have a backlight so there was no upgrade reason.
I actually like that the RM 1 is plastic, it feels durable and light.
by bravura - The "pro" adds conveniences, is faster, and somehow is still distraction free. The color features are a subtle joy, although a bit underwhelming and dim.
I've had all, too. I do like the light weight of the first... I'm less scared to toss it around too.
by ncr100 - There's a project called codexctl that can help you run an offline update to the latest firmware https://github.com/Jayy001/codexctlby graceful6800
- reManager is far better for this use-case [0] instead of these fragile scripts.by rvz
- Someone on Reddit also pointed out there is a support page for the clock issue https://support.remarkable.com/s/article/Unable-to-update-re...by oskrim
- This is the achilles heel of modern tech. Devices are just so brittle and if it is not online 24/7 on returning back online, you need to perform incantations to get things working.
Long shell life is a taboo in the tech world where 5 years is a long time.
by bossyTeacher - That was my initial reaction as well, when I first found the device not being able to update. But look what was the saving grace: SSH/USB/HTTP/Unix with root access, instead of closed systems, hardware that you own 100%.
As software is increasingly "solved" by AI I think this is what will become most important
by oskrim - Yeah it's kind of comical the framing is that a device needs to be "revived" after four years. As SWEs we should probably all be a bit embarrassed for our trade, even in the alleged golden era of LLM induced productivity.
I have all sorts of offline digital&analog mechanical/optical devices which just work decades and decades later. The weak point in any of my old tech is when theres a software component that needs to be reverse engineered and ported across multiple generations of CPU architecture / OS / API deprecations.
I have 60 year old records, 35 year old CDs, 25 year old minidiscs that all still work fine. Properly developed film negatives are still fine decades later.
Despite all the warnings about media impermanence and lifespans, it's always the software that screws it up first. I've lost more content from digital / streaming services because it simply vanishes than because a piece of physical media failed.
by steveBK123 - Manually updating a config file to enable the web server was a wholly unnecessary step as that's just a toggle in the "Storage" section of settings.
reMarkable software has its faults, but I keep coming back to them for the best-in-class hardware, developer-friendly platform, which itself spawned an active developer community. Could it be an easier platform to develop on? Sure. But that hasn't stopped a huge number of supported mods being made available
by reticulated - There is indeed a "USB web interface" toggle under Storage. I've added a note in the final section, thanks.by oskrim
- I did not update my ReMarkable 2 for years either and had probably the same clock issue. There was an article on the FAQ website from remarkable, if I remember correctly, that took me to a step-by-step process by which I could update it. Don't remember exactly how (I think I had to use the cable and connect to PC; which normally is not needed) but let's just say even if at first it seems like it doesn't work anymore and you have to hack it yourself, it is not actually needed. Nonetheless, this hackabality is the main reason I got mine (although I don't hack it, the optionality and thus probable longevity made the difference in my buying decision. I do not regret.).by Tarsul
- Yes, added a link to the article you are likely referring to https://support.remarkable.com/s/article/Unable-to-update-re...by oskrim
- What a dismal idea that a four-year-old device is non-functional and in need of "reviving."by j2kun
- I mean…yeah…it’s a bug.by eli
- Nothing needed to be "revived" here. The cloud sync stopped working, the device was otherwise fully functional. Author found a more convenient method for accessing files than the cloud sync, anyway.by 0x0000000
- Any device that powers off fully functional should be able to power on fully functional barring hardware failure. That these steps were nessecary is a stunning indictment of remarkable, even if your tech geek can ssh in and fix it.
After all, my notebooks are perfectly readable four years later
by malfist - Isn't it insane that we have to "revive" 4 year old devices? How is it unthinkable that even 10 year old device would just work out of the box even if it hasn't seen light of day since it was purchased?
- Yeah, it does seem crazy. My newest laptop is 5 years old, and almost every other computing device I have is older.
This does seem to be caused by a badly set up Linux system though. The clock loses sync and the system can’t recover.
by leoedin - Yeah, immediate thought was why should a 4 year old device be in need of any revival? Specifically a writing tablet, I assume it just works still. But after reading the article the scourge of 'always online' devices seems to have bitten. You need the time in sync for updates and cloud sync to work seemingly. Why these things are not more robust I don't know. It should have shipped day 1 with management software (that itself still works without updates) and a simple plug-device-into computer and drag files into it update mechanism as a method of last resort and direct PC / using PC internet connection update source.
- You don't have to "revive" the device in order to use it.
The problem was: out-of-sync device clock prevented software updates which in turn prevented cloud syncing. You don't need software updates or cloud syncing for the device to work.
The fix is to set the clock and do the software updates.
by JohnKemeny - This is pretty refreshing to read. "Its just linux", seems to ship with SSH/root terminal enabled (over USB at least, with a simple way to enable networked access), built in webserver, just uses systemd for service control, etc.
They even list it in the user guide https://remarkable.guide/guide/access/ssh.html along with an "developing software" guide https://remarkable.guide/devel/index.html.
Maybe other tablets are like that too, to be honest I'm too poor to swing the 700-1000$ for what I can cover with an paper note pad (with the bonus of being able to comfortably sit my coffee cup on it, use any pen or pencil, rip pages out, drop it, forget it somewhere, etc etc) to buy one but at least it seems like a product I would support.
- The original CTO, Martin Sandsmark, was a heavy Linux user and made some incredibly based choices for remarkable. If you look in the right places on the internet there are some really cool images of remarkable hacks he was showing off to people for fun.by petterroea
- "They" is not reMarkable AS. remarkable.guide is a community project.by zeeZ