From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).
Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.
Community icon by Alpár-Etele Méder, licensed under CC BY 3.0
Based on linux is no guarantee for stable, secure or privacy respecting software. Android is based on Linux. :-) And so is Remarkable, and some of the e-book readers.
I really like both the idea behind e-book readers and Remarkable, but they are often a very closed environment, so forget about most FOSS, if any. They want to make money on you, and that stops, if you use other software than theirs.
I had the remarkable 1, 2 and now have the Pro.
I also have a PineNote.
My notes on both https://fabien.benetou.fr/Tools/Eink including installing specific apps
So it sounds like you could recomend Remarkable? Do you know how long the software support is?
I definitely recommend it... but I also wouldn't dare predicting the future.
So far unofficial hacking on the reMarkable has been great. The Discord is very active, new development e.g. https://github.com/asivery/rm-appload (random pick from Discord) so that's the sign of a healthy tinkering environment.
Yet, reMarkable has never pushed for customization either. They also got VC funding in 2019 and 2022 but that seemed to have changed nothing on that front.
So... I highly doubt they would somehow break the ability to connect to ssh then install applications. They definitely can not even technically do that as long as one does not automatically update. Consequently I can safely say that if you get a reMarkable today, you will be able to do a lot with it.
All that being said, even though it's Linux proper, it's also a rather specialized environment with limited resources. If you do not love to tinker, make sure the application you actually need is already available and working on the right version you want (e.g. might work on rM2 but not on rM Pro).
If you have a specific need in mind, let me know and I can try to share the right resource, otherwise join the Discord and ask there.
oh thank you. Im going to think about it more. I thank you for the research. I just dont wanna buy a device, that when the company ehind, decides that the device isnt working anymore, i cant do anything to expand the lifecircle. I like how i could get a older Thinkpad to get a new life with Linux :)
The Remarkable 2 is fantastic. You can ssh into it, and scp from it. There are some filesystem layout quirks, but it's good. Peerless writing experience. Great battery. Plenty storage. Large screen. No backlight, sadly. Good for
Not so good for reading for pleasure, like fiction. It's too big. It's best for active reading and writing.
I have a Kobo Aura H2O for recreational reading and travel. Massive memory and an SD expansion slot. Backlight. Pretty indestructible, I read it in the jacuzzi.
I would suggest a super note manta.
I've been using a supernote for a few years now, great device.
I owe a Boox Note Air. Had it for a while now. Overall very good tablet but it is expensive. Runs a custom Android skin which is fine since I run it offline most of the time. Perfect for reading and writing.
I had a remarkable 2 for a year and was very dissatisfied with how hard it was to modify or run custom scripts or third party gui apps on it. Then came the subscription stuff and I ditched it.
Bought pinenote and even though I'm no linux developer, I've set it up and it works very well. Been using it for 3+ years now.
The build feels cheaper compared to remarkable, but the hardware spec is much better. And the best part is I can just run syncthing or kdeconnect or any linux desktop app on it and it's great.
I have an original reMarkable (not the 2) and whilst it’s a but slow for big fancy scanned PDFs it is generally pretty good for what I want. It does also run linux so you can ssh into it and do everything locally away from their cloud services which is nice
I went with the supernote Manta and I love it. It is Android based, not Linux, and the ecosystem is really sparse. But you can easily side load F-Droid or the aurora store and that opens everything up. I have next cloud syncing my documents and moon reader giving me access to my calibre library.
It is first and foremost a note taker and drawing pad, sacrificing lights and color for writing feel. The writing feel is amazing though. No subscriptions, non replaceable pens, support for replaceable tip 3rd party pens.
It's cost is quite a bit more than remarkable 2 or the pinenote though.
Another vote for the Supernote. I've got the Nomad and I'm so far pretty happy with it. I use it mainly for note taking, for which it excels. It was pretty expensive to import it where I live, but its worth it.
Not to nitpick, but Android is Linux based. So I would expect to be able to do all the same stuff that I can on a Linux based one.
Edit: can anyone explain why the downvote? Any concern about android ecosystem vs linux ecosystem should be moot, and I think that's useful context...
In practice, it isn't trivial to use android as a computer like you would in a linux-based system, installing desktop apps and stuff. It's definitely doable, but although one of based on the other they are very different systems in day-to-day use.
We're talking about an eink tablet. I assume none of them are running X, so there's no "desktop" involved here. I have a remarkable 2 which runs Linux. I can ssh into it to rsync files to it, back things up, and make customizations. There's no package manager, it seems to be an embedded system. It has python, so i've written some python scripts to do custom operations. Everything i do on my remarkable 2 is stuff I would expect to also be able to do on an android based tablet.
I guess in your case that's true. It probably depends on how the device is set up a bit.
@DonutsRMeh@lemmy.world @OADINC@feddit.nl @Obin@feddit.org @Interstellar_1@lemmy.blahaj.zone @themadcodger@kbin.earth @inbn@lemmy.zip @Vetinari@lemmy.sdf.org @guy_threepwood@lemmy.world @TheAgeOfSuperboredom@lemmy.ca @HelloRoot@lemy.lol
Hey. Thank you all for the answers. It made me see that there are more devices to get to know. Like one of you has written, some devices may be so niche, that support isnt going too stay long. And, what to do then? Is it another device that will be in the schelff? Im going to look more into Kobo, and Boox, at first. But yir its just easyer to have a device in the hand, and then make a choice :)
One warning for Boox, although I definitely reccomend the device, the first-party support can be lackluster, so if you're in a country where BOOX is on Amazon I would reccomend buying through there since Amazon has a better returns service.
I have the boox note air 4c, and it is really great for taking notes. It is kaliedo color, which is great for me but you can also get a black and white version which has better contrast. The notes app is all around pretty great, although it isn't well optimised for art of that's your thing. It also runs android so you can get a ton of functionality from installing apps onto it. I use localsend in particular to share files to and from the device, and obsidian for text-based notes.
I have one as well and love it. It reads like my paperwhite, writing is easy and comfortable and has a pretty decent handwriting to text ability. I've found marking up and/or signing PDFs to be a great bonus feature I didn't think about when I got it. Overall very happy with it and running Android, I can do pretty much everything I want with it.
I have kobo sage. It runs on a Linux based OS. Not fully Linux, but very open and doesn't get in your way. Easily jailbreakable if you want to install KOreader on it. I turn off the wifi on it and go for it. Been loving it. Only issue with it is the battery is on the smaller side, so it doesn't last for weeks like the Amazon ~~kindled~~ Kindles, but it's good enough for me when the wifi is off.
Yeah I have the Libre Colour and it's great! The pen feels good, it lets you do what you want with it (eg. using Calibre to strip the DRM off your books and loading them via USB, installing KOReader etc.) and it works well with Libby for getting eBooks from the library (at least in Canada.)
I have a remarkable 2 and I like it. And yes it's a Linux machine.
I've found that all modern E-Ink tablets are trash. They're built cheaply and to fail after 2 years or less, regardless of premium model or not. I went through 4 devices of various models and manufacturers (Kobo, Kindle, Pocketbook) over <2 years, while I used my old Kindle 3 for >5 years and technically it still works. These days they all use the same wonky chipsets and flakey components especially for power management. 3 of those 4 devices just suddenly didn't turn on anymore one day.
Personally, I now read on my FP5 with the Android KOReader port, which due to the AMOLED screen has excellent contrast and sufficient battery life with white-on-black text. Maybe when we finally stop producing devices for land fills I'll take another look at E-Ink.
For reading it’s easy enough to find an old Android phone that is large and just throw Lineage or something on there.
Personally I have an older ASUS C7. I rooted it and stripped away everything non-essential. I have a huge SD card in there with absolutely all my ebooks and comics, and I keep it in airplane mode. The battery keeps for months. Literally.
I recently bought an XP Pen Magic Note Pad that I've been pretty happy with. It's sort of a hybrid tablet/notetaker that's going for a jack of all trades master of none vibe while still having an overall good writing experience and I think it succeeds at that
Pros:
Cons
All in all I do really enjoy it, and for $200 including a pen, case and software it was hard to pass up. I've locked it down a bit but you're not going to get a totally degoogled experience. At $300 I would still consider it but probably wouldn't buy new. Let me know if you have any other questions!
Take a look at the Kobo Elipsa. I know someone who has it and they like it a lot. They use it daily at work for taking notes. I think you can export your notes to a computer by connecting it via USB and mounting it as a drive.