Davis Remmel

As has already been said, by far the best way is to work for a company whose product is open source. I would find one that is fully committed to open source though, not just partially. By that I mean, a mainstream, money-making product of theirs is licensed appropriately (AGPL, MIT, etc). Going with a company that open sources a few libraries here and there is not a good strategy.

That said, I have friends that have been able to spin open source roots into money, in one case really good money. Their paths were:

1. Find need not being addressed

2. Write open source solution for said need

3. Promote open source solution to drive adoption (yes, marketing is important in open source!)

4. Create training courses/material on solution

5. Sell training primarily to corporations and sometimes individuals for $

The other path has the same first 3 steps, but instead of training:

4. Establish a "support" department

5. Sell support to corporations

There's also the "open core" approach where you put enterprise features behind a pay-gate but give the basic product out as standard OSS. The biggest challenge here is that your business strategy will ultimately be in conflict with your community member's interests, which inevitably results in sacrificing one for the other, usually sacrificing community needs for the business. For example, consider you have SSO gated behind payment, and someone sends you a PR that adds SSO to your open core version. I would personally…

I have rM1 and tried many things with it even wrote some software to run there. Yet the usage is rather limited so far.

This page contains a list of free software for rM on github:

https://github.com/reHackable/awesome-reMarkable

And this amazing guy even made a full alternative GNU/Linux OS running on rM:

http://www.davisr.me/projects/parabola-rm/

Still I have some unresolved issues. When I say 'unresolved issues' I mean I tried a few things but didn't found something comfortable 'enough' to use. I need something that 'just works' without me dealing with it constantly.

* How would you sync notes between rM and Mac quickly?

Of course syncing through their online service/apps is out of the question due to the privacy.

* How would you sync quickly books with it?

I know you can connect it directly to a computer and use Web Interface. It's too slow and not always works. I perhaps works for one or two books but not very practicle for everyday use. Besides my new Mac doesn't come with normal usb port (thanks apple) and dealing with adapter is too much of a headake each time.

* How would you read HackerNews on rM1 comfortably?

* How would you use it as second monitor for Mac to read some web articles and work?

I know there is: https://github.com/matteodelabre/vnsee
I've managed to configure it as second screen for linux virtual machine running on Mac but this is not the same as running it as second screen to the Mac itself.

Also since my last model of macbook pro…

I wouldn't recommend any of the Onyx Boox products. Sure they may run android, but:

* They run an ancient version of android (Android 6 or Android 5, I don't remember)

* This ancient version of android runs a kernel that is susceptible to multiple vulnerabilities (like DirtyCOW)[0], and the developers have disabled selinux

* Kernel sources are not released, in violation of the GPL and the last time I checked, it seemed like there was evidence of ripped off applications/IP theft in bundled but hidden applications.

* The bootloader is locked

* Access to the wacom digitizer is only possible through a proprietary blob, which has to be incorporated into an application that wishes to use it. Therefore, the stylus support has a tremendous lag for any application that is not an onyx-made application.

* Handwriting recognition requires connection to their cloud services

Their forums are down right now, but people have been begging them to at least comply with the GPL and release kernel sources for years now [1,2]. The last time I checked, there were 3 separate threads about this on their front page.

It's a really tragic situation for such nice hardware. I can't think of any reasons why the company wouldn't want to open the source unless they were hiding something or were afraid of getting ripped off by other OEMs. The only thing that the onyx devices had over the ReMarkable is storage, but seeing as how the RM can be modded to accept an SD card[3] and has first-class linux…

reMarkable generation one owner here, that at some point sang praises. You are right that the whole cloud integration stinks and was introduced in a shady fashion. Yes, those of us that bought it early get the cloud service for free, but I have just halted my device a few versions prior to when it was introduced and will never again connect it to any WiFi. My personal pet peeve is the touch swiping feature that frankly 9/10 activates when I do not want it to – introducing it was a regression. Needless to say, I am not buying another reMarkable despite loving the hardware and having been promised that the second generation is accessible via SSH.

It is not fair to compare it to an iPad though. The surface and pen has a feeling of resistance (in part thanks to the replaceable tips) that makes it feel like you are writing on a surface rather than sliding on a piece of glass.

While the first generation has a budding pure Linux port [1] and is somewhat hackable [2]. I am holding off any purchases or changes until the PineNote [3] becomes a reality and hopefully my old reMarkable will survive until that point. Note taking on a digital device has become essential to me to scale with more people and projects in my work, so I need a device like this. The PineNote also rocks Wacom technology for that matter. ;)

[1]: http://www.davisr.me/projects/parabola-rm

[2]: https://github.com/reHackable

[3]: https://www.pine64.org/pinenote

This is great, thank you.

WRT 20GB - I'd just assumed it had a microSD slot. Your comment led me down a spiral, to find a guy who pulled the v1 device apart and soldered in socket for one. That's extra frustrating then that the electronics are already there, but the socket + hole is not. [1]

WRT pen - yes, I splashed out for the 'extra good' pen for the Samsung, and was glad I did. The bundled pen was serviceable, but things like the ersatz eraser, and thicker / heftier feel, made it worth while. When ogling the remarkable2 shop page I've kind of assumed I'd get the better pen at the same time, so it's good to have further confirmation on that gut feel.

Sync - sounds like that SyncThing project I found earlier, if it's still viable, might be a better option for us Linux users. If the data is coming across as SVG's or similar then I guess any native apps (Krita, etc) should work, but how good the interoperability on that actually is ... is not well blogged about. (A doubly niche market, I fear.)

[1] http://www.davisr.me/projects/remarkable-microsd/

Usually the reason is that people want to continue using the built-in interface with just some additions, instead of replacing and maintaining a separate installation.

It would be nice if someone were to start working on an aftermarket linux distribution/ecossytem that targets eink devices. It's a lot of work to do, though, so I'm not surprised that nobody has picked up that torch yet.

Some notes on the reMarkable, it is running a custom linux distribution that is based on Openembedded Core[0]. The company publishes their modifications to the linux kernel[1], so one person has created their own linux distribution for the original reMarkable tablet [2]. The reMarkable 2 currently has no native framebuffer driver for the screen, due to it being software controlled by the UI application, which requires a workaround for custom applications[3].

0. https://www.yoctoproject.org/software-item/openembedded-core/
1. https://github.com/reMarkable/linux
2. http://www.davisr.me/projects/parabola-rm/
3. https://github.com/ddvk/remarkable2-framebuffer