Sketching in eInk | Hacker News Reader

Sketching in eInk

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Onyx? The company that has been voilating GPL for years? [1]

I think I'll pass.

[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23735962

Ahh man... now I gotta see which of our packages have GPL or others that have to be public.

I wanted to get one as a replacement for paper books, but the price is really high for what it is. I also noticed that the community is very patient about getting basic features. The rm2 still struggles with ebook typesetting. Boox was incredibly hard to import to Germany.

After a year on the fence, I bought the latest iPad Mini, and it's much better. You can choose different pen tools, pick colours, zoom in and out, rotate the canvas, undo, add layers, import a PDF to draw on, use a photo as a reference, use a color picker, send stuff to yourself and others. The undo and tool switching actions are brilliantly simple. Procreate is a device seller on its own. It's the first device I purchased in a while, and it frankly blows my mind.

As a reader, it's also more versatile. I use Google Reader, which syncs pages with my phone.

I still wanted it to be a focused device, so it's mostly disconnected from my online life. It only has ebook, note taking and drawing apps. No messaging, emails, calendar or anything of the sort. I can't overstate how much I love it as paper replacement so far.

Procreate is more capable but the Boox sketch app is more featured than you suggest. It has layers, undo, let's you import a PDF or image and you can zoom in or out. Only supports a handful of colors but TBF they are greyscale screens. And of course you can send stuff to yourself and others via. email, cloud services, nearby share etc.

The Boox devices run Android and are considerably more versatile than the rm2. You can run the Google Books app on there too. Plus since it's Android it let's me clone apps so I can use different accounts which is handy since I have a JP Kindle account and a non-JP one so I can be logged in with both at once which is not possible on an iPad.

Yep, that's why I preferred the Boox (that and the smaller size), but they were really hard to get in Germany. For the same price, an iPad made more sense. I also like that if I'm not happy with Notability or Procreate, there are dozens of other options.

The iPad doesn't use e-ink so it's really an entirely different category.

To solve the exact same use case at a comparable price

No, because the use case is "I want electronic paper that looks roughly like paper and not a backlit screen".

Has anyone used this and the reMarkable? I have the reMarkable and I’m curious how the two compare :)

I would like to see some comparison with rm2

There are numerous online video reviews on YouTube. Goodereader is recommended.

https://youtube.com/results?search_query=comparison+remarkab...

Major differences:

- BOOX devices range in size from 6" -- 13.3". reMarkable is available only in 10.3". (Sizes and characteristics of displays are defined by Eink.com, the display vendor who have a patent monopoly.)

- BOOX offers a colour model, the Nova 3, 7.8".

- BOOX are Android tablets with eink screens. Remarkable is a custom Linux device. BOOX has a larger available application set.

- Both devices offer a Linux userland, reMarkable via SSH, BOOX through Termux (installable via F-Droid). There's a reMarkable hacker community.

- Storage is a major differeniator. reMarkable has only 16 GB total (OS, system, documents, sketches), BOOX offers 32 & 64 GB on current devices.

- BOOX offers a frontlight, reMarkable does not.

- Reports are that the reMarkable has a slightly more natural "paperlike" feel, and a thinner display surface. I can't compare the two, though I find the BOOX acceptable. There's a slight depth (and parallax offset) in pen registration at times, which I understand is due to additional layers (mostly frontlight?) on the display itself. Given that the display is from the same underlying vendor, this is likely a finishing consideration.

- BOOX offers Bluetooth support (including keyboard), reMarkable can be wired for a keyboard but that takes some work AFAIU.

- reMarkable is marketed as a distraction-free device with fairly minimal connectivity, and no apps or web browser. The BOOX is an Android tablet, and all your personal demons may be found there, though robbed of vibrant colours. Both do have WiFi. Depending on how you feel about distractions and your ability to resist temptations, this may be a concern.

- Onyx BOOX is not GPL compliant.

I'd looked at the features and settled on the BOOX. I'm pretty happy with it. Storage was my major consideration. Though not an Android fan, the availability of some key apps was also a major point.

(esp in termux), how do you find typing and editing? Is the delay noticeable, or does it disappear after you get used to it?

It's negligible.

Set to "speed mode" refresh for Termux itself, as well as the e-ink terminal scheme (dark on light).

Some frequently-refreshing apps will leave ghosting, but that's generally not an issue. You can set the full-repaint interval to reduce this at the cost of occasional screen-flashing. I opt for higher refresh counts.

Thanks! Higher refresh will drain battery faster, I think?

The low power usage is one of e-ink's appeals for me (for multiday camping trips), but I guess that's for pure reading, and in conflict with usage as a terminal.

Keep in mind that the battery life published by Onxy is best considered "value never to be exceeded". The weeks-long battery longevity is based on about an hour of daily use, presumably with frontlight and radios disabled and minimal page-turning.

If you're running Termux, using shell and other system features (either locally or remotely, e.g., ssh + WiFi) expect to see shorter battery life.

I'm making heavy use of the Max Lumi and in practice am having to charge every couple of days, though even getting through one day would be acceptable to me. If I were reading only w/o the frontlight, I'd expect much better performance.

Charging is quick, with a full charge in 2--3 hours from fully flat. Even just a few minutes tops up nicely much of the time. I'm quite happy with the results I'm getting.

I don't have a RM device, but from all I've read, it comes down to:

The Remarkable is a good note-taking/sketching device that can also display some ebooks. The focus is on the writing/drawing. The reading experience is limited.

The Boox devices are very powerful reading devices, with a decent sketching/note-taking function, and the ability to use most Android apps.

It's there any good reason to prevent highlighting the text of the page? Being able to highlight and search text from the post is an integral part of the web experience. I shouldn't have to use reader mode. If the author reads this - knock it off. It's user hostile, and doesn't prevent harvesting of your content by bots or people. Make the experience of your content pleasant and don't get in the way of basic browser functionality.

Works for me on Firefox, in all permutations of permitting and disabling first and third party javascript. Although it's in red, which is unusual.

Author read this and has no idea what you're talking about. I'm not doing anything to disable highlighting or searching and it works on every browser I've tested it on across multiple OSes and mobile. Give me some repro steps and I'll take a look.

Interesting. I'm using brave on mobile, looks like android dark theme + some browser settings made the highlighting invisible. I shouldn't post when hangry - thank you for reviewing, and sorry for the hassle.

I need to give my browser setup more tlc.

to be fair, the wordpress theme I'm using does a red highlight, which I was not aware of until I tested it. May have contributed.

I have the RM2 and struggle with how thin the pen is. I tried some "pen holders" (that are usually for kids pencils) but none I found fit really well. Anyone has any other ideas how to make the pen thicker? (I really want to continue using this pen because of its included rubber function)

Sorry, I don't understand, is the pen too thin for your hand or is it for the pen holder?

Wouldn't something like a few cm of a - proper sized - rubber tube/pipe do?

Or one or more layers of heat shrink tube?

yes, pen too thin. Heat shrink tube or similar could work... thanks.

I have the note 3 and I adore it. It's much bigger than a Kindle, which makes reading PDFs possible, and its perfect for longform articles and ebooks.

The software keyboard kind of sucks, but i don't use it for any real writing. I would reach for a Bluetooth keyboard for that.

Man... I just got an RM2 ha, this interface looks nice, more features

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