kg4zow

joined 1 year ago
[–] kg4zow@alien.top 1 points 1 year ago

I see a qmdns-responder process running on the tablet, and in the source code I see a function which sends mDNS messages.

However, on a Linux server runing avahi, avahi-browse -ack doesn't show anything involving "remarkable", "rm2", or RM110-xxx.xxxxx (the custom hostname I'm using on the tablet). (It does show all the other mDNS services running on my home , so it is working.)

When I use tcpdump to sniff traffic from the tablet (both IPv4 and IPv6), it's not showing anything on port 5353/udp.

How did you make the name remarkable.local. resolve? Did you manually add a remarkable.local. hostname to your workstataion's mDNS service database, or add a static entry in a local unicast DNS server maybe?

[–] kg4zow@alien.top 1 points 1 year ago

This is standard for most places where you type a password. Most GUI (graphic user interface) programs will show a * or ● or something similiar for each character, and most TUI (text user interface) programs will show nothing at all. This is so that if somebody happens to see your screen while you're typing it, they won't see your actual password.

[–] kg4zow@alien.top 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

If you link the tablet to the "reMarkable Connect" service, be aware that every notebook or PDF, and all notes that you wrote in/on them, are stored in a cloud service owned by google, in the EU, and are not encrypted. This means that anybody at reMarkable, or at google, or anybody who "hacks" into their systems, will be able to read your notes.

I mention this because you mention "review[ing] patients", and I just had to re-do my annual HIPAA training for $DAYJOB last month. You may need to consider whether it's legal for you to store patient info in a tablet which syncs with the reMarkable Connect service.

One option, at least in the US, is this: reMarkable has agreed to sign a Business Associate Agreement with any customer who asks. This BAA makes them liable for any data breach caused by a problem with their systems. It's not clear to me whether this BAA would also cover google, dropbox, or microsoft.

  • I don't know if the GDPR has any provision for something similar, or if it's even necessary. I'm vaguely aware of the GDPR but I don't know a lot of the details.

  • For people in the US, the Terms and Conditions for Connect, section 9, paragraph 3, has a link to the PDF you (or somebody in your hospital's legal daprtment) would need to sign and email back to them in order for the BAA to be in force.

Another option, which I have chosen for my own tablets, is to not link your tablet to the reMarkable Connect service in the first place. This is mostly because it's hosted with google, and I don't trust google not to snoop through my files. Their entire business model is based around advertising, and they have a long history of violating peoples' privacy to feed their advertising database, even after promising the world they wouldn't do that.

Of course this would mean you wouldn't be able to send files to "google drive", and you wouldn't be able to use the handwriting recognition (which is done by a third party's online API).

Finally, be aware that the the tablet only talks to the reMarkable Connect service, it never talks directly to google, dropbox, microsoft, or myscript. When you set up an integration with one of these services, you are giving reMarkable's servers access to your accounts on those services - which again means that reMarkable, or anybody who "hacks" their servers, could also access your accounts on those services, and read not just your reMarkable files, but any files stored there.

Other things that come to mind from your questions ...

  • Most "folios", including the ones from reMarkable, attach to the tablet magnetically. The magnets aren't particularly strong, if you're going to be walking around with the tablet there's a chance it may "fall out of" the folio and hit the floor, which is NOT GOOD™.

    I use this case with both of my tablets. It "clips on to" the tablet mechanically, and it has a cut-out on the side for a reMarkable stylus, in the right spot for it to magnetically attach to the tablet, which fully encloses the stylus while it's closed (so there's very little chance of the stylus falling off).

  • I have one of each reMarkable stylus. I don't use the "eraser" function at all, either using the "other end" of the stylus, or the eraser tool on the menu, so for me the extra money I spent on the "plus" stylus wasn't worth it. However I do like the fact that the stylii fit into the cut-outs in the cases I'm using, so for me the cost of the normal stylus was worth it.

[–] kg4zow@alien.top 1 points 1 year ago

So far I've been using the original nib that came in the reMarkable stylus for about four months. I don't write on the tablet all day, maybe 30-45 minutes of actual writing each day.

This page has more details about my experiences with nibs, including my take on titanium nibs. Short version - I have them but I don't use them, mostly because I noticed a very slight difference in how it feels, and because I don't want to take any chances on damaging the screen.

[–] kg4zow@alien.top 1 points 1 year ago

I'm using this cover for my tablet, I think they have a black version. Note that it isn't a "sleeve", the tablet physically clips into the cover. It also has a cut-out on the right which is the correct size, shape, and position for a reMarkable stylus to attach magnetically to the side of the tablet, and be fully enclosed by the cover.

[–] kg4zow@alien.top 1 points 1 year ago

Most of the "hacking" I've done with my own tablets (I own two) has been for two main purposes:

  • to NOT be forced to use reMarkable's cloud service, which I don't trust because (1) it's hosted on google's cloud, and (2) the files stored in the cloud are not encrypted.

  • to satisfy my own curiosity about how it works.

Part of what I do for a living involves writing software, so I've also written some scripts to make it easier for me (and others) to interact with the tablet. I've also written some scripts to generate custom templates, and PDFs with calendars which can be used like "day planners".

The remarkable.jms1.info site contains what I've figured out and/or written about the reMarkable tablets. Check it out when you have some time. (Also be aware that the "Future" section is not my entire to-do list for the site, there are at least a dozen other things I want to cover when I get some time to write about them.)

[–] kg4zow@alien.top 1 points 1 year ago (2 children)

The closest thing rM offers is the "Quicksheets" function. When you tap the button at the top of a file browser screen, it will ...

  • Create a "Quick sheets" notebook in the tablet's "root directory", if one doesn't already exist
  • Add a page to the end of that notebook
  • Open that new page, ready for you to start writing

You just need to remember to go through that notebook once in a while and "handle" each page. This could mean doing whatever you wanted to remind yourself to do, or (in my case) moving the page to the notebook where it should be, but I didn't take the time to navigate to that notebook because I didn't want to forget whatever it was before it was written down. (If you get the chance, don't get old.)

[–] kg4zow@alien.top 1 points 1 year ago

To me this sounds like the xochitl application (aka "the reMarkable UI", the software you're actually using on the tablet) has ...

  • an in-memory list of which tags are attached to which documents or pages
  • a function which updates or rebuilds this list "as needed"

... and it sounds like that update function isn't being called in every case where tags may be added or updated.

In other words, it sounds like a bug in the reMarkable software. (My $DAYJOB involves software development, I deal with troubleshooting, identifying, and fixing bugs on a very regular basis.) (When I'm not on vacation, which I have been since last week.)

I would recommend contacting reMarkable support about this. You probably won't get an immediate solution (other than "restart the tablet" whenever you find that the list is incorrect, which it sounds like you've already been doing) but it will at least put the bug on their list of problems needing to be fixed, and hopefully a future version of the software will contain a fix for it. (And the fix will probably only described as "bug fixes and updates", since most companies don't seem to like detailing the actual bugs they're fixing.)

[–] kg4zow@alien.top 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I haven't experienced this, but I've seen several posts here from people who have.

If you have one of the reMarkable stylii which magnetically attach to the tablet's right side, you may be able to slowly "wipe" the stylus across the display several times to "reset" any static magnetic fields which may have built up on the screen over time.

There are also "degaussing" devices for sale on amazon which can do the same thing, however some of those are a lot stronger than you would need so if you do this, be careful not to cause more damage than you're trying to fix.

[–] kg4zow@alien.top 1 points 1 year ago

I don't own one, and from what I've seen of how the rM2's "text" tool works, and from other peoples' comments here, I'm not sure that I would use it if I had it.

[–] kg4zow@alien.top 1 points 1 year ago

This is actually what I've been doing - using the "marker" pen to write a title at the top of each page, large and dark enough that I can read it from the notebook's "pages" view.

[–] kg4zow@alien.top 1 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I wouldn't hold your breath when it comes to being able to type on a PDF.

Here's a suggestion ...

  • Type whatever you need into an "original" document on a computer.

  • Use RCU to "print" the finished document to a PDF on the reMarkable tablet.

    I use macOS, I'm not sure if the "virtual printer" functionality exists for windows or linux. If not, export the original to a PDF using whatever software you have on the computer, then send it to the reMarkable tablet (using RCU, or by uploading it through the tablet's web interface).

  • Use the reMarkable to sign the PDF.

  • Export the now-signed PDF back to the computer, or if the tablet is linked to the reMarakble cloud, email copies of the now-signed PDF to yourself and the client.

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