Is there any eReader with a terminal?

8 points by giulianopz 3y ago ↗ HN

I would like to read software programming tech manuals (e.g. "the GO programming language") on an ebook reader with E-Ink screen and still have the possibility to open a shell and write some code to test what I'm learning. Something like Remarkable 2 (or the newest HUAWEI MatePad Paper) but backed up by some sort of GNU/Linux derivative OS that I can access and fiddle around with. At the end what I'm searching for is just an Android tablet but with a E-Ink screen optimized for reading PDF files.

12 comments

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robin_reala 3y ago ↗

You’re looking for the Onyx Boox range of Android-based e-readers. The big problem with them is that Onyx has a difficult (read “illegal”) relationship with the GPL.

the_biot 3y ago ↗

Yikes, didn't know Onyx was that bad about their GPL requirements. Even worse, judging by [0] they're just hiding behind a wall of silence when asked awkward questions about it. I'm gonna go ahead and guess their customer support follows the same pattern.

[0] http://bbs.onyx-international.com/t/install-linux-or-alterna...

1MachineElf 3y ago ↗

It sounds to me like Pine64's PineNote is what you are looking for, although it's software UI is still a WIP.

https://www.pine64.org/pinenote/

squarefoot 3y ago ↗

Last late June update brought some good news though.

https://www.pine64.org/2022/06/28/june-update-who-likes-risc...

I'm also monitoring its development in the hope it gets to a stable state. A 13" version would probably be welcome in some circles: a 10" screen seems enormous until one opens a technical book in which each page is arranged like 3 columns of text plus schematics and graphs.

Eeems 3y ago ↗

I would expect that a reMarkable does actually fit the billing for you here. You have root access[0], and there is a mainline kernel build available[1]. There are several terminal emulators available as well[2][3]. If you don't like the built in reader, there are alternatives as well[4].

0. https://remarkablewiki.com/tech/ssh 1. https://toltec-dev.org/stable/#section-kernel 2. https://github.com/timower/rM2-stuff/tree/master/apps/yaft 3. https://github.com/dixonary/fingerterm-reMarkable 4. https://toltec-dev.org/stable/#section-readers

diffeomorphism 3y ago ↗

Kobo devices seem a good fit:

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=247

A bit underpowered maybe.

solardev 3y ago ↗

Android on e-ink would be a terrible experience -- it's not made for the slow redraws of e-ink. And it's also a lot of bloat to add to these embedded readers with low-powered CPUs.

The remarkable already uses Linux, just not Android. It has a custom Linux OS called "Codex". But you can still get a shell on it (ssh or on-device). See https://remarkablewiki.com/tech/apps or Eeems's more thorough comment: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32119648

You can also jailbreak some Kindles/some firmwares and get a shell: https://goodereader.com/blog/kindle/hackers-release-jailbrea...

aluminaient 3y ago ↗

Android on eink is wonderful. Can even comfortably watch videos (in color if you like). Ive been using hisense a5 for years. Its the future.

tristanc 3y ago ↗

For what it’s worth I followed this [1] tutorial about a month ago to jailbreak my 5th gen kindle paperwhite and was able to get a root shell and install and run python3. There is also a reader app which is much, much nicer (imo) than the native interface.

[1] https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=346037

toast0 3y ago ↗

I think there's a way to get a terminal on a Kindle Keyboard... Although they're pretty old and PDF reading is somewhere between bad and mixed.

desindol 3y ago ↗

You can install a terminal on almost any boox readers/tablets.

krobelus 3y ago ↗

How about an external e-ink screen for your laptop? I do almost all my programming on a Dasung Paperlike.