Is the reMarkable 2 a suitable replacement for pen and paper? Does it work well with Linux? I hope to find out! I’ll be writing about my experiences with the tablet over the next week and beyond. If you’ve been on the fence, feel free to follow along. (Assuming I don’t absolutely hate it and decide to send it back…)

Linux, reMarkable and the elusive paper-free future

I’ve been hoping to get to a point where tablets would match the experience and ease of writing on paper since the first iPad came out. The iPad with an Apple Pencil is good. The tactile experience still leaves something to be desired, however. It feels like writing on glass.

Not to mention the constraints of being tied to the Apple ecosystem. The extreme fiddlyness of moving files from point A to point B on the iPad.

What I want is a one stop device that makes it as easy to write notes as a good pen and a Moleskine notebook, but with the bonuses of being digital.

eInk + writing

A bit ago I finally decided to see if the reMarkable 2 tablet is as good as its advertising and the reports from my friends who’ve already invested in one. After a bit of a wait, it finally arrived yesterday.

Before sharing too many impressions I want to use it for work and see if I wind up falling in love with the device, hating it, or somewhere in-between. I’m looking at the reMarkable 2 as a writing tablet only. I understand that they also do eBooks and PDFs, but I have a decent Kobo reader for eBooks and don’t spend that much time on PDFs.

reMarkable 2 Linux setup: First impressions

It took about five minutes to unbox and set up the reMarkable from receiving the box from DHL to actually scribbling on the screen to verify that it worked. A bit longer if you count the inevitable account creation and so forth.

The tactile experience is great. The supply of pen tips included with the tablet concerns me a bit. Just how often are these used up?

Weight-wise, it’s comfortable. About the same weight as a Moleskine or similar-sized iPad.

I’m curious to see how much of a pain it is (or isn’t) using the reMarkable 2 with Linux. My first impressions aren’t stellar. But we’ll see if a few days of use help smooth out the rough edges. Making a template and uploading it, etc. were not hard but took a little fiddling and googling to figure out. Copying files over took trial and error, and the initial experience left something to be desired.

Share your reMarkable 2 experiences

If you’re using, or have used, one of these devices (especially with Linux) would love to hear your thoughts.