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reMarkable
linux
C2018–2025
reMarkable / linux

linux

Linux kernel for reMarkable 1 & 2. zero-sugar is rM2 and zero-gravitas is rM1.

6Distinct people
8Mentions
0Explicit recommenders
324GitHub stars
REPOSITORY AT A GLANCE

What to know before exploring

What it is

Linux kernel for reMarkable 1 & 2. zero-sugar is rM2 and zero-gravitas is rM1.

GitHub

Where it is used

No documented product use has been verified yet.

What people are saying

No recommendation phrase was found in the indexed comments.

No classified warning is attached to this page. Read the discussions before treating silence as approval.

Also in these discussions

No other repository is repeatedly linked in the same discussions.

This week on Hacker News

Nov 7–Nov 14 UTC · Direct repository links and separately labeled related project stories. Indexed through 11/14/2026, 12:54:37 PM UTC.

No direct repository links were found in the indexed HN discussions over the past seven days. Older discussions are available below.

Mentions over time

HN mentions by year8 dated mentions

Observed mentions: 2018-02-07 12:29:24 UTC to 2025-09-04 10:15:31 UTC.

0122018-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2019-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 1 mentions; 0 submissions, 1 comments20182019-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2020-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 0 mentions; 0 submissions, 0 comments2020-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2021-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 2 mentions; 0 submissions, 2 comments2021-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2022-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 1 mentions; 1 submissions, 0 comments20212022-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2023-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 0 mentions; 0 submissions, 0 comments2023-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2024-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 1 mentions; 0 submissions, 1 comments2024-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2025-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 2 mentions; 0 submissions, 2 comments2025-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2026-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 1 mentions; 0 submissions, 1 comments2025

Counts come from the repository’s dated source evidence. Index cutoff: 2026-11-02 08:16:59 UTC.

View mention counts and date ranges
UTC ranges include their start and exclude their end. Select a period to filter the source evidence.
PeriodStart (UTC)End (exclusive, UTC)MentionsSubmissionsComments
20182018-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2019-01-01 00:00:00 UTC101
20192019-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2020-01-01 00:00:00 UTC000
20202020-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2021-01-01 00:00:00 UTC202
20212021-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2022-01-01 00:00:00 UTC110
20222022-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2023-01-01 00:00:00 UTC000
20232023-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2024-01-01 00:00:00 UTC101
20242024-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2025-01-01 00:00:00 UTC202
20252025-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2026-01-01 00:00:00 UTC101

What Hacker News says

8 sources
This device has planned obsolescence written all over it. The pen includes a built-in rechargeable battery. The device's battery is also not user replaceable. These are the same issues that the Remarkable Paper Pro has. They use the Linux kernel and some GPL software. They've made a change with Remarkable Paper Pro to only allow SSH access once the user has put the device in "developer mode". The device is marked as compromised until it is restored to factory or something else is done to it. It's not clear to me how the device is restored to factory or restored at all. They provide tarball dumps via https://github.com/reMarkable/linux-imx-rm instead of a proper git repository for the kernel. Why is it so hard to find people able to push a git repository to Github? These dumps are also rather useless if they still lack the source code for
Read the rest
the frame buffer and the display. https://github.com/reMarkable/linux is the Linux kernel for the older remarkable 2 and the remarkable 1. The kernel code from the Github repository for my remarkable 2 wasn't the one they shipped in the latest version running on my device a few months ago. There was a newer minor patch version running on my device. The devices are very tied to the cloud account and their application. You must have an account and you must use their application if you want to use this device fully, even offline. The network over USB feature makes it possible to back up/download/restore documents. EPUB document handling is abysmal without their application installed on the PC. They really want their customers to use their software, to have an account and to use their cloud services. It's a non-starter if you really don't want to be locked in. EPUB documents still have issues on my Remarkable 2 due to the bugs their USB based document transfer tool has. Many documents simply fail to transfer without any feedback. They probably only update the account-based software they force people to use to get as much money from subscriptions as possible. Hardware repairs for these devices are also not looking good. You're most like out of luck if the warranty has expired for your device. They couldn't care less. They’ll gladly sell you yet another device which has to be recycled when the battery isn’t able to hold a charge for more than a few minutes. I wouldn't recommend any product from this company. This company's good old days are over. They've taken money from investors. They want to charge their customers as much as possible. The en*****ification is almost complete.
In ReMarkable Paper Pro Move
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]
Read the rest
In E-ink is so Retropunk
> 1. The RM1 and 2 both don't allow file transfers as a mass storage device. In the FAQ at https://remarkable.com/store/remarkable-2: > reMarkable 2 features USB-C for faster charging and data transfer. Even if this does not mean that mass storage is or will be supported officially, maybe unofficial support could be added using the Linux Kernel's USB Gadget API g_mass_storage as a module. More info: https://www.kernel.org/doc/Documentation/usb/mass-storage.rst https://developer.ridgerun.com/wiki/index.php?title=How_to_use_mass_storage_gadget https://github.com/reMarkable/linux https://remarkable.engineering/ -- toolchain here > 3. While the hardware is amazing the software moves at a snail's pace. This is either management holding development back by trying to simplify the device out of existence or the team simply lacks the reso
Read the rest
urces or ability to improve it To be fair it looks like a pretty small team (7 people listed with 2-3 actively developing) so I doubt it is management. More likely not a priority right now, limited resources, or in the too hard basket. There is this repo in their Github org: https://github.com/reMarkable/vfatbuse Looks like the CTO had a crack at implementing mass storage in v1
In ReMarkable 2.0 – A digital notebook that feels like paper
Some cool facts about the device from a hacker point of view: - Main developer/CTO is a KDE dev and very open source-friendly. - You get root access to the device out of the box. - The device is running a mainline kernel with minimal patches, which have a good chance at being upstreamed[1]. - The toolchain is open[2]. They use vanilla QT/QML and people have already built simple example apps. - There's an unofficial Linux client which works just fine. - Desktop client and device run the same code, so you can just sync the files locally without connecting the device to the internet. Works both ways (it's the setup I use). [1]: https://github.com/reMarkable/linux [2]: https://remarkable.engineering Community: https://reddit.com/r/remarkabletablet https://discordapp.com/channels/385916768696139794/385921743... https://github.com/reHackable
In The ReMarkable E Ink Tablet

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