IMPORTANT UPDATE:
The ecosystem for third-party ReMarkable software has moved on a lot since I wrote this post originally. I’m working on a new guide that will hopefully be a lot more up-to-date. Various packages have been replaced and the toltec install method has changed.
I’d originally intended this to mostly be notes for myself to document what I’d did, but apparently various folks found it useful, so a new version is available here
The Original Post
I pre-ordered the ReMarkable 2 a long time ago, and now that I’ve had it for a few months, and have been very satisfied with it I took a look at the state of the hacking community that sealed the deal for me in the first place – ReMarkable provide out of the box SSH access.
After watching and monitoring several github issues for a while about reMarkable 2 support they eventually reached the point where I decided to give it a try, even if things weren’t going to work perfectly….. and it went totally smoothly!
Important caveats: A lot of this is still beta quality at best. This worked when I wrote it.
Here’s what I did
- Ensure you are up to date with reMarkable software
– Menu > Settings > Software Version > Check for Updates (As of this post the latest is 2.5.0.27) - Obtain the ReMarkables IP Address and SSH Password
– Menu > Settings > Help > Copyrights and Licenses > General Information > Look at the bottom
– WRITE THE SSH PASSWORD DOWN SOMEWHERE SAFE. In case you can’t get back to this screen should something go wrong. - SSH in.
–ssh root@<ip>and provide the password - Install Toltec package repository
– Run the three commands in the README - Install rm2fb – A shim for the ReMarkable display
–opkg install rm2fb - Install remux – a GUI launcher to switch between apps
–opkg install remux - Enable remux
–systemctl enable --now remux - Test that remux is working
– Swipe up from the bottom of the ReMarkable 2. You should see a menu appear with one entry in it. - Install koreader
–opkg install koreader - Configure remux to know about koreader
– Create a file/home/root/.config/draft/02-koreaderwith the following contentsname=koreader
desc=Ebook reader
call=/opt/koreader/koreader.sh
term=; - Test that koreader is working
– Swipe up from the bottom of the ReMarkable 2 and select koreader from the list.
– For the app, use the ReMarkable pen to swipe down from the top to access the KOReader menu.
– Note you can’t read your ReMarkable documents in KOReader as even ePubs appear to be converted in to an incompatible format (inside/home/root/.local/share/remarkable/xochitlfor the curious) - Congratulations, you are done!
Note that when a ReMarkable system update occurs you will likely need to re-run the systemctl enable --now remux command. I think this should be the only command needed to re-run, but I don’t have a system update to install to validate that.
Addendum
It’s been mentioned to me privately that reMarkable software updates occasionally reset teh SSH password. For this reason it would be advisable to setup an SSH Key for the device, as there is apparently no known instance of the authorized_keys file being reset. Instructions to do this are out of scope, but are easily googleable as it works the same as any other device.
A final point was mentioned in the comments of this post which is that it might also be necessary to re-run /home/root/entware-reenable after a system update, just like you have to reru nthe remux enablement command.
Just a comment on:
> Note that when a ReMarkable system update occurs you will likely need to re-run the systemctl enable –now remux command. I think this should be the only command needed to re-run, but I don’t have a system update to install to validate that.
Since you installed remux and koreader from toltec, you’ll probably also need to run
/home/root/entware-reenableas well via system upgrades.Hey there! i am just on my way to install all of this on my remarkable 2 but i just came to the point where i installed the Toltec repository succesfully, But after i want to install the calc via
opkg install calculator….
I have encountered that there are’nt several commands not available on remarkable (just for me? because in most of the tutorials there are these commands without say anything about that you need to install them) –
just as opkg, as i want to install this, i realized i cant install it because i cant do git clone (or just git) so i wanted to install this – to install this i need apt-get install git -y
i cant do apt-get install (understandable that apt-get doesnt work) but how do i install it other way?
Hi, I’m not really able to help with that as I’ve got no experience with other packages – though I’m fairly certain some apps haven’t yet been adapted to work with the reMarkable 2, and the Calculator package doesn’t indicate reMarkable 2 support yet.
For proper support I suggest joining the ReMarkable development community discord: https://discord.gg/Dkr976Yj3j
Hi,
what do you mean by “Install Toltec package repository
– Run the three commands in the README”? As far as I can see there are only two commands.
– “Create a file /home/root/.config/draft/02-koreader with the following contents” – How can I create such a file? Only “/home/root/.config/draft/02” does not work.
I have the impression that something is missing from the instructions. I have installed toltec exactly as it says on the toltec page, the installation with opkg works, but no installed apps are displayed and there is no way to call them up (swiping up does not work).
What am I missing? Thanks for any tips!
It looks like the README has been updated since I wrote this post.
Creating that file you can do with whichever linux cli text editor you want – I used vi.
The instructions worked as written for me when I set it up.
As I said to another comment, your best bet for support is to join the ReMarkable development community discord – https://discord.gg/ATqQGfu
Hey, these instructions seem to be out of date. There is no longer a rm2fb package in toltec. Instead the server portion is included in the display package, and the client portion as the rm2fb-client package. These packages are automatically installed as dependencies when installing applications that use the screen, like remux or KOReader.
Thanks, I didn’t realise this guide was still getting so much use! I’ve just published a newer guide with updated instructions, and linked it from the top of the post, so hopefully you won’t get as many people popping up in the discord with problems now!