Onyx Boox as monitor

[mdp]

Originally Posted by tjw321

Termux is overkill if you just want to use it like a terminal

I suspect many want a full gnu-linux distro, but offline for security.
You cannot for example run 'python' on an Android terninal.

[Randy11]

Originally Posted by mdp

I suspect many want a full gnu-linux distro, but offline for security.
You cannot for example run 'python' on an Android terninal.

Hello Mdp,

You are almost entirely right. I'm looking for the full GNU-Linux and the it's true I don't want connect to Internet my device for reason of security. But you are wrong because it's not Python but Ruby

For reference :
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...8&postcount=24
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...2&postcount=26

[mdp]

Originally Posted by Randy11

But you are wrong because it's not Python but Ruby

Well I wrote 'python' the same way I would write Mr. Rossi-Dupont Smith Schneider de la Fuente, it is antonomasia now...

BTW, +1: I would also get some real shell... Of course I would also get some real XFCE there. Offline.

[tjw321]

You *might* be able to get an offline install of ruby via sl4a. I managed it with python (an offline install) a few years back but sl4a is not well-maintained any more.

[Waiting4somethin]

Nevermind, more research required.

[Randy11]

Originally Posted by tjw321

You *might* be able to get an offline install of ruby via sl4a. I managed it with python (an offline install) a few years back but sl4a is not well-maintained any more.

Interesting, but a tool old and (weakly) maintained solution.

[mdp]

Originally Posted by Randy11

but Ruby

Since you are here (and I just met the following),
have you tried
https://github.com/ruboto/ruboto-irb
http://ruboto.org/
?

[Randy11]

Originally Posted by mdp

Sine you are here (and I just met the following),
have you tried
https://github.com/ruboto/ruboto-irb
http://ruboto.org/
?

I'm going to look at this seriously ! Thank you Mdp for this link :

I hope that there is no dependence with Internet and that all could be installed offline.

[zxcvbnmn]

Just curious, does anyone know if the Poke Pro might also work as an external monitor? It has a cortex A17 and Android 6.0.

[mdp]

Did a recent firmware fix the resolution error on HDMI (it should correctly be 2200x1650 and it was instead wrongly made to be 2104x1560)?

[tringlarido]

Hi,

Thank you first mdp and others to help make it better..
Just received a max2 today, I'm trying to use Monitor_MOD3.apk.
I first installed latest firmware. Then installed Monitor_MOD3.apk
Then plugged max2 with hdmi to a win7.
I can only touch on upper right corner to exit/refresh, all other touches are not working.
Am I missing something to install it ?

many thanks

[mdp]

Originally Posted by tringlarido

Just received a max2 today, I'm trying to use Monitor_MOD3.apk.
I first installed latest firmware. Then installed Monitor_MOD3.apk
Then plugged max2 with hdmi to a win7.
I can only touch on upper right corner to exit/refresh, all other touches are not working.

Hi, the touches - to operate on tablet side features - should work on all four corners (post #409. page 28).
To enable the touches on the EPD screen to be translated into mouse actions (click, wheel etc.) you also have to run the "onyx-monitor-move-pointer-hack" python script on the desktop operating system.

[Waiting4somethin]

I really appreciated the honest reports on the usability of this device from various posters here. It seems redundant to keep posting about this, but my wait for a comfortable coding monitor continues. And there are so little in depth ereader reviews related to speed, it's all "fonts", "frontlight", naturally.

Given my Mimas has a similar cpu (to max2), I compared it to my Hisense a2 device, which seems to update its screen faster with its higher spec (and smaller screen). It's so much nicer to use, I'm not sure that I could get by on a larger version of the Mimas. It just has such a low frame rate to my perception that it's frustrating to use other than to read. Unlike my phone. It seems like the high resolution and large screen of these devices is too much for the CPU, which in terms of single core speed are quite slow? Certainly at least, the eink phones have a much better touch responsiveness. Ereaders are lagging behind in that respect.

Concerning touch responsiveness the Eewrite Epad seemed promising according to the goodrereader video review. In that case I imagine I would use it like an ipad, where typing with thumbs is quite comfortable. Sadly they have lowered the specs of the cpu to the same as Max 2. And who knows what will happen with a crowd funded device. On the other hand, dasung monitors are too expensive.

It is not only the issue of whether these devices reach their limit or not, but the Max2 "monitor mode" has, in addition, some kind of extra delay being that it runs through android.

[mdp]

Originally Posted by Waiting4somethin

my wait for a comfortable coding monitor continues

I am afraid that EPD currently excluding colour already makes coding on it just a provisional solution.
Probably even Emacs users would agree.

Originally Posted by Waiting4somethin

And there are so little in depth ereader reviews related to speed, it's all "fonts", "frontlight", naturally.

I am also afraid that if for speed here "framerate" is meant, that is currently a constant.
A few of us had expressed vehemently the hope that products around the Max2 sported good CPUs - and it happened. Which makes those products better tablets, not fast displays. The CPU speed is not involved in the EPD speed.

Originally Posted by Waiting4somethin

Given my Mimas has a similar cpu (to max2), I compared it to my Hisense a2 device, which seems to update its screen faster with its higher spec (and smaller screen). It's so much nicer to use, I'm not sure that I could get by on a larger version of the Mimas. It just has such a low frame rate to my perception that it's frustrating to use other than to read. Unlike my phone. It seems like the high resolution and large screen of these devices is too much for the CPU, which in terms of single core speed are quite slow? Certainly at least, the eink phones have a much better touch responsiveness. Ereaders are lagging behind in that respect.

Concerning touch responsiveness the Eewrite Epad seemed promising according to the goodrereader video review. In that case I imagine I would use it like an ipad, where typing with thumbs is quite comfortable. Sadly they have lowered the specs of the cpu to the same as Max 2. And who knows what will happen with a crowd funded device. On the other hand, dasung monitors are too expensive.

It is not only the issue of whether these devices reach their limit or not, but the Max2 "monitor mode" has, in addition, some kind of extra delay being that it runs through android.

You somehow state that the display used in the Hisense a2 has higher framerates than other current EPD displays. For that, and for other claims above, numbers would be duly.

EDIT: what we saw in the past is that some devices seem to go closer to the A2 limit of 8fps, while those using big displays (e.g. the Max2) have probably a 15% reduced rate. For some reason.
Not that A2 would be a good idea in front of text, anyway.

[mdp]

On this beautiful day I tested for the first time the Max2 used as monitor, through the HDMI connection, with a recent laptop. The experiment came from the fact that these days are being so extremely bright, several layers of shaders have proved barely enough for screen content visibility on the original laptop. (And it has been cloudy. Let's say it is so luminous that the laptop display, at zero brightness - with the back-lighting switched off -, showed content. The laptop display became reflective tech just owing to environmental light... In the shade. I kid you not.)

The setup per se was excellent. The laptop uses a recent Pentium Silver N5000 CPU, which allows for a fan-less light device which can last over 12 hours with a single charge (and embedding a light battery). I cut a strip of plexiglass - which was, curiously enough, a leftover of the production of a protective sheet for the Max2 sleeve - that can be inserted in the gap at the laptop hinge to keep the tablet in place. The Max2 almost perfectly matches the laptop lid in width. It became immediately evident that the matte screen used by Onyx is relatively very good: it gives much less reflection than the matte screen of the laptop.

The software setup was also smooth as Sade. I worked on a text on LibreOffice viewed through my latest Mod of the Monitor application from Onyx. Immediately I noticed that the incorrect resolution imposed by Onyx was not a problem: the document text was rendered better than on the laptop itself, owing to the 60% bigger resolution (the wrong-resolution-related blur only affects the GUI elements, and on the document text it just makes it smoother). Document pages set at 21x31cm with thin margins, a keyboard shortcut set to center the double-page box in the screen at will (especially on EPD you will want things as statically in place as possible): productivity had been there with little left to be desired.

...Actually, what left to be desired in the work system is the touchscreen. I did not use the feature that we coded with Sogaiu, because it implies connecting the USB, which implies draining the laptop's battery, which is nonsense. A way to connect USB for data exchange without powering the tablet is still very, very, very much needed. There would be a simple software solution (a flag on Android does disable USB charge) - which requires root privileges. Which Onyx, last time I checked, had not given...

While I could work very well, the problem encountered was with the Max2 battery: after 4 hours, it was depleted. It seems that even though the screen updates very, very rarely, or in small chunks (of course I was using Greyscale Update mode, not A2, and GU is conservative in the dot switch, while A2 with F-S dithering is a mess), the tablet drains battery fast in the background. It appears that the HDMI data is processed continuously, without optimization.
Of course, it would be nice to see if VNC behaves more properly, energy wise. Of course, it is just theoretical because you would want to use VNC without charging the tablet and draining the laptop, exactly as per the paragraph above...

Switching to a more traditional set-up as the Max2 was at 2% battery, I could see that the set-up was worthwhile as the laptop display at maximum brightness (and in the shade of trees and more) appeared still less contrasted than the EPD screen, two hours before sunset. So, confirmedly, reflective technology remains a definite gain outdoors, even considering just the visual effect (disregarding matters like energy use).