rmview/README.md

rMview: a fast live viewer for reMarkable 1 and 2

Features

• Demo 🚀 here
• Fast streaming of the screen of your reMarkable to a window in your computer
• Support for reMarkable 1 and 2
• UI for zooming, panning, rotating
• Pen tracking: a pointer follows the position of the pen when hovering on the reMarkable
• Clone a frame into separate window for reference
• Save screenshots as PNG

📢 Volunteers needed: if you have experience with producing binary bundles with pyQt, and feel like contributing to the project, drop me a line!

Check the releases page for executable bundles. If there is no bundle for your operating system then follow the installation instructions below.

Installation

As a basic prerequisite you will need Python3 on your computer.

⚠️ Please make sure pip is pointing to the Python3 version if your system has Python2 as well. If not, use pip3 instead of pip in what follows.

⚠️ WARNING ⚠️: If you use Anaconda, please install the dependencies via conda (and not pip) then run pip install ..

Semi-automatic installation

The easiest installation method is by using pip, from the root folder of this repository:

   pip install .

(please note the command ends with a dot) which will install all required dependencies and install a new rmview command.

Then, from anywhere, you can execute rmview from the command line. The tool will ask for the connection parameters and then ask permission to install the VNC server on the tablet. Press Auto install to proceed.

Manual installation

Install the dependencies (PyQt5, Paramiko, Twisted) with pip or conda manually:

pip pyqt5 paramiko twisted

Then you can run the program with python -m rmview.

On the reMarkable itself you need to install rM-vnc-server by copying the relevant binary from the bin folder:

# For reMarkable 1
scp rM1-vnc-server-standalone REMARKABLE_ADDRESS:rM-vnc-server-standalone

# For reMarkable 2
scp rM2-vnc-server-standalone REMARKABLE_ADDRESS:rM-vnc-server-standalone

Usage and configuration

Suggested first use: after installing run rmview, insert when prompted the IP of your tablet and the password, as found in the Menu / Settings / Help / Copyright and Licences menu of the tablet. Then, optionally, select "Settings..." from the context menu (or the error dialog) to open the default configuration file which you can edit according to the documentation below.

More generally, you can invoke the program with

rmview [config]

the optional config parameter is the filename of a json configuration file. If the parameter is not found, the program will look for a rmview.json file in the current directory, or, if not found, for the path stored in the environment variable RMVIEW_CONF. If none are found, or if the configuration is underspecified, the tool is going to prompt for address/password.

Configuration files

The supported configuration settings are below. Look in file example.json for an example configuration. All the settings are optional.

Setting key	Values	Default
ssh	Connection parameters (see below)	{}
orientation	"landscape", "portrait", "auto"	"landscape"
pen_size	diameter of pointer in px	15
pen_color	color of pointer and trail	"red"
pen_trail	persistence of trail in ms	200
background_color	color of window	"white"
hide_pen_on_press	if true, the pointer is hidden while writing	true
show_pen_on_lift	if true, the pointer is shown when lifting the pen	true

Connection parameters are provided as a dictionary with the following keys (all optional):

Parameter	Values	Comments
address	IP of remarkable	tool prompts for it if missing
auth_method	Either "password" or "key"	defaults to password if key not given
username	Username for ssh access on reMarkable	default: "root"
password	Password provided by reMarkable	not needed if key provided
key	Local path to key for ssh	not needed if password provided
timeout	Connection timeout in seconds	default: 1
insecure_auto_add_host	Ignores the check on the fingerprint	default: false

The address parameter can be either:

• a single string, in which case the address is used for connection
• a list of strings, which will be presented at launch for selection

To establish a connection with the tablet, you can use any of the following:

• Leave auth_method, password and key unspecified: this will ask for a password
• Specify "auth_method": "key" to use a SSH key. In case an SSH key hasn't already been associated with the tablet, you can provide its path with the key setting.
• Provide a password in settings

If auth_method is password but no password is specified, then the tool will ask for the password on connection.

⚠️ Connecting after an update: An update to the reMarkable tablet would change its "fingerprint" i.e. the identifier that signals we are connecting to the expected device (and not somebody impersonating it). When this happens you may get an error message upon connection. There are two main ways to fix this:

1. Change your ~/.ssh/known_hosts file to match the new fingerprint (you can get instructions by connecting manually via ssh).
2. Set the insecure_auto_add_host setting to true, which will make rmview ignore the check. This is not recommended unless you are in a trusted network.

⚠️ Key format error: If you get an error when connect using a key, but the key seems ok when connecting manually with ssh, you probably need to convert the key to the PEM format (or re-generate it using the -m PEM option of ssh-keygen). See here for details.

To Do

• Settings dialog
• About dialog
• Pause stream of screen/pen
• Binary bundles for Window, Linux and MacOs (PyInstaller?)
• Add interaction for Lamy button? (1 331 1 down, 1 331 0 up)
• Remove dependency to Twisted in vnc branch

Legacy reStreamer-like version

There are two versions of rMview, presenting the same interface but using different back-ends (thus requiring different setups on the reMarkable):

• The "VNC-based" version, in the vnc branch (default)
• The "reStreamer-like" version, in the ssh branch

In my tests, the VNC version is a clear winner. The ssh branch of this repo hosts the reStreamer-like version for those who prefer it, but it should be considered unmaintained.

Credits

I took inspiration from the following projects:

• QtImageViewer
• remarkable_mouse
• reStream
• rM-vnc-server
• VNC client originally written by Chris Liechti

Icons adapted from designs by Freepik, xnimrodx from www.flaticon.com

Thanks to @adem amd @ChrisPattison for their PRs.

Disclaimer

This project is not affiliated to, nor endorsed by, reMarkable AS. I assume no responsibility for any damage done to your device due to the use of this software.

Licence

GPLv3