reMarkable S3 (Screen Share Service)

This is a web-based and very minimalistic screen share tool for the reMarkable device for creating interactive presentations, slides, simple sketches, flip books, and whatever else comes to your mind. This tool provides at least some of the functionality as introduced with the native Screen Share [1] from reMarkable, but does not need a subscription nor an online account to work. The repository Awesome reMarkable [2] lists many options and approaches to avoid the need for a paid subscription when it comes to screen share, e.g. reStream [3]. However, Pipes and Papers [4] seemed to be the most promising one, thus this work is heavily inspired by that one.

• tested with reMarkable 2, Version 2.14.3.977
• no subscription nor account for Connect needed
• after installation the feature-rich screen share frontend is accessible in a web browser
• there is only undirectional interaction between the frontend and the reMarkable device

Features

• dark and bright page theme (toggle with TAB)
• different pen colors (set with letter keys: White, Red, Green, blacK, Yellow, Cyan, Blue, Magenta)
• clear current page (with SPACE)
• navigate between pages (PAGE_UP goes back to previous page, and PAGE_DOWN jumps to next page or creates a new one)
• undo and redo on current page (press LEFT_ARROW to undo, and RIGHT_ARROW to redo)
• save and download the current view as png with MOUSE_LEFT_CLICK

The functions undo, redo, and new page can be triggered with the menu buttons on the device as well.

Installation

Preparation

1. Clone this repository or get the screen share service files from this repository (canvas.py, canvas.service, canvas.html) and download the archive (python-3.9.9-armhf.tar.xz) from releases.
2. Note the IP address and password for your reMarkable device as shown under Menu - Settings - Help - Copyright and licenses.
3. Open a terminal for execution of the subsequent commands.

Make sure that your device does not go to sleep while doing the rest of the installation.

Python

1. Copy the archive to your device: scp -oHostKeyAlgorithms=+ssh-rsa python-3.9.9-armhf.tar.xz root@remarkable:/home/root
2. Extract the archive on the device: ssh -oHostKeyAlgorithms=+ssh-rsa root@remarkable "tar xvf ~/python-3.9.9-armhf.tar.xz"
3. Create a link on your device to the Python runtime environment and delete the archive: ssh -oHostKeyAlgorithms=+ssh-rsa root@remarkable "ln -s python-3.9.9 python3 && rm ~/python-3.9.9-armhf.tar.xz"

The Python runtime environment has been compiled on a RPi 4 and includes a little more modules than needed for this particular service - perhaps a good starting point for further development of server-side features - check it out.

Service

7. Create a directory to host the screen share files on your device: ssh -oHostKeyAlgorithms=+ssh-rsa root@remarkable "mkdir ~/canvas"
8. Copy the screen share files to your device: scp -oHostKeyAlgorithms=+ssh-rsa canvas.* root@remarkable:/home/root/canvas
9. Add the screen share service to systemd to make it available after reboot: ssh -oHostKeyAlgorithms=+ssh-rsa root@remarkable "cp ~/canvas/canvas.service /etc/systemd/system && systemctl enable canvas && systemctl start canvas"

The service file cannot be linked (and thus needs to be copied) as the root and home partitions are separate.

Usage

Make sure your reMarkable is not sleeping. Open a web browser on your computer and request the service on {IP address}:12345. If your computer is in your local home network and your router hosts a DHCP server, you should be even able to access the service on remarkable:12345. If the service on your reMarkable is up and running and accessible from your computer, you will see a canvas in your browser which reflects to some degree the pen of your reMarkable.

In the service file the call python ./canvas.py landscape 12345 is preset (first arguement is either landscape or portrait, the second is the HTTP port to be used). Feel free to spawn multiple services on different ports, e.g. one running a landscape view and another running a portrait view.

References

• [1] Original reMarkable Screen Share - A subscription feature of Connect.
• [2] Awesome reMarkable - A curated list of projects related to the reMarkable tablet.
• [3] reStream - Stream your reMarkable screen over SSH.
• [4] Pipes and Papers - Experiment to reproduce the ReMarkable tablet screen on the desktop for white-boarding.