Open Issue: Request for User Feedback on goMarkableStream

[owulveryck]

Hello goMarkableStream Users,

I initially developed goMarkableStream primarily for my own needs. However, I've been delighted to see that others have found value in it too. With the intention of refining and possibly expanding its capabilities, I'd love to understand how you're using the tool and what improvements you might desire.

1. Usage Context:

   • Could you describe the usual scenarios or contexts in which you employ goMarkableStream? Are there specific challenges it assists you with?

2. Usage Frequency:

   • Do you turn to goMarkableStream regularly, or is it more for distinct situations?

3. Feature Requests & Improvements:

   • Are there any features you believe, if added, would dramatically alter your experience with the tool?
   • Are there elements of goMarkableStream you think could be enhanced or further developed?

Your feedback means a lot to me. Whether it's aspects you appreciate, areas you feel could use refinement, or entirely new features you envision, I'm all ears.

Please respond to this issue with your insights.

Thank you for your commitment to the goMarkableStream community and for helping it evolve.

Warm wishes,

Olivier
Maintainer of goMarkableStream

[fabianlupa]

Hi Olivier,

(1) my use case is for visualization / sketching in online training sessions or even on-site trainings where some participants are connected remotely and cannot see the flip chart or similar. Therefore always connected over USB and airplane mode enabled, no constraints on power consumption. Might be a bit of an edge case ;) (2) Usage would be somewhat regularly as a planned part of a training session or for illustrations in Q&A. (3) I opened issues for the things still missing / not working for my use case.

For me the main features are no reliance on network connectivity and no client installation which other offerings require. Thanks for doing this!

[fahasch]

For me the usage seems similar to @fabianlupa .

I would like to stream the content of the remarkable to an online audience. For this, I use Zoom with screen-sharing. It is important that the remarkable is online connected over USB. Both because of potential bandwidth limit as well as the fact that often I am in an environment where the remarkable does not have access to the WiFi.

Thanks for the project!

[owulveryck]

I add my own (new) usage as I am also a user 😀

I wrote it on a blog post.

https://blog.owulveryck.info/2023/10/10/rethinking-presentations-beyond-static-slides.html

[ajmedeio]

Good evening, @owulveryck! Thank you so much for this fantastic work!

Context
I was previously using rmView for the same use case. I'm a software developer and communicate best through illustration. In the most recent reMarkable update I could no longer connect to rmView, so I searched for another tool. That's when I came upon your solution, goMarkableStream. And I'm very happy I did.

Frequency
I made goMarkableStream a service and always have it running. I use the reMarkable every day and have the browser tab in the background.

Requests
Here are some features inspired by my usage of rmView:

1. Configuration to preserve rotation orientation. (I only use the reMarkable in landscape. This forces me to click Rotate every time I open the viewer.)
2. Potentially increase the default refresh rate? rmView felt a little more responsive, although, I'm not sure what factors led to that.
3. Some way to indicate where the pen is, even while hovering over the tablet. rmView had this feature and it let you "point" to something without leaving a mark. It was great for calling attention to something while presenting.

Again, thank you! This is a wonderful tool and I hope I can help moving forward.
Alex

[2Belette]

Olivier, many thanks for that ! I was using different solutions in the past, but the way you implement it is so easy and straight forward, I really appreciate no need to install anything on a server side.

My main use case is when I have to draw something to explain complex network architecture or concepts to prospect or customers through Teams.

The way I am using it is very straight forward, using dnsmasq to give a static IP address based on Remarkable MAC address and a a name I can easily type in my browser !

The main area I would appreciate some guidance/improvement is how to get a proper systemd service as mine is working fine from a cold boot but seems to have issues when the tablet is going to sleep and wake up. (cf. #35)

Many thanks !

[ajmedeio]

@2Belette I'm not sure if this is the recommended approach, but I haven't had any issues keeping the service running through sleeps, restarts, running out of battery, etc.

Lemme know if the following makes sense, I believe this is everything I did:
ssh root@remarkable

pushd /etc/systemd/system
touch goMarkableStream.service

cat <<EOF>goMarkableStream.service
[Unit]
Description=Go Remarkable Stream Server

[Service]
ExecStart=/home/root/goMarkableStream
Restart=always

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target
EOF

systemctl enable goMarkableStream.service
systemctl start goMarkableStream.service
systemctl status goMarkableStream.service
popd

[2Belette]

Thanks @ajmedeio ! I had almost the same but with some sleep hack and some Requires / Depends on and maybe this was the reason why it was failing time to time.. I tested, still not deeply, but your version seems to work so far, will see with the time

[JespervdMeij]

I recently found this application as due to company policy, I am not able to use reMarkable's own Screen Sharing feature (and frankly do not want to use their cloud for anything). It looks promising, however I have not been able to install/use goMarkableStream. I am on Windows and while the PC is managed, I do have access to admin rights. Would it be possible to add a guide for use on Windows?

To answer your question: my use case would be in teaching, presenting either live drawings or equations by connecting to a laptop over USB.

[RedTartan04]

... however I have not been able to install/use goMarkableStream. I am on Windows and while the PC is managed, I do have access to admin rights. Would it be possible to add a guide for use on Windows?

The PC or Mac is just the "door" to your rM device. Nothing needs to be installed on the PC/Mac itself (great concept IMHO :-))

The only command you need on the PC is ssh - which doesn't come with Windows IIRC. Here https://github.com/mb1986/rm-hacks/wiki/Installation are great instructions on how to do that, also for Windows (you may need to follow the link to "SSH Access").

When you see the rM's "zero sugar" message, you'll not follow that guide any further (i.e. don't execute 'sh -c "$(wget ..."), but instead follow Olivier's Quick Start Guide, i.e. execute "export GORKVERSION=$(wget..."

This will install goMS on the rM (it needs internet access to download goMS).
After that the command "./goMarkableStream" will start goMs on the rM and you can open a browser on your PC as per instructions.

"easy fifty-two steps" ;-)

[JespervdMeij]

@RedTartan04 Thank you for the quick response! Connecting over ssh works. But then on step one the following occurs:

reMarkable: ~/ export GORKVERSION=$(wget -q -O - https://api.github.com/repos/owulveryck/goMarkableStream/releases/latest | grep tag_name | awk -F\" '{print $4}')
wget: note: TLS certificate validation not implemented
wget: got bad TLS record (len:0) while expecting handshake record
wget: error getting response: Connection reset by peer

I believe this might be the same issue as #102 but i did not manage their solution/workaround

[RedTartan04]

:/ You could try downloading the .tar.gz release file from https://github.com/owulveryck/goMarkableStream/releases to you PC, unpack it, which gives you the file 'goMarkableStream'.
Then you copy this to the rM using 'scp' (as suggested in #102).

[JespervdMeij]

Thank again, it required a software update on the reMarkable but I managed to make it work!

For good order, a step plan for Windows (firmware 3.11.2.5 & goMarkableStream 0.18):

1. Extract the goMarkableStream file from the .tar.gz release from https://github.com/owulveryck/goMarkableStream/releases
   (file path \goMarkableStream_.tar.gz\goMarkableStream_.tar\goMarkableStream_\goMarkableStream )
2. Open a command window in the folder where the file is and copy it to the reMarkable using scp:
   scp goMarkableStream root@<remarkable>: - it will now ask for the password, found in About/Copyrights and licenses
3. Then use ssh to connect to the reMarkable:
   ssh root@<remarkable> - it will again ask for the password, afterwards you will see the 'zero sugar' message
4. Make the file executable by doing:
   chmod +x goMarkableStream
5. And execute it:
   ./goMarkableStream
6. Now you should see the current time + listening on [::]:2001 which means it worked and you can open the browser window like in the quick start guide

In all cases you replace <remarkable> with the ip-adress of the tablet

Feel free to move or remove this comment if not useful!