The Android-based Onyx BOOX ebook reader supports an bluetooth keyboard. The company will sell you a reasonably decent one (it lacks function and escape keys, though Fn-` maps to esc within Termux ... sometimes) for $35.
The Termux Linux terminal and environment (https://termux.com/) is installable via F-Droid. Among the terminal schemes is an e-ink mode of dark-on-light. Font size is scalable.
Through Termux you have your choice of terminal-mode editors, including vim, emacs, nano, pico, and numerous others.
The handwriten notes feature is also quite good. Text-recognition is a bit iffy but does work.
My main reservation with this setup is that Android's memory management is fatally flawed and processes can be terminated at any time without warning. Terminal sessions really ought to be exemptable from that, but AFAIK they are not. (Please correct me if I'm wrong on this.)
Still, it's a quite good environment with nearly 1,500 packages available using the APT package tool.
Smaller current BOOX devices start at about US$250, used could likely be less than this.
Any Android or LineageOS -capable device should be able to function likewise. There are a few Linux-based devices also on the market (and yes, Kobo is one), including the reMarkable tablet (my major gripe: 16 GB storage is simply stupidly small, this supports a cabled keyboard but not AFAIU Bluetooth), and devices from Pine (in process) and possibly Purism.
Kobo's probably among the better options. It's straight-up Linux, and has e-Book functionality.
Any Android-based e-Book reader / e-ink tablet will also be able to run a bookreader. From my BOOX experience, Onyx's native bookreader (Neoreader) has some advantages in addressing the display as compared with several alternatives I've also installed (Pocketbook, FBReader, Koboreader). OTOH, Neoreader also misses some functionality, so it's a bit of a toss-up.
Pine are coming out with a tablet, it's not officially released yet, though there are some developer / reviewer units that are getting shipped. Its specs look pretty good (many tablets are shortchanged on storage especially).
reMarkable is another native-Linux device. It can take a keyboard and software is installable (also via APT AFAIU). Lars Wirzenius of Linux fame has a good review.
There are several e-book reader / e-ink subreddits which are the best general forums for more information that I'm aware of.
If you wind up going the iPad route, I'd recommend looking into running Linux on a Surface. Older Surface's with better-than-iPad specs can be had used for cheap, and they run most distros extremely well. I'm using a Surface Pro 3 with PopOS right now and it's the most powerful tablet experience I've ever had, and it was cheaper than an iPad.
Eventually I think Remarkable will release a keyboard. It has a connection port on the edge that is currently unused. They haven't announced anything AFAIK so it wouldn't be for a while.
Frustratingly, presumably because they are thinking about that possible accessory, they also designed the USB-C port in what has to be a completely noncompliant way so as to keep any keyboards (or most anything else potentially useful) from working, apparently at a hardware level. Attaching one requires making a connector for the non-standard USB connector on the side.
There's something oddly hostile about e-ink device companies.
> they also designed the USB-C port in what has to be a completely noncompliant way so as to keep any keyboards (or most anything else potentially useful) from working
I'm curious what that means. Is it a USB-C certified port? If it is certified and has USB host or USB-OTG on the logos, then it better work otherwise they'd fail compliance testing. If on the other hand it is just a USB-C connector for charging and for client mode, then that's normal. Most low end devices don't have a USB host controller and therefore can only be a USB client (like a thumbdrive) and thus can't connect to another USB client like a USB keyboard.
> There's something oddly hostile about e-ink device companies.
What are "e-ink device companies"? You mean like Amazon? Are they hostile?
Remarkable lists "Wi-Fi / USB-C / Accessory port" under "Connectivity" for the Remarkable 2, and "USB C connectivity for fast file transfer and charging" in its comparison. The device also does have the necessary hardware to be capable of acting as host, and connecting keyboards.
But of course, Remarkable don't actually state that the port is certified, and so it turns out that it doesn't behave at all in the way a normal person might expect.
File transfer is implemented, not via any usual method, but by having the device act as a network adapter, and having a web interface accessible at a fixed IP address, behind a setting that seems to reset itself to Off at various times.
While the port would support OTG, Remarkable has added a kernel module that, amongst other things, breaks the detection and switching needed for that to work automatically. You can configure it manually, in which case the port won't provide power, though a keyboard with a Y-adapter will work.
However, next to the USB-C port, there isa a set of five exposed contacts that appears designed for a magnetic attachment, and Remarkable notes that it's there to support potential future accessories. People investigating them have found that it's a USB interface. It supports OTG, will provide power, and can have a keyboard attached.
On the Remarkable 1, which doesn't have the accessory connection, and thus doesn't have the potential for future products, keyboards can apparently just be attached to the USB port.
>What are "e-ink device companies"?
Remarkable / Onyx / etc: companies that are built around e-ink devices.
> While the port would support OTG, Remarkable has added a kernel module that,
Remarkable is open source isn't it? The CEO posts regularly on HN. If that were true, wouldn't you just go in and disable the insmod/modprobe of that module?
> What are "e-ink device companies"? You mean like Amazon? Are they hostile?
Not a GP but I have been doing some research on which ereader / note taker to buy lately and although I wouldn’t call it hostile, there is definitely a pattern.
Most eink devices run some modified walled-of modifications of Android.
Most eink devices don’t support USB keyboards (for example, just something I am interested in), and even if they unofficially do, the companies would flat out deny it for some reason (Boox).
Seems like every device has it’s own perspective on how to export / import documents and content
> Most eink devices run some modified walled-of modifications of Android.
That's not that surprising is it? Doesn't regular Android have a lot of stuff that would break eink displays since they can't update like LCD?
> Most eink devices don’t support USB keyboards (for example, just something I am interested in), and even if they unofficially do, the companies would flat out deny it for some reason (Boox).
Sounds nasty. Any link to further details about what you're saying? Is it just a simple missing USB host capability or are they actively preventing people from using USB host somehow in software?
> Sounds nasty. Any link to further details about what you're saying?
I emailed Boox support if Boox Nova Air that just came out supports USB keyboard and got a one-liner response that their products to not support getting connected to USB keyboards.
I think the sibling commenter that mentions that they may just want to get rid of support requests is close to truth. I think Remarkable did actually make some design decisions that don't allow to just use USB keyboard (you actually need some aftermarket cable if you want to hack it together). No idea why (once you get the cable the keyboard apparently works).
Maybe these companies just really believe in the screen + pen paradigm.
> don’t support USB keyboards … and even if they unofficially do, the companies … deny it for some reason
Perhaps they don't want to deal with support calls for “my keyboard isn't working” or “the keyboard mapping is odd for [insert HCI device here]” or similar, and have decided that simply saying “we don't support USB keyboards” is not sufficient to ward that off.
> My main reservation with this setup is that Android's memory management is fatally flawed and processes can be terminated at any time without warning.
It's unbelievable, Would we allow this behavior on desktop OS? Mobile operating systems seems to have taken the worst features from typical computer and embedded systems. But who dare question the Duopoly.
I just had rant about this the other day with reg Google Clock not functioning and people loosing jobs because of it[1].
> > My main reservation with this setup is that Android's memory management is fatally flawed and processes can be terminated at any time without warning.
>
> It's unbelievable, Would we allow this behavior on desktop OS? Mobile operating systems seems to have taken the worst features from typical computer and embedded systems. But who dare question the Duopoly.
That... is actually a feature of the Linux Kernel. How else would you handle the exhaustion of physical + swap memory or file descriptors, etc.?
I agree, While the overzealous app killing in the name of preserving power i.e. battery is not the fault of Linux kernel alone[1] as I've mentioned in the linked thread in my original comment one of the things we gain by switching to an aftermarket android ROM is predictable app behavior.
iOS does this too. It works fine. The trick is to not kill the alarm service (which Android shouldn't do either, given that's never the thing chewing up resources).
The Dasung not-eReader runs full blown Android and you can connect just about anything thanks to a USB C port and Bluetooth support. A recent review showed even Google Play support https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9QVCRed9lY mine is an older 7.8" model with Google Play Services running but not the store itself. I guess with the services on, I could sideload the Play Store easily...
The Barnes & Noble Nooks also need just a launcher installed and then they'll run most Android apps (that don't require missing hardware). I use one daily for studying with Ankidroid.
I use a 6" Nook but they have an 8" version that is just as easy to set up additional apps on.
The Termux Linux terminal and environment (https://termux.com/) is installable via F-Droid. Among the terminal schemes is an e-ink mode of dark-on-light. Font size is scalable.
Through Termux you have your choice of terminal-mode editors, including vim, emacs, nano, pico, and numerous others.
The handwriten notes feature is also quite good. Text-recognition is a bit iffy but does work.
My main reservation with this setup is that Android's memory management is fatally flawed and processes can be terminated at any time without warning. Terminal sessions really ought to be exemptable from that, but AFAIK they are not. (Please correct me if I'm wrong on this.)
Still, it's a quite good environment with nearly 1,500 packages available using the APT package tool.
Smaller current BOOX devices start at about US$250, used could likely be less than this.
Any Android or LineageOS -capable device should be able to function likewise. There are a few Linux-based devices also on the market (and yes, Kobo is one), including the reMarkable tablet (my major gripe: 16 GB storage is simply stupidly small, this supports a cabled keyboard but not AFAIU Bluetooth), and devices from Pine (in process) and possibly Purism.
A longer review of the Onyx BOOX here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27521248