It's usable, but only just, and you have to fiddle with your colorscheme (most of the defaults are unusable for some colors).

My major problem with basically all the BOOX devices is they're violating the GPL by not releasing their kernel/uboot sources.[1]

[1]: http://bbs.onyx-international.com/t/install-linux-or-alterna...

I've tried it with the Boox Note Air 10.3 (arrived a couple of weeks ago!), it's decent enough but I had to install the termux-styling apk to change its background from black to white. I think it works better that way.

The refresh rate is good enough for me but I'm not very picky so YMMV. I'll try to use it for work one of these days using ssh, so I'll report back once I've done so.

With all the phoning home, and lack of security updates, you may want to reconsider ever entering anything sensitive into a Boox product.

Some time ago I had a sign in attempt with password on my Google account. Inputting the password on the Boox was one of my theories as to how it was stolen. I've since made a dedicated account for the device, and the sign-in is now done via a one time token so that risk is mitigated.

My Max Lumi can be used as a monitor, and it is possible to work on it, but visual feedback is sluggish and you have to accept a lot of artifacts for the sake of speed.

I do hope to try coding in the sun with it some time. Got it in winter though, so haven't yet.

You have to make sure you don't have a cursor. Normal printing is fast enough, but the typical block-style cursor makes it not really usable for me (Tolino Epos (Gen1)).