ONYX BOOX MAX2 PRO eReader

I am rather old school so I do not like reading long texts at the computer screen. I like paper, and to scribble on it for annotations. Since I read mostly scientific papers (for work), I needed a 13" reader, and the ONYX BOOX MAX2 is one of those. On the MAX2 you can scribble on the PDFs, and you can create and maintain notes.

But at first you need to get the papers onto the reader, and it is advisable to retrieve your notes from the reader for backup. It is possible to transfer files from the notebook to the MAX2 using a WiFi transfer App, via Browser interface. Unfortunately, this is not very stable at least in my network, it often fails for large PDF files.

For transfer back from MAX2 to the notebook, the only possibility out of the box is to use the cloud offered by ONYX, which is not acceptable for me.

It is also not possible to simply mount the MAX2 (I use a Linux computer as 'host' to connect to the MAX2). It seems that this simple approach is not possible for all Android boxes (and also iPhones).

Fortunately, after some online research I have found out a way to exchange files between a Linux computer and the MAX2 and I like to share it. I use the USB connection to exchange files between the Linux computer and the MAX2 reader.

The obvious choice is the for file exchange via USB is the media transfer protocol MTP, but I was not able to make it work. What does work for me is the Android Debug Bridge ADB, for which there is an excellent description on the Arch Linux Wiki.

I have installed android-tools and adb-sync on the notebook.

On the MAX2 I have created a folder AdbTransfer under Storage. The file path on the MAX2 is then /storage/self/primary/AdbTransfer/.

On the notebook I created a folder /home/xxxx/boox/ with two sub-folders docs and notes.

I then use the following sequence of actions for file exchange:

  1. Connect MAX2 to the notebook via USB.
  2. Enable USB debugging mode on the MAX2 via Settings -- Applications.
  3. Confirm on the MAX2 that USB debugging is permissible.
  4. In a terminal on the notebook, execute > adb devices. Output must be different from "not authorized".
  5. Retrieve your annotations from the MAX2 > adb-sync -R /storage/self/primary/note/ /home/xxxx/boox/notes/
  6. Retrieve notes > adb-sync -R /storage/self/primary/note/ /home/xxxx/boox/notes/.
  7. Push new docs to the MAX2 > adb-sync /home/xxxx/boox/docs/ /storage/self/primary/AdbTransfer/.
  8. Disable debug and disconnect MAX2.
  9. On The MAX2, go to the Library and refresh it. You will see the new files you have just pushed to the MAX2. Move them to the folders of your choice.

Obviously, with the commands above, you need to replace the xxxx with our user name. And that's it.

I should note that a lot of further commands are available, including a backup and restore of the Android box.

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