Using E-Ink tablet as monitor for Linux

Summary

Published on December 08, 2025 Using E-Ink tablet as monitor for Linux By Alireza Alavi • 6 minutes read • Table of Contents Showcasing end results Attempt1: Deskreen Attempt2: VNC Setting up the VNC server Install and initial setup Run x0vncserver directly Running x0vncserver automatically Running things in a script FootnotesYesterday, I was writing and doing research about software licenses. I read through heaps and walls of legal text and different licenses, taking notes and making sense of them. After about fourteen hours of this, I felt like my eyes were ready to quit. I thought it would be really nice if I could use my old Android E-ink tablet as a display for reading and writing text, with much less strain on the eyes. I got it to work and I'm going to document it here so both the future me remembers, and maybe you find it useful and your eyes thank you. Here is what I am working with: OS: Linux (Arch, btw. but doesn't matter) i3wm (X11) E-ink tablet: Onyx BOOX Air 2 (It being Android matters, if not, you must find a VNC client for your tablet) I just want to mirror one of my screens to the tablet, I don't care about extending the screen. Showcasing end results You can also watch this on YouTube The latency with VNC is very little. The main bottleneck is the low refresh rate and the lag of my old E-ink tablet. This can be a much better experience with a newer tablet with higher refresh rate. I still like this though; It is good for just writing with minimal distractions, and less eye strain, but it is amazing for reading. I think this will be best used in a dual monitor setup (minus the e-ink). One is just a mirror to the e-ink, which sometimes helps, taking glances at it for some things that need color. The second monitor will be used for other things besides reading and writing. Attempt1: Deskreen Deskreen is great, and has its use cases, specially that it's so simple to use even a hamster can use it. But the issue was that you should view your screen insid...