4 ms·

What's the best eBook reader? I'm getting fed up with Amazon, and I'd like to have some kind of clone of the Kindle. Key thing is SaaS -- I'd like my reading po

by wegs 6y ago

What's the best eBook reader? I'm getting fed up with Amazon, and I'd like to have some kind of clone of the Kindle. Key thing is SaaS -- I'd like my reading positions, notes, etc. to sync between machines and available through a web interface. Glad to pay a modest amount for hosting on AWS or similar, if I'm in control of my data. Not so glad to do another corporate lock-in.

popup21 6y ago
Thorium Reader is an absolute pleasure to use. Open-source and regularly updated. https://www.edrlab.org/software/thorium-reader/ https://www.edrlab.org/software/thorium-reader/ https://github.com/edrlab/thorium-reader https://github.com/edrlab/thorium-reader
- onyva 6y ago
  Is it more than just an ePub reader? You really feel it’s justified to spin-up an electorn app (!!!) to read an ePub? I use Emacs’ nov.el or Foliate which are not only low on resources but also instantaneous to open files.
  - chocolatkey 6y ago
    I don't like it either, but the only way it is technically feasible to support the full potential styling/markup of an EPUB is to use a browser engine, and therefore electron is a logical choice. Can your specialized EPUB reader support MathML? Or vertical-ttb text?
    - Finnucane 6y ago
      Just this. Epub depends on the same tech stack as the web. So, either you use an engine that supports that in full, or you are going to be missing pieces of the standard. Which means that most other reading software opts for missing pieces of the standard.
  - popup21 6y ago
    It's irrelevant to me whether or not it's an electron app. I'm not running a Pentium 486 system. I've got more RAM than I know what to do with...I'll run a half-dozen instances of Thorium if I wanted to...no worries.
    - onyva 6y ago
      It’s not just resources. It’s usability. Electron apps look and feel out of place to me. I would personally never use one let alone for reading an ePub. I get the point about perfect rendering, but that’s a specific problem I’m personally not worried about.
  - hombre_fatal 6y ago
    An .epub is literally a zip of xhtml, css, and images. If you want to build a good ereader, you either use a web browser or you reimplement one. And you have to support things like https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/hyphens https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/hyphens, rtl, mathml, and—well—the rest of the nontrivial stack.
  - ognarb 6y ago
    I have a bad news for you, recently I was interested in how could I write a good QML/Kirigami based ebook reader and looked at all the existing Linux epub reader and each one was using a webview for the epub rendering. But they usually try to integrate better with the rest of the app and your DE so you just don't see it. EDIT: the only epub reader I know that doesn't use a webview is Okular and the rendering using QTextDocument basic html support is horrible.
    - hombre_fatal 6y ago
      I ran into a similar realization when I set out to build my own minimal RSS reader. Your options are A) web view, B) crappy RSS reader.
    - xbmcuser 6y ago
      Koreader and coolreader both based on crengine and dont use webview. Koreader devs forked crengine and now seem to be in the process of merging back. https://github.com/koreader/koreader https://github.com/koreader/koreader https://github.com/buggins/coolreader https://github.com/buggins/coolreader
- abrowne 6y ago
  Really wish it was a Chromium extension (or PWA) rather than separate app.
  - contravariant 6y ago
    Really? Why on earth?
    - abrowne 6y ago
      Since 90+% of the time I have the browser open. An epub book is just a weird, constrained website, another type of document to read. Not saying there shouldn't be an app for those who want it.
- tonypace 6y ago
  Thorium is astoundingly slow. I've started using Sumatra for ebooks as well as PDFs. It's fast and good enough.
captn3m0 6y ago
I’ve been delighted by Foliate. Supports OPDS, and keeps getting better.
- onyva 6y ago
  Oh didn’t know that. Thanks for the tip. I’ve been using this app on Fedora for a while. Will have a look.
JoeDaDude 6y ago
Calibre is usually the go-to open source ebook reader. I don't know about SaaS but it does include a server so if you keep you ebooks centrally located and acess them from there, your bookmarks and notes would be preserved. https://calibre-ebook.com/about https://calibre-ebook.com/about
- m_kos 6y ago
  @JoeDaDude Sorry for OT, but there are no PMs on hacker news. I found your comment about CO2 sensors for Raspberry PI from last year [0]. Have you finished this project? If yes, could you share a few details? For my first Rasberry PI project, I am considering buying Enviro for Raspberry Pi + Air Quality. I would like to add an affordable CO2 sensor that would require minimal config and no soldering. Pimoroni folks told me MH-Z19 would not work because of the number of pins. Would you have any suggestions on what sensor to choose and how to make it work with Enviro / Raspberry PI? 0. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20185649 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20185649
- wegs 6y ago
  Can I pay anyone for a hosted Calibre server?
  - dsr_ 6y ago
    Run Calibre on your desktop; sync the library up to a $5/month VM, and run ubooquity there. Or Calibre.
xbmcuser 6y ago
https://github.com/koreader/koreader https://github.com/koreader/koreader and you can host your own koreader server to sync data https://github.com/koreader/koreader-sync-server https://github.com/koreader/koreader-sync-server

by wegs 6y ago

popup21 6y ago

Thorium Reader is an absolute pleasure to use. Open-source and regularly updated. https://www.edrlab.org/software/thorium-reader/ https://www.edrlab.org/software/thorium-reader/ https://github.com/edrlab/thorium-reader https://github.com/edrlab/thorium-reader

onyva 6y ago
Is it more than just an ePub reader? You really feel it’s justified to spin-up an electorn app (!!!) to read an ePub? I use Emacs’ nov.el or Foliate which are not only low on resources but also instantaneous to open files.
- chocolatkey 6y ago
  I don't like it either, but the only way it is technically feasible to support the full potential styling/markup of an EPUB is to use a browser engine, and therefore electron is a logical choice. Can your specialized EPUB reader support MathML? Or vertical-ttb text?
  - Finnucane 6y ago
    Just this. Epub depends on the same tech stack as the web. So, either you use an engine that supports that in full, or you are going to be missing pieces of the standard. Which means that most other reading software opts for missing pieces of the standard.
- popup21 6y ago
  It's irrelevant to me whether or not it's an electron app. I'm not running a Pentium 486 system. I've got more RAM than I know what to do with...I'll run a half-dozen instances of Thorium if I wanted to...no worries.
  - onyva 6y ago
    It’s not just resources. It’s usability. Electron apps look and feel out of place to me. I would personally never use one let alone for reading an ePub. I get the point about perfect rendering, but that’s a specific problem I’m personally not worried about.
- hombre_fatal 6y ago
  An .epub is literally a zip of xhtml, css, and images. If you want to build a good ereader, you either use a web browser or you reimplement one. And you have to support things like https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/hyphens https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/hyphens, rtl, mathml, and—well—the rest of the nontrivial stack.
- ognarb 6y ago
  I have a bad news for you, recently I was interested in how could I write a good QML/Kirigami based ebook reader and looked at all the existing Linux epub reader and each one was using a webview for the epub rendering. But they usually try to integrate better with the rest of the app and your DE so you just don't see it. EDIT: the only epub reader I know that doesn't use a webview is Okular and the rendering using QTextDocument basic html support is horrible.
  - hombre_fatal 6y ago
    I ran into a similar realization when I set out to build my own minimal RSS reader. Your options are A) web view, B) crappy RSS reader.
  - xbmcuser 6y ago
    Koreader and coolreader both based on crengine and dont use webview. Koreader devs forked crengine and now seem to be in the process of merging back. https://github.com/koreader/koreader https://github.com/koreader/koreader https://github.com/buggins/coolreader https://github.com/buggins/coolreader
abrowne 6y ago
Really wish it was a Chromium extension (or PWA) rather than separate app.
- contravariant 6y ago
  Really? Why on earth?
  - abrowne 6y ago
    Since 90+% of the time I have the browser open. An epub book is just a weird, constrained website, another type of document to read. Not saying there shouldn't be an app for those who want it.
tonypace 6y ago
Thorium is astoundingly slow. I've started using Sumatra for ebooks as well as PDFs. It's fast and good enough.

captn3m0 6y ago

I’ve been delighted by Foliate. Supports OPDS, and keeps getting better.

onyva 6y ago
Oh didn’t know that. Thanks for the tip. I’ve been using this app on Fedora for a while. Will have a look.

JoeDaDude 6y ago

Calibre is usually the go-to open source ebook reader. I don't know about SaaS but it does include a server so if you keep you ebooks centrally located and acess them from there, your bookmarks and notes would be preserved. https://calibre-ebook.com/about https://calibre-ebook.com/about

m_kos 6y ago
@JoeDaDude Sorry for OT, but there are no PMs on hacker news. I found your comment about CO2 sensors for Raspberry PI from last year [0]. Have you finished this project? If yes, could you share a few details? For my first Rasberry PI project, I am considering buying Enviro for Raspberry Pi + Air Quality. I would like to add an affordable CO2 sensor that would require minimal config and no soldering. Pimoroni folks told me MH-Z19 would not work because of the number of pins. Would you have any suggestions on what sensor to choose and how to make it work with Enviro / Raspberry PI? 0. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20185649 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20185649
wegs 6y ago
Can I pay anyone for a hosted Calibre server?
- dsr_ 6y ago
  Run Calibre on your desktop; sync the library up to a $5/month VM, and run ubooquity there. Or Calibre.

xbmcuser 6y ago

https://github.com/koreader/koreader https://github.com/koreader/koreader and you can host your own koreader server to sync data https://github.com/koreader/koreader-sync-server https://github.com/koreader/koreader-sync-server