9 ms·

Worth highlighting the Open Book Project [1], an open source e-reader hardware design and software stack. The design is open, and you can make your own with co

by grlass 5y ago

Worth highlighting the Open Book Project [1], an open source e-reader hardware design and software stack. The design is open, and you can make your own with commodity parts. People are starting to sell PCBs, and complete devices. It has its own open software stack, and I hope will have a variety of vendors in the coming years. Ofc the e-ink patent issues remain, but this goes some of the way to solve things at the e-reader level. [1] https://github.com/joeycastillo/The-Open-Book https://github.com/joeycastillo/The-Open-Book

deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
fsflover 5y ago
Another open-source e-ink book reader is PineNote: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28190756 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28190756.
admax88qqq 5y ago
Super cool. I feel like the bigger struggle will be getting actual books. Unless you pirate them, most books are encumbered with DRM.
- 0des 5y ago
  I appreciate companies like Packt who supply credits to download DRM-free versions of the books you read. I get a free credit each month to download any book from them, DRM-free.
- kenmacd 5y ago
  It's very easy to remove that DRM. Personally I don't log in to my kobo so library books get stripped before being copied over (the kobo acts as a usb storage device).
  - criddell 5y ago
    The most recent version of DRM used by Amazon hasn't been cracked yet (AFAIK) and the workarounds get you a version of the file missing a lot of recent typographic improvements.
    - kenmacd 5y ago
      Interesting. I didn't realize they had their own. Thanks.
- jsjohnst 5y ago
  > Unless you pirate them, most books are encumbered with DRM. Depends on the publisher/genre. Tech books (from O'Reilly/PragProg/Apress/Manning anyway) for example are most often not encumbered with DRM.
- Arch-TK 5y ago
  There are plenty of DRM unencumbered ebooks around if you look. But if you do find yourself dealing with DRM there are a number of methods of removing it. Personally, if I already own the book in question I pirate the e-book, I don't see anything wrong with this as the author has already received equivalent royalties for the book. In the cases that I do not own a physical copy, I will generally buy a physical copy and then pirate the e-book. In some cases it is impossible to find a pirated e-book in which cases I will search for a DRM free option to buy. And in the event that I can't find the DRM free option I will resort to an Adobe Digital Editions DRM version (which I will promptly turn into a normal copy). This has worked out well for me and I have a pleasant library of books on my e-reader. (Unlike the author, I find the idea of e-book "borrowing" to be completely ridiculous (as ridiculous as spotify or netflix). I would rather just check the book out of a library, or outright pirate it. At the end of the day, the author is not making any extra money out of my inconvenience of having a proprietary management software which stores a book locally on my device but doesn't give me direct access to the data.)
greenie_beans 5y ago
i bought everything for this but got overwhelmed and haven’t tried to put it together. it’s all been sitting on my shelf for like a year. maybe one day! too many dang projects.

by grlass 5y ago

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

fsflover 5y ago

Another open-source e-ink book reader is PineNote: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28190756 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28190756.

admax88qqq 5y ago

Super cool. I feel like the bigger struggle will be getting actual books. Unless you pirate them, most books are encumbered with DRM.

0des 5y ago
I appreciate companies like Packt who supply credits to download DRM-free versions of the books you read. I get a free credit each month to download any book from them, DRM-free.
kenmacd 5y ago
It's very easy to remove that DRM. Personally I don't log in to my kobo so library books get stripped before being copied over (the kobo acts as a usb storage device).
- criddell 5y ago
  The most recent version of DRM used by Amazon hasn't been cracked yet (AFAIK) and the workarounds get you a version of the file missing a lot of recent typographic improvements.
  - kenmacd 5y ago
    Interesting. I didn't realize they had their own. Thanks.
jsjohnst 5y ago
> Unless you pirate them, most books are encumbered with DRM. Depends on the publisher/genre. Tech books (from O'Reilly/PragProg/Apress/Manning anyway) for example are most often not encumbered with DRM.
Arch-TK 5y ago
There are plenty of DRM unencumbered ebooks around if you look. But if you do find yourself dealing with DRM there are a number of methods of removing it. Personally, if I already own the book in question I pirate the e-book, I don't see anything wrong with this as the author has already received equivalent royalties for the book. In the cases that I do not own a physical copy, I will generally buy a physical copy and then pirate the e-book. In some cases it is impossible to find a pirated e-book in which cases I will search for a DRM free option to buy. And in the event that I can't find the DRM free option I will resort to an Adobe Digital Editions DRM version (which I will promptly turn into a normal copy). This has worked out well for me and I have a pleasant library of books on my e-reader. (Unlike the author, I find the idea of e-book "borrowing" to be completely ridiculous (as ridiculous as spotify or netflix). I would rather just check the book out of a library, or outright pirate it. At the end of the day, the author is not making any extra money out of my inconvenience of having a proprietary management software which stores a book locally on my device but doesn't give me direct access to the data.)

greenie_beans 5y ago

i bought everything for this but got overwhelmed and haven’t tried to put it together. it’s all been sitting on my shelf for like a year. maybe one day! too many dang projects.