4 ms·

InkBox OS – open-source, fully-functional standalone OS for Kobo's eReaders

54 points by paulcarroty 3y ago

mdaniel 3y ago
https://github.com/Kobo-InkBox/inkbox#readme https://github.com/Kobo-InkBox/inkbox#readme appears to be the non-ddns.net version, and is GPLv3
- slim 3y ago
  what do you mean by non-ddns.net version?
  - mdaniel 3y ago
    ddns.net is a home-IP address masking service which means maybe https://inkbox.ddns.net/git/explore https://inkbox.ddns.net/git/explore will still be alive in an hour, maybe not. Thus, one can certainly take their chances with the home-hosted gitlab instance or take their chances with GitHub's availability
paulcarroty 3y ago
Demo - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cyWu_pHwqNg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cyWu_pHwqNg
- solarkraft 3y ago
  Oi, it works on the Kindle Touch too? The website just mentions Kobos.
ChrisArchitect 3y ago
Inkbox? The temporary tattoo technology acquired by BIC?
freedomben 3y ago
This is the sort of thing I badly want in my life, but the sad reality is that Amazon has a massive ~monopoly~ grip on most of the e publishing market. Most of the books I want to buy only have a electronic version for Kindle. Being able to strip the DRM so I can read on non-Kindle devices is a major cat and mouse game and it's majorly frustrating to have a solution worked out only to have it break the next time I buy a book. Has anybody had continuing success with this?
- webmobdev 3y ago
  Just buy the eBook from Amazon. Then download the DRM-free version of the same ebook from pirate sites (Russian pirate sites are a good resource for this). Enjoy a guilt-free, drm-free experience of reading ebooks.
  - malermeister 3y ago
    z-lib has an incredible archive of all the books you could think of and is still available on tor!
    - freedomben 3y ago
      how do you find it on tor?
      - malermeister 3y ago
        http://zlibrary24tuxziyiyfr7zd46ytefdqbqd2axkmxm4o5374ptpc52fad.onion/ http://zlibrary24tuxziyiyfr7zd46ytefdqbqd2axkmxm4o5374ptpc52...
- paulcarroty 3y ago
  https://apprenticealf.wordpress.com/2021/04/11/dedrm-tools-7-2-1-released/ https://apprenticealf.wordpress.com/2021/04/11/dedrm-tools-7...
freedomben 3y ago
If you want a hackable e-reader, I have loved the Remarkable tablet. It's definitely more of a "writing" than a "reading" tablet although it works great with pdfs and epubs. Even lets you "write" notes on top of them! It's not all open source though. They will give you access to the device and you can fairly easily move files on and off, but the app is proprietary.
- solarkraft 3y ago
  Both Kobos and Kindles are very hackable. On the older Kindles (not sure about the newer ones) the included shell scripts and JavaScript files are even (pretty well) commented. It's a standard (apart from upstart) X11/Awesome WM/GTK2 stack.
KMnO4 3y ago
Kobos are fantastic. I don’t think they took off outside of Canada unfortunately. Last time I was at Value Village I saw a handful of them for $5 each. I picked up a couple of them and turned one into a weather station[0]. Took under 5 minutes including mounting it. [0]: https://github.com/brunolalb/yawk https://github.com/brunolalb/yawk
- Schinken_ 3y ago
  Iirc "Tolino" readers in Germany (and maybe rest of Europe) are just rebranded Kobo readers. So... In a sense they took off here?
  - solarkraft 3y ago
    I just wonder how compatible the firmwares are. Haven't found anything about flashing Kobo firmware (Tolinos use Android) on Tolino devices, so all the cool hacks may not be feasible :(
97-109-107 3y ago
For any Kobo (as well as Kindle & PocketBook) owners considering stock firmware alternatives, there's also [KOReader](http://koreader.rocks/ http://koreader.rocks/)
- solarkraft 3y ago
  KOReader is fantastic! Technically it's not really a firmware replacement, but an application on top of it (implementing pretty much all e-book related features). There's even an Android version, which is how I use it on my Boox tablet.
marssaxman 3y ago
This looks nice! I wonder if it supports Overdrive? My kobo device is strictly a frontend to the local library; it would be nice to have firmware which wasn't constantly trying to sell me things.

54 points by paulcarroty 3y ago

https://github.com/Kobo-InkBox/inkbox#readme https://github.com/Kobo-InkBox/inkbox#readme appears to be the non-ddns.net version, and is GPLv3

slim 3y ago
what do you mean by non-ddns.net version?
- mdaniel 3y ago
  ddns.net is a home-IP address masking service which means maybe https://inkbox.ddns.net/git/explore https://inkbox.ddns.net/git/explore will still be alive in an hour, maybe not. Thus, one can certainly take their chances with the home-hosted gitlab instance or take their chances with GitHub's availability

paulcarroty 3y ago

Demo - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cyWu_pHwqNg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cyWu_pHwqNg

solarkraft 3y ago
Oi, it works on the Kindle Touch too? The website just mentions Kobos.

ChrisArchitect 3y ago

Inkbox? The temporary tattoo technology acquired by BIC?

freedomben 3y ago

This is the sort of thing I badly want in my life, but the sad reality is that Amazon has a massive ~monopoly~ grip on most of the e publishing market. Most of the books I want to buy only have a electronic version for Kindle. Being able to strip the DRM so I can read on non-Kindle devices is a major cat and mouse game and it's majorly frustrating to have a solution worked out only to have it break the next time I buy a book. Has anybody had continuing success with this?

webmobdev 3y ago
Just buy the eBook from Amazon. Then download the DRM-free version of the same ebook from pirate sites (Russian pirate sites are a good resource for this). Enjoy a guilt-free, drm-free experience of reading ebooks.
- malermeister 3y ago
  z-lib has an incredible archive of all the books you could think of and is still available on tor!
  - freedomben 3y ago
    how do you find it on tor?
    - malermeister 3y ago
      http://zlibrary24tuxziyiyfr7zd46ytefdqbqd2axkmxm4o5374ptpc52fad.onion/ http://zlibrary24tuxziyiyfr7zd46ytefdqbqd2axkmxm4o5374ptpc52...
paulcarroty 3y ago
https://apprenticealf.wordpress.com/2021/04/11/dedrm-tools-7-2-1-released/ https://apprenticealf.wordpress.com/2021/04/11/dedrm-tools-7...

freedomben 3y ago

If you want a hackable e-reader, I have loved the Remarkable tablet. It's definitely more of a "writing" than a "reading" tablet although it works great with pdfs and epubs. Even lets you "write" notes on top of them! It's not all open source though. They will give you access to the device and you can fairly easily move files on and off, but the app is proprietary.

solarkraft 3y ago
Both Kobos and Kindles are very hackable. On the older Kindles (not sure about the newer ones) the included shell scripts and JavaScript files are even (pretty well) commented. It's a standard (apart from upstart) X11/Awesome WM/GTK2 stack.

KMnO4 3y ago

Kobos are fantastic. I don’t think they took off outside of Canada unfortunately. Last time I was at Value Village I saw a handful of them for $5 each. I picked up a couple of them and turned one into a weather station[0]. Took under 5 minutes including mounting it. [0]: https://github.com/brunolalb/yawk https://github.com/brunolalb/yawk

Schinken_ 3y ago
Iirc "Tolino" readers in Germany (and maybe rest of Europe) are just rebranded Kobo readers. So... In a sense they took off here?
- solarkraft 3y ago
  I just wonder how compatible the firmwares are. Haven't found anything about flashing Kobo firmware (Tolinos use Android) on Tolino devices, so all the cool hacks may not be feasible :(

97-109-107 3y ago

For any Kobo (as well as Kindle & PocketBook) owners considering stock firmware alternatives, there's also [KOReader](http://koreader.rocks/ http://koreader.rocks/)

solarkraft 3y ago
KOReader is fantastic! Technically it's not really a firmware replacement, but an application on top of it (implementing pretty much all e-book related features). There's even an Android version, which is how I use it on my Boox tablet.

marssaxman 3y ago

This looks nice! I wonder if it supports Overdrive? My kobo device is strictly a frontend to the local library; it would be nice to have firmware which wasn't constantly trying to sell me things.