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Ask HN: Best Open E-Reader?

• horsellama 2y ago
  Not really what you’re looking for but close https://github.com/joeycastillo/The-Open-Book https://github.com/joeycastillo/The-Open-Book
  • deleted 2y ago
    [deleted]
• roelj 2y ago
  I only have experience with Kobo e-readers and there you can connect the e-reader over USB and just put the epub files in the root folder.
• lelanthran 2y ago
  I lost my kindle (gen1, I think) recently (Someone in my neighbourhood now has the best curated collection of free fiction ever, so I'm not too sore about it). I'll probably get a new one, but it occurred to me, with all the current excess electronics I have now on my desk (everything from PIC18Fs, esp32s to SBCs running Linux), the only thing I am missing to make my own e-reader is a large and cheap e-ink display. Any recommendations for a large-ish e-ink display that doesn't cost an arm and a leg?
  • 999900000999 2y ago
    By the time you buy an EInk display and a battery you might as well buy a full e reader. E ink programming isn't fun. If this is about the journey, go for it, but the results won't be optimal
    • lelanthran 2y ago
      > By the time you buy an EInk display and a battery you might as well buy a full e reader. That's the problem I ran into the last time I looked at this - it was cheaper to buy an e-reader at retail prices than just the display at retail prices[1]. I was only wondering if the prices have fallen yet (seems like they have not). There's a bunch of low-power applications with large displays that I could do with an e-ink display. [1] I don't really understand why the displays are as expensive as they are. It could just be that the e-readers are sold at a loss, and the manufacturer makes a profit some other way (with Amazon, they make their profit on the books, not sure about the others).
• al_borland 2y ago
  You can manage the files with Calibre[1] and sync them onto an e-reader like the Kobo with a click. [1] https://calibre-ebook.com/ https://calibre-ebook.com/
• vik0 2y ago
  I never understood why, barring lack of money, people would rather read something on a screen (even if it is e-ink) instead of holding an actual book in their hands and reading it that way. The smell alone of any book (used or new) is worth it Anyway, I've heard calibre is good. I've never used it though
  • paulcole 2y ago
    I can’t imagine dealing with physical books again. No interest in owning and storing them and no interest in going back and forth library to borrow. My kindle is incredible. Wonderful screen, easy to pay money to read the books I want when I want. I don’t get the people who fetishize printed books. I like reading, I don’t like books. If I want the book smell, I’ll buy a scented candle lol.
    • vik0 2y ago
      I suppose it's a matter of preference at the end of the day. I can't imagine myself holding a kindle or any other tablet-like reading device and reading books that way, unless a book I want to read is somehow prohibitively expensive (which again comes down to what I said in my first comment, money.) Plus, I can't build a nice, physical library with a bunch of pdf and epub files. You might say that having a physical library is stroking one's ego a bit, which I agree with, but hey, it's an ability that's exclusive to physical books and not electronic files stored in some drive. And so is using books to prop stuff up, but that's mostly used with books one thinks are not of good quality and don't deserve to be read/read again.
      • amerkhalid 2y ago
        > Plus, I can't build a nice, physical library with a bunch of pdf and epub files. I moved back to physical books as I posted in my other comment. Building a nice library that I can give to my kids is one of my goals. Hopefully, they will be happy to have those books. And if they don't want it and then we can donate books to a library or a school. It is a win-win situation.
• stuxnet79 2y ago
  Kobos[1] and Pocketbooks[2] are a lot more open than Kindles. AFAIK you can transfer .epub files into both devices and these epubs are perfectly readable via the stock OS. If for some reason you find the stock proprietary OS lacking, you can install an open source one like KOreader[3] or Plato[4] Of course you want a good way of organizing epubs pdfs mobi, and like has already been mentioned Calibre[5] is a great option. [1] https://www.kobo.com/ https://www.kobo.com/ [2] https://pocketbookstore.com/en-ca https://pocketbookstore.com/en-ca [3] https://github.com/koreader/koreader https://github.com/koreader/koreader [4] https://github.com/baskerville/plato https://github.com/baskerville/plato [5] https://calibre-ebook.com/ https://calibre-ebook.com/
• jjice 2y ago
  You can send epubs and other formats via the Kindle web service to your Kindle directly. It handles the conversion. I understand if you feel uneasy with this though, as I do as well sometimes. As others have said, Kobos support many formats (including epub) out of the box via a USB cable. Kobo has some color ereaders coming out the end of this month as well, if that's something that appeals to you. My brief experience with color eink displays is very positive, and I'm considering purchasing one as well, despite owning a Kindle already.
• RealStickman_ 2y ago
  There are various chinese vendors offering android tablets with e-ink screens. The disadvantage being less guarantees of future updates and some vendors (Onyx, probably others) don't release their device kernels as required by the Linux GPL.
• throwaway38375 2y ago
  Also voting for Kobo. I have a Clara I just use for reading books. Really nice device and the price is good too. I've never connected mine to the internet. I just use it as a giant USB stick with a screen. Not that I've needed to, but you can take it apart and increase the storage too! https://yingtongli.me/blog/2018/07/29/kobo-sd.html https://yingtongli.me/blog/2018/07/29/kobo-sd.html