4 ms·

If you want a cheap rooted eReader I think you're better off getting a Kobo instead, they don't officially support rooting but AFAICT they make basically no eff

by jsheard 11mo ago

If you want a cheap rooted eReader I think you're better off getting a Kobo instead, they don't officially support rooting but AFAICT they make basically no effort to prevent it.

tfsh 11mo ago
+1 to a Kobo, they cheaper and better than Kindles, with full Calibre support (https://github.com/kovidgoyal/calibre https://github.com/kovidgoyal/calibre - OSS which has been in development for ~20 years!). The way you install additional software is literally just moving files into folders whilst its plugged into your computer. I'm sure it could handle Tailscale.
- graemep 11mo ago
  I use the Calibre support, but did not know you could install additional software that easily!
- finalarbiter 11mo ago
  I agree with your sentiment that the Kobo is better than the Kindle from an... ethical standpoint, if you have the money for one. However, it is worth noting that Kindles will always be cheaper than Kobo devices [0] due to economies of scale and lockscreen advertisements (removable with jailbreaking). From a pure cost perspective, and assuming the user is technically-minded enough to accomplish the jailbreak, the Kindle is likely always [1] a better deal. [0] as of today, 12/8/25, the "base model" Kindle 11th Generation is priced at $109.99 USD, and the respective Kobo Clara BW is $139.99 USD. [1] I say "likely always" to cover my bases. To my knowledge Calibre supports Kindle, just not as well as Kobo. That said I have found that the KOreader app is more than powerful enough for my use case (reading my own epubs, using dictionaries, etc.)
  - jsheard 11mo ago
    That doesn't always hold, if you want color e-ink then Kobo is currently the cheaper option. Kindle Colorsoft (7" 16GB) - $250 Kindle Colorsoft (7" 32GB) - $280 Kobo Clara Color (6" 16GB) - $160 Kobo Libra Color (7" 32GB) - $230 The Libra also supports a stylus (sold separately) while the Colorsoft doesn't, that's reserved for the much bigger and pricier Kindle Scribe.
    - ekropotin 11mo ago
      How is situation with latency on these readers? I’ve just acquired the latest gen Kindle and I’m absolutely blown away by how fast it is.
      - gcr 11mo ago
        do you mean latency on a color screen? (my experience with color eInk is that it adds quite a lot of latency)
        deleted 11mo ago
        [deleted]
        dotancohen 11mo ago
        And colour E-Ink devices also have horrible contrast.
        ekropotin 11mo ago
        Ah, sorry for confusion. I meant to ask about non-color version of Kobo.
        wkat4242 11mo ago
        The current colour kindles and kobos don't use real eink colour. It's just a bw screen with lcd colour overlay (eink kaleido) The real colour screens are used on the remarkable (eink gallery) and they are indeed slow for full page updates though remarkable seems to have done a lot of smarts for local updates while drawing.
  - abnry 11mo ago
    Where do I get DRM-free ebooks to put on a Kobo? I don't support breaking DRM. So I'm using a Kindle because it has the best access to and integration with almost any book I want.
    - Larrikin 11mo ago
      What does it mean to not support breaking DRM? You purchase something and then are fine not being able to use it?
      - gabrielhidasy 11mo ago
        Not OP, but maybe also against buying stuff with DRM in the first place?
  - haritha-j 11mo ago
    Plus the kindles will get decent discounts on prime day, black friday and such.
- jrm4 11mo ago
  Also consider koreader instead of the stock reader app.
  - cyberpunk 11mo ago
    I kinda love that buried in the koreader menu somewhere is an option that drops me at a linux shell. I have no use really for this feature, but i like it. Good for those times you absolutely have to crank out some awk on the plane or whatever. :)
    - dotancohen 11mo ago
      Thank you, I did not know about this! But what I'd really like is an option not to hide the navigation bar while KOReader is open. I work with technical PDFs and need to jump between applications very often. One of which is often Termux!
- rr808 11mo ago
  Most (?) Kobos can run libby so you can get ebooks from your library.
kaladin-jasnah 11mo ago
Kobo is great. I use Plato and KOReader on mine. They worked better than the original reader software for reading manga.
whoisburbansky 11mo ago
The only (tiny) issue I've had with Tailscale on Kobo has been that the tailscale daemon prevents me from using the Kobo in Mass Storage Mode while it's active, so I have to disable/quit KOReader to be able to plug it in again, which is admittedly not frequently warranted anyways.
enthdegree 11mo ago
The latest Kobos use MediaTek SoCs with locked bootloaders. The Kobo Clara BW's MT8113, for example. As far as I know, one of the early bootloaders it, BL1, refuses to execute the next bootloader (BL2) unless its signature is valid. We can get the device into a mode where BL1 waits for upload of a BL2 via USB using an exploit called Kamakiri, but in public there is neither an exploit to get BL1 to boot an arbitrary BL2, nor an authorized BL2 image to upload. See here: https://github.com/bkerler/mtkclient/issues/1332 https://github.com/bkerler/mtkclient/issues/1332 Kobo devices have root exposed but don't let users boot their own kernels (and the kernel they ship was not compiled with kexec either). I really don't know the reason so many devices these days don't have an unlock method. It seems predatory. Who knows where in the chain this happens... maybe it's Kobo, or maybe MediaTek won't sell you their SoCs for mass-market devices unless you lock them.
- monerozcash 11mo ago
  Can you just access /dev/mem or load a kernel module? Is there a SELinux policy stopping that? If you can do either of those, it should be trivial to get kexec working by just loading it as a module.
  - enthdegree 11mo ago
    As far as I know, yes, it's possible. No SELinux. Kernel is a branch from 4.9.something pretty far off mainline with a few proprietary binary blob modules. As far as I know the real impediment here is lack of demand.
- j45 11mo ago
  Older Kobos sound ok though?
- zozbot234 11mo ago
  According to the github issue it seems to be a simple checksum step, not a true signature verification? If so there is no locked bootloader in any real sense. If the real impediment is lack of demand or low-level development effort for any given device, that's in principle a solvable issue once projects like pmOS and Mobian choose to focus on some reasonably-available hackable hardware and bring it up to true daily driver state.
maximilianburke 11mo ago
I used to like my Kobo a lot but recently it's got some pretty severe unreliability issues, usually around reading non-Kobo epubs and PDFs. Like, if I open of those files, the device usually crashes and when it recovers after a reboot, the file disappears.
dotancohen 11mo ago
Same with the Barnes and Noble Nooks. I've never rooted one, but via ADB one can install a launcher and most Android applications run. I've used four generations of Nooks to run AnkiDroid. Just beware to check what version of Android the Nook is using before you buy, and what your app needs.
- ewoodrich 11mo ago
  Android on an e-reader unlocks so much potential. I've owned four or five Kindles over the years but recently switched to an Onyx Boox page 7" as my main e-reader. Expensive (relative to Kindles) but runs full Android 11 and has physical page turn buttons. I use an app called BookFusion to sync my library including reading position across all platforms. Battery life isn't Kindle grade but I can get by charging once a week which is a good enough tradeoff for the convenience of being able to run Android apps.
Havoc 11mo ago
I was more after a eink display in a shape that is cheaper than new boards for a DIY project

by jsheard 11mo ago

If you want a cheap rooted eReader I think you're better off getting a Kobo instead, they don't officially support rooting but AFAICT they make basically no effort to prevent it.

tfsh 11mo ago

+1 to a Kobo, they cheaper and better than Kindles, with full Calibre support (https://github.com/kovidgoyal/calibre https://github.com/kovidgoyal/calibre - OSS which has been in development for ~20 years!). The way you install additional software is literally just moving files into folders whilst its plugged into your computer. I'm sure it could handle Tailscale.

graemep 11mo ago
I use the Calibre support, but did not know you could install additional software that easily!
finalarbiter 11mo ago
I agree with your sentiment that the Kobo is better than the Kindle from an... ethical standpoint, if you have the money for one. However, it is worth noting that Kindles will always be cheaper than Kobo devices [0] due to economies of scale and lockscreen advertisements (removable with jailbreaking). From a pure cost perspective, and assuming the user is technically-minded enough to accomplish the jailbreak, the Kindle is likely always [1] a better deal. [0] as of today, 12/8/25, the "base model" Kindle 11th Generation is priced at $109.99 USD, and the respective Kobo Clara BW is $139.99 USD. [1] I say "likely always" to cover my bases. To my knowledge Calibre supports Kindle, just not as well as Kobo. That said I have found that the KOreader app is more than powerful enough for my use case (reading my own epubs, using dictionaries, etc.)
- jsheard 11mo ago
  That doesn't always hold, if you want color e-ink then Kobo is currently the cheaper option. Kindle Colorsoft (7" 16GB) - $250 Kindle Colorsoft (7" 32GB) - $280 Kobo Clara Color (6" 16GB) - $160 Kobo Libra Color (7" 32GB) - $230 The Libra also supports a stylus (sold separately) while the Colorsoft doesn't, that's reserved for the much bigger and pricier Kindle Scribe.
  - ekropotin 11mo ago
    How is situation with latency on these readers? I’ve just acquired the latest gen Kindle and I’m absolutely blown away by how fast it is.
    - gcr 11mo ago
      do you mean latency on a color screen? (my experience with color eInk is that it adds quite a lot of latency)
      - deleted 11mo ago
        [deleted]
      - dotancohen 11mo ago
        And colour E-Ink devices also have horrible contrast.
      - ekropotin 11mo ago
        Ah, sorry for confusion. I meant to ask about non-color version of Kobo.
      - wkat4242 11mo ago
        The current colour kindles and kobos don't use real eink colour. It's just a bw screen with lcd colour overlay (eink kaleido) The real colour screens are used on the remarkable (eink gallery) and they are indeed slow for full page updates though remarkable seems to have done a lot of smarts for local updates while drawing.
- abnry 11mo ago
  Where do I get DRM-free ebooks to put on a Kobo? I don't support breaking DRM. So I'm using a Kindle because it has the best access to and integration with almost any book I want.
  - Larrikin 11mo ago
    What does it mean to not support breaking DRM? You purchase something and then are fine not being able to use it?
    - gabrielhidasy 11mo ago
      Not OP, but maybe also against buying stuff with DRM in the first place?
- haritha-j 11mo ago
  Plus the kindles will get decent discounts on prime day, black friday and such.
jrm4 11mo ago
Also consider koreader instead of the stock reader app.
- cyberpunk 11mo ago
  I kinda love that buried in the koreader menu somewhere is an option that drops me at a linux shell. I have no use really for this feature, but i like it. Good for those times you absolutely have to crank out some awk on the plane or whatever. :)
  - dotancohen 11mo ago
    Thank you, I did not know about this! But what I'd really like is an option not to hide the navigation bar while KOReader is open. I work with technical PDFs and need to jump between applications very often. One of which is often Termux!
rr808 11mo ago
Most (?) Kobos can run libby so you can get ebooks from your library.

kaladin-jasnah 11mo ago

Kobo is great. I use Plato and KOReader on mine. They worked better than the original reader software for reading manga.

whoisburbansky 11mo ago

The only (tiny) issue I've had with Tailscale on Kobo has been that the tailscale daemon prevents me from using the Kobo in Mass Storage Mode while it's active, so I have to disable/quit KOReader to be able to plug it in again, which is admittedly not frequently warranted anyways.

enthdegree 11mo ago

The latest Kobos use MediaTek SoCs with locked bootloaders. The Kobo Clara BW's MT8113, for example. As far as I know, one of the early bootloaders it, BL1, refuses to execute the next bootloader (BL2) unless its signature is valid. We can get the device into a mode where BL1 waits for upload of a BL2 via USB using an exploit called Kamakiri, but in public there is neither an exploit to get BL1 to boot an arbitrary BL2, nor an authorized BL2 image to upload. See here: https://github.com/bkerler/mtkclient/issues/1332 https://github.com/bkerler/mtkclient/issues/1332 Kobo devices have root exposed but don't let users boot their own kernels (and the kernel they ship was not compiled with kexec either). I really don't know the reason so many devices these days don't have an unlock method. It seems predatory. Who knows where in the chain this happens... maybe it's Kobo, or maybe MediaTek won't sell you their SoCs for mass-market devices unless you lock them.

monerozcash 11mo ago
Can you just access /dev/mem or load a kernel module? Is there a SELinux policy stopping that? If you can do either of those, it should be trivial to get kexec working by just loading it as a module.
- enthdegree 11mo ago
  As far as I know, yes, it's possible. No SELinux. Kernel is a branch from 4.9.something pretty far off mainline with a few proprietary binary blob modules. As far as I know the real impediment here is lack of demand.
j45 11mo ago
Older Kobos sound ok though?
zozbot234 11mo ago
According to the github issue it seems to be a simple checksum step, not a true signature verification? If so there is no locked bootloader in any real sense. If the real impediment is lack of demand or low-level development effort for any given device, that's in principle a solvable issue once projects like pmOS and Mobian choose to focus on some reasonably-available hackable hardware and bring it up to true daily driver state.

maximilianburke 11mo ago

I used to like my Kobo a lot but recently it's got some pretty severe unreliability issues, usually around reading non-Kobo epubs and PDFs. Like, if I open of those files, the device usually crashes and when it recovers after a reboot, the file disappears.

dotancohen 11mo ago

Same with the Barnes and Noble Nooks. I've never rooted one, but via ADB one can install a launcher and most Android applications run. I've used four generations of Nooks to run AnkiDroid. Just beware to check what version of Android the Nook is using before you buy, and what your app needs.

ewoodrich 11mo ago
Android on an e-reader unlocks so much potential. I've owned four or five Kindles over the years but recently switched to an Onyx Boox page 7" as my main e-reader. Expensive (relative to Kindles) but runs full Android 11 and has physical page turn buttons. I use an app called BookFusion to sync my library including reading position across all platforms. Battery life isn't Kindle grade but I can get by charging once a week which is a good enough tradeoff for the convenience of being able to run Android apps.

Havoc 11mo ago

I was more after a eink display in a shape that is cheaper than new boards for a DIY project