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E-book reader

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E-readers are loved by the literary /g/man for their sexy e-ink screens that comfortably accommodate reading manga and textbooks with space that can store your entire library. Many even support playback of audiobooks but are usually the premium models. If you're looking for information about "e-readers" which use LCD/OLED screens, go to the article about tablets.

Recommendations

Buying Guide

/g/uide to ebook readers (New graphic coming soon)

There are things to consider when buying an e-reader. First is the ethical aspect as the most mainstream well known e-readers are made by Amazon. Furthermore if you happen to be a freetard, there aren't many options that are completely freetarded. There's Open Book which is a DIY ebook reader with FOSS operating system and software stack on top of it. The issue is that its very early in its development and not ready for bug-free day to day use. Your next option would be to compromise with an option that comes the closest to your values, probably one that is ad-free, Linux-based and/or has open source components like Kobo (Kobo's Github). If you get an older Kobo in select models, you can try out Quill(formerly InkBox) which is a FOSS operating system for Kobo with a Qt-based user interface and reader. It's also in its early stage. If you want to keep things simple with minimal botnet, just get a newer Kobo, bypass the email registration and install Koreader. Some users also choose to avoid some companies for certain moral reasons; usually it is Amazon or ChiCom companies. There are lots of reasons to not buy Amazon such as its business practices, adware, botnet and more but it does have its downsides. Obviously Amazon has the world's biggest online bookstore and online comicstore with services like Goodreads, Kindle Unlimited and Comixology. Pretty much the only one most people/normies know of and buy from. Because of this, most publishers when putting a book out online will usually only cater to Amazon's store. Finding eBooks outside of Amazon's massive ecosystem is slightly more difficult. Of course, that won't be a problem for more advanced /g/entoomen. Amazon uses their own proprietary format so even if you just download it from their website and upload it a non-Amazon ereader it probably won't work. Luckily, there is conversion software but sometimes it has its flaws depending on the formats though it can be further adjusted through manual editing. Amazon's devices also comes with adware and make you spend extra to take it off. Some people also avoid CCP products in fear of spyware. If you avoid those companies then the major ones that are left are Kobo, Barnes and Noble's Nook, and Pocketbook. Next is the price range which dependent on your budget and does determine feature set. Lastly is the content of what you are reading and additional features you would like. Most modern ebook readers can handle the more common eBook formats as well as comic/manga formats. Depending on the model, modern devices sometimes have backwards compatibility with older formats that are being replaced. Older ereaders obviously usually don't support the newer formats like AZW3, AZW4, EPub3 and comic formats. Some models support audiobooks.

/g/ Approved E-Book Readers

Modern

Relatively recent releases that are still being manufactured and sold.

Basic

Usually the cheapest models a brand offers. Around 6-7 inches touchscreen with support the common ebook file formats. Most hold around 8-16 GB. Downside is they sometimes have poor backlight.

  • Kindle - The standard regular model. 6 inch screen that is very thin and portable. Latest generations has 16GB instead of the usual 8 GB.
  • Kobo Nia
  • Kindle Paperweight - Very thin, waterproof 6.8 inch screen with warm lighting that make it easy on the eyes when reading in any environment.
  • Kobo Clara
  • Kobo Clara Colour - A newly released, modern ereader in the Kobo Clara line but with support for color.
  • Pocketbook Verse
  • NOOK GlowLight 4e
  • NOOK GlowLight 4
Premium

Usually have bigger screens. Around 7-8 inches with sharp e-ink and great lighting. Most have additional features like being waterproof, page turn buttons, more storage, and sometimes Audiobook playback. Rarely has color.

  • Kindle Paperweight Signature
  • BOOX Palma - As its name implies, it fits in the palm of your hand as its a similar form factor to most phones unlike others in this range meaning it could even fit in the pockets of pants or jacket. Comes with its own modified Android. It is not an e-ink phone though. It is still strictly an ereader.
  • BOOX Poke5
  • Kobo Libra 2 - One of /g/'s favorites. Great lighting, waterproof, 7-inch screen with page turn buttons. Can play Audiobooks and connect to bluetooth devices.
  • Kobo Libra Colour - A newly released, modern ereader in the Kobo Libra line but with support for color. Great option if you read comic books or like looking at book covers.
  • Kindle Oasis - Fully waterproof, 7-inch device with great lighting and page turn buttons. Unfortunately, you have to pay extra if you don't want ads on Lockscreen.
  • Kobo Sage
  • Pocketbook Verse Pro
  • Pocketbook Era
  • Pocketbook Era Color - Basically the finished Pocketbook Viva which they announced but kept delaying. As its name suggests, its the Era but in color.
  • NOOK GlowLight 4 Plus
  • BOOX Page
Elite

Usually don't have to go this far. Additional features include more responsive screen, additional apps and sometimes color. Usually has stylus support for decent notetaking.

  • Kindle Scribe - E-reader that can also double as an E-notebook.
  • Kobo Elipsa 2E - E-reader that has notetaking capabilities.
  • Hisense Hi Reader
  • Pocketbook InkPad
  • BOOX Note Air 3



Discontinued

No shame in buying something from older generations that is either refurbished or used somewhere on the internet.

Basic

The cheap models from a brand's older generations.

  • Kindle - Recommend getting at least an 8th or 9th generation if you want support for the newer formats. Usually only have 8 GB of storage. If you exclude firmware and other built-in software, they're somewhere around 7.5 Gigabytes.
  • Nook Glowlight 3
  • Kobo Aura
  • Kobo Nia (Official Certified Refurbished)
  • Kobo Clara (Official Certified Refurbished)
Premium
Elite

Beyond Stock

Might void warrenty if you purchased one but here is what (You) can do with your ebook reader outside of the stock experience. Changing your device in various way which includes rooting, jailbreaking and installing additional software. (Major rewrite coming soon...)

General

Stuff that works across many ebook reader brands.

  • Koreader - Open source document viewer for E-Ink devices written in Lua. One of the most active and popular ebook related software projects. Works on numerous ereader devices as well as desktop and mobile. Uses their own section on MobileRead as their official forums. There lies many answers such as how to install on certain brands and models as well as useful plugins to play around with.
  • Vuizur's Wiktionary Dictionaries - Dictionaries pulled from Wiktionary that can be added to your device if you don't like what you get out of the box or want more options than what stock allows.
  • Quill (formerly InkBox) - A FOSS ebook reader stack. An open source reader on top of a custom, FOSS, Linux-based operating system. Mostly for a select few older Kobo devices. Recently decided to slowly add other brands starting with Kindle. Still being worked on.

Nook

* GApps and SearchMarket?

  • Install multitouch Fast Mode kernel
  • Disable Android and B&N bloatware by using a SystemAppRemover (or oandbackup?)
    • AFfileDownloadService.apk
    • AccountAndSyncSettings.apk
    • AirRuntime.apk
    • ApplicationsProvider.apk
    • BnAuthenticationService.apk
    • BnCloudRequestSvc.apk
    • ContactsProvider.apk
    • CryptoServer.apk
    • DemoMode.apk
    • DeviceManager.apk
    • DeviceRegistrator.apk
    • GlobalSearch.apk
    • gtalkservice.apk
    • Music.apk
    • NookCommunity.apk
    • Phone.apk
    • QuickStartActivity.apk
    • Social.apk
    • SysChecksum.apk
    • Talk.apk
    • TalkProvider.apk
    • TelephoneProvider.apk
    • WaveformDownloader.apk
  • Downclock CPU
  • build.prop:
# Tweaks
persist.sys.use_dithering=1
persist.sys.purgeable_assets=1
debug.sf.hw=1
video.accelerate.hw=1
debug.performance.tuning=1
ro.compcache.default=18
ro.kernel.android.checkjni=0
ro.HOME_APP_ADJ=1
# Dalvik options
dalvik.vm.execution-mode=int:fast
dalvik.vm.heapsize=128m
dalvik.vm.deoxopt-flags=m=v,o=y
# Battery
ro.ril.disable.power.collapse=1
pm.sleep_mode=1
wifi.supplicant_scan_interval=180
  • Remap buttons with NookTouchTools
  • Useful apps:
    • Cool Reader
    • Perfect Viewer
    • APV PDF Viewer Pro
    • Mango
    • Root Browser/ES File Explorer
    • Calculator MobiCalc
    • aCalendar
    • Launcher8
    • GoKeyboard

Kobo

It's possible to install a proper Android system onto the Kobo Glo. However, this does require some work and has a few drawbacks (battery life is the main one). Since the device uses an internal microSD card for booting you should be able to acquire a second one and swap back to the first one in the event that you fuck it up.

The method for doing this uses images acquired from a Tolino Shine reader which has nearly identical hardware:

Kobo is probably the best choice in terms of modification, patching, rooting and adding addition software. Doing so with a proper guide is relatively hassle-free. Developers from Kobo in the past has even participated in MobileRead's hacking corner so they are quite neutral towards modders. If you want to bypass email registration for data privacy as well as avoiding annoying emails, use this guide.

  • Plato - An open source document reader for Kobo's e-readers. Very similar to Koreader but written in Rust. Supports DjVu. Still in experimental phase but it is usable without many issues.
  • okreader - A full software/firmware stack for Kobo for a full open source experience. Based on Debian and Koreader. Likely abandoned.

Kindle

Jailbreaking is mandatory if you plan on doing anything outside of what Amazon allows you to do like adding external ebooks and audiobooks. Amazon, unfortunately, intentionally make their Kindles difficult to jailbreak. If you plan on using doing more with the Kindle, hold back on updates or use a downgrader at your own risk and move/store your ebooks on a different machine. Usually, every so often, newer firmware updates patches exploits used by the jailbreaking community. Also many methods usually reset all content therefore erasing your content. Check out MobileRead's master index of Kindle hacks.

  • LanguageBreak - Lastest and most recent Kindle jailbreak that works on firmware version 5.16.2.1.1 and lower.
  • MobileRead's Open Sesame! Thread - Thread on the MobileRead forums which keeps an index of the latest up to date Kindle jailbreaks.
  • KUAL - Kindle Unified Application Launcher. As its name implies, its a new Launcher/Home for your Kindle. Works very well with Koreader.
    • KUAL download page - Index that contains the KUAL download page as well as forks and additional plugins.
  • Alpine Kindle - Alpine Linux on Kindle. Comes with kterm, a small terminal emulator for Kindle. Both pretty old and not up to date with modern Kindles.

Complementary Software

Software that you should use in combination with your E-book reader.

Library Management

Applications that store and organize your digital books and/or audiobooks.

  • Calibre - Created by kovidgoyal(His Github) who frequents the MobileRead forums and also happens to be the creator of the Kitty terminal emulator. The best and most versatile tool for everything ebook related. It can displays your personal library of ebooks and make many edits and changes to them such as metadata fetched from the Internet. It can interact with your e-book reader device. It has its own eBook reader client. It can download news from online newspapers and turn it into e-books for convenient reading. It has many python-based plugins that add more functionality.
  • Librum - Mostly just a ebook reader application but does have library management capabilities.
  • Citadel - Shilled on Hacker News as an all new Calibre-compatible ebook library manager. It purposely does not aim to have feature parity with Calibre. Just a simple interface to display your ebook collection and make minor edits to metadata. It doesn't have reader so another application is required to actually view content.


Home Server

Aside from Calibre which is mentioned above, these self-hosted applications can be installed on a server to provide a helpful personal service for your ebook collection.

  • Calibre-Web - Despite its name, its a separate project made by a completely different entity from the one that develops Calibre. Its an elegant and powerful web app that uses Calibre as a database.
  • Readarr - One of the many Softwarr out there with a focus on eBooks and audiobooks. Collection manager for Usenet and BitTorrent users. Can do interesting things with this. Has a dedicated wiki along with other *arr software for documentation, guides and troubleshooting.
  • LazyLibrarian - A Readarr alternative that covers ebooks, audiobooks, magazines and comics. Supports torrent and usenet. Can be manually compiled or deployed with a Docker image.
  • Koreader Sync-Server - Entirely written in Lua. Its a service that allows you to sync data such as book progression from all your devices with Koreader. Designed for OpenResty which is basically NGINX but with LuaJIT.
  • AnthoLume(Github mirror) - A self-hosted, progressive web app centered around ebooks in the ePUB format. It manages and edits metadata as well as provides a reader for ePUBs. It even has data charts based on your statistics. You can track your progress and have a leaderboard for everyone that shares your server.
  • BookSonic - Subsonic server tailored for audiobooks. Has an android app that acts as a client.
  • Kavita - Self-hosted digital library and reader which supports a vast array of file formats with a focus on Manga and Comics.
  • OpenBooks - Downloads ebooks from irc/irchighway.
  • Jellyfin - A general purpose, FOSS, self-hosted media server. Supports ebooks and audiobooks. Has a client that can access content on server.

Removing DRM

Software that removes the defective by design, anti-consumer bloatware that is known as "digital rights" management.

  • DeDRM - Calibre plugin for removing DRM.

Converting Files

E-books come in a variety of formats. Unfortunately, there are times when you need to convert from one to another.

  • Calibre - (Cross-platform) Mentioned above. Converts between almost every e-reader supported format.
  • KindleComicConverter (KCC) - (Cross-platform) Converts and optimizes manga and comics to epub, mobi, and cbz formats.
  • Kepubify - Converts epub to Kobo's modified format kepub. While kobo can view epub, its rendered is optimized for kepub.

Miscellaneous

  • Sigil - Very powerful, FOSS, standalone ePub creation and editing software written in C++. A lot better than the editors that are built into the other applications. Extendable with plugins.

See Also

External Links

  • Mobile Read - Forum for everything related to reading digitally on the go. Best forum on the web in regards to ebooks and ereaders.
  • Mobile Read Wiki - Mobile Read's Wiki which is a helpful for noobs to learn the technical aspects of the eBook world.
  • NookDevs - A dead wiki that had guides of how to root and do other tricks with the Nook. Can be seen on Wayback Machine and Archive.today.
  • E-ink Reader - Older, abandoned Russian site for breakdowns and other things relating to ereaders.
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