I recently got a Sony prs 600 e reader from 2009. The battery is at the end of its life (It lasts about 3 days with heavy reading, and a couple weeks without reading). No backlight, no Wi-Fi, just an SD card that I can load epub files and small PDFs. The screen is slow and the contrast isn’t the best. The “touch screen” is the old resistive type where you really need to press with your nail or a stylus. Despite all those flaws, it’s fantastic. It’s just good enough for reading books.
I read with large text so I don’t even need to put on glasses, and it’s easier to read than an actual book. Combined with Anna’s archive, I’m reading more than I ever have before. No Wi-Fi nd slow screen make the experience feel closer to an actual book than a smartphone. It’s great to just have a device do one thing without distractions popping up every minute.
It’s all old technology, but it’s so rare to see anyone with an e-reader. Probably because they’re still expensive and designed to microtransact the fuck out of you.
So do you think there could be a simple open source e reader? I see pine64 is making the “pinenote”, but it’s still just the developer version, it’s expensive, doesn’t have an sd card, and looks like it’s trying to be a lot more than an reader. Maybe it’ll come down in cost, or they’ll release a simpler version? The biggest obstacle for making an e-reader seems to be the screen, so maybe the pinenote’s screen could become something of a standard.
Or maybe I’m overthinking it, because there’s already so many old Kindles and nooks out there that could be improved with a new battery and maybe new firmware too.
Thoughts?
Kobo e-readers are known to be pretty hackable and many of their models can be used with ‘KoReader’ an open source e-reading OS/app
Very Cool, I didn’t know about these. Maybe just keeping readers out of landfills is the way to go.
You might be in a better position than you realize! I see two great options for you:
Option 1.
Here’s a new battery for your reader, it’s about $13.
Here’s a battery replacement video. It’s amazingly simple! I forgot what wonderful times the aughts were for diy repair.
Option 2
If you’re feeling a little more carefree and like saying “damn the aesthetics!” Especially when you mention keeping readers out of landfills:
Buy a broken eReader off of eBay that still turns on and scavenge the battery. Most of them seem to use the same voltage. If the battery you source doesn’t fit, make a notch in the side of your reader and tape the new battery to the back or whatever. Donate the remainder to your local Makerspace.
If you end up enjoying your little rebellious repairs, buy bulk non-functioning eReaders and try using them to repair each other. Donate the functioning ones to your local library and the non-functioning parts to your local Makerspace.
Dope! I think I will get that
You can also run KoReader on some Kindles. I have it on an old paper white.
I’m gonna look into that, we have an old kindle collecting dust that would be a good candidate I think!
Yeah, even if you don’t hack em, I just use it for ebooks from my library and that works great. Not open source by a long shot, but wayyyyy better than kindle.
Damn I have a Kobo and didn’t know this. Will definitely be doing this
Thoughts?
Cool nails.
I like the Kobo readers they work very well. No bullshit or anything.
You don’t even ever need to connect it to WiFi.
They are also much nicer than an ancient tablet form 2009.
Another option- Kindle paperwhite or even an old Gen 1 / gen 2 Kindle keyboard or other e-ink model. The old models can be battery swapped with only a guitar pick and a Philips screwdriver.
DNS ad blocker like PiHole, to block all the ads and telemetry while connected to WiFi. Keep WiFi off if not actively transferring books, as it wastes battery.
Sideload all your own books via whispernet free WiFi transfer or just plain USB.
Get free books from Gutenberg/Libgen/IRC/Usenet.
This is very workable and results in being able to read almost whatever you want for $0/year.
Get free books from Gutenberg/Libgen/IRC/Usenet.
I think Anna’s Archive is still pretty popular as well
Also, I tried to just make a text post but voyager wouldn’t let me
Na, those nails definitely deserve to be seen, that’s such a cool design!
Great choice of book, too lolThank you💅
I don’t see a mention of PocketBook so here it is, last time I checked they are running a linux kernel and the source is available and the device should be moddable/hackable.
I am in love with my PB Touch HD 3, does exactly what it needs without any annoying stuff (but with goodies like backlight and blue filter). I did opt into using their cloud for book syncing (which is not required at all, usb cable works too or other clouds) but there was never an ad or intrusive thing, love it.
Your nails are so dope!
Not open source, but I use a Kobo Libra 2 with KoReader installed, and use Calibre to manage my library.
Though if waste is your concern, I would see about replacing the battery.
Some Kindles can be modded to use KO Reader as well.
MobileRead is my place to go for guides on how to jailbreak kindles for those interested. I’d link to the exact tutorial thread but I’m on mobile and can’t seem to find it.
Interesting thoughts. Personally I use a pocketbook to read. It’s been pretty good with a red light backlight for the dark(that is gentle for the eyes before sleep) a built-in dictionary and the ability to export notes from books. This is everything I need in an ereader. Unfortunately it has a browser, some unnecessary small games and some other features that anyone who buys relatively expensive ereaders(hence is committed to reading books) won’t possibly ever need.
But the unnecessary features won’t bother you too much. The UI is clean and easy to navigate.
Pocketbook is not open source or anything, but at least I don’t fund Amazon’s monopoly, it’s a smaller company and it’s definitely value for money imo.
ability to export notes from books
This is something I can’t do on my Kobo and annoys me. Which pocketbook do you have?
It’s a pocketbook era, but this feature will work for any pocketbook model that can highlight text, because the notes are exported through the pocketbook cloud in the app/website.
The closest I can offer to what you’re asking for is that there are some e-readers that use Android. I own a Boox Page, which is one of those, and I’m happy with it. Boox products are a bit on the pricier side, but they do offer features that can be difficult to find on other manufacturers’ offerings, such as a micro SD slot.
Yeah but boox is full of chinese spyware. But you can root it and block some things with netguard.
Yeah I have the Boox Page as well and I love it. i have a 256 gb as with so much room for games. Also i installed f droid and downloaded some open source eink apps.
There is actually an open source eReader, openbook https://www.oddlyspecificobjects.com/projects/openbook/
Unfortunately, the current screen it uses is not being made anymore. People have stated that they have gotten other screens to work, but no official instructions on using them yet
remember owning a prestigio one and it was great, could just copy books onto an sd card and start reading them, the design was super sleek and stylish and it lasted like a whole week.
even had some extra features like viewing photos (if you wanted to do that on a b/w screen for some reason) and playing music while reading over 3.5mm jack on the top
broke the display pretty quickly tho, it’s very repairable (even 12 year old me could’ve fixed it) but I decided not to buy a replacement eink because well i was 12 years old at the time and didn’t have any source of income…
it was one of these bad boys:
I had that exact same model 15 years ago. It got stolen and I’m still not over it. I got basic Kobo readers instead; they work fine with Calibre and any ebook you can get. I don’t touch Amazon with a ten-foot pole, and I never use the Kobo account you have to create when buying the device.
But I’d give somebody’s left arm to have the Sony back. It was perfect.
hello, are you me? i love my kobo clara but hot damn i miss that sony ebook.
I don’t know about open hardware but Inkbox is a FOSS OS which can be installed on Kobo devices. I’d like to try it out.
I have a Sony Reader PRS-350 since 2011 and honestly the battery life never has been great. It’s discharging too quickly when powered off and even faster when on standby.