An Open Source eReader That's Free of Corporate Restrictions Is Exactly What I Want Right Now:
I get it. The Kindle and its ability to shop for and instantly buy books anywhere using wifi or Whispernet are incredibly convenient, and it’s what’s made Amazon’s hardware the obvious choice for consuming ebooks. But supporting awful companies like Amazon is getting harder and harder if you were born with a conscience, and right about now, an open source ebook reader, free of corporate restrictions, sounds like the perfect Kindle alternative.
A fully open-hardware eReader, it includes the following design specs: ARM Cortex M4 processor, 400x300 monochromatic resolution, microSD card reader, lithium-polymer rechargeable battery, audiobook-capable headphone jack, and audio-command-capable microphone.
The Open Book Project was born from a contest held by Hackaday and that encouraged hardware hackers to find innovative and practical uses for the Arduino-based Adafruit Feather development board ecosystem. The winner of that contest was the Open Book Project which has been designed and engineered from the ground up to be everything devices like the Amazon Kindle or Rakuten Kobo are not.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Magic Oddball on Thursday January 30 2020, @11:20PM (2 children)
I had a Nook Simple Touch that I used to death several years ago, and hunted all over for a device with the features I wanted before I settled on getting a used Kobo Glo HD... It doesn't have the hardware buttons I'd hoped for, but it does have a SD slot, ongoing firmware updates, an active community of firmware modders, a basic web browser that can download books from Project Gutenberg, and uses epub/kepub files. So, good enough for now.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 31 2020, @10:28AM
This is of interest, as my Nook Simple Touch is just now failing...not electronically, but the casing is starting to suffer a bit from the 7 years of daily use (the membrane covering the front buttons in particular, has become very brittle).
I''ve been looking for a used Nook Simple Touch, to use as as either a replacement or as a donor for parts for mine, unfortunately, more of the the Glowlight models show up, unrealistically priced, and, fine as they might be as donor machines, as a replacement ISTR they had screen issues.
So maybe it's time to look at a Kobo then.
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Friday January 31 2020, @06:32PM
Yeah, Kobo seems to be the only cheapish/goodish alternative to Nook/Kindle. Sony's been in the game a long time, but they've always been a bit expensive while seeming to not have much in the way of innovation.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"