[HN Gopher] Open-source, DRM-free Kindle alternative
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Open-source, DRM-free Kindle alternative
Author : depressedCorgi
Score : 117 points
Date : 2020-06-20 16:43 UTC (6 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (www.vice.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.vice.com)
| hardlianotion wrote:
| Looking at the GitHub page, I like how the board appears to be
| laid out like an equivalent of a literate program.
| disposedtrolley wrote:
| Yeah this stood out to me too! It costs nothing to add more
| silkscreen to the PCB and it serves as an excellent learning
| tool.
| mikece wrote:
| If there is not a kick starter for this yet I hope there is soon.
| I would back this immediately.
| depressedCorgi wrote:
| There isn't a kickstarter but he does have a Patreon.
|
| https://www.patreon.com/joeycastillo
| Wowfunhappy wrote:
| I want an e-ink web browsing tablet.
|
| I want to be able to go to nytimes.com, or Vox, or Hacker News,
| and read the articles and comment threads on a high-contrast
| screen that doesn't hurt my eyes. I don't want to use some read-
| later service that sends specific articles to my e-reader, I want
| to just navigate to the sites directly. There would be trade-offs
| for sure, but it seems like the benefits would outweigh the
| downsides.
|
| I've been waiting for ~ 10 years now. Am the only one? Is anyone
| ever going to make this?
| mmm_grayons wrote:
| I've tried it a few times on my kindle, and it sounds like a
| nice things to have. However, the screen's refresh rate is
| crazy low. I'm guessing that can be improved, but that would
| likely come with a battery life hit. More importantly, good
| luck scrolling on a webpage where it takes you a second to see
| how far you've scrolled. Same issue were you to respond to a
| comment: typing with that sort of latency is absolutely
| dreadful. E-ink works great for displaying text and is so much
| better for reading than a screen, but there's definitely some
| more technological work to be done first.
| Wowfunhappy wrote:
| I'd expect to be using the equivalent of page-up/page-down
| buttons to scroll through sites.
|
| I wouldn't expect to be typing on it--but, I've absolutely
| seen e-ink screens that can refresh quickly enough for
| typing. They start artificating a bit when you force them to
| refresh quickly, which lessens the contrast advantage, but
| they go away once the screen has a moment to "refresh"
| itself.
| soapdog wrote:
| There are many, you're just not seeing them because they're
| probably out of your usual tech bubble. Check goodereader.com
| for their eReader reviews. They often review eReaders which are
| running Android with web browsers in it, recently they reviewed
| a couple eInk smartphones, including a color eInk one.
|
| There is a lot going on in the eReader world but it is at the
| fringe of the tech bubble of SV. It is in Europe and Asia,
| specially Asia.
|
| The usual FAANG companies don't want you using that stuff
| because it moves you away from their silos and platforms. If
| you start using a device to read books away from their
| profiling disguised as social interaction, away from their ad
| machines, and walled garden shops, they lose money. Oh boy,
| that sounded way more conspirational than I wanted. What I want
| to mean here is that since these type of eReaders do not favour
| major tech companies from the USA, they're usually not covered
| in their platforms or news media that follows SV stuff.
| cherioo wrote:
| Those exists now, in the form of eink Android phone/tablet. The
| refresh rate of eink makes their experience suboptimal, but
| some find it usable enough.
|
| You can search for Boox tablet, or Hisense A5 phone.
| Wowfunhappy wrote:
| Oh that's interesting, I missed this one:
| https://www.techrepublic.com/article/review-onyx-boox-
| max3-a...
|
| I know I shouldn't be complaining about price now that I've
| heard it exists at all, but $840 is _really_ steep! I was
| thinking something more like $400. I know it 's a niche
| product, but even so.
| akavel wrote:
| Take a look at the smaller models, like Onyx Nova 2 or Note
| 2; if you're ok with smaller size, they're cheaper
| criddell wrote:
| There's also ones from Sony, Supernote, and Remarkable.
| cherioo wrote:
| None of those appears to be Android, which IMO makes them
| have less utility value. There's definitely pros and cons
| though, and one should research which is right for them.
| criddell wrote:
| Android sucks on tablets. I had a Nexus 7 which is
| probably the last and only decent Android tablet.
|
| I know the Remarkable has some third party software for
| it because it's running a version of Linux. The others
| probably do as well.
| coverband wrote:
| I used to think so too, until I tried and bought one of
| the recent Samsung Tabs. Excellent experience on par with
| iPad.
| jonahbenton wrote:
| Yeah- part of the reason is that a browser is an extremely
| expensive piece of machinery to host from a hardware
| utilization perspective. The horsepower required on the device
| is extremely high.
|
| eInk displays are incredibly limited- low refresh rates, low
| density, limited/no color, limited/no touch etc.
|
| It just doesn't make sense to build a product with that
| combination- high end under the hood, low end IO to the user.
| [deleted]
| AdmiralAsshat wrote:
| Both the Kindle and the Kobo have "experimental" web browsers,
| but it you try to read any webpage that was made after the year
| 2000 or so, the site is nearly impossible to navigate on them.
| Even freaking Wikipedia mobile pages are pretty annoying to
| read on my Kobo. I end up saving the page to Pocket if it's
| particularly long due to the headache of e-ink redrawing on
| longform pages.
|
| The hardware isn't enough. The modern web itself resists being
| displayed on single-purpose devices.
| Legogris wrote:
| Now that you mention it - this makes an open source device
| such as this interesting. Make it go through your own self-
| hosted proxy, which renders the page to and sends over
| something suitable for the ereader. Like Opera Mini if anyone
| remembers. I think calibre has features that can be used as a
| foundation to build on.
| eldelshell wrote:
| I really wanted the Pixel Qi to release something and succeed
| but they are gone now.
| dafoex wrote:
| My Kobo Glo has an experimental web browser that works fairly
| well. It has no reader mode which would be nice on an eReader,
| but its still a reasonable experience.
| [deleted]
| dpedu wrote:
| Me too. I've been keeping my eyes out for an e-ink based
| Android smartphone for a couple years now. There are a couple
| options out there - largely Asia-based manufacturers - but none
| of them have proper support for the frequencies my cell carrier
| uses.
| ikeboy wrote:
| Well, the Kindle has a web browser. What's wrong with that?
| Wowfunhappy wrote:
| It's slow to the point of being painful to use, never mind
| actually pleasant. I know the refresh rate is always going to
| be crap, but there's no reason we can't get half-decent
| internals alongside an e-ink screen.
| ikeboy wrote:
| Have you tried the Kindle Oasis?
| deng wrote:
| It's not quite the same, but Calibre can actually generate
| epubs from websites. There's a recipe called "HN with comments
| links" which will create an epub with the articles from the
| current front page. It works surprisingly well. I have a VPS
| which generates this daily and which I download onto my Kobo in
| the morning.
| catalogia wrote:
| Is there any text-to-speech system that could run on hardware
| like this with good results? I still use my old Kindle Keyboard
| with sideloaded books because it has pretty decent text-to-speech
| (which Amazon removed from later revisions.) I've tried some open
| source TTS systems like festival and could never get any to work
| well enough to actually use (insufficient voice quality to work
| at faster reading speeds.)
| wegs wrote:
| I'd buy one if:
|
| 1) It was prebuilt, plug-and-play.
|
| 2) It comes as a kit. I can do it as a project with my kid. Once
| assembled, it's as above. Kit is consumer-friendly.
|
| Digikey parts list and PCB is a little over my laziness
| tolerance.
|
| People confuse free-as-in-freedom with free-as-in-not-making-a-
| profit. I've done free-as-in-freedom businesses, successfully. I
| wish others did too.
|
| A lot of manufacturers underestimate the power of 100% open. I'm
| not price-sensitive. I'll pay for it. If my cheap Chinese
| [tablet/keyboard/mouse/webcam/etc.] comes with a PCB schematic,
| parts list, and open source firmware, I'll probably pay triple
| and prefer it to a Logitech/Razor/etc. I'll give nice online
| reviews too.
|
| And the designs are simple enough no competitive edge is lost.
|
| On the other side, projects like this, lacking a business model,
| rarely get mature enough for me to use. Make 'em nice and sell
| 'em, I say.
|
| And yes, there will be cheaper clones, so profit margins can't be
| insane, but people will pay extra for the original branded
| version, AND profit margins can't be insane in competitive
| markets either way.
| bittercynic wrote:
| Digikey parts list + pcb can be a reasonably convenient way to
| put your own kit together - you can upload a csv to digikey and
| have them fill your shopping cart automatically, and it works
| pretty well. They even suggest alternatives like if your list
| had 8x an item, but it is actually cheaper to buy 10x the item
| it will suggest that.
| jonahbenton wrote:
| Hoping for good things for this product but will put in an plug
| for the Remarkable- open source software, well designed and
| capable hardware, solid product vision.
| phasnox wrote:
| The only thing keeping me from getting one is the reading
| experience.
|
| I don't mind the lack of store so much, but things like the
| dictionary and being able to sync and read "saved" articles
| from anywhere.
| apocalypstyx wrote:
| Remarkable + koreader has been one of my primary work tools for
| the last few months. However, it's the storage capacity that
| most aggravates me (a commonality among most ereaders).
|
| Really, I wish we had a sort of eink (and lcd) tablet PC:
| general, bare hardware that it's just assumed you'll probably
| throw your own OS onto at some point. Make it ugly: four torx
| screws and the back comes off and you can access the battery
| and the mainboard and the onboard storage. Maybe an external
| micro SD slot.
|
| Not android, just plain linux + off the shelf components with
| solid driver support.
|
| The real frustration is that the Remarkable is 90% of the way
| there to such a thing.
|
| If desktop computers had started out like tablets, we would
| have skipped over the Apple II and it would have been
| hermetically sealed Macs from the beginning.
|
| The problem with projects like these (other than for fun) is
| that the software isn't where the issue is. It's the lack of
| open hardware. We reinvent too many wheels and never bother to
| get to the actual cart.
| akdor1154 wrote:
| Yesterday I gave up looking for anything remotely like you
| describe and just ordered a remarkable. Not a huge
| disappointment, most of my enjoyment is gonna come from
| software hacking anyway, any physical device I build will
| look like a TP roll fort.
| skyfaller wrote:
| Are you sure it's accurate to say the Remarkable uses open
| source software? Their website says it runs on "Codex -- A
| purposely designed Linux-based operating system for low-latency
| digital paper displays", so at least the Linux kernel is open
| source, but look at their EULA:
| https://support.remarkable.com/hc/en-us/articles/36000028275...
|
| "You are not entitled to modify or distribute the Software."
|
| Doesn't sound like open source software to me.
|
| Also, in this day and age, I believe that devices should be
| open hardware as well (as the Open Book appears to be). Open
| source software is a good start, but it isn't good enough.
|
| Another Kindle alternative that is open software + open
| hardware is the Inkplate 6, I've pre-ordered one:
| https://www.crowdsupply.com/e-radionica/inkplate-6
| xellisx wrote:
| I just want a ReMarkable, because I want a more pen and paper
| experience. I can't justify the price at this time though,
| since I wouldn't be able to use it to the full potential for a
| couple more years, and I'm sure something better will be out by
| then, Unless the market decides that writing stuff down by hand
| isn't trendy anymore.
| GekkePrutser wrote:
| This isn't really equivalent to a kindle though. The fonts are
| basic, there's no enclosure. Fonts are a huge thing for eReaders
| and Amazon has spent a lot of time perfecting them.
|
| It's also important to remember that it's perfectly possible to
| use the Kindle without DRM. You can just put your own books on it
| with a cable, though you'll have to convert them to MOBI as it
| doesn't do ePub. The same can be done with other brands like
| Kobo, which can take raw ePub. Also, the Kobo's can be pretty
| easily modified as they just run plain Linux, I'm running PyGame
| on an older one. The entire OS was simply on an internal SD card
| so really easily modified (though not sure if the new ones can be
| modified too).
|
| I think the problem with DRM and ebooks is not the readers. It's
| the availability of books without DRM... Basically the "GOG" of
| eBook stores. Even if you have an open eBook reader, where are
| you going to get the books from?
|
| I think for the reader, I would prefer to buy commercial hardware
| as look and feel is an important thing for a device you will
| interact with a lot. Similar to the way us Open Source
| aficionados don't build our own laptops, but do use free software
| :)
| tpmoney wrote:
| >Even if you have an open eBook reader, where are you going to
| get the books from?
|
| At the very least, Baen and Tor offer DRM free ebooks of their
| offerings.
| input_sh wrote:
| ebooks.com has plenty of them, Kobo has some of them, and
| pretty much every publisher offers DRM-free works if you
| purchase directly from their website (to name a few:
| Smashwords, Verso, No Starch). Oh, and there's Humble Bundle.
| Sometimes there's watermark involved, but I'm personally
| completely fine with that.
|
| If all else fails, you can remove DRM protection from pretty
| much any major DRM method (Adobe Adept ePub and PDFs, Barnes
| & Noble ePubs, Kindle ebooks, Kobo ebooks).
| kelnos wrote:
| The other issue I have with the enclosure is it looks like the
| page-turn buttons are in the center on the bottom. Who would
| ever feel comfortable holding the thing like that? The buttons
| should be on the sides, and not at the bottom.
|
| Regardless, though, it's a really cool project and I could see
| it morphing into something just as good or better than a
| commercial e-reader after a few iterations.
| nyolfen wrote:
| >I think the problem with DRM and ebooks is not the readers.
| It's the availability of books without DRM... Basically the
| "GOG" of eBook stores. Even if you have an open eBook reader,
| where are you going to get the books from?
|
| libgen
| mmm_grayons wrote:
| > it doesn't do ePub
|
| I was able to easily jailbreak mine and it does ePub fine after
| that. I don't think a home-made device offers me any more
| freedom than a jailbroken kindle; I can drop to a shell and do
| all the same things. That said, while I enjoy tinkering,
| basically the only non-stock things I do are read ePubs and
| play zork. I'd prefer to save my tinkering for a desktop or
| laptop and keep a device just for reading books.
| komali2 wrote:
| > Even if you have an open eBook reader, where are you going to
| get the books from?
|
| There's a huge ebook pirating scene, so you could always do
| that, buying the book beforehand if the ethics disturb you.
|
| What is sad to me is that there's no way to check out an ebook
| from a library in a way that doesn't involve Amazon.
| amwelles wrote:
| > there's no way to check out an ebook from a library in a
| way that doesn't involve Amazon
|
| Isn't this what Libby - https://libbyapp.com/ - does?
| soapdog wrote:
| I use overdrive from my kobo. I have three library cards in
| it, unfortunately I can't use them three at the same time
| so depending on what kind of book I want, I switch
| accounts. I can search, reserve, and borrow from any of
| those consortiums directly from the Kobo device.
| 0xCMP wrote:
| But then you can't use it on an e-reader. It remains in the
| app.
| vel0city wrote:
| Libby (and by extension Overdrive) supports checking out
| books onto supported e-readers. They must support either
| the Kindle or Adobe DRM standards though.
|
| https://help.libbyapp.com/en-us/6059.htm
| utf_8x wrote:
| The kindle doesn't lock you into Amazon's ecosystem though... It
| supports many different formats, Calibre allows you to convert
| your books to a kindle-specific format for convenience and I've
| yet to find an ebook DRM that can't be easily cracked...
| mmm_grayons wrote:
| Same experience here. I have literally never purchased a single
| book from Amazon, though I have read lots of their free
| "classics editions". I've jailbroken my paperwhite so I can
| read/do whatever I want, but I still get great battery life and
| the ability to do things like send to my kindle over e-mail. I
| get the free-as-in-freedom guys' argument, but I'm perfectly
| happy with my device and like the convenience of a simple book-
| reading device.
| inetsee wrote:
| My question is whether this device can download and read ebooks
| from Amazon? I don't have a Kindle and the small number of Amazon
| ebooks I have (many of them free), I read on Amazon's Reader
| page. My take on Amazon is they aren't going to make it easy to
| bypass their controls, both DRM and otherwise.
| jonahbenton wrote:
| I have removed DRM from all of my Kindle book purchases over
| the years (over 100) to read as PDFs on my Remarkable without
| issue. The Calibre toolchain- bless the work of the author- is
| a little painful to use but works consistently and though it's
| a GUI, the CLI works as well and can be automated.
|
| It is definitely possible to make de-DRM harder, but lots of
| things are possible and thankfully don't happen.
| [deleted]
| kick wrote:
| Calibre strips Amazon's DRM and most book reading software
| supports you fetching books directly from Calibre.
| input_sh wrote:
| Note: not out of the box, but there's a plugin for that.
| Keywords that will lead you to it: Apprentice Alf.
| mmm_grayons wrote:
| Is there some ban against linking drm strippers on HN? I've
| seen countless links to scihub or to paywall bypasses on
| articles.
| qwerty456127 wrote:
| PocketBook is a reasonable DRM-free all-format alternative to
| Kindle.
| Jedd wrote:
| Agreed. I've used their devices since the Pocketbook 360 days
| (5" screen with a hard cover - features that were uncommon).
|
| It eventually stopped working this year, and a new review of
| the market place suggested they're one of the better options -
| so I picked up the HD3.
|
| I can not understand how anyone could accept a vendor
| (especially one like Amazon) limiting or remote controlling my
| device's contents.
| fheld wrote:
| previously on HN: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21246417
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