Re: Are there any eBook readers one can use in freedom?

[Erica Frank]

   Mobileread was developing "Open Inkpot" for a while, an open-source
   firmware thing for ereaders. It was discontinued several years ago,
   because it was getting harder to find devices it worked with and lack
   of interest from the original devs. I have no idea if anyone could make
   it work on modern readers - it stalled out in 2013 - but the code is
   (sort of) available if anyone wants to try.
    [1]https://www.mobileread.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=169
   Git is gone but waybacked
   (mostly?) [2]https://web.archive.org/web/20120113003826/http://git.open
   inkpot.org/
   I had a Kobo Mini for a while. It was okay, although I got frustrated
   that, when the battery was low, the touchscreen often had problems -
   didn't recognize touches for page turns, or doubleclicked, and so on.
   After the initial login & setup, I turned off wifi & turned off
   software updates and it worked fine. I sideloaded books instead of
   using any online features. Good with epub, okay with mobi, the normal
   set of problems with PDFs. I don't know if its mediocre mobi coverage
   was because it wasn't as good at them, or because mobi is a more
   limited format and the ones I had, weren't very well-made. (Like,
   chapters often failed to start on new pages.) It was terrible for .doc,
   .rtf, and .html formats - did weird things with line breaks, would
   sometimes break in the middle of a word, would resize fonts (usually to
   "way too small"), and other problems like that.
   Also I think it only had 3 font sizes to choose from, but (1) that
   could easily have changed and (2) I might be mis-remembering.
   On Wed, Dec 22, 2021 at 12:13 PM Jan Prunk <[3]janprunk@gmail.com>
   wrote:

        Hello,
        Maybe Parabola-rM with reMarkable reader?
        [1][4]http://www.davisr.me/projects/parabola-rm/
        Regards,
        Jan
        On Wed, Dec 22, 2021 at 4:13 AM J.B. Nicholson
     <[2][5]jbn@forestfield.org>
        wrote:
          I would like to try reading some DRM-free eBooks with a backlit
          eBook reader which is
          lighter than using a laptop and less expensively than using a
          laptop.
          I don't need it to be network accessible (no wifi, no Bluetooth
          needed) so long as it
          has a USB port and a high capacity storage medium (perhaps a
     compact
          flash card) that
          I can easily copy eBooks to, install in the eBook reader, and
     use
          the eBook reader to
          read files.
          File format support should include common eBook formats that
     one can
          use in freedom
          (I'd imagine PDFs and epub are reasonable choices).
          The device should offer the ability to be recharged, ideally
     with
          batteries I can
          replace. It's also okay if the device needs to be plugged in
     while
          using the device.
          It's fine if the device has no upgradable software on it so
     long as
          what's on the
          device works reliably. Editing and/or marking up what I'm
     reading is
          not required.
          Does anyone know of a recommendable device that would do these
          things?
          I looked in [3][6]https://ryf.fsf.org/ and
          [4][7]https://h-node.org/hardware/catalogue/en and I
          didn't notice anything named "ebook reader" or similar
     language. If
          I've overlooked
          something I should consider, please do let me know the URL for
     that
          device.
          Thanks.
          _______________________________________________
          libreplanet-discuss mailing list
          [5][8]libreplanet-discuss@libreplanet.org

     [6][9]https://lists.libreplanet.org/mailman/listinfo/libreplanet-dis
     cus
          s
        --
        Jan Prunk                              [7][10]janprunk@gmail.com
        Tel:                                       +386 41 710598
        Website:                             [8][11]https://janprunk.com
        PGP key:                  [9][12]https://janprunk.com/pubkey.asc
        PGP fp: 632E 9670 A3F3 46D3 9090 D59A C6FE 96E1 9FD7 F151
     References
        1. [13]http://www.davisr.me/projects/parabola-rm/
        2. mailto:[14]jbn@forestfield.org
        3. [15]https://ryf.fsf.org/
        4. [16]https://h-node.org/hardware/catalogue/en
        5. mailto:[17]libreplanet-discuss@libreplanet.org
        6.
     [18]https://lists.libreplanet.org/mailman/listinfo/libreplanet-discu
     ss
        7. mailto:[19]janprunk@gmail.com
        8. [20]https://janprunk.com/
        9. [21]https://janprunk.com/pubkey.asc
     _______________________________________________
     libreplanet-discuss mailing list
     [22]libreplanet-discuss@libreplanet.org
     [23]https://lists.libreplanet.org/mailman/listinfo/libreplanet-discu
     ss

References

   1. https://www.mobileread.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=169
   2. https://web.archive.org/web/20120113003826/http://git.openinkpot.org/
   3. mailto:janprunk@gmail.com
   4. http://www.davisr.me/projects/parabola-rm/
   5. mailto:jbn@forestfield.org
   6. https://ryf.fsf.org/
   7. https://h-node.org/hardware/catalogue/en
   8. mailto:libreplanet-discuss@libreplanet.org
   9. https://lists.libreplanet.org/mailman/listinfo/libreplanet-discus
  10. mailto:janprunk@gmail.com
  11. https://janprunk.com/
  12. https://janprunk.com/pubkey.asc
  13. http://www.davisr.me/projects/parabola-rm/
  14. mailto:jbn@forestfield.org
  15. https://ryf.fsf.org/
  16. https://h-node.org/hardware/catalogue/en
  17. mailto:libreplanet-discuss@libreplanet.org
  18. https://lists.libreplanet.org/mailman/listinfo/libreplanet-discuss
  19. mailto:janprunk@gmail.com
  20. https://janprunk.com/
  21. https://janprunk.com/pubkey.asc
  22. mailto:libreplanet-discuss@libreplanet.org
  23. https://lists.libreplanet.org/mailman/listinfo/libreplanet-discuss