[GekkePrutser]

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 :)

[microtherion]

Most technical books I buy are sold by DRM free sites: informit.com, oreilly.com (although they don't seem to be much in the book selling business anymore), pragprog.com, raywenderlich.com, or single book sites such as Building Git (https://shop.jcoglan.com/building-git) or Haskell Programming from first principles (https://haskellbook.com)

[nyolfen]

>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

[Wingman4l7]

... it's clear the OP meant, where do you obtain / purchase books legally (i.e., without violating copyright & piracy laws).

[michaelmrose]

Why would you care about violating a law nobody on earth has any chance of catching you and punishing you. If you want to give money to the author you could consider seeing if they have a way to take donation/patronage or buying a physical copy. If you don't actually need the physical copy or have room for it gift it to someone and request that they gift it when they are done with it.

[Wingman4l7]

You kind of answered your own question -- it's not about the getting caught (in my opinion), it's about the ethics of the author getting compensated for their work.

[GuiA]

- try emailing the author directly, asking for a pdf/zip file in exchange for paypal payment. sometimes they can't because of their publisher, but they're often happy to.

- download the content through whatever means are most convenient for you, and paypal the author/mail the author a check. My money has never been returned :)

[KingMachiavelli]

> I think the problem with DRM and ebooks is not the readers.

At least Kindles do track what the user is reading even if it wasn't purchased on Amazon so having a good, high quality, open source e-ink device would be of great benifit. [1]

> 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.

In the case of laptops, at least 99% of the software can be replaced save for stuff like the BIOS and Intel ME, etc. In the case of phones and devices where side loading the OS is not currently possible both due to the hardware being more specialized AND the manufactors locking the systems down to prevent modification of the software; there are open source hardware systems like the PinePhone and the do laptops as well. [2]

Also unless anything has changed, the DRM can be removed from Amazon ebooks so it's not a huge deal compared to DRM on other media like Ulra-HD Blurays.

[1] https://www.theverge.com/2020/1/31/21117217/amazon-kindle-tr...

[2] https://www.pine64.org/

[Markoff]

> At least Kindles do track what the user is reading even if it wasn't purchased on Amazon so having a good, high quality, open source e-ink device would be of great benifit.

How do they do that without any account, registration and internet connection? I use my kindle entirely for offline reading of books I copy over cable.

[ornornor]

Well then obviously not. Note that turning the info off isn’t always enough. I can’t remember if it was my kindle or my kobo but it knew my WiFi password and would turn the WiFi home periodically without my knowing to call home anyway.

[tpmoney]

>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]

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]

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.

[Jaruzel]

> The buttons should be on the sides.

Both sides please. the 10% of the population that are left handers will thank you.

[int_19h]

You don't even need the cable. You can use their Send to Kindle email feature (that's advertised for "documents") to send .mobi files. They then show up in the library same as any other Kindle book, cover and all, and even sync their last read position across devices.

[ornornor]

Aside from libgen, you can also buy your books from amazon or Kobo and use calibre with the dedrm plugin to free your books. You can then load books from any platform to any reader and keep a copy of them yourself. Even if they delete the ebook from your device, the one you dedrmed will still be there.

[komali2]

> 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]

> 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]

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]

But then you can't use it on an e-reader. It remains in the app.

[vel0city]

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

[efreak]

Overdrive, which is what most libraries I know of use, supports Kindle, Adobe, and it's open format (which IIRC cannot be downloaded and must be viewed in the browser/app one page at a time).

[stonogo]

Overdrive is supported on-device by Kobo ereaders.

[sohkamyung]

> I think the problem with DRM and ebooks is not the readers. It's the availability of books without DRM

I have a 'niche' interest in SFF magazines and for that, WeightlessBooks fills it well [1] by offering subscriptions to Fantasy and Science Fiction Magazine, Interzone, Locus (the Newspaper of the SFF world) and many others.

I also occasionally buy non-DRM books from Smashwords [2] and there are plenty of other dedicated non-DRM book/story sellers out there [3]

[1] https://weightlessbooks.com/

[2] https://www.smashwords.com/

[3] https://www.libreture.com/bookshops/

[mmm_grayons]

> 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.

[chris37879]

Unfortunately that's getting harder and harder to do. I have a second gen Kindle Oasis from about 3 years ago and there is no working jailbreak for it for any recent firmwares. It's really annoying because I love the hardware, I just wanna tinker with the software.

[michaelmrose]

This signals that you are OK with drm.