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?

  • Lettuce eat lettuce@lemmy.mlM
    931·
    8 months ago

    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

    • doubtingtammy@lemmy.mlOP
      27·
      8 months ago

      Very Cool, I didn’t know about these. Maybe just keeping readers out of landfills is the way to go.

      • thefartographer@lemm.ee
        23·
        8 months ago

        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.

        • nilloc@discuss.tchncs.deEnglish
          2·
          8 months ago

          I’m gonna look into that, we have an old kindle collecting dust that would be a good candidate I think!

    • IrritableOcelot@beehaw.org
      5·
      8 months ago

      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.

      • Lettuce eat lettuce@lemmy.mlM
        2·
        8 months ago

        I don’t have one currently, but from some of the stuff I’ve read, the Clara HD model is one of the most popular for hacking/modding.

  • glimse@lemmy.world
    46·
    8 months ago

    The reason e-readers are still so expensive is because the company that makes the displays (E-ink) has a patent on them. The Pinenote website says it uses an E-ink panel so I’m assuming that’s where they’re sourcing from

    A few years ago there was a potential competitor in the space (ClearInk) but…it looks like their website is gone and their Facebook page hasn’t been updated in 5 years

    • Schorsch@feddit.de
      291·
      8 months ago

      You see, parents are a motor to innovation. (/s)

      Hopefully the patent runs out soon…

      • Atemu@lemmy.ml
        23·
        8 months ago

        parents are a motor to innovation

        Absolutely. No parents -> No children -> No innovation.

      • MentalEdge@sopuli.xyz
        162·
        8 months ago

        To be fair, e-ink has been reinvesting hard into RnD. That’s why there have continued to be new generations of panels, with color capabilities and faster refresh-rates etc.

        And yeah, the larger panels aren’t cheap, but small cheap ones have already been used for years as re-usable price tags and product information displays in stores. They don’t even need a battery as the image will stay on the screen without power until the next time they need to be programmed to show new product prices and details.

        They might be charging a lot for the panels, but they are also not a patent troll, sitting on a technology without doing squat with it.

        • JustEnoughDucks@feddit.nl
          2·
          8 months ago

          Yeah, but small, low res, slow-refresh ones without partial refresh (absolutely essential for ereaders and tablets) have not had patent limitations for a while I think.

          They are simply called e-paper and there are many chinese manufacturers of them that sell them for “cheap”.

      • glimse@lemmy.world
        71·
        8 months ago

        I think basic patents are good for inventors but the way the system is set up to allow “evergreen” patenting is ridiculous. It heavily favors big businesses and pushes out the people the system was “supposed” to protect

    • doubtingtammy@lemmy.mlOP
      5·
      8 months ago

      Ah, thanks. That makes sense. I knew it was the screens, but didn’t realize it’s a whack patent issue

      • glimse@lemmy.world
        3·
        8 months ago

        Yeah…I guess the original patent expired in 2018 but you know how patents go… “We changed one tiny thing and patented it again”

    • Corroded@leminal.spaceEnglish
      3·
      8 months ago

      Do you know of any articles that talk about the patent aspect? This is the first I’m hearing of it and I’d be interested to learn more.

  • z00s@lemmy.world
    25·
    8 months ago

    There’s already projects going for open source firmware for pre existing hardware, such as inkbox and KoReader

    I’m also watching the open book project. I’m hoping that supporting it will enable things to progress to the point where it gets in the hands of schoolchildren in developing countries

  • lud@lemm.ee
    272·
    8 months ago

    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.

  • mctoasterson@reddthat.com
    202·
    8 months ago

    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.

    • Corroded@leminal.spaceEnglish
      4·
      8 months ago

      Get free books from Gutenberg/Libgen/IRC/Usenet.

      I think Anna’s Archive is still pretty popular as well

  • taaz@biglemmowski.winEnglish
    13·
    8 months ago

    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.

  • Cowbee [he/they]@lemmy.ml
    121·
    8 months ago

    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.

    • Corroded@leminal.spaceEnglish
      7·
      8 months ago

      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.

  • Mariemarion@lemm.ee
    9·
    8 months ago

    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.

  • Grass@sh.itjust.works
    9·
    8 months ago

    I don’t remember the name of it but there is one. The only problem is it only takes text files iirc. also last I checked it was a PCB sandwich type device with open sides

    • Patches@sh.itjust.works
      3·
      8 months ago

      Epub are the de facto open source standard. That’s like a “MP3 Player” only playing Wav.

      How do you blunder it that bad?

      • Jordan_U@lemmy.ml
        7·
        8 months ago

        "The Open Book is my long-standing attempt to design a comprehensible and accessible e-book reader that you can build yourself (or at least have manufactured affordably). The current edition is something I’m calling the “Abridged” or “Developer Preview” edition. It’s designed to be incredibly simple: there are 7 through-hole and 14 surface mount components, nearly all in a chunky 1206 package that’s easy to hand solder. The tradeoff is that it has no LiPo charging circuit; instead it uses AAA batteries, making it a bit more chunky than previous versions of the book.

        The goal with this version is to get hardware in hands so we can start hacking on firmware."

        https://www.oddlyspecificobjects.com/projects/openbook/

        So:

        • This is a hobby / project of love
        • The current focus is on hardware

        I’m sure that the eventual plan is to support ePub.

        I’m not sure it will ever get there, because it’s not a well resourced project, but I personally don’t like criticizing one person’s efforts, which they are making freely available.

          • Jordan_U@lemmy.ml
            2·
            8 months ago

            “I was referring to open book reader…”

            The lack of capitalization, and the project name that could just as easily be a descriptor, made me miss it at first too.

      • Grass@sh.itjust.works
        21·
        8 months ago

        What are you even talking about? I was referring to open book reader which others already mentioned which should have been easy enough to realize by PCB sandwich. Unless things have developed significantly since I last checked in on the project it does not take epub as is and needs to be txt (got auto corrected to text in previous post).

        • Patches@sh.itjust.works
          3·
          8 months ago

          I was talking about the file format only allowing .txt being a blunder.

          Epub is a drm free format with no royalties. And it’s the de facto standard all over the internet.

          • Grass@sh.itjust.works
            2·
            8 months ago

            Oh I see that makes sense now and is the reason I didn’t jump on the project when I first heard about it.

  • sweetpotato@lemmy.ml
    7·
    8 months ago

    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.

    • Churbleyimyam@lemm.ee
      1·
      8 months ago

      ability to export notes from books

      This is something I can’t do on my Kobo and annoys me. Which pocketbook do you have?

      • sweetpotato@lemmy.ml
        1·
        8 months ago

        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.