koreader VS plato

An answer with a catch:

I ran rooted android phones for a long time, but have for the past few years been on GrapheneOS, which doesn't require Google Play, but allows you to use it while sandboxing it (so, harm reduction), and it's much less of a struggle now than it used to be.

The catch is that, at least currently, GrapheneOS only works on (Google) Pixel phones.

[On Kobos:— I agree on Kobo vs Kindle, and like Kobos a lot: but partially because I don't actually have to use Kobo's software if I don't want to. (See KOReader[0] and NickelMenu[1].)

[0:] https://github.com/koreader/koreader

[1:] https://github.com/pgaskin/NickelMenu ]

Highlighting the very popular app enabled by this, KOReader: https://koreader.rocks/

Have you tired KOreader[0]? It supports multiple ebook formats, including epub and cbz. You'll need to jailbreak[1] your Kindle though.

[0] http://koreader.rocks/

I love my old Kindle Touch. The #1 thing that keeps me using it is a community-maintained e-reader software you can run on it that makes it much more usable without Amazon's support: http://koreader.rocks/

My #1 priority for new hardware nowadays is making sure it's not dependent on OEM software. Nothing sucks more than buying a device for a selected purpose, and then not being able to use it fully because some arbitrary remote service was shut down years ago.

Very happy with the result though, books are just synced automatically with my Macbook via Syncthing.

Hopefully somehow a similar setup will be possible with the new Kindles, if they can also be jailbroken.

PS. The Kindle Oasis 3 is still great in 2024, it even automatically adjusts brightness with its light sensor.

[1] https://github.com/koreader/koreader

Get any Kobo and immediately install koreader:

http://koreader.rocks/

>> It seems like all of these eink devices are designed that way.

After going through 5 Kindles, I got a Kobo reader a few years ago, and couldn't be happier. It is more expensive than the Kindle because the price isn't subsidized, but the physical design is great, and I haven't broken it yet (I broke 4 Kindles through normal use).

They support loading your own software on without any "jailbreak", and I use Plato (https://github.com/baskerville/plato), which renders documents significantly faster than the stock reader.

Kobos[1] and Pocketbooks[2] are a lot more open than Kindles. AFAIK you can transfer .epub files into both devices and these epubs are perfectly readable via the stock OS. If for some reason you find the stock proprietary OS lacking, you can install an open source one like KOreader [3] or Plato[4]

Of course you want a good way of organizing epubs pdfs mobi, and like has already been mentioned Calibre[5] is a great option.

[1]https://www.kobo.com/

[2]https://pocketbookstore.com/en-ca

[3]https://github.com/koreader/koreader

[4]https://github.com/baskerville/plato

[5]https://calibre-ebook.com/

KOReader is nice. There's also Plato[0] for Kobo, which unlike the Kobo Libra 2 stock reader and KOReader didn't choke on an .epub with the entire Bible in one xhtml file.

[0]: https://github.com/baskerville/plato

Good luck! If you don't like it, there are a few other, similar projects, like Plato. That one is focused on speed and simplicity, so it might actually be better suited to your purposes. It was left unmentioned earlier because it's been incredibly buggy for me, but it's there.

plato

I noticed some similarities in the source code to https://github.com/baskerville/plato/

Is there some common source for Kobo-compatable rust code that you both drew from, or was plato the original source?

On the issues page of its github site. Create a new issue with [Feature request] tag in title.