Seeking a Good eBook Reading Device?

Quimbly asks: "I'm an avid reader, and I find that downloading books is much more convenient that trying to get them from the bookstore or library. However, I'm tired of sitting in front of a monitor to do my reading. I'm looking for a hand-held device to do my reading on, and I'm hoping the community has some suggestions. It seems to me that most PDAs have too small of a screen for convenient reading, and a notebook / tablet computer is too big and bulky for this simple task. So, I've been looking at a few devices designed specifically for eBook reading (e.g. the RCA REB1100, the eBookwise-1150, etc.). These look more promising, but I was disappointed to discover that the RCA device ONLY reads an encrypted, propriety eBook format, making it essentially useless. (Has anyone ever hacked one of these?) Similarly, I believe both of these devices have been discontinued by their manufacturers. I want a device that can read a variety of file formats, especially scanned, non-text PDFs. A large screen, long battery life, and good interface are other attributes I'm looking for."

PSP?

[AtariAmarok]

Seeing all the PSP hype, with the screen that even looks great when someone holds it up to a camera on TV, I wonder if that will make a fantastic ebook reader.

Re:PSP?

[macshit]

The PSP looks good on TV because it has a fairly colorful and bright display, but it doesn't seem particularly well suited to being an e-book reader:

• The screen is the wrong orientation (you can turn it, but then the controls are awkward), and the long-and-skinny format a bit odd
• The screen is somewhat low-resolution for displaying a reasonable amount of text (though fine for games). I'm not sure how much better you can do with a cheap unit, but a higher-resolution grey-scale display would be much more suitable.
• The PSP is really heavy, it's like a brick, and most of this weight is probably due to components which are completely unnecessary for reading (massive batteries, lots of chips for high-speed graphics).
• It's very expensive -- ideally an e-book reader should be something cheap enough, or robust enough, to just throw in your pocket and always have handy.
• Is there any software for this?!?

Re:PSP?

[Noco]

Wrong orientation? Have you noticed how new HDTVs are widescreen and movie theatres are as well? Additionally, for all but East Asia, written communication is mostly horizontal. Because of the nature of our eyes, our horizontal view is wider than our vertical. Thus, it is easier to read when the width is longer than the height. Thus, the PSP seems ideal. I use a Palm T3 for reading, horizontally of course, with the virtual graffiti area removed. Previously, I used an NR70V from Sony in a similar fash

Re:PSP?

[macshit]

Sure, wide-screen is great for movies and tv, but the whole point was that what's good for movies/games/tv isn't what's good for books.

If you're willing to scroll around on the page, then it doesn't matter so much -- but frankly, for reading, scrolling a window around on the page really sucks. That's why you want a high-res but low color (to make the cost palatable) display, with a form factor that approximates a normal book page. I think the real problem with the PSP's screen (besides the resolution bei

Re:PSP?

[justforaday]

You seem to be missing the point of the post above yours. If you're reading text (ie, not a pre-formated paginated PDF), then why are longer lines so much harder to read? It seems that with longer lines/shorter pages, you'd probably be able to fit more words per page than on a screen with short lines, but more of them. As for your vertical scrolling argument, doesn't that ultimately boil down to how many words can be fit on a screenful of text? I'm willing to bet the PSP can hold more in the horizontal orie

Re:PSP?

[shobadobs]

But on something the size of the PSP, the columns are narrow either way.

Re:PSP?

[hcdejong]

No. There is an optimal size for text columns, but it's quite a bit wider than a newspaper column.
Novels don't use columns, for instance. On A4-size paper, the optimal column width is about 2/3 to 3/4 of the page width.
Newspaper columns are narrow because they're optimized for flexibility in placing multiple articles and ads on one page.

Re:PSP?

[bbc]

"If you're reading text then why are longer lines so much harder to read?"

From what I understand, line width and line spacing go hand in hand: once you arrive at the end of a line, the eye has to travel back to the left and correctly guess the next line. The wider the lines, the more spacing you need to correctly guess the next line.

Re:PSP?

[Satan Dumpling]

If you have a Gameboy Advance and a piece of compact flash, you might try this for a cheapie solution.
http://www.lik-sang.com/info.php?category=246&prod ucts_id=3983& [lik-sang.com]
http://movieadvance.com/ [movieadvance.com]
The GBA movie player reads ebooks.
I don't know how nice it is for those, if you point me to a little ebook sample, I can try it out and give my 2 cents.

You need rbmake

[damiangerous]

Free, Open Source .rb format creator: http://rbmake.sourceforge.net/ [sourceforge.net]

Re:You need rbmake

[name773]

even though i don't read e-books, that 0wns :)
let's hear it for open source devs

Re:You need rbmake

[swillden]

And if you like Sci-Fi and Fantasy, Baen [baen.com] sells all of its books in various e-book formats, including .rb. I have an RCA e-Book and it works very well.

Re:You need rbmake

[swillden]

Oh, forgot to mention... all of the Baen e-books are unencrypted, and they encourage you to share them with friends and family.

print it out

[St. Arbirix]

I have a PDA that I used to read books on, and then an iPod that I used to read books on. Then I discovered book folds.

Print that sucker out. Our campus labs use Word which does two things I've never figured out how to replace on Linux:
1) Text editing on linux (as far as I can tell) only does things line by line. In Word I can treat the whole document as one big string which makes converting a Project Gutenburg text to a sensibly formatted document involve 3 find&replace commands. (newline to |, || to newline, | to space)
2) Book fold printing. I put the text at a <8pt font (i can read at 4pt), give it 0.2" margins, and set the page as a book fold of 12 pages. It prints out double sided and I simple fold every three pages together to create a physical book. The latest Harry Potter [tinyurl.com] book cost me 35 pages which folded down into a neat little booklet I can fit in my interior coat pocket.

Re:print it out

[DougWebb]

There's lots of text editing programs for Linux, with a wide variety of features, and I'm sure some can do the find and replace commands you mention. You can do it from the command-line too; here's what I'd do:

$ perl -i.bak -0e '$book=<>; $book=~s/\cM//g; $book=~s/\n/\x01/g; $book=~s/\x01\x01/\n/g; $book=~s/\x01/ /g; print $book'perl -e 'undef $\; $book=<>; $book=~tr/\n/|/;' book.txt

That'll format the book with one line per paragraph. If you do this a lot, you can put all of that into a script instead, so you just have to remember the name of the script instead of the whole command

In file named process_book:

#!/usr/bin/perl -i.bak -0

my $book = <>;

$book=~s/\cM//g; # Unix line endings
$book=~s/\n/\x01/g; # Collapse lines
$book=~s/\x01\x01/\n/g; # Separate paragraphs
$book=~s/\x01/ /g; # Insert whitespace

print $book;

To process a book:

$ process_book book.txt

By the way, notice that I used \x01 instead of |, since | characters might appear in the book.

Re:print it out

[St. Arbirix]

Ahhh. That's exactly what I was looking for.

Thanks a million!

Re:print it out

[DougWebb]

Oops. The one-liner should have been:

$ perl -i.bak -0e '$book=<>; $book=~s/\cM//g; $book=~s/\n/\x01/g; $book=~s/\x01\x01/\n/g; $book=~s/\x01/ /g; print $book' book.txt

Re:print it out

[MyLongNickName]

Wow! This makes me want to go out and dump Microsoft Word like a girlfriend with gonorrhea. Thanks for the tip!

Re:print it out

[Jerf]

DougWebb covered half your problem. a2ps [inf.enst.fr] is the other half. That'll let you take a text file and convert it into a PostScript (printable) file, and if anything, it has too many options. Printing something nicely foldable with as small a font as your printer and eyes can handle is just fine.

I've used it for long walkthroughs for RPGs; most recently, FFX-2 100% completion. That squeezed a 120+ page document, printed naively, down to four sheets of paper (with a bit of manual editing to remove silly whitespac

Re:print it out

[ralphclark]

"info a2ps". I believe this will give you more detail than the man page does.

media (A4, letter etc) is selected with the -M option.

As for page layout, there are some numeric "macro" style options (-1 .. -9) which have sensible defaults for 2-up, 4-up printing etc. "-2" gives you two portrait pages side-by side on a landscape print image.

Some other useful options:

--sides=duplex or -s2 (assuming your printer can print both sides)

-=book (reorganizes the pages for folding and stapling like a book)

The outp

Re:print it out

[ralphclark]

To insert a form feed (which you'd do if you wanted to force a page break e.g. at the end of a chapter) in vim, you just press control-L while in edit mode. The form feed character will be visible as a "^L". Make sure though that the text which starts the following page starts on the same line as the form feed, i.e. without dropping down to a new line. Or your new page will start with a blank line.

Re:print it out --Openoffice--

[ToterSan]

If this is something you would like to see in openoffice, just forward this whole discussion to them.

Sharp Zaurus SL-5600

[andrews]

I read a lot of books (several a week) on my Sharp Zaurus SL-5600. I convert to Plucker from HTML, and it works great. Still not as good a reading experience as a dead tree version, but the screen is good and I can carry several hundred books around on a CF card and still have plenty of room for MP3s. I can read at night without an external light too. Don't rule out the PDA until you try it.

Re:Sharp Zaurus SL-5600

[orthogonal]

"I read a lot of books (several a week) on my Sharp Zaurus SL-5600"

Seconded. Not so good for PDF (although a PDF reader is available for the Zaurus), but great for Plucker. For plucker or raw HTML or Palm .doc (not MS-Word), get Opie Reader and the Georgia font. One great thing about Opie Reader is that it allows you to easily change the font size on the fly: go smaller for fewer page "turning" or larger when your eyes are tired. And page turning is as simple as pushing a button, so you can read with one

Re:Sharp Zaurus SL-5600

[Kahm-Hime]

Have you looked at the Sharp SL-C3000? Higher Res screen than the 5600, USB host, bigger keyboard, 4gb HD. Same size as an SL-C860. I'm replacing my 860 with a 3000 in about 21hrs =)

My 860 replaced my MP3 player, my Palm Pilot, my laptop, and all the books I used to carry around. It even functions as a great video player.

The VGA Zaurii (SL-Cxx0) make great e-book readers. They work equally well in either landscape or portrait mode (the screen swivels like one of the convertible "tablet Pcs") You've got a

Re:Sharp Zaurus SL-5600

[Drooling Iguana]

I'm not sure what the resolution would be in ppi, but the actual screen resolution for the C-series is 640x480. Really high-res for a PDA. I don't think I've ver seen an LCD with pixels that small.

Re:Sharp Zaurus SL-5600

[Tiroth]

I have a lowly MI-E1, but I've been very impressed with the quality of the screen. It's definitely great for reading books.

Could you recommend a dictionary reader for the Linux-based Zaurii? I've thought about upgrading some day, but I love ZPDView's ability to read EDICT dictionaries.

Re:Sharp Zaurus SL-5600

[Kahm-Hime]

There's tons of support for EDICT dictionaries. Zedict, for example. A linux based Zaurus is a great upgrade for the older Z's

Check out the forums at www.oesf.org.

Re:Sharp Zaurus SL-5600

[DaoudaW]

Don't rule out the PDA until you try it.

Exactly!

At the beginning of the school year, the school where I teach passed out a Tungsten E to each teacher and advanced math student. Since then I've read dozens of books on it and I love it. I adjust the scroll to my reading rate, hold it 12-15 inches in front of me and _just read_. No pages to turn, no light to annoy my wife; I get into the book better than if it were hard copy.

I do most of my downloading from manybooks.net. They take Project Gutenberg b

Palm Tungsten / Windows CE / Franklin EBookman

[rsclient]

I've read e-books on handhelds for years; they are especially good with small babies -- you can walk up and down in the living room for hours, holding the baby in one arm and the handheld in the other. All of them have backlights so that you can read in the dark. Get aquainted with Project Gutenberg -- I can recommend "Mr. Midshipman Easy" as a very fun book.

The Palm Tungsten E is very, very nice: a sharp, good resolution screen, very fast, and decent controls for reading. You can also get the very exc

e-ink!

[n0d3]

I think you are looking for something that uses e-ink. The only one that currently is out on the market is sony's E-book [dottocomu.com]

I know Philips (One of the main minds behind it) isn't ready to mass produce because they want to increase the switching speed (from black to white and inbetween) aswell as adding color.
However I've seen them work, at let me tell you, it's sweet technology. It reads very comfterably.

Reexamine notebooks and tablet PCs.

[Short Circuit]

They come in all shapes and sizes. Heck...there are some notebooks out there that are too small.

Re:Reexamine notebooks and tablet PCs.

[Deagol]

I see used Toshiba Librettos in the local classifieds web site occasionally, and they're on ebay. Those would make decent ebook readers.

Re:Reexamine notebooks and tablet PCs.

[webhat]

Absolutely, I have the Sony baby vaio (PCG-C1XD) and use that to read e-books. An advantage is that with a wifi card I can also browse webpages.

I don't think they sell this model anymore, but I've seen a number of other good ones.

iPAQ

[madstork2000]

I have enjoyed reading on my iPAQ.

At first I did not like the small screen relatively low res. screen; however, after using it for a while I got used to it and prefer it for a couple of reasons.

1. The small screen, means there are fewer words per page. The smaller word count helps me read faster, because I am not getting lost or distracted.

2. Backlight for low-light conditions. Its nice to read at night with out having a light on in the room. I think it is easier on my eyes when I get tired.

3. one hand operation. It is a lot easier to turn pages one-handed on an PDA. I can generally be more comfortable, and have good posture longer when reading off a PDA than with a book.

-MS2k

Re:iPAQ

[Threatis]

one hand operation must....not....make....comment.....about.....PDA.. ...based.....porn......mags.

Re:iPAQ

[Calmiche]

I use my iPaq as well. It's much better than anything else I've ever used. I started with an old Palm III, moved to an m505, then a Tungsten C. My latest is an HP hx4705. I thought it was crazy, when I first started out, to buy a unit mainly for ebook reading, but I've found that I use it for that purpose about 90% of the time.

Even my wife loves it since I can turn off the bedroom light and still read without disturbing her.

It reads plain text, HTML, many ebook formats, word, pdf, and I can even use m

Re:iPAQ

[NanoGator]

"3. one hand operation. It is a lot easier to turn pages one-handed on an PDA. I can generally be more comfortable, and have good posture longer when reading off a PDA than with a book."

Boy, I whole-heartedly agree with this one. Not only is this a lot easier to hold, but with AvantGo or wireless connectivity, you can also get news on it. I can't speak for anybody else, but I enjoy laying down and reading both news as well as fiction.

I also wanted to mention bookmarking. MS's reader program does a ni

Re:iPAQ

[mceister]

I totaly agree. The iPaq is the only device I ever found comfortable to read eBooks with.

Re:iPAQ

[David Horn]

If you can get hold of one, a new Pocket PC with a VGA screen is fantastic for reading eBooks on. No jagged edges on the text, a bright backlight and reasonable battery life work well to give a good reading experience.

Re:iPAQ

[tommyboyprime]

I am a voracious reader and don't want to store books in my apartment. I have been reading on a PDA since my first Handspring DX. Then I got a CLIE , then another and then moved to PPC. I now have an IPaq 4705 and I think it's great. BTW I have over 1500 books in my library. Where would you put 1500 books?

HiEbook

[Marticus]

If you can still get your hands on one, the HiEbook (by some Korean manufacturer) is fairly decent device. I've been using mine for 10 months now, and my friend and his wife have theirs for at least twice as long. It's mainly designed just for reading ebooks, and is about A6 in size.

It can use html, doc (if you have MS Word to autoconvert) and its own format. Upload via small USB cable with (windows only) software; or via a card reader if you get a SmartMedia card for it (only up to 128MB though).

It also has some minimal PDA functions, although the CPU is underpowered, and the touch screen a little insensitive. It can, however, play mp3s through the headphone port; and has an inbuilt microphone for voice recording (can't vouch for the quality, never used it).

It comes with a few apps such as text/draw memo (no graphiti input), calendar, address, schedule; and 4 games: othello, omok, sokoban and puzzle. There is a version of minesweeper [sourceforge.net] available, and my friend is wrighting Taipei for it.

It also has a decent backlight (which unfortunately has a soft whine, so there are contraindications for using it in a quiet room), and a nice pleather holder with wrist strap; and if you do get one, use the strap, as the screen can crack if you drop it from a metre or so.

Pros:

• Decent sized (touch-)screen
• Doesn't require proprietary formats
• 3 font sizes
• Pretty pleather holder
• Pretty green backlight
• SDK available
• Charge lasts quite a while if just reading without backlight

Cons:

• Backlight whines slightly
• Contrast changes when environment is hot (have to jump to system to change it)
• Hard to find (there were only 2 left in my small city when I got mine)

Overall, although the design is a few years old now, it's the best ebook reader I've managed to find that doesn't have bad DRM. (I really wanted the sony LibrIe when I read about it, mmm e-ink, but the DRM was horrible so I didn't bother spending all that money.)

HiEbook link

[bmsleight]

link to HiEbook [ebookad.com]
Lazy - I mean how differcult was it to post a link ?

Me too

[trawg]

I bought an Ipaq 4150 to read ebooks on, and I've been using it a lot recently. The screen is ok, but I don't really Windows CE + MS Reader - the software leaves a lot of wasted screen space, so the amount of words on screen per page is a lot lower than I would like - I'm constantly pressing the next page button (as a comparison, a Neuromancer-sized ebook works out at pages).

I got the chance to check out the Sony Librie last year in Japan and was hugely impressed with its screen, using that new e-ink jazz. I checked it out again a couple days ago and read some reviews; unfortunately its still not available outside Japan, which is a pain (worked out around US$250 I think to import one).

I've only ever seen one displaying Japanese books, so have no idea if it can even display romanji, or what it would look like. They take Sony Memory Sticks, which is a bit annoying (but to be expected), and apparently the ebooks are all in some annoying DRM format as well (but clever people have already figured out how to make software [mobileread.com] to convert to the format, so if you're lucky enough to have a non-DRM'ed library you can just convert your .txt files, or whatever.

The only other alternatives that I've found (haven't looked too hard as my iPaq is bearable at the moment) are dedicated ebook readers which have their own pitfalls (quite expensive considering that's all they do, use their own proprietary DRM formats, not able to read other common formats, etc) and more advanced iPaq-type devices (some of the newer iPaqs have high-resolution screens, plus the ability to use MS Reader in landscape mode, which I would definitely prefer), but I', not prepared to part with the $$$ at this point.

Re:Me too

[trawg]

a Neuromancer-sized ebook works out at pages).

Sorry, was supposed to read "a Neuromancer-sized ebook works out at about 1200 pages".

Priorities

[Chess_the_cat]

"I'm an avid reader, and I find that downloading books is much more convenient that trying to get them from the bookstore or library. However, I'm tired of sitting in front of a monitor to do my reading.

Sounds to me that reading in front of a monitor is 10 times the hassle of heading to the library and picking up a book or two. You've got to worry about power, portability, selection, price. In other words, you're lying when you say that downloading books is more convenient or else you wouldn't be asking how to make it more convenient.

Re:Priorities

[quiddity]

also libraries are useful creatures, and utilizing them helps convince those who fund them to continue to do so.

Punt on dedicated e-book readers--use a Pocket PC

[kriston]

The e-book readers that you can actually buy are always too large and heavy. Just punt and get the very cheapest Pocket PC you can find running Windows Mobile 2003 and has a QVGA screen. The web browser and MS Reader will use the full VGA 480x640 resolution with font smoothing turned on and you can rotate it into landscape mode. Curiously enough you will need to download a hack to keep the font smoothing turned on in landscape mode.

If you want to use Tome Reader or Adobe Acrobat Reader you can download the SVGA hack that forces the entire system into VGA mode (normally it's in QVGA which is pixel-quadrupled mode). I suspect at least Adobe will have a VGA-compatible reader soon. I know that AvantGo will not.

Total cost will be way cheaper than any dedicated e-book reader and you have the choice of Tome Reader, MS Reader, Adobe Acrobat Reader, HTML browser, eDoc, MS Word, and any other format you can think of.

You might also consider a PalmOS PDA, but in order to get on that is fast enough and has high enough resolution you will be way beyond the cost of a perfectly suited Pocket PC.

Re:Punt on dedicated e-book readers--use a Pocket

[cathyy]

I second the Pocket PC. I really recommend that you use the reader named ?-book. With it you have the option of rotating the display, font size and style, and you can read anything but a .lit file...use clit to convert the .lit files. You can find it at
Gowerpoint. [wwwgowerpoint.com]

Re:Punt on dedicated e-book readers--use a Pocket

[cathyy]

Damn. A comma instead of a period. Gowerpoint [gowerpoint.com]

Re:Punt on dedicated e-book readers--use a Pocket

[kriston]

Wow, does it convert DRM-protected *.lit files? That is an awesome idea.

Kris

What I want is a wireless VNC touchpad

[NZheretic]

What I want is a bluetooth VNC protocol based [realvnc.com] display/touchpad/terminal. The VNC RFB protocol [att.com] is lightweight enough to be deployed on the cheaper embedded processors and bluetooth chips are cheap enough. An open source PC side driver would act as a networking proxy between the PC side Xvnc virtual display [csd.uwo.ca] and the PC bluetooth network device.
Instead of an inbuilt just have two PS2 ports for a standard PC keyboard and mouse. For display sizes, 600x800 would be good, 768x1024 would be great.

In fact these devic

Re:What I want is a wireless VNC touchpad

[afroborg]

Viewsonic do a similar thing:
The airsync [viewsonic.com], although it uses remote desktop not VNC.

Also, at around $1300 USD, it ain't cheap!

REB 1100

[Lehk228]

I just got one a few weeks ago, there are several sources of books in the format including fictionwise and the Bean free library, blackmask online also sells a DVD (r) containing thousands of books.


the software that comes with the eBook reader points you to some software that is listed as not working with the REB1100 for making .rb files, but it does work, just don't select encrypted format and you have to reopen the project file between putting it together and exporting it unless you want a tiny useless

Re:REB 1100

[Lehk228]

oops nevermind on the reload files issue, i was just screwing up. I will be posting a link in my Journal (bookmark it if interested, should be done by thursday) once i finish my eBook Publisher toutorial

An ideal device, IMO

[breon.halling]

I'd like a reader that could also double as a comicbook viewer. There's a substantial amount of CBR/CBZ files floating around, so it would be interesting to find a device, maybe magazine-sized, that had a colour display & support for various ebook formats. A Tablet PC, while close, is still a little too bulky for lying on the couch and reading.

What I'm looking for, ideally, is device with a portrait-oriented (taller than it is wide) screen, supporting at least 600x800 24-bit resolution.

I'm not an en

Personally

[Deliveranc3]

I'd spring for one of the pocketPC line, though maybe you could find a linux palm that does the trick. Skype is worth an extra $100.

But For my ebooks I use the Palm Tungsten E with iSiloWeb (don't get X it's bloated crapware).

Handles html and pdf just fine. For downloading books try irc.nullus.net #bookwarez

Dedicated to e-Books

[Anonymous Coward]

Interesting topic! You might want to browse through Mobileread [mobileread.com] which is discussing the pro and con of e-books and e-book devices in every possible way.

Nothing beats paper

[ngdbsdmn]

I've looked for the same device for two years now and my conclusion is that nothing beats a laser printer and a big pile of A4 sheets.

Laptop - A desktop replacement is out of question, a portable one (Centrino) is way too big and an ultraportable one is amazingly expensive and still too big. Plus, you can't use a notbook in places where you wan't to just chill and read something because you will look like a moron and you will be forced to stay in the classic desktop position.

Tablet PC - Nice ideea, n

check out the Sony Librie

[mschaffer]

You can download converted pdf files to the device. It's very expensive, but very cool (170 dpi E Ink display).

It's available from some of the more popular grey-market importers from Japan.

Re:check out the Sony Librie

[gabebear]

If I was in the market for an eBook reader I'd just wait for a Librie competitor. The Librie is currently Japanese only and pricey, but far and away the best technology.

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,1749479,00.as p [pcmag.com]

treo

[jqh1]

For me, it's primarily about availability of the device - I hate carrying around stuff. I have a treo 600 that's taken over a great deal of my PC tasks. I never started reading e-books until I got it. I have two different reader programs installed -- palmreader (for "secure" files) and tibr (which I prefer, but it doesn't handle the "secure" files). The treo 650 has better resolution and so would be be easier on the eyes, but I haven't got one yet.

Anyway, I've done so much reading with the treo (wherever I find myself waiting I can read) and gotten used to - the convenience of not turning pages - having my place saved automatically in multiple books - having a backlight so that ambient lighting is irrelevant - having all the books I've read on the device present for reference and electronic searches - etc. - that I have a hard time picking up a paper book now.

Second-hand Palm or Handspring

[Curmudgeonlyoldbloke]

If a notebook or tablet PC is too big, then a Palm or Handspring might be about right. It'll run for ages on rechargeable batteries and it'll should be cheap enough not to worry about losing.

For e-book reading software, try:
http://www.plkr.org/ [plkr.org]

Homebrew ebook readers?

[Catbeller]

I've been poking about on Google for some time, with little success, searching for any project to build an ebook from off-the-shelf parts.

I'm not in any way knowledgeable in electronics, so I'm not asking about a how-to for myself. I am wondering if anyone has tried it. An LCD screen, a circuit board, a Linux-based OS, a simple means of moving ebooks in and out of the device. It doesn't have to be very complex or expensive. Color isn't necessary. If a builder wanted to be cute, build an ebook into a bound

Re:Homebrew ebook readers?

[ccp]

I've been poking about on Google for some time, with little success, searching for any project to build an ebook from off-the-shelf parts.

I'm not in any way knowledgeable in electronics, so I'm not asking about a how-to for myself. I am wondering if anyone has tried it. An LCD screen, a circuit board, a Linux-based OS, a simple means of moving ebooks in and out of the device. It doesn't have to be very complex or expensive. Color isn't necessary. If a builder wanted to be cute, build an ebook into a bound

Cheap Solution

[carrowood]

I spent the last year trying to find the right ebook reader for me;

My requirements:
- cheap
- mulitple formats: txt, pdf, doc, isilo, mobi, etc;
- color screen bigger than most palms, smaller than laptop

My Solution:
- used NEC MobilePro 780 off ebay running WinCE: about $99 from a reputable seller;

So far I am happy; Using serial instead of USB kinda sucks, but for the price, I am pleased. I am about to get a wireless card for it and connect it to my home network.

Worked out great for me but do you own homework first ;-)

The Everlasting Newton

[IpseDixit12]

The Newton's large screen makes it wonderful for reading text, even though it is in green.

REB1100 and ebookwise-1150

[zonem]

I have been using the REB1100 to read ebooks for years, and have recently purchased 2 ebookwise-1150 models for myself and my girlfriend. They are priceless! For the reb1100, I used the rbmake tools in Linux and the old rocketlibrarian in windows. Other shave posted links to rbmake.

Now, the ebookwise-1150 has a number of advantages over the REB1100. The battery life isn't quite as good, but it makes up for it in features. The interface is a little nicer, and the book won't lose your place if you keep reading past the "warning, battery low" message. There are other small things I like about it. Overall, I would highly recommend the ebookwise-1150. It contains all the good of the REB1100 and adds a polished interface and upgradeable firmware (this is VERY important).

Now, you can hook it up to your computer with a USB coord and, without even having to register your ebookwise, load books onto it with the "GEB eBook Librarian" (http://www.breeno.org/eBook/ [breeno.org]). Otherwise known as "ebookwise librarian", this little piece of software can convert many different formats into the ebookwise ".imp" format: txt,html,rtf,doc,etc (including those documents that contain images and hyperlinks). It also becomes the "online bookshelf" you log into from your ebookwise device, from which you will download the books themselves. There is a $15 registration fee but it is well worth it. There's also a shareware/demo version so you can try it out free. Note that unless you have a smartmedia card for your ebookwise, you won't be able to use it in Linux. This is a very small price to pay, imo.

Any more questions, send me an email.

- Eugene

Pocket PC PDAs

[Blitzenn]

I personally just did the same thing and went on a quest to find a reader I could carry with me. I was spending too much time locked in front of my PC reading books.

My criteria for a PDA was cost more than anything, so I will share the problems with going for the low price as opposed to usability. I shopped Ebay for my PDA and bid on many units before I got the one that I wanted at the price that I wanted. $100 was my limit and I met that with enough to spare to upgrade my unit.

I ended up purchasing

Tungsten T|3 does all you want...

[exp(pi*sqrt(163))]

...except that Adobe have written the world's worst PDF reader for the Palm. Pity, as the hardware is perfect. If I had the time I'd write an application to convert PDF to bitmaps that can be viewed on the Palm - but that's easy enough that surely someone out there has done this already.

Psion PDA

[superpenguin]

I have a Diamond Mako (rebranded Psion Revo Plus) and have read a lot of ebooks on it. The screen is relatively hi-res and very crisp, so it makes reading a pleasant experience. Also, with MobiPocket Reader (free download), you can utilize 100% of the screen for reading without any toolbars or other visual junk. Also, because the screen is fairly wide for a PDA (5"), I find that speeds up reading a bit because you're not jumping lines every 5 words (although my reading speed is still slower than with a b

Franklin's eBookman

[Silverknife]

The Franklin eBookman is a pda-style device designed for reading books. Internal storage is between 8-16 megs but additional storage can be handled through mmc cards. Even the os can be backed up on a mmc card. http://pdaref.homeip.net/ [homeip.net] for advice and programs.