Coming Soon: an Open Source eBook Reader (gizmodo.com.au) 46
Electronic component distributor Digi-Key will be producing a small manufacturing run of the "open hardware" ereader from the Open Book Project, reports Gizmodo:
The raw hardware isn't as sleek or pretty as devices like the Kindle, but at the same time there's a certain appeal to the exposed circuit board which features brief descriptions of various components, ports, and connections etched right onto the board itself for those looking to tinker or upgrade the hardware. Users are encouraged to design their own enclosures for the Open Book if they prefer, either through 3D-printed cases made of plastic, or rustic wooden enclosures created using laser cutting machines. With a resolution of just 400x300 pixels on its monochromatic E Ink display, text on the Open Book won't look as pretty as it does on the Amazon Kindle Oasis which boasts a resolution of 1,680x1,264 pixels, but it should barely sip power from its built-in lithium-polymer rechargeable battery -- a key benefit of using electronic paper.
The open source ereader -- powered by an ARM Cortex M4 processor -- will also include a headphone jack for listening to audio books, a dedicated flash chip for storing language files with specific character sets, and even a microphone that leverages a TensorFlow-trained AI model to intelligently process voice commands so you can quietly mutter "next!" to turn the page instead of reaching for one of the ereader's physical buttons like a neanderthal. It can also be upgraded with additional functionality such as Bluetooth or wifi using Adafruit Feather expansion boards, but the most important feature is simply a microSD card slot allowing users to load whatever electronic text and ebook files they want. They won't have to be limited by what a giant corporation approves for its online book store, or be subject to price-fixing schemes which, for some reason, have still resulted in electronic files costing more than printed books.
The open source ereader -- powered by an ARM Cortex M4 processor -- will also include a headphone jack for listening to audio books, a dedicated flash chip for storing language files with specific character sets, and even a microphone that leverages a TensorFlow-trained AI model to intelligently process voice commands so you can quietly mutter "next!" to turn the page instead of reaching for one of the ereader's physical buttons like a neanderthal. It can also be upgraded with additional functionality such as Bluetooth or wifi using Adafruit Feather expansion boards, but the most important feature is simply a microSD card slot allowing users to load whatever electronic text and ebook files they want. They won't have to be limited by what a giant corporation approves for its online book store, or be subject to price-fixing schemes which, for some reason, have still resulted in electronic files costing more than printed books.
A3 (Score:5, Interesting)
With E-ink, you could leave it on the workbench all day, or while you service a gearbox or whatever without bloody screen blanking just when you get to the difficult bit.
Or go four hours at a stretch in an actual field in the middle of nowhere - they are called "field engineers" for a reason!
Your whole library of stuff would fit in the memory, so all the manuals you could ever want are there - no need for a truckload of out-of date manuals - unless you are still servicing PDP11's of course!.
And my brother says it would be good in landscape mode for music scores. I am guessing there are other use cases too - providing it is reasonably rugged,
I hope they don't keep changing the icons every three months. (Yeah Google - up yours!)
Re: A3 (Score:2)
i was only looking last week. I was starting to wonder if it was going to be worth buying an eink display and making my own.
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If you think there is a market for it, 20+" e-ink displays are only ~$100 in mass production and at least one company sells them as conference room scheduling boards for ~$1200.
E-ink boards can be had for cheap, build an Android hardware around it and produce them.
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Uhm (Score:2)
We already have open source ebook readers.
This is like saying "coming soon: sunlight." Duh?
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Then there's the gratuitous smack tacked on the end:
"They won't have to be limited by what a giant corporation approves for its online book store, or be subject to price-fixing schemes which, for some reason, have still resulted in electronic files costing more than printed books."
Umm... first, you aren't limited to what anyone approves on ANY existing ebook reader. Second, everyone who bothers to look into it at all knows the reason the Big Publisher's ebooks are priced so high is because the publishers ch
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Likewise, the implication that e-book readers limit what you can read is a lie. and lies such as this is why we have such trouble promoting legitimate alternatives to corporate controlled media. There is nothing stopping you from putting whatever you want on your kindle. There is nothing stopping you from only reading open content from Project Gutenberg. At this point, if you r
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I agree.
And IMO, what the world really needs is a decent open source hardware tablet computer. And by decent I mean, not even a good price for people who don't care about open hardware. Then I could just run whatever portable software I wanted, ebook, whatever.
This thing in the story is too weak to run an OS, it is just completely trivial to build that on top of any existing open source embedded development board. And there a zillion of them.
I didn't see the price mentioned (Score:2)
I mean you can buy a low end 10 inch android tablet, toss in a 256GB uXD card, and load pretty much everything you've ever wanted to read for under $100 US. $60 for the tablet and under $40 for the uXD card.... Even cheaper if you want a 7 inch screen.
Higher resolution, maybe better sound, the ability to install other useful apps, like ssh, Aldiko, VLC, Kodi...
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You have clearly never used something with an e-ink display before.
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You have clearly never used something with an e-ink display before.
Well, not a 400x300 one...
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You have clearly never used something with an e-ink display before.
Well, not a 400x300 one...
I did just see a kindle voyage (2014) with 1440 x 1080 display for $89 but it's only 6 inches.
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Well, not a 400x300 one...
Or you could put down $99 for an 800x600 one [crowdsupply.com] upcycled from a Kindle. The supporting hardware is open-source. Put in your order by Feb 04.
Hopefully they are prepared to get Slashdotted...
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I just want an 8.5x11 eink screen, so I can scan papers and read them at 100%
I don't need video, ssh, etc. on my e-reader. Just an eink screen.
Won't fly (Score:5, Insightful)
"The raw hardware isn't as sleek or pretty as devices like the Kindle"
For once I have to quote Jay Leno.
'For new technology to succeed, it can't be equal, it's got to be better'
My two cents... (Score:1)
The design is awful... No matter the cost, if it's not visually appalling it won't success at all.
About the design: run away from classic forms: the screen be the whole front, no buttons at all there. Put the button on the side with the connectivity ports. Rounded corners and THIN frame border. In most eReaders, the frame border is almost as big as the screen itself... and the space wasted by the buttons placement is ridiculous.
Can't see myself reading books on it (Score:2)
But a hackable e-ink device could be quite useful
400 x 300? (Score:1)
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On C64, HiRes mode generates a screen with resolution 320x200 pixels, 16 colours.
IMHO, what you call "not much better" is actually closer to "almost twice as good". Black and white e-paper vs 16 colours difference aside, that's 120000 pixels for this e-reader versus 64000 pixels for the C64. That's 1.875 times as many pixels as the C64.
But... yeah. Given all the available e-ink display sizes and resolutions available today, I don't understand why they picked something with such a low resolution, especially
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Do they not exist as something that can be used for such projects?
Is the project price been kept down? Why?
Why not give people the option...1. low cost for the poor/people who just want to try...
A deal with parts? Number of parts? Costs?
It looks too fragile (Score:2)
Add to that, I see nothing that would compel me to switch.
As far as the "pile of parts" look, Yes, I sort of like it, But there needs to be more.
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I bet your a real hit with the ladies in Chinos.
I am sorry but... (Score:5, Insightful)
As much as i like the idea, this thing sounds a hard sell.
For starters, ebook readers are sold to people who read books, most of them aren't nerds. They don't care an don't mind the corporate ties with a publisher. They buy commercial books which are sold through DRM infrastructure which they find convenient. They don't download many non-DRM epubs. And they probably care little about private life, open source and such things most of them probably do not even understand.
No, the visible chips are not appealing. And that 400X300 resolution is unworkable.
Besides, i have a reader that does read epubs. Just not buy an Amazon one. I never connect the wifi. There is no account on it so i doubt i am being tracked.
Strongly disagree on them not caring. (Score:2)
This has strongly changed since the GDPR, at least here in Germany.
Average people now care MORE about privacy than even former Pirate Party 'voter' me. Especially older people!
It's like a good fairy came and fulfilled my wettest dream from 10 years ago.
E.g. Google, Amazon, Facebook, and even Apple mostly and Microsoft to some extend are avoided like the plague.
The only ones using that crap carelessly are the young students and kids with bad
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Um.. (Score:2)
"They won't have to be limited by what a giant corporation approves for its online book store"
That's not really unique at all -- Calibre (free open source ebook management program) can convert and transfer pretty much whatever you want onto almost any eReader on the market today over a USB cable. (or SD card of course if the reader has one)
Sure, using the "giant corporation's" online store saves you 20 seconds, but we haven't been locked into that for a very long time.
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Heck, even Amazon lets you email documents - including MOBI files - to your Kindle.
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I have calibre, and 15 gb archive from alt.binaries.ebooks 1996 to 2004 but I am currently reading mostly elf-porn via kindle unlimited (due to the cost of ebooks)... But I know a several people who can no longer use an ereader due to disability. and I will join them when my hands don't work eventually.
"next!" to turn the page (Score:2)
"TensorFlow-trained AI model to intelligently process voice commands so you can quietly mutter "next!" to turn the page instead of reaching for one of the ereader's physical buttons like a neanderthal.
Those of us who are disabled have begged for this for decades. Even alexa is unable to interface with kindles reader api to do this one simple thing..
Ok, for disabled people, it makes sense. (Score:2)
But for everyone else, it is mind-blowingly iTarded. And that i is a must. Retarded is not enough. It is the added overconfident arrogance. In other words:
It's funny when an utterly clueles person believes he's part of the forefront of tech leaders because he is a fan of Apple Flashy Novelty Gimmicks for Luddites(TM).
No, touch screens, wireless headphones, flashy GUIs, wizards and assistants, voice assistants and voice control are not cool tech features! They are crutches deliberately designed for disabled
"like a neanderthal" ... seriously? (Score:2)
Do you know that humans evolved a "highway" from the hands to the brain, making hand control much quicker than anything else. Chimpanzees have a simpler version of it too, but only we got the fully developed version.
That means, that apart from being one of the dumbest novelty iFads after gorilla arms touch screens, it is also actually more slow and combersome and arguably every primitive, to use noises to control the thing.
Which is brutally obvious to anyone who ever used both, even apart from voice recogni
They sound confused (Score:2)
I've only bought ebooks from Amazon on two occasions. Both times, I tried getting rid of the DRM - calibre+a plugin that I will not name here - failed and returned said books to Amazon (specifying DRM as the reason) for a full refund. Sue me if you think my actions are illegal. I will never buy a Kindle, no matter how shiny those devices get.
My Kobo Clara HD does have an SD card that I have swapped out. There isn't a super-accessible slot but it isn't hard to get to the SD card.
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There are converters available to convert other ebook formats to the Kindle formats, so I do not see the problem with Kindle...
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Calibre (and those plugins) have worked just fine to de-DRM however many ebooks I've purchased over the years. For a while, I was using Kindle for PC as the download target, but then Amazon changed ebook formats (not the DRM, but the underlying ebook format) to something tha
New Paperwhite (Score:3)
Meanwhile, Amazon's new device is advertised as completely waterproof, has a 300DPI 10" screen and runs $179 fully-loaded.
That's future-tech arriving sooner than expected. Schools can plan on ditching textbooks now.
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It's e-ink or emissive? And is it rootable?
What does it do, how well does it do it? (Score:2)
gently swiping you with my finger. (Score:2)