This is a complete reimagining of the Open Book Project, but the original mission remains:
As a society, we need an open source device for reading. Books are among the most important documents of our culture, yet the most popular and widespread devices we have for reading are closed objects, operating as small moving parts in a set of giant closed platforms whose owners’ interests are not always aligned with readers’.
The Open Book aims to be a simple device that anyone can build for themselves. The Open Book should be comprehensible: the reader should be able to look at it and understand, at least in broad strokes, how it works. It should be extensible, so that a reader with different needs can write code and add accessories that make the book work for them. It should be global, supporting readers of books in all the languages of the world. Most of all, it should be open, so that anyone can take this design as a starting point and use it to build a better book.
Check out the promo video as well:
https://youtu.be/vFD9V8Hh7Yg
When they say build it yourself, they mean it:
- 3D print case
- Solder PCB
- Compile your own firmware
For those interested, base price to build this might start at $85 based on one estimate linked from the resource.
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Mass production does that.
It’s not just mass production and economies of scale. That’s obviously a huge part of it, but the cheap Kindle devices are also definitely sold at a loss with the expectation that you’re going to buy a lot of ebooks from Amazon which will more than make up for it (and also some of the devices are ad supported).
…and we can be sure Amazon finds ways to monetize user data as well (they see your book purchases, downloads, reading habits, etc)
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and underpaid labor in asia
It’s also the economy of scale. You get better prices when you’re buying thousands of units.
Mass production. Plus ads on the Lock Screen. It’s $20 cheaper with the ads.
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I keep mine in airplane mode most of the time to avoid getting new ads too often. Also the only ads are on the lock screen which is extremely unobtrusive if you’re looking to save a few bucks
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Same as the paper white? I saw another commenter say the same. Indeed sounds like the move!
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Call Amazon and say the content of the ads is offensive and say you want them to either remove the gambling and adult romance ads or remove it all if they can select. That worked for me and my wife.
The ads I see on my kindle lock screen all seem to be for garbage AI-generated books.
Only unobtrusive currently
Has been the same for many years. If they started popping up during reading or something I would not recommend at all of course. Wasn’t worth $30 to me and I don’t regret it so far these last few years (:
Right, but amazon also hasnt any reason to put pressure on yet. Wait till their profits start slowing
Wait, are they putting ads on kindle??
There have been ads on Kindle for a very long time. You can optionally pay an extra $15-$20 to remove the ads though.
I mean those Echo Dots come with a huge hit to your privacy as a cost. Not to mention how susceptible the Echo Dot has been in the past. Hell some expeditious hackers even got the Echo Dot to hack itself.
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I installed that update just minutes ago! What are you using for your voice satellites?
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I’d be interested in how well it turns out for you haha
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Yeah I have an Rpi Zero for interfacing cheaper devices with HomeKit so I feel you. I’m just not going to use an Echo Dot when I already have a bunch of HomePods lol.
It’s crazy how subsidized a Kindle is.
No doubt Amazon sells Kindles with a thin margin or maybe even at a loss. But the cost to produce them is also lowered significantly by manufacturing large quantities.
You mean the ad infested ebook reader that has less and less features with each version? Yeah sounds great. Buy a Kobo instead and host your own library with Calibre.
Sounds great. Edit: although I would have more fun building the open book project.
And doing so in a sweatshop somewhere cheap.
That version is ad-sponsored though, isn’t it? If you wanted to get it without ads, I believe you need to pay extra.
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You can ask customer service to remove it for free after purchase, or so I’ve heard.
I’m pretty sure it’s a $30 dollar charge, from when I last looked into it. For that exact price difference you can get a Kobo, which isn’t Amazon and doesn’t have ads
If you want to just do it automatically through the settings or whatever, sure. But you can supposedly call up customer service, make up an excuse like the ads are inappropriate for your kid, and they will remove ads for no charge.
Sadly a Kobo doesn’t support my Kindle library without a good bit of extra steps that, from my experience, can wreck some books.
That’s fair. Fwiw that’s the main reason I tried to avoid kindle, so I would be able to take my library where i want and not be tied to Amazon
Yeah they usually won’t do this unless you’ve owned it for a while or purchased a considerable amount of content via the device. Also depends on how adamant you are about having them remove it.
You don’t need the know-how compile the firmware! It’s available to drag and drop from GitHub: https://github.com/nvts8a/libros
DIY is like that. If you look up how to make a birdhouse they will tell you you need a saw, a hammer, nails, drill, paintbrush and something to measure with. Having a 3d printer and a soldering iron nowadays is pretty low entry, you can get into it cheaper that buying the saw, hammer and drill for the birdhouse. You don’t have to buy the bambulab printer and the weller / hakko iron. You can print this case on an ender 3 you found in the dumpster. Or pay 10 bucks for someone and they will print it for you. On the other hand you will have a device you can infinitely repair unlike the kindles that are kicking the dust every few year for everyone.
A friend of mine was showing me around a maker space when I was on a trip to where he now lives. They had an entire room full of various 3D printer. They’ve really gone mainstream in a big way. Getting a hold of one isn’t out of the question for a lot of people.
Idk why everyone is even insisting on a 3d printed case, just cut a square hole in a cigar box. Done.
Shit, get a thick book nobody reads and cut the middle of the book out and house a screen inside the 📖 book, glue the pages on the outside together with some modge podge. Done for the price of a cheap novel with a hardcover and some glue and a knife if you don’t have one.
Damn thank you for inspiring me, I saw the ‘3d print case’ and was like ehh, but thinking about making a wood case for this sounds sick.
My local library offers a 3d printing service.
Heck, the Microcenter 15 minutes away from me has like a dozen different models to choose from nowadays
It sounds wild to think about making your own electronic device, but after getting into woodworking I think it could be simpler to build this than a quality birdhouse lol.
I get that 3d printing is cool. It is, but new doesn’t always mean better.
You can still “analog 3d print” anything with know how and the right tools. So why not a simple box frame out of oak? Can’t be that hard.
Is that $85 for all parts?
Calculate the extra cost if someone doesn’t own a 3D printer (or doesn’t have access to one) or soldering gear.
Right! I believe that assumes you already have necessary tools, and it certainly can’t take into account the cost of your time or the cost of mistakes along the way.
Well, printing externally costs a few bucks so that is not really the problem here.
Soldering is more complicated but that’s more a learning curve problem than an equipment problem.
As someone who has tried soldering with the wrong equipment (and thoroughly stuffed it up), it’s both. Learning with the right equipment however is a lot easier than with the wrong stuff.
And 3D printing externally can also be a bit of a trial and error process if you’re new to the whole thing.
In terms of 3D printing it depends a lot on the quality of the model (which usually is pretty good in projects like this, unlike some thingiverse models) and the quality of the printing service. A reputable service will basically always produce good results,only the hole in the wall private garage services are sometimes problematic from my experience.
With soldering you are absolutely correct, it is far easier to learn with more expensive equipment (but this is still far cheaper than 3D printing, decent soldering stations go for less than 120 bucks these days), but it’s still comparably cheap - but not easy to master. Takes a lot of time.
It’s a fair call from a practical point of view. But I’ll also say you’re very likely to keep using your 3d printer for all other things, so not fair to put all costs into this one project.
Besides there alternatives to buying the printer: friends and print shops. Besides where I live a few libraries let you use their printers (and I believe materials) at no cost.
I guess the E-Ink is 5"/6"? Because larger E-Ink get expensive.
Btw, E-Ink is the fallacy in openness there, because there’s a monopolist who bought possible competition up.
For the people commenting about prices and comparing it to kindle:
Unfortunately, open source hardware is in its infancy, and faces severe barriers of entry, but projects like this one are really nice in order to further develop the concept and make working prototypes, proving its viability.
I don’t understand, it seems perfectly reasonable - people are just so used to these products being sold at a loss or at cost and subsidised by huge companies.
I would happily pay extra to not be tied to a massive corporation.
And if we think about it, it would only cost more at first, because open hardware would last longer and be repairable, costing much less in the long run.
Yeah, products like a Kindle or Kobo e-reader are sold to be paired with the company’s e-book market. It makes sense for them economically I kind of view it as a win-win because I use it both for their books and for other reading material.
Ideally, how would open source hardware look like for you? I mean that as in after it has achieved something akin to mainstream adoption.
This is a great question. I don’t believe it can reach the point of any person simply being able to create their own hardware, unless we’re talking about an utopic future with multimaterial 3d printing in small scale, but I can see small businesses being able to manufacture custom open source hardware on demand, based on open standards. For me, the ideal scenario would be something like going into an open hardware service shop and asking for a device with your requirements, and they creating it for you, or repairing/upgrading yours.
Like with skating, many shops can provide you with wheels, decks, gear. Amazon can sell their one-piece e-books at loss, but eventually it can turn to modular open design where nothing is irreplaceable. It’s a matter of demand. If there could be a good project and something like a big org or a government programm funding it, it would end well. Like, supplying troubled communities with an e-reader? If only there wouldn’t be DRM fuckery, it’s golden.
to modular open design where nothing is irreplaceable.
It adds interesting aspects. For example, I work with systems that have 5 I/O modules. Each one keeps a backup of the main controller settings, so that you can replace any component, including the controller.
After a quick question on the next boot, you’re up and running again.
Imagine if each module of your ebook reader had enough cheap/slow storage that everything in “main storage” could be replicated across your modules. As long as you only replace a couple of modules at a time, you’d have everything forever.
It doesn’t seem super utopic to think a 3d printer could make a pcb, dispense solder paste, pick and place, and heat it to solder it.
Making the ICs themselves on the other hand…
Risc-v to the rescue in the CPU space.
Although I’d say there are big gains if current off the shelf ics are used, even if purists wouldn’t call the whole endeavor open source.
Rakuten Kobo is a good alternative to Amazon Kindle. I can just drag and drop books, no internet connectivity necessary, no DRM… I have no problems with it at all. Would be cool to be able to load custom firmware, but I do not need to since it already doesn’t spy on me and doesn’t force DRM (3rd party book imports).
Have you installed nickelmenu and koreader? Brings the experience up a couple of levels software side.
Koreader blasted my “aging” 1st Gen H2O into space with all the speed and features it added.
- Faster page turning
- Wallabag support
- Most of all: SFTP transfer from my phone
It’s wild.
Can this synchronize reading progress across devices using calibre web (or any other odps solution)?
It has odps support but I haven’t set it up yet. It also can function as an ftp server which has been my go to
I think the answer is yes, at least based on what I’m reading here, but I don’t know any more about it or how to use it. Aside from that I know KOReader supports its own custom sync server, which is open-source so you have the option of self-hosting your own instance.
I’ve been using kobo. The integration with pocket and Libby is the killer feature for me. Checking out library books right on the device? Game changer.
You can do this with a kindle, too. I’m not advocating for them specifically, just pointing out that you can use a Kindle in a similar way. I’ve never even enabled WiFi on it. Just drag and drop some epubs on it via USB once in a while. Works great, is cheap, and is waterproof.
Can you do usb drag and drop for kindles? I always thought you need to send the book over to the special kindle email address.
Calibre is how people do this. Install it on a PC or Mac, and it can easily send books to your Kindle and convert to the right format automatically.
But yes, you can also drag and drop to USB like you’re asking. You just gotta make sure you drop on the right format (or use Calibre).
Yep, it just mounts like an external USB drive and you can load it with epub files. Alternatively, you can use calibre that will handle your library on your computer and will detect and load what you want on the Kindle as you desire.
You can. With jailbreak, I send books to it through ssh.
but I do not need to since it already doesn’t spy on me
let’s see the source code
Love my Kobo H20. Had it for about three and a half years now. Full connectivity with Overdrive/Libby means almost everything I read I get from the library, but it’s also super easy to upload any EPUB and PDFs. Plus it’s fully waterproof; one time I dropped it in a swamp river and had to root around in stinky mud for 15 minutes to find it. It was working totally fine once I finally pulled it out.
Some Kobo have a Lineageos port.
That’s odd I buy many books from Kobo for my boox reader and most have DRM.
I was referring to books not bought through Kobo. Like they don’t force you to use DRM, not that the device doesn’t support DRM
I just want a digital notebook that doesn’t need my phone and doesn’t cost $300 to amazon
There’s slowly starting to be more options for this. The reMarkable devices seem pretty good, but they’re a little pricey (though, I’m pretty sure they’re not owned by Amazon, so it might technically fit your requirement).
How dare you
I just bought their kindle and never connect it to WiFi. Just load some books on it with USB once in a while. Works great, was cheap, and is waterproof.
I’ve been kind of hoping for a e-ink based laptop device for amateur radio to email via the WinLink system. Emergency communications need to send messages for very extended periods of time without resupplying, so they must take as little power as possible. An e-ink screen could stretch a single charge over weeks.
Isn’t that a Boox? eInk, stylus, android, can buy direct.
I came within a click or two of buying the poke, but you need bigger for the pen layer.
… Are you guys pulling my leg with these names or are they real?
They’re real. I have a Boox Max 3. The Poke is the small one (6") they make. The name is playing on pocket, I’m assuming. The 6" I ended up getting as a pocket option instead (because it was silly cheap for having color) is basically the same size as my iPhone 13 Pro Max (thinner but wider, and way lighter), so you can comfortably throw it in a jeans pocket.
$500?
For a digital notebook? With Android?
No, not what I want at all. Like why would I need an OS at all?
I’m not sure you have the firmest grasp on what an OS is.
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It ticks the boxes - not Amazon, stylus, and eInk.
You’re going to need an os, even if it’s just embedded to access a file system and manage resources.
I bought one and it kinda sucked. I wanted a digital library for the tens of thousands of pages of references I use at work, and a sketch pad would be a bonus. It’s a cool device but the screen is just too slow to be useful and the application space for android and drawing is…thin.
I’m likely being an ass, but I’d argue that the most popular and widespread devices we have for reading books are probably still books.
It’s true. Counterpoint: if you move places a lot (let’s say if you happen to belong to a generation of people who will never be able to afford a place - which is a huge amount of people), your library needs to fit into a small tablet sized reader. Can store 5000 books, I do not have the means to move that amount of books every time my landlord decides to make my rent more unaffordable. An ereader fits in my pocket.
You could also ise a library. The ones I have used are free or almost free
If they have what you need, it’s indeed a great option. Many of them lend eBooks too, nowadays.
Unfortunately, living in a French speaking area, my local library network doesn’t carry a lot of English material, so the selection is very limited. I’ve found it to be problematic especially for non-fiction, which often doesn’t have translations available. Otherwise, libraries are great.
Teenage me would be ashamed to see I barely read any books anymore. I used to read two large novels a week, now it’s more like one or two a year…
I like to own my books and read them on my own time, not having to read them within a certain time limit. If I move, I also have to re-register and some libraries’ processes are a bureaucratic nightmare (yes, it’s a small thing to moan about but guess what, 1 click buy is still a lot easier).
You can usually ask for more time with a book if that is a real deal breaker. That has been an option at libraries I’ve used anyway. Sometimes they can get books they don’t have if you request them too. Some even mail them to your house. I’m not really trying to convince you or anything I just think libraries are awesome haha.
On the Open Book GitHub I have collections of free books and short stories that are digital only from Tor.com. That’s actually why I wanted to get an eReader, digital only online short stories are winning Hugo Awards now, and then couldn’t decide and got involved with the Open Book is that I wanted a little device to load up with them.
You’re not being an ass. But I think it also depends on the book and the person.
For example: cookbooks I prefer a physical book. IT books I prefer in digital format so I can use the find function.
Fiction books I go either way. I prefer digital because they are easier to get but will browse them at the book store.
Either way having an open hardware solution is very welcome so you aren’t trapped behind Amazon or Barnes and Noble.
I remember reports of Amazon deleting books off of people’s devices.
yeah sure let me just stuff 1000 books in my backpack
Jesus, how many books do you read in a day?
And one of the best ways to access them is a public library…
Yes, but physical books cost money
Libraries are awesome!
Yes, but it is surely more flexible to own them. Also, I’m pretty sure my local library doesn’t have the specific books I care about. But yea, librarys are great for discovering and quickly testing new books you didn’t know about
You should know that most libraries have a system for borrowing books from other libraries. So, usually, whatever book it is, they can get it for you.
People don’t utilize libraries enough.
Well, digital books too.
Though PocketBook, Tolino, Kobo, Onyx are pretty good at openness or ability to make it open.
Sure, not Open Hardware, but you can at least read what you want with them.
I have a Kobo with KOReader installed and Calibre with the DeDRM plugin for managing eBooks and it’s pretty great! It’ll open just about anything you throw at it and is pretty customizable.
I need something in between this and a Kindle. I don’t want to build my own electronics, I just want to buy them from somewhere without sketchy ulterior motives for how they’ll use their control over my device.
I haven’t been keeping tabs on this, but if you appreciate the legacy of pine64 (hardware kill switches on phone, Linux everywhere, etc.) They did release an epaper device:
https://www.pine64.org/2021/08/15/introducing-the-pinenote
I think they’re saying it’s still developer oriented and not quite user friendly yet though
Unfortunately in our late stage capitalism, that wouldn’t be a scalable and successful business model, and they’ll unfortunately fail as a business.
I love the hell out of the circuit board labeling. Absolutely wonderful for the hobbyist diyer. Well done. o7
This is such a cool project. I think I might give this a go once I look into the details a little more.
I’ve been tinkering with ESP32 as a main component of a 50WPC a2dp Bluetooth receiver / amplifier. These SoCs are so incredibly capable. I’m eager to use them for a bunch of other things, now.
Doesn’t it make way more sense to just hack Kindle hardware? I remember having a Kindle years ago and torrenting books and just slapping them on there.
Kindle hardware is shit. It’s built extremely cheaply, and it’s not made to be repaired. I have a Kindle with a broken display, asked Amazon support if it is possible to replace it, they said it’s not and they don’t sell parts.
I mean…it does what it needs to do just fine.
Is this thing repairable?
It’s designed to be build-able by anyone and extensible, so it should be repairable by the average consumer. You can just hack kindle hardware as long as the device works but this project is trying to actually build something more sustainable.
What are the chances these components are still available in 5 years?
AFAIK you can use Kindle completely offline. Some family members do exactly this. They buy books online and upload them over USB. The main reason is that they read books in language that the Kindle store does not support.
But yeah, as far as I know the devices weren’t online like ever. Maybe except some initial setup that needs an Amazon account. You can just make a burner account, set the device up and don’t even bother storing credentials.
You lose some convenience like synchronization of reading progress and notes, but I’m not sure whether any of the open source options even have that kind of functionality.
There’s no need to hack anything. You can just copy ebooks directly onto any Kindle and it works perfectly fine out of the box.
You need to be very patient to hack your Kindle, and hope for a new exploit, as they update them to the latest version (un hackable) before sending them out.
IDK. Building your own is cool in theory, but there are a bunch of options that aren’t that bad price wise that run Android.
The issue is that they’re made by random Chinese companies and the software support is of varying quality. A focused community effort to support an Android build explicitly for readers and to hack their way to being installable on as many as possible seems like a better plan.
I have two (13" boox max 3, 6 inch reinkstone r1 that I just grabbed because it was $140 with color) and even with the mediocre software support the reading experience is pretty decent.
For anyone interested our Discord is here! We’re a fun group of folks and have a couple of other projects. The project is mostly for fun and definitely centered around folks who are maybe trying to break into the hardware and software space with something tangible that they can use and show off, it certainly isn’t financially the best option out there but to learn and grow it’s great fun!
I’m all for the fun aspect, and would love better panel availability. I will definitely look closer at some future point to explore projects for some of my pis.
Shut up and take my money
For anyone interested our Discord is here! We’re a fun group of folks and have a couple of other projects. The project is mostly for fun and definitely centered around folks who are maybe trying to break into the hardware and software space with something tangible that they can use and show off, it certainly isn’t financially the best option out there but to learn and grow it’s great fun!
I’d love one at the right price - but aren’t e-ink screens expensive because only a couple of people make them ?
I think I paid about 30 quid for my first one - but since then kobo and Amazon have tried to force the value up and abandoned basic devices
The one we use is about $15-$20 USD
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They both still have basic device for about 100$ ( cnd ) sure it more than 30$ but i still have a 10 years old kindle tha work flawlessly so worth the price. And since i own every book i ever got on amazon thx calibre ( even tho amazon working real hard to make it stop )
The open book would be nice if overdrive/libby would work on it because i hate kobo but it’s the only way i can borrow ebook in canada
Can’t wait for the devs to make prebuilds buyable!
The screen looks like absolute trash sadly. Doesn’t even compare to what was available 5 years ago. I wish hobbyists had access to even somewhat modern technology…
Yeah it really sucks that we can’t buy the decent epaper screens, or the good ones.
My boox leaf 2 has a 300dpi screen, i don’t think it would be as enjoyable to read if it was significantly lower.
