Ebook reader for about 100$.

lekto · Posted: Thu Jul 06, 2023 3:29 pm Post subject: Ebook reader for about 100$.

Hi, I'm a bit tired of reading ebooks on small smartphone screen or on laptop where I can easily lose focus on something else, so I want to buy an ebook reader. I never had an ebook reader in my hands, so I'm not sure what I'm looking for. I will be reading mostly stuff from Humble Bundle, but I would be nice to be able to read scanned books from Project Gutenberg. It will be used inside, I don't need WiFi or other stuff that can make me lose focus. Also, I don't want to install any additional software, I want to just connect it via USB to PC and move ebooks like on thumbdrive.
Right now I found used inkBOOK Classic 2 for about 70$ that was laying mostly unused, but with battery in unknown condition and with Android Jellybean that is unsupported and I'm not sure what happened with updates after factory reset (or if even is possible to factory reset it).

pjp · Administrator Joined: 16 Apr 2002 Posts: 20583

Moved from Multimedia to Gentoo Chat since this has nothing to do with Gentoo.

I'd recommend looking at what you can get, then searching for reviews.

I've heard that Amazon's Kindle can still be "rooted" while Kobo seems to still try to prevent that. About 5-ish years ago I bought a Kobo that required registration via WiFi, so I've never been able to use it. I also purchased two models of nook (from a large physical bookstore), and those also required registration (I was able to return those).

I've relied on a small tablet from the Do Only Evil company, and I've had no trouble with content from Gutenberg. The main issue with their content is that they add some pages of "junk" about Gutenberg. I forget what it is, but it probably has some sort of "license" mentioned, or at least something about what they've done to produce the file. I't s a minor nuisance.

I'm not sure how much longer that tablet will survive, but given the "registration required" approach, I'm unlikely to buy another tablet / e-reader, which is unfortunate. I've since increased my physical book collection to a quantity that I very well may not finish -- I read books in spurts, and I'm in a rather long dry spell.
_________________
Quis separabit? Quo animo?

fedeliallalinea · Posted: Thu Jul 06, 2023 7:13 pm Post subject:

pjp · Administrator Joined: 16 Apr 2002 Posts: 20583

Is that a newer purchase? I can't imagine they'd stop requiring registration.

I bought the "glo HD". I'm unwilling to give them any personal information, including IP address. I've thought about creating a one-time use email and registration through tor, but that's just not worth the trouble at this point. I considered that a "learn from your mistakes" tax. I think I may have even found indications that there had been ways to get around the registration. I apparently lucked out and bought after changes were made (I think previously you didn't have to connect to WiFi, or were otherwise allowed to bypass that step).
_________________
Quis separabit? Quo animo?

fedeliallalinea · Posted: Fri Jul 07, 2023 9:12 am Post subject:

szatox · Advocate Joined: 27 Aug 2013 Posts: 3489

I have a like 10 years old pocketbook touch lux 3 and I'm quite happy with it. I see they upped the number to 5 by now.
I have found some poorly made (and really big) PDFs it was unable to display though, I suppose it didn't have enough RAM to handle them.

pjp · Administrator Joined: 16 Apr 2002 Posts: 20583

@fedeliallalinea,

I think I bought mine in 2016, so that would seem to confirm that they're unlikely to change. Unfortunately I presume everyone else also requires it.

The Dead Trees are dead! Long live the Dead Trees!
_________________
Quis separabit? Quo animo?

szatox · Advocate Joined: 27 Aug 2013 Posts: 3489

lekto · Posted: Sat Jul 08, 2023 1:41 pm Post subject:

Okay, I looked at devices you use, but unfortunately most of them I can't find new locally. szatox mentioned PocketBook Touch Lux 5 and I thing this might be it. It runs custom Linux distro, so no google stuff, instruction doesn't mention anything like registering it before use, when connected to PC it is detected as storage device and I still can buy it brand new.

pa4wdh · l33t Joined: 16 Dec 2005 Posts: 910

I can also recommend pocketbook devices. They are not tied to specific webshops and no registration is required. When connected to USB they appear as a standard mass storage device which you can mount, copy files to and unmount. In my case (Inkpad X) i can also update the firmware in that way.
My use case is similar to yours (I mostly read large technical pdf's i find on the internet) and i'm very happy with it, so far it even renders to most complex documents without problems.
_________________
The gentoo way of bringing peace to the world:
USE="-war" emerge --newuse @world

My shared code repository: https://code.pa4wdh.nl.eu.org
Music, Free as in Freedom: https://www.jamendo.com

ChrisJumper · Advocate Joined: 12 Mar 2005 Posts: 2403 Location: Germany

I recommend pocketbook too. Have three Readrs, HD with color and a A3 large one with color. And all work good. There are some sources for Ebooks without Adobe DRM, just with water marks on the web and you can Add Adobe DRM if you like to read DRM epubs. But you do not need. In Germany i read some epub Newspapers, Comics or RSS Feeds with the reader and everything is fine.

In the next month there is a release of a 1200 Euro Reader in A3 or A5 i am not sure, by pockedbook with more color... like (true color?).. but the one with A5 and Color is fine. I could read 10 hours a week without charging the ebook and it connects fine by usb with Gentoo.

Just do not use pdfs and Text Web pages or epubs instead. With calibre you could parse the files. If you have some ubuntu Linux in dual boot its usable without sad strange dependencies on gentoo.

Leonardo.b · Guru Joined: 10 Oct 2020 Posts: 308

What filesystem does pocketbook use?
Can it be accessed from non-Linux?

szatox · Advocate Joined: 27 Aug 2013 Posts: 3489

Leonardo.b: Yeah, last time I checked windows had no problems reading FAT.

lekto: whatever you get, let us know how well it works. Also, it seems quite a few people would want to know if it requires anything on the internet.

Linubie · Guru Joined: 11 Jun 2004 Posts: 386

A Tolino is maybe an option
https://mytolino.com/

They had good reviews from Stiftung Warentest
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stiftung_Warentest
_________________
Mircosoft software is like having sex with a stranger, you always have to be careful not to get infected with something...

CaptainBlood · Advocate Joined: 24 Jan 2010 Posts: 3999

Afaik bottom half range Tolino are linux,
top half range are android.

Thks 4 ur attention, interest & support.
_________________
USE="-* ..." in /etc/portage/make.conf here, i.e. a countermeasure to portage implicit braces, belt & diaper paradigm
LT: "I've been doing a passable imitation of the Fontana di Trevi, except my medium is mucus. Sooo much mucus. "

Leonardo.b · Guru Joined: 10 Oct 2020 Posts: 308

szatox, that's good to know.

I had a Tolino book reader, it worked ok.
Mine was powered by Android. Optional internet connection. Internal storage could be accessed with an USB cable, like any normal mass device.
I used it until a software upgrade broke it. Very very bad luck, it happened soon after it run out of warranty (but smart men don't believe in luck)...

lekto · Posted: Sat Jul 15, 2023 12:01 pm Post subject:

I received it and and works without connecting to the Internet. It shows as flash drive with vfat filesystem. I updated firmware via unpacking file on it and power it up while pressing two buttons. Calibre is detecting it and can transfer my epubs to in without a trouble. I'm mostly happy with it, but there are few thinks I rather don't like (from lest bad to worst):
- There is no light sensor, so automatic brightness is set based on time, which can be problem where you are in dark place during day or bright during night,
- CPU is rather slow, it works great while reading epubs, but switching apps can take few seconds, also there is no feedback when CPU is doing something,
- You don't have any feedback on pressing, when nothing happens after pressing screen I'm not sure if my press didn't count as press, I missed or CPU need more time,
- Case plastic feels very bad, it's made from this weird plastic, that was used in cheap electronics years ago and feel like it starts to disintegrate in few years leaving sticky mess. It's very unpleasant to me to accidentally touch it with my fingernail. I often heard people call this material rubber/rubberized plastic. I ordered case for it, received it today and… it doesn't fit, looks like I will be ordering this weekend case for it on Aliexpress.
Last point rather won't be problematic for most people, there are material that I just hate to touch - I remember repairing gaming keyboard (Razer BlackWidow?) while wearing latex gloves, because I couldn't stand touching key caps.

szatox · Advocate Joined: 27 Aug 2013 Posts: 3489

lekto · Posted: Mon Jul 17, 2023 3:05 pm Post subject:

szatox · Advocate Joined: 27 Aug 2013 Posts: 3489

I see. Ok, cool.

pjp · Administrator Joined: 16 Apr 2002 Posts: 20583

I thought redshift was to reduce blue light coming from a screen's backlight. Is there such a thing as an e-ink device with a backlight?

I thought a main benefit was electricity only being used to "turn on" the text when it changed, or to clear where there was no text.
_________________
Quis separabit? Quo animo?

AJM · Posted: Tue Jul 18, 2023 8:58 pm Post subject:

szatox · Advocate Joined: 27 Aug 2013 Posts: 3489

Some ebook readers come equipped with LEDs ON TOP of e-ink display.
It is NOT a part of e-ink display and it is not a part of it's normal operation, but it does improve comfort in dim light and allows you to read in darkness too. Basically, just a convenience feature which comes disabled by default, and yes, if you enable it, it does significantly reduce your reading time.
My reader is simply stuffed with cold white leds. If the newer version came with RGB leds instead, it could be redshifted.

I would be surprised if you found a _backlit_ e-ink though, these things are not transparent, and the way they work, reflectively displayed pattern would not leave any marks on transmitted light anyway.
BTW, there were some attempts to create a butterfly display, using light interference in a variable-depth cavity to show vivid colors. These, at least in theory, could work with backlight, even though they're designed to work with ambient (front) light. I really doubt they would work reasonably with "spectrally challenged" artificial lights that replaced good, old incandescent bulbs.

pjp · Administrator Joined: 16 Apr 2002 Posts: 20583

I'm aware of "front" lights. Those have been around for a long time. As they aren't shining at your eyes, I wonder if redshift would have any value.

I played with redshift on my laptop and a tablet, and I think it made reading impractical, though I'm sure that varies from person to person. I never perceived a benefit, so I quit using it.
_________________
Quis separabit? Quo animo?