Amazon drops Linux support for generating Kindle ebooks

#1

Post by umvi » Tue, Aug 25, 2020, 7:44 PM UTC

Re: Amazon drops Linux support for generating Kindle ebooks

#2

Post by monadic2 » Tue, Aug 25, 2020, 7:54 PM UTC

They still read epub, right?

Their proprietary format didn't have many convincingly useful features anyway.

#3

Post by bluedays » Tue, Aug 25, 2020, 7:55 PM UTC

Haven't been able to use my Kindle with Linux for a while anyway. I regret buying the device.

#4

Post by mikece » Tue, Aug 25, 2020, 7:56 PM UTC

monadic2 wrote: post #2

They still read epub, right? Their proprietary format didn't have many convincingly useful features anyway.

Mobi, ePub, and MS Word (not sure how good Libre Office is at this though) were all acceptable formats last time I checked.

#5

Post by [deleted] » Tue, Aug 25, 2020, 7:56 PM UTC

bluedays wrote: post #3

Haven't been able to use my Kindle with Linux for a while anyway. I regret buying the device.

[deleted]

#6

Post by mikece » Tue, Aug 25, 2020, 7:57 PM UTC

bluedays wrote: post #3

Haven't been able to use my Kindle with Linux for a while anyway. I regret buying the device.

Are there jailbreaks and/or custom ROMs for Kindles? It's a nice little device; would be a lot nicer without it constantly phoning home to Amazon.

#7

Post by turtlebits » Tue, Aug 25, 2020, 7:58 PM UTC

monadic2 wrote: post #2

They still read epub, right? Their proprietary format didn't have many convincingly useful features anyway.

Nope, IIRC, the only open ebook format supported is mobi.

Never used Kindlegen though, Calibre works great for me. (Although I have never authored an ebook).

#8

Post by jklinger410 » Tue, Aug 25, 2020, 7:58 PM UTC

bluedays wrote: post #3

Haven't been able to use my Kindle with Linux for a while anyway. I regret buying the device.

What is the best alternative to a Kindle?

#9

Post by mikece » Tue, Aug 25, 2020, 7:58 PM UTC

Sigil still seems like a perfectly valid option for creating and editing ebooks on Linux (and macOS and Windows):

#10

Post by turtlebits » Tue, Aug 25, 2020, 7:59 PM UTC

bluedays wrote: post #3

Haven't been able to use my Kindle with Linux for a while anyway. I regret buying the device.

Can't you just mount it as a USB drive/mass storage and copy content over? That's how I get my converted ebooks over.