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Amazon drops Linux support for generating Kindle ebooks

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Re: Amazon drops Linux support for generating Kindle ebooks

#51

Post by se32point1 »

jwiley wrote: post #48

Others specifically mentioned Kobo as an alternative. I did a high level pass over the ecosystem before choosing them as an alternative to the Amazon monopoly, they seem somewhat equivalent to Chrome vs Firefox: - supported formats, for the Linux issue: EPUB, EPUB3, PDF, MOBI, JPEG, GIF, PNG, BMP, TIFF, TXT, HTML, RTF, CBZ, CBR - no native linux client: not a deal breaker for me - is the company behind Kobo credible,…

If you mean this, https://www.amazon.com/b?node=17717476011, the Kobo indeed has many of those features as of now. Supports searching a Dictionary, Wikipedia, Google, and adding notes. There are translations in the Dictionary, but the "Word Wise" feature does not exist, but I can live without that. I can understand some who wouldn't, though.

Re: Amazon drops Linux support for generating Kindle ebooks

#52

Post by acabal »

Calibre was always much better at generating Kindle-compatible books than Kindlegen ever was. We use Calibre in our posix-based build chain at Standard Ebooks.

The Kindle file format is just miserable, and Kindle is basically the IE6 of ereaders. Anyone who cares about ebooks should get a different device that supports epub natively. Kobo makes nice devices, supports epub, and uses Webkit as their renderer (when used with their kepub format, which is not ideal but is basically a specially-formatted epub so good enough in the low-bar world of ereaders).

Re: Amazon drops Linux support for generating Kindle ebooks

#53

Post by k1m »

giancarlostoro wrote: post #43

Personally I use Send to Kindle for sending ebooks (which I get from Humble Bundle from time to time) to my Kindle: https://www.amazon.com/gp/sendtokindle Though based on some comments here on HN I guess this tool was useful to authors, but I'm curious if it sends it to the Kindle as-is or converts it to the respective format. Oddly enough I couldn't send awz3 files to my Kindle by email with this service. Sidenote:…

> Sidenote: TIL You can send articles and wordpress posts / content to a Kindle with the appropriate plugin.

That's one of the most useful features of the Kindle for me. As far as I know only PocketBook devices offer similar functionality (email address to send documents to the device).

I work on Push to Kindle (a similar service to Amazon's Send to Kindle browser extension for sending web articles). Have had reports that it works better on many sites. There's also a Firefox addon for it which Amazon does not yet provide. More info on recent changes here: https://blog.fivefilters.org/2020/08/19/push-to-kindle-chang...

Re: Amazon drops Linux support for generating Kindle ebooks

#54

Post by se32point1 »

kgraves wrote: post #28
swiley wrote: post #15

Ew. So you need a windows machine/VM just to publish on the platform? That’s almost iPhone levels of crappy.

What's wrong with that? Aren't most people that aren't tech savvy using Windows or Mac?

I fail to see the connection between "tech-savvy" users and this tool, which is a command line tool. Why would a "non-tech-savvy" person even touch this? Either way, we will always have our ways (calibre's ebook converter [which has a GUI, and is available on the platforms that normal people use], pandoc, whatever).

Re: Amazon drops Linux support for generating Kindle ebooks

#56

Post by amadeuspagel »

jwiley wrote: post #48

Others specifically mentioned Kobo as an alternative. I did a high level pass over the ecosystem before choosing them as an alternative to the Amazon monopoly, they seem somewhat equivalent to Chrome vs Firefox: - supported formats, for the Linux issue: EPUB, EPUB3, PDF, MOBI, JPEG, GIF, PNG, BMP, TIFF, TXT, HTML, RTF, CBZ, CBR - no native linux client: not a deal breaker for me - is the company behind Kobo credible,…

How is chrome equivalent to kindle? It's open source, it doesn't have a special format, you can visit any website with it.

Re: Amazon drops Linux support for generating Kindle ebooks

#57

Post by se32point1 »

jklinger410 wrote: post #8
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?

I can't say for you, but there are plenty of other options. PocketBook (which recently released a color e-ink ereader), Kobo, Onyx (which I have heard negative things about regarding their unwillingness to comply with the GPL for their Linux kernel), the ReMarkable (which I have heard is incredibly hackable), and the Nook. There's probably even more I'm forgetting, but Kindles are definitely not the only option.

Re: Amazon drops Linux support for generating Kindle ebooks

#58

Post by liability »

leephillips wrote: post #41

Kindle can handle PDF (and plain text) natively. If you format a PDF for the Kindle screen, offering different files for different size devices, the result will look better than the reflowable AZW format. Also, it’s the only reasonable choice if your book has math or anything else typographically challenging.

> If you format a PDF for the Kindle screen, offering different files for different size devices, the result will look better than the reflowable AZW format

That's not going to work well unless you can anticipate what font settings the reader[user] will prefer (e.g. you're generating these PDFs for your own personal use, not for distribution.)

Re: Amazon drops Linux support for generating Kindle ebooks

#59

Post by TavsiE9s »

acabal wrote: post #52

Calibre was always much better at generating Kindle-compatible books than Kindlegen ever was. We use Calibre in our posix-based build chain at Standard Ebooks. The Kindle file format is just miserable, and Kindle is basically the IE6 of ereaders. Anyone who cares about ebooks should get a different device that supports epub natively. Kobo makes nice devices, supports epub, and uses Webkit as their renderer (when used…

Alright then, question time: I've looked into Kobo for my wife, who predominantly reads books in Spanish.

Navigating the various offerings seems like a minefield of digital rights and lockouts. Where would I go to legally buy Spanish language books no matter where I am physically located in the world?

Re: Amazon drops Linux support for generating Kindle ebooks

#60

Post by leephillips »

liability wrote: post #58
leephillips wrote: post #41

Kindle can handle PDF (and plain text) natively. If you format a PDF for the Kindle screen, offering different files for different size devices, the result will look better than the reflowable AZW format. Also, it’s the only reasonable choice if your book has math or anything else typographically challenging.

> If you format a PDF for the Kindle screen, offering different files for different size devices, the result will look better than the reflowable AZW format That's not going to work well unless you can anticipate what font settings the reader[user] will prefer (e.g. you're generating these PDFs for your own personal use, not for distribution.)

You and the other reply are correct about font sizes. I thought it was obvious that, if you are generating different files for different screen sizes, you can also generate large-type versions. This can all be automated. Why bother? Because the usual format for Kindle books looks bad, like webpages. And, as I said, forget about math, etc.
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