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KOReader Document Viewer for E Ink devices

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Re: KOReader Document Viewer for E Ink devices

#15
post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Out of curiosity, what are the advantages of this app compared to using the built-in PDF/document reader all of your e-reader?

I will make a short list of some of the reasons: 1. I already have an ebook library in Calibre that I access on other devices, the sync feature allows me to seamlessly integrate into my other devices. 2. It's highly customization, almost every aspect of how books are displayed is able to be modified. 3. Progress can be synced across many devices without having to rely on some proprietary provider like Kindle. 4. Alon…

Yeah, they're the same reasons for me, but I'd like to say that depending on your use case, some stock firmwares are ok.

Recently, my father bought the same eink device I have (Kobo Clara HD), and I promptly installed KOReader only to realize that the stock Kobo firmware (which, btw, you can and should update even if you use KOReader) is perfectly fine for him, and in fact better for his experience than the enormous amount of options and menus that KOReader offers.

For me it's KOReader all the way, as I love the freedom, the fine-grained configuration possibilities, the connectivity. It's great that it exists.

Re: KOReader Document Viewer for E Ink devices

#16
I will never buy an eReader without support for koreader. It's absolutely essential to me, most importantly:

* Lots of quick fixes for poorly chosen CSS properties (called "style tweaks" in koreader), just apply them on-the-fly.

* Support for StarDict dictionaries, which you'll find plenty for all kinds of languages.

* Great PDF support with automatic or manual cropping, and special viewing mode for two columns, perfect for scientific papers.

* OPDS support so than I can easily download books from my Calibre library

* On Kobo, way, way more options to set the backlight (original firmware is way too bright in the dark even on lowest setting), many options to configure "warmth" of the backlight for late-night reading

* Great support for bookmarks

* Super easy to hack and contribute as almost everything is written in Lua

Re: KOReader Document Viewer for E Ink devices

#17
post #16

I will never buy an eReader without support for koreader. It's absolutely essential to me, most importantly: * Lots of quick fixes for poorly chosen CSS properties (called "style tweaks" in koreader), just apply them on-the-fly. * Support for StarDict dictionaries, which you'll find plenty for all kinds of languages. * Great PDF support with automatic or manual cropping, and special viewing mode for two columns, perf…

Nice list! May I ask what dictionaries do you use (I've just chosen from the internal list, but they seem not that "ideal" after Oxford)? By the way about backlight - on Android there is a bug with that feature: warm light can't be used and also if you start using automatic lighting it does not actually work. Not a big deal: just using system presets from device lighting menu.

Re: KOReader Document Viewer for E Ink devices

#18
post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I use it on my Kobo Libra H2O, it's great. I love the Calibre integration that allows me to sync up with my library on my desktop in just a couple clicks and taps.

Out of curiosity, what are the advantages of this app compared to using the built-in PDF/document reader all of your e-reader?

For me, the most important differences are support for cbt (tar) comic books, a file system style browser and the end-of-file prompt to open the next file.

Re: KOReader Document Viewer for E Ink devices

#19

An important feature to me is being able to ignore epub's CSS rules and embedded fonts that are otherwise enforced.

I do often use this feature but sometimes fear I missing out because of some deliberate decisions by the author. Not sure if that worry is really warranted.

Re: KOReader Document Viewer for E Ink devices

#20
The best thing is that it does not seem to hard to extend KOReader to your liking (e.g. by writing plugins). On the other hand, I've had a hard time understanding the the actual Lua code (most likely because of my lack of experience using Lua though!).

What's really missing is a good way to browser by metadata (e.g. author, series or even your own custom tags). However, there seem to be some progress here [0].

[0]: https://github.com/koreader/koreader/issues/8472

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