Open-source, DRM-free Kindle alternative

#1

Post by depressedCorgi » Sat, Jun 20, 2020, 4:43 PM UTC

Open-source, DRM-free Kindle alternative
vice.com

Re: Open-source, DRM-free Kindle alternative

#2

Post by mikece » Sat, Jun 20, 2020, 5:14 PM UTC

If there is not a kick starter for this yet I hope there is soon. I would back this immediately.

Re: Open-source, DRM-free Kindle alternative

#3

Post by Wowfunhappy » Sat, Jun 20, 2020, 5:19 PM UTC

I want an e-ink web browsing tablet.

I want to be able to go to nytimes.com, or Vox, or Hacker News, and read the articles and comment threads on a high-contrast screen that doesn't hurt my eyes. I don't want to use some read-later service that sends specific articles to my e-reader, I want to just navigate to the sites directly. There would be trade-offs for sure, but it seems like the benefits would outweigh the downsides.

I've been waiting for ~ 10 years now. Am the only one? Is anyone ever going to make this?

Re: Open-source, DRM-free Kindle alternative

#4

Post by catalogia » Sat, Jun 20, 2020, 5:22 PM UTC

Is there any text-to-speech system that could run on hardware like this with good results? I still use my old Kindle Keyboard with sideloaded books because it has pretty decent text-to-speech (which Amazon removed from later revisions.) I've tried some open source TTS systems like festival and could never get any to work well enough to actually use (insufficient voice quality to work at faster reading speeds.)

Re: Open-source, DRM-free Kindle alternative

#5

Post by cherioo » Sat, Jun 20, 2020, 5:28 PM UTC

Wowfunhappy wrote: post #3

I want an e-ink web browsing tablet. I want to be able to go to nytimes.com, or Vox, or Hacker News, and read the articles and comment threads on a high-contrast screen that doesn't hurt my eyes. I don't want to use some read-later service that sends specific articles to my e-reader, I want to just navigate to the sites directly. There would be trade-offs for sure, but it seems like the benefits would outweigh the do…

Those exists now, in the form of eink Android phone/tablet. The refresh rate of eink makes their experience suboptimal, but some find it usable enough.

You can search for Boox tablet, or Hisense A5 phone.

Re: Open-source, DRM-free Kindle alternative

#6

Post by eldelshell » Sat, Jun 20, 2020, 5:30 PM UTC

Wowfunhappy wrote: post #3

I want an e-ink web browsing tablet. I want to be able to go to nytimes.com, or Vox, or Hacker News, and read the articles and comment threads on a high-contrast screen that doesn't hurt my eyes. I don't want to use some read-later service that sends specific articles to my e-reader, I want to just navigate to the sites directly. There would be trade-offs for sure, but it seems like the benefits would outweigh the do…

I really wanted the Pixel Qi to release something and succeed but they are gone now.

Re: Open-source, DRM-free Kindle alternative

#7

Post by criddell » Sat, Jun 20, 2020, 5:36 PM UTC

cherioo wrote: post #5

Wowfunhappy wrote: post #3

I want an e-ink web browsing tablet. I want to be able to go to nytimes.com, or Vox, or Hacker News, and read the articles and comment threads on a high-contrast screen that doesn't hurt my eyes. I don't want to use some read-later service that sends specific articles to my e-reader, I want to just navigate to the sites directly. There would be trade-offs for sure, but it seems like the benefits would outweigh the do…

Those exists now, in the form of eink Android phone/tablet. The refresh rate of eink makes their experience suboptimal, but some find it usable enough. You can search for Boox tablet, or Hisense A5 phone.

There's also ones from Sony, Supernote, and Remarkable.

Re: Open-source, DRM-free Kindle alternative

#8

Post by inetsee » Sat, Jun 20, 2020, 5:41 PM UTC

My question is whether this device can download and read ebooks from Amazon? I don't have a Kindle and the small number of Amazon ebooks I have (many of them free), I read on Amazon's Reader page. My take on Amazon is they aren't going to make it easy to bypass their controls, both DRM and otherwise.

Re: Open-source, DRM-free Kindle alternative

#9

Post by ikeboy » Sat, Jun 20, 2020, 5:42 PM UTC

Wowfunhappy wrote: post #3

I want an e-ink web browsing tablet. I want to be able to go to nytimes.com, or Vox, or Hacker News, and read the articles and comment threads on a high-contrast screen that doesn't hurt my eyes. I don't want to use some read-later service that sends specific articles to my e-reader, I want to just navigate to the sites directly. There would be trade-offs for sure, but it seems like the benefits would outweigh the do…

Well, the Kindle has a web browser. What's wrong with that?

Re: Open-source, DRM-free Kindle alternative

#10

Post by kick » Sat, Jun 20, 2020, 5:45 PM UTC

inetsee wrote: post #8

My question is whether this device can download and read ebooks from Amazon? I don't have a Kindle and the small number of Amazon ebooks I have (many of them free), I read on Amazon's Reader page. My take on Amazon is they aren't going to make it easy to bypass their controls, both DRM and otherwise.

Calibre strips Amazon's DRM and most book reading software supports you fetching books directly from Calibre.