this post was submitted on 10 Apr 2024
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I can't wait to get a (regular) Kobo, my Kindle Paperwhite is still going strong and it's 10 years old, but I really want a Kobo because it's opensource. Amazon's OS is dreadful, mine's been in airplane mode for most of those 10 years and I just use a usb cable with it. I hope it dies soon so I will have a good excuse to replace it.
Kobo is open source? I don't think so.
It's not open source but it is easily rooted and you can install custom add-ons or even replace the os.
It happily uses epub and not proprietary formats.
The only downside to my Kobo is Amazon’s walled garden exclusive books being unavailable.
I finally figured out calibre and dedrm. Spent a weekend downloading each Amazon ebook purchase, one by one, and stripping out the drm. Now I have 500 sone epubs in my library that I can use some books or a kobo to read.
Honestly I never felt the need to modify my Kobo Aura, it just works, I load books by connecting it to my laptop, and that's it.
Replace the os with what?
Yeah, I've had a couple Kobos. If you just want to put arbitrary documents on it to display, they work well.
I think that the problem is, though, that while eInk ebook readers are really good ebook readers, they're a specialized device in a world with a lot of general-purpose portable devices that people are already carrying.
They have extremely long battery life compared to an LCD or OLED display, and they work fine in brightly-lit environments like outside on a sunny day. And even if you want to use them in the dark, they have a soft backlight that can use very little power. And they're really light and thin.
But...I carry a smartphone. And a tablet. And a laptop. Maybe not everyone carries all three, but they probably have at least one of those. And so you gotta ask yourself whether you want a really good ebook reader that's only really good at reading ebooks (and can run a web browser or similar slowly and poorly), or whether you can tolerate using a device that can read ebooks and can also do things like browse the Web and play videos.
I'd only really suggest that someone consider a dedicated ebook reader if they're regularly carrying paper books around with them because they want to use those books outside or the like. I do that and I still don't think I'd get another ebook reader. It just doesn't buy me enough extra functionality.
I often want to use a non-ebook-reader device to refer to the Web or something to look up something related to a book that I'm reading, and if I'm doing that, I'm using a general-purpose device anyway.
By the same token, MP3 players can be really good MP3 players. Like, they can have really long battery lifetime, and be really small, have physical buttons, etc. But very few people carry dedicated MP3 players today, because they already have a general-purpose smartphone with them that can act as an MP3 player...and even if it isn't quite as good as a dedicated hardware device, it's still good enough. They still exist, but there's enough overlap that for most people, they probably aren't worth getting. Same thing for audio recorders. And I think that ebook readers are in that camp too, albeit maybe not to quite the same degree.
Reading from a tablet, phone or a laptop is pure savagery! Ebook is a must have if you're any kind of prolific book reader.
I heard they are quite locked down? Onyx is easy rooted.
There is NickelMenu and you can telnet into it. You can also install other OS like KOReader easily, it doesn't have a locked bootloader or anything like that. So imho that's pretty accessible and open.
Ok? On Onyx you can install any Store and app you want, bootloader is unlocked per default. Though it has lots of telemetry (Kobo probably too) which is why you should root and cleanup.
Btw, Kobo is a reader app and maybe a launcher but not firmware/OS.
I never said anything about Onyx, I don't own one but have considered them. They look nice and open.
I do own a couple of Kobo devices though and just wanted to say it's not running Android of any kind but it's still relatively open. Especially compared to phones, tablets and Kindle. The firmware/OS point you're trying to make is irrelevant there and I think you know it :)
Huh I didn’t know that guess they just run a version of android
No it's not running Android.
We are talking about the Kobo right? It's not running any kind of Android or AOSP fork.