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The Open Book - An open hardware reading device that's easy to build, easy to manufacture, and easy to make your own (hackaday.io)

submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by Voyager@psychedelia.ink to c/opensource@lemmy.ml

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This is a complete reimagining of the Open Book Project, but the original mission remains:

As a society, we need an open source device for reading. Books are among the most important documents of our culture, yet the most popular and widespread devices we have for reading are closed objects, operating as small moving parts in a set of giant closed platforms whose owners' interests are not always aligned with readers'.

The Open Book aims to be a simple device that anyone can build for themselves. The Open Book should be comprehensible: the reader should be able to look at it and understand, at least in broad strokes, how it works. It should be extensible, so that a reader with different needs can write code and add accessories that make the book work for them. It should be global, supporting readers of books in all the languages of the world. Most of all, it should be open, so that anyone can take this design as a starting point and use it to build a better book.

Check out the promo video as well:
https://youtu.be/vFD9V8Hh7Yg

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[-] henfredemars@infosec.pub 147 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

When they say build it yourself, they mean it:

3D print case
Solder PCB
Compile your own firmware

For those interested, base price to build this might start at $85 based on one estimate linked from the resource.

[-] PLS_HELP@kbin.social 18 points 1 year ago

You don’t need the know-how compile the firmware! It’s available to drag and drop from GitHub: https://github.com/nvts8a/libros

[-] dansity@lemmy.dbzer0.com 15 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

DIY is like that. If you look up how to make a birdhouse they will tell you you need a saw, a hammer, nails, drill, paintbrush and something to measure with. Having a 3d printer and a soldering iron nowadays is pretty low entry, you can get into it cheaper that buying the saw, hammer and drill for the birdhouse. You don't have to buy the bambulab printer and the weller / hakko iron. You can print this case on an ender 3 you found in the dumpster. Or pay 10 bucks for someone and they will print it for you. On the other hand you will have a device you can infinitely repair unlike the kindles that are kicking the dust every few year for everyone.

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[-] rainynight65@feddit.de 7 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Is that $85 for all parts?

Calculate the extra cost if someone doesn't own a 3D printer (or doesn't have access to one) or soldering gear.

[-] henfredemars@infosec.pub 6 points 1 year ago

Right! I believe that assumes you already have necessary tools, and it certainly can't take into account the cost of your time or the cost of mistakes along the way.

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[-] nossaquesapao 95 points 1 year ago

For the people commenting about prices and comparing it to kindle:

Unfortunately, open source hardware is in its infancy, and faces severe barriers of entry, but projects like this one are really nice in order to further develop the concept and make working prototypes, proving its viability.

[-] christophski@feddit.uk 44 points 1 year ago

I don't understand, it seems perfectly reasonable - people are just so used to these products being sold at a loss or at cost and subsidised by huge companies.

I would happily pay extra to not be tied to a massive corporation.

[-] nossaquesapao 9 points 1 year ago

And if we think about it, it would only cost more at first, because open hardware would last longer and be repairable, costing much less in the long run.

[-] pingveno@lemmy.ml 6 points 1 year ago

Yeah, products like a Kindle or Kobo e-reader are sold to be paired with the company's e-book market. It makes sense for them economically I kind of view it as a win-win because I use it both for their books and for other reading material.

[-] Emanuel 9 points 1 year ago

Ideally, how would open source hardware look like for you? I mean that as in after it has achieved something akin to mainstream adoption.

[-] nossaquesapao 24 points 1 year ago

This is a great question. I don't believe it can reach the point of any person simply being able to create their own hardware, unless we're talking about an utopic future with multimaterial 3d printing in small scale, but I can see small businesses being able to manufacture custom open source hardware on demand, based on open standards. For me, the ideal scenario would be something like going into an open hardware service shop and asking for a device with your requirements, and they creating it for you, or repairing/upgrading yours.

[-] andrew_bidlaw@sh.itjust.works 9 points 1 year ago

Like with skating, many shops can provide you with wheels, decks, gear. Amazon can sell their one-piece e-books at loss, but eventually it can turn to modular open design where nothing is irreplaceable. It's a matter of demand. If there could be a good project and something like a big org or a government programm funding it, it would end well. Like, supplying troubled communities with an e-reader? If only there wouldn't be DRM fuckery, it's golden.

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[-] RobotToaster@mander.xyz 7 points 1 year ago

It doesn't seem super utopic to think a 3d printer could make a pcb, dispense solder paste, pick and place, and heat it to solder it.

Making the ICs themselves on the other hand...

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[-] ALoafOfBread@lemmy.ml 49 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Rakuten Kobo is a good alternative to Amazon Kindle. I can just drag and drop books, no internet connectivity necessary, no DRM... I have no problems with it at all. Would be cool to be able to load custom firmware, but I do not need to since it already doesn't spy on me and doesn't force DRM (3rd party book imports).

[-] optissima@possumpat.io 20 points 1 year ago

Have you installed nickelmenu and koreader? Brings the experience up a couple of levels software side.

[-] biscuit@beehaw.org 8 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Koreader blasted my "aging" 1st Gen H2O into space with all the speed and features it added.

Faster page turning
Wallabag support
Most of all: SFTP transfer from my phone

It's wild.

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[-] peopleproblems@lemmy.world 38 points 1 year ago

I just want a digital notebook that doesn't need my phone and doesn't cost $300 to amazon

[-] Chobbes@lemmy.world 11 points 1 year ago

There's slowly starting to be more options for this. The reMarkable devices seem pretty good, but they're a little pricey (though, I'm pretty sure they're not owned by Amazon, so it might technically fit your requirement).

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[-] MonkderZweite@feddit.ch 33 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Though PocketBook, Tolino, Kobo, Onyx are pretty good at openness or ability to make it open.

Sure, not Open Hardware, but you can at least read what you want with them.

[-] CrabAndBroom@lemmy.ml 25 points 1 year ago

I have a Kobo with KOReader installed and Calibre with the DeDRM plugin for managing eBooks and it's pretty great! It'll open just about anything you throw at it and is pretty customizable.

[-] NABDad@lemmy.world 32 points 1 year ago

I'm likely being an ass, but I'd argue that the most popular and widespread devices we have for reading books are probably still books.

[-] SineNomineAnonymous@lemmy.ml 33 points 1 year ago

It's true. Counterpoint: if you move places a lot (let's say if you happen to belong to a generation of people who will never be able to afford a place - which is a huge amount of people), your library needs to fit into a small tablet sized reader. Can store 5000 books, I do not have the means to move that amount of books every time my landlord decides to make my rent more unaffordable. An ereader fits in my pocket.

[-] uint32@discuss.tchncs.de 6 points 1 year ago

You could also ise a library. The ones I have used are free or almost free

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[-] PLS_HELP@kbin.social 12 points 1 year ago

On the Open Book GitHub I have collections of free books and short stories that are digital only from Tor.com. That’s actually why I wanted to get an eReader, digital only online short stories are winning Hugo Awards now, and then couldn’t decide and got involved with the Open Book is that I wanted a little device to load up with them.

[-] CosmicTurtle@lemmy.world 7 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

You're not being an ass. But I think it also depends on the book and the person.

For example: cookbooks I prefer a physical book. IT books I prefer in digital format so I can use the find function.

Fiction books I go either way. I prefer digital because they are easier to get but will browse them at the book store.

Either way having an open hardware solution is very welcome so you aren't trapped behind Amazon or Barnes and Noble.

I remember reports of Amazon deleting books off of people's devices.

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[-] psychothumbs@lemmy.world 23 points 1 year ago

I need something in between this and a Kindle. I don't want to build my own electronics, I just want to buy them from somewhere without sketchy ulterior motives for how they'll use their control over my device.

[-] papertowels@lemmy.one 13 points 1 year ago

I haven't been keeping tabs on this, but if you appreciate the legacy of pine64 (hardware kill switches on phone, Linux everywhere, etc.) They did release an epaper device:

https://www.pine64.org/2021/08/15/introducing-the-pinenote

I think they're saying it's still developer oriented and not quite user friendly yet though

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[-] agent_flounder@lemmy.world 21 points 1 year ago

I love the hell out of the circuit board labeling. Absolutely wonderful for the hobbyist diyer. Well done. o7

This is such a cool project. I think I might give this a go once I look into the details a little more.

I've been tinkering with ESP32 as a main component of a 50WPC a2dp Bluetooth receiver / amplifier. These SoCs are so incredibly capable. I'm eager to use them for a bunch of other things, now.

[-] conciselyverbose@kbin.social 20 points 1 year ago

IDK. Building your own is cool in theory, but there are a bunch of options that aren't that bad price wise that run Android.

The issue is that they're made by random Chinese companies and the software support is of varying quality. A focused community effort to support an Android build explicitly for readers and to hack their way to being installable on as many as possible seems like a better plan.

I have two (13" boox max 3, 6 inch reinkstone r1 that I just grabbed because it was $140 with color) and even with the mediocre software support the reading experience is pretty decent.

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[-] HughJanus@lemmy.ml 19 points 1 year ago

Doesn't it make way more sense to just hack Kindle hardware? I remember having a Kindle years ago and torrenting books and just slapping them on there.

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[-] PLS_HELP@kbin.social 9 points 1 year ago

For anyone interested our Discord is here! We’re a fun group of folks and have a couple of other projects. The project is mostly for fun and definitely centered around folks who are maybe trying to break into the hardware and software space with something tangible that they can use and show off, it certainly isn’t financially the best option out there but to learn and grow it’s great fun!