Quill OS: An open-source OS for Kobo's eReaders

Posted by Curiositry 1 day ago

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Comments

Comment by wrxd 1 day ago

I bought a Kobo because it felt one of the most hackable e-readers but I ended up using the stock software with a single but very important change: I edited a configuration file to point the API to my BookLore instance. This gives me access to all of my ebooks and preserves all the functionalities of the stock software, which is perfectly adequate for my needs.

It turns out that what I wanted all along was the ability to seamlessly read books I buy from any source, not any deeper hacking of the OS.

Kudos to Kobo for keeping their system so open. These days it’s not that common

Comment by goku12 1 day ago

> Kudos to Kobo for keeping their system so open. These days it’s not that common

This is such an underrated feature. I used to own a Kindle before, and now a Kobo Libra. I'm very pleased and satisfied with the Kobo - something I rarely feel about consumer devices these days. Kobo should be proud of themselves for sticking to the principle. I will not spend my money on anything less open when it's time to replace it. I hope the vendors take note.

Freedom and openness should be considered as a feature for any product - perhaps the most important one. And us, consumers need to encourage and if possible, force the vendors using our collective purchasing power, to offer us that feature. I may be preaching to the choir here. But this message is well worth spreading among the public. Please do.

PS: I have seen DIY devices that are more open than Kobo. But Kobo is also the most viable option here. Please mention any alternatives that you know of.

Comment by nfredericks 1 day ago

Do you know if booklore syncs the page that you’re on?

Comment by wrxd 1 day ago

I haven't updated to a version with the feature yet but support for it has been added recently In https://github.com/booklore-app/booklore/pull/1541 and https://github.com/booklore-app/booklore/pull/1644

I noticed that there is also this issue open https://github.com/booklore-app/booklore/issues/1898 so it sounds like the core of the feature is there but they are still ironing out all the kinks

Comment by dotancohen 23 hours ago

I've never touched the OS, but I've had four generations of Barnes & Noble Nook e-ink devices. I add a launcher via ADB and then can install any Android software. I usually only use them for AnkiDroid.

Comment by leobg 19 hours ago

That sounds cool. Perfect hardware for the task. I’d love to see a video of it. I checked on youtube but didn’t find one.

(I used to run flashcards on a Palm Pilot back in the days. The app was called SuperMemo.)

Comment by dotancohen 16 hours ago

The first versions of Anki used the SuperMemo algorithm if I'm not mistaken.

I've actually since graduated to a 10.3" Boox E-ink tablet. It's too big for AnkiDroid or book reading, but it is terrific for note taking during meetings or lectures, reading and annotating technical documentation, calendar management, and web browsing. My next gift to self will either be a Tesla Roadster or a 7" E-ink device for AnkiDroid and books!

Comment by andrepd 1 day ago

Pocketbook is the main alternative. Hardware better than Kobo imo (e.g. their 6-inch eReader has buttons, Kobo's doesn't), and the software is even more open.

Comment by t-3 1 day ago

Pocketbook has far worse service and are not easily available in the US. Their use of flat bezels means that any small fall or bump will destroy the screen too.

Comment by conrod2 1 day ago

The bezels of the Kobo are the reason I opted to jailbreak a Kindle instead of buying a Kobo. For me, they're far too distracting to see and feel

Comment by t-3 23 hours ago

I appreciate the aesthetic of flat bezels, but I find cases more annoying than bezels so I go for bezels to avoid needing to buy a new reader every 6 months to a year. My flat-bezeled Onyx Boox and Pocketbook readers have proven much more fragile than my fully-bezeled Kobos and old Kindle.

Comment by tenthirtyam 20 hours ago

I bought a kobo for myself about 18months ago and I'm hooked. I have since bought two more for gifts and 3 friends have bought them on my recommendation. I have never before been such a vocal (if unintentional) ambassador for a tech gadget.

Why so passionate, I hear you ask? Pretty much exactly the reasons you specify - unlike other hardware, I actually can do what I want with it.

And now I'm wondering what this Quill OS is about. Thanks Kobo!

Comment by kasey_junk 1 day ago

I was just looking at booklore for my kobo this weekend. The links for kobo in the docs 404 so I had sort of assumed it was an abandoned part of the project. Glad to hear it’s not and now I have a reason to dig into the code.

Comment by wrxd 1 day ago

This should be the correct link https://booklore-app.github.io/booklore-docs/docs/integratio...

Comment by HuwFulcher 1 day ago

I came onto the comments to bemoan the fact that there isn't an easy way to sync progress across devices. This is definitely going to be the trigger for me to buy a Kobo

Comment by dml2135 1 day ago

If your goal is just to easily sync your own ebook library with a Kobo device, I've found that something like this isn't really necessary.

There is a config file on the stock OS that you just need to change, and you can point the Kobo store to your own instance of Calibre Web.

This lets you sync and download your own books to the device over wifi.

I played around with KOReader a bit but found the stock software simpler to use. All I really need is to not be tied to an ebook store.

Comment by EvanAnderson 1 day ago

Commenting to provide a confirming data point. I bought a Kobo Libra H2O a few years ago. Unboxed it, modified the config, and immediately started using it with Calibre. It has never participated in any manufacturer's "ecosystem" and has functioned well in a totally "offline" capacity.

I was sad to hear newer Kobo devices are shipping with Secure Boot. I've never reflashed my Libra H2O (it's my daughter's and I'd never be able to get it away from her long enough to replace it) but I liked knowing that I owned the device. I'm sad to hear the new ones are owner-hostile.

Comment by alias_neo 1 day ago

Can also confirm, I have used the config modification to sync my Kobo Forma with Calibre Web since new.

A quick config change to the store URL to point to Calibre Web, and some setup in Calibre Web and you're good to go.

This is the guide I followed: https://brandonjkessler.com/technology/2021/04/26/setup-kobo...

Comment by NewJazz 1 day ago

I used the Kobo with its ecosystem, even bought a few books with the store. Also disappointed to hear that they seemingly don't allow unlocking the bootloader on their newer devices... If that's true.

I don't care about secure boot / a locked bootloader so much as the ability to unlock it.

Comment by zozbot234 1 day ago

I'm not sure about that. The relevant discussion here is at https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46194337 but from the linked Github issue it's not at all clear that a true bootloader lock is involved. It should still be possible to boot something else on device, it's just likely to require a lot of work.

Comment by zuntaruk 1 day ago

Could you share what the config item is that you need to change for this? Or point to some docs?

Comment by theshrike79 1 day ago

I found the instructions here:

https://www.reddit.com/r/kobo/comments/1nahk6f/got_calibrewe...

Comment by absoluteunit1 22 hours ago

Wow - had no idea this was possible!

That’s awesome. Going to add this change to my Kobo - I already self host a bunch of stuff on a Pi, will add Calibre to the list

Comment by mati365 1 day ago

You can also use Dropbox to sync your data on some kobo devices. It used to be disabled, but you can enable it manually in one config file.

Comment by andrepd 1 day ago

Or, of course, you can just plug USB and it'll sync (and charge).

Comment by inatreecrown2 1 day ago

is this the file? KOBOeReader/.kobo/Kobo/Kobo eReader.conf

what did you change?

Comment by alias_neo 1 day ago

This is the guide I followed when I did mine years ago: https://brandonjkessler.com/technology/2021/04/26/setup-kobo...

Comment by rlue 1 day ago

My dream for an open e-book reader is to have some kind of graphical OPDS browser as a substitute for the commercial storefronts offered by Amazon/Rakuten/etc. If you could host and publish your own ebook library (using BookLore or something similar), then explore and fetch content off of it with the same UI polish as you can get from a corporate vendor (complete with cover art galleries, carousels for recent releases and recommendations and the like), I think that'd make e-readers so much more appealing and usable for diehard FOSS folks.

Comment by no_news_is 1 day ago

I got beat to the punch in being the one to tell you, but I can add a link: https://github-wiki-see.page/m/koreader/koreader/wiki/OPDS-s...

Comment by wkat4242 1 day ago

You can do that with koreader. It can even sync progress now with kavita. Stimulating what Amazon called whisper sync.

Comment by rlue 1 day ago

I use koreader, including its OPDS server support! While I'm always grateful for all FOSS (and especially for well-written FOSS), koreader's OPDS UI still has a long way to go to approximate what I'm imagining. It's basically a file browser in List view, whereas a good digital book storefront would include gallery views with cover art, synopses and other metadata when clicking into any individual publication, search functionality, recommendation carousels, and more.

Comment by majora2007 1 day ago

There is a brand new plugin for KOReader that offers a richer experience and uses Kavita's API. I don't have a link handy, but it was shared in the Kavita discord (and will be on the wiki once I write a new page for it).

Koreader's OPDS implementation is VERY rough around the edges. It doesn't support much of the metadata and doesn't follow the spec very well. I had to write hacks in Kavita to give users better support for it. (My understanding is Koreader isn't too hot on OPDS in general).

Comment by hashworks 1 day ago

Let's be honest, if we are talking about UX for the average user the koreader UI has a long way to go in general.

Comment by 1shooner 1 day ago

I just installed it on my Kindle Oasis. No way to just replicate the Kindle view of all my books in a list regardless of directory, and the real killer was that it doesn't invert page turn buttons when the display is rotated. PRs welcome, I'm sure, but I had to give up on it.

Comment by wkat4242 1 day ago

Yeah they could take some lessons from Plato. However, koreader works on everything. Android, Kindle, Kobo, PocketBook etc. Not just on Kobo like Plato does.

It took me some getting used to but it's not bad IMO. It's more that its conventions are a bit different from the commercial readers but that's not a bad thing.

Comment by 10729287 1 day ago

Koreader is pretty intimidating at first but once you dig into its features and know what's going on, it's pretty easy to navigate into the menus. It require some time to invest at first, but after that it's really "set and forget" with some lovely features and power to customise absolutely everything. I love the statistics wallpaper that shows you how much you read previous 7 days, per day, and the fact that you can set every book parameter as default, making every epubs looking the same, something I've never been able to achieve with stock Kobo, where I absolutely hated beginning a new book and discover huge fonts, weird margins, and tiny line-spacing, that I had to set again.

Comment by LukasMathis 1 day ago

I had the same issue, and I'm working on an ebook reader that does exactly what you're asking for. It's not available yet, but there are screenshots here:

https://leafl.it/

Comment by wkat4242 1 day ago

True, that could be spiced up a lot. But I didn't think you intended it for mainstream users in your comment. For the HN crowd it should be enough. A mainstream user will not be messing around with OPDS servers anyway.

And recommendation caroussels are a bit too much like advertising to me. Something I wouldn't want on self-hosted stuff.

Comment by grep_name 20 hours ago

That sounds neat! I have an old kobo clara HD. I run koreader through nickelmenu, and I have to let it load its native software before selecting and switching into koreader. I'm also under the impression that if I connect it to the internet I'm at risk of losing my setup via wireless update. I think I had to delete a config file by mounting the device to linux to be able to even use it without a walmart / ratuken / whatever idp account in the first place.

Everyone here is lauding kobo for being so 'open' and 'hackable', but when I set mine up in 2022 it kind of just felt like they just weren't as good at fucking me over and subverting my intentions as Amazon. Kind of like being an intruder in your own home. Have things changed? Should I update my setup?

Comment by fdkjhkdsahfk 1 day ago

Unfortunately this is mostly for very old versions of Kobo e-readers! Specifically the ones that use an SD Card for internal storage. Very sad since I'm very much in the market for an e-Ink device that I can just use offline to read my .pdf and .epub files. Does anyone have suggestions?

Apparently they're working on a new OS based on the Pine64 Pinenote* but it's almost $400!

Comment by crispinb 1 day ago

Kobo + Koreader (https://koreader.rocks/) works pretty sweetly with Calibre.

Comment by Shorel 1 day ago

I went from Kobo to PocketBook, and I am very satisfied with this change.

Comment by hwj 8 hours ago

Can you please elaborate a little bit more on this? I'm thinking about buying an ereader but haven't decided yet which is the one...

Comment by stonogo 1 day ago

You can use newer Kobo devices offline and without an account: https://blog.the-ebook-reader.com/2022/02/10/how-to-use-kobo...

Comment by vasco 1 day ago

Don't all of them do that? I've had many Kindles over the years that all do that. You can probably get a cheap second hand one too

Comment by ralferoo 1 day ago

I have a few of these Kobo Touch readers that haven't been touched in years, so no idea if the batteries even still work. Even though I'd never tried them before, I got 3 as a local shop (WHSmiths in the UK) was having a clearance sale as they were being discontinued, so I got 3 of them for less than the price of 1 would normally cost, and I'd read they were quite hackable.

I really liked the idea of using them, and while I did take one on holiday once, I found that I just couldn't put up with the slow speed of page transitions and the screen flickering every page turn.

For the speed issue, if it's limited by the time to render a page, I wondered why they wouldn't just cache the rendered previously page and pre-generate the next page while you were reading the first.

I understand why the page flickers, but it always seemed to me that doing partial refreshes of the screen would be much better aesthetically. Maybe the more recent ones actually do that, although I got the impression that manufacturers had just moved back to LCD screens because people liked colours more than battery life. Certainly not long after I bought my Kobo, my mum upgraded from an e-ink Kindle to an LCD one which seemed like a step backwards to me, but she was much happier with it.

So, just wondering if any of the issues around page turning are addressed in this custom OS and app. If so, I'll dig around in my junk box to try it out. Otherwise I guess they're likely to stay there for another decade!

Comment by bondarchuk 1 day ago

>For the speed issue, if it's limited by the time to render a page

It's not, it's a physical limitation of the e-ink screen.

Any e-reader I've seen does full refresh every n pages where n is user-settable.

Comment by carlosjobim 21 hours ago

Your devices must be really really old. Eink screens have been plenty fast enough for book reading for about a decade now.

Comment by andrepd 1 day ago

> I understand why the page flickers, but it always seemed to me that doing partial refreshes of the screen would be much better aesthetically.

Well but this is exactly what they do ahahaha x) You can set how many page turns between full refreshes in the settings.

Comment by ralferoo 1 day ago

I guess maybe mine is just too old from before they got this sorted.

From what I remember, mine always fully turns black then clears before rendering. Even big areas of the page that are white both before and after, there was always a full screen black flash. I wouldn't be at all bothered if it was just the areas with text that went fully black before clearing, but it's very jarring full screen.

Comment by crtasm 1 day ago

I think installing KOReader would let you configure it https://github.com/koreader/koreader/wiki/Installation-on-Ko...

That said I have a 2012 Kobo Mini with the option in stock firmware (and an undocumented "only refresh when I choose to" setting too). Maybe there's a firmware update for yours that would add it?

Comment by ralferoo 23 hours ago

I dug one of mine out of the cupboard and just checked. There's an option for refresh after every: with options from 1 page to 6 pages. I guess better than I remembered, but that's still not what I was after.

What I really want is for the framebuffer to remember past pixels, so that the blacking out is restricted to only areas where there previously were pixel. I don't really mind noise on where the text was while the page is replaced, it the big areas flashing black needlessly that's distracting.

I might try out this firmware over the holidays though. If I get back into using the kobo as an e-reader, maybe I'll look at the issue myself now that it's open source, if it's not been addressed by someone already.

Comment by crtasm 18 hours ago

In case it's unclear, KOReader is an application you can run - not replacement firmware.

For the stock reader I believe this was the option I changed to disable automatic refresh entirely : https://old.reddit.com/r/kobo/comments/pbqey3/page_refresh_i...

Comment by ralferoo 15 hours ago

Thanks, I hadn't realised that. It's so long since I properly used the Kobo, I didn't recognise any of the names.

Comment by andrepd 23 hours ago

I know this is an option since at least 2014, which is when I got mine x) I guess if yours is even older, you might need a software update?

Comment by ggm 1 day ago

I tend to think kindle is an anathema but I also think I'm heavily invested in their product, and so is a lot of the world.

Being able to strip drm is good. But, it's stepwise refinement warfare. In the meantime, being able to run a copy of the Google Android kindle reader, and obtain a valid licence-to-read key is useful. I'm not disparaging calibre or apprentice Alf, I'm just pointing out the more compliant path also exists.

That's what boox does. It's clear android can do this. I suppose what I'm asking is can these debian style OS run enough emulation/compatibility libraries to run an Android kindle app?

Comment by crusty 1 day ago

Don't the told exist to divest of one's 'ecosystem investment' in Amazon by way of Kindle. You've been able to strip DRM from the Amazon-purchased books and jailbreak the Kindle. At that point, Amazon holds nothing over you and both the ebooks and hardware are no longer held hostage.

I have a paperwhite theater I bought years ago from Woot for like $30 and I simply never logged in or even connected it to wifi, so I get no ads and I don't buy DRM-laden books from Amazon. Calibre turns DRM-free epubs into Kindle accepted mobi format seemlessly on upload.

I can't help but think that those who complain about the lock-in but simply never bother to break free, just don't care that much. Shaking a fist at Amazon feels more like a self-soothing exercise to allay the cognitive dissonance that arises from telling oneself that you agree with those who curse Amazon (or what it represents) while you continue to choose Amazon.

Comment by thot_experiment 1 day ago

I'm desperately searching for an e-book reader and i wonder if someone here has a good answer. I'd like a something I can root and or at least run arbitrary userland code on. I want a size that's good for edc in a small backpack or handbag, maybe 7 - 11", pen support would also be really nice, does any such thing exist?

Comment by eldridgea 1 day ago

I got a Boox Go Color 7 as a less locked in alternative to my Kindle a while back, and overall I've really enjoyed it.

It's apparently rootable, although I haven't done that personally. It's Google Play certified so anything from the Play store works, and side loading Android apps works too. I use it with the open source KOReader app and in tandem with Calibre Web Automated. I did a writeup[0] with some details if you're interested.

[0] https://blog.eldrid.ge/2025/03/12/self-hosted-ebook-manageme...

Comment by icedrift 1 day ago

Onyx violate GPL with their linux-based OS. I'd go Kobo or remarkable over them for that alone

Comment by nunez 1 day ago

It's an easy process; I wrote up how to do it: https://gist.github.com/carlosonunez/a0ec3f02576867329bc313b...

Comment by j4nkest 1 day ago

I second this, been using an Onyx Boox tablet for a year and a half for uni. It's great for reading and taking notes and it fits nicely in my laptop bag on top of my laptop.

Comment by chrneu 1 day ago

You have a cool blog.

Comment by eldridgea 1 day ago

Thank you!

Comment by lknuth 1 day ago

I habe a "Pocketbook Verse Pro" that runs Linux. No need to root, you can copy ARM executables to the SD card and run them (that's how I use Syncthing on it). KOReader also works on it.

Comment by vlowrian 1 day ago

+1 for the PocketBook. I have an Era and use it with KOReader and Calibre. Installation was as easy as copying a folder onto the device.

I also wrote a short write-up about my experience with PocketBook devices and KOReader, for anyone who's interested: https://tc3.eu/posts/pocketbook-era-with-koreader/

Comment by ThrowawayR2 1 day ago

If you don't require an e-ink display, the least effort route might be the MS Surface Go 3 tablet running Windows or Linux (https://github.com/linux-surface/linux-surface/wiki/Installa...).

The Remarkable 2 has an e-ink display but is rather underpowered as an e-reader. It does have an SDK for building apps: https://developer.remarkable.com/documentation/sdk

Comment by marcus_holmes 1 day ago

Love my Remarkable 2, but my main use case for an e-reader is reading in bed at night, and it just doesn't work for that (form factor and lack of backlight, though the newer ones do have a backlight).

However, for reading technical docs or workshop docs in daylight, it's great.

Comment by komali2 1 day ago

The Kobo Libra Color is within your size range and has pen support. You can run Koreader on it and some other things, it's not like, a linux device though. I do think you can run arbitrary scripts through the program that manages alternative readers like Koreader or Plato.

Comment by j45 1 day ago

You must check out the Supernote line

https://supernote.com/

Comment by codethief 1 day ago

The important thing to know here is that Supernote nowadays allows sideloading apps, like any other Android device.

Comment by oldfuture 1 day ago

We should fully own what we buy, things like this are essential

Comment by franklyworks 1 day ago

I see their repo[0] mentions transitioning to the Pinenote. I'd like to run an ordinary distribution on my Pinenote.

Does anyone know what the mainline support is like nowadays, and whether widely packaged software can make it usable as an ebook reader?

0. https://github.com/Quill-OS/quill

Comment by franklyworks 1 day ago

The kernel has mainline support, but it looks a fork is used by most images.

https://git.sr.ht/~hrdl/linux/log/v6.17-rc5_pinenote has many commits.

Comment by erelong 1 day ago

PostmarketOS runs on a few models of Kobo:

https://wiki.postmarketos.org/wiki/Category:Kobo

Comment by outlore 1 day ago

This is very timely, as I recently purchased a Kobo device. One painpoint has been syncing sideloaded books between my phone and Kobo. I am using Readest sync with KOReader but I'd love to see a more seamless solution. Hoping that Quill can offer some sort of sync in the future.

Comment by ashtonabc 1 day ago

I've found Syncthing to work well with my Kobo; it's easier than plugging it in and adding/removing books through Calibre. There's a KOReader plugin (https://github.com/jasonchoimtt/koreader-syncthing), or it can be enabled/disabled through Nickel (https://anarc.at/hardware/tablet/kobo-clara-hd/#install-sync...).

Comment by windexh8er 1 day ago

This is the best setup I've tried as well. Syncthing works so well I just often forget about it / take it for granted. I used to just deal with plugging our Kobo devices in, but now I can just distribute the relevant media by dropping a file somewhere.

The Kobo devices are truly worth every penny and we've got 4 of them in our household at this point. These are some of the best devices to put in the hands of kids.

Comment by anilakar 1 day ago

> in the hands of kids

Until you learn the hard way that e-ink displays have a thin, fragile glass plate inside.

Comment by windexh8er 23 hours ago

If the assertion here is that Kobo devices are fragile: they're not.

Our first two Kobo were purchased in 2018 and both have been on every business / personal trip since. I don't particularly go out of my way to protect mine, I have the stock magnetic cover. Other than the edges of it wearing, that's the only visible "damage". My kids have had Kobo since 2019 and they take them everywhere. The Kobo devices are not fragile in the least. I worry more about them being left behind than breaking them.

Comment by mkozlows 1 day ago

KOReader has built in Progress Sync, which works well for the purpose.

Comment by wkat4242 1 day ago

Yes and Kavita just introduced support for it in epubs. It already had it for comics but that's because their pages are more static, a much easier problem to solve.

Comment by stuxnet79 1 day ago

By OS I take it this includes a kernel and is a full replacement of the native Kobo OS (Nickel)? If so, then I wonder if it's possible to get Kobos to boot directly into KOReader.

Comment by qmmmur 1 day ago

How does this compare to using Plato or KOreader? I currently use Plato for its simplicity.

Comment by erikw 1 day ago

Love Plato- it’s so performant! I’ve always wondered why Kobo doesn’t just throw out what they’ve got and fork it.

Comment by t-3 1 day ago

While I do like Plato, it's got a lot of bugs and design issues... It can't handle epubs without chapters/really large chapters, it is noticeably worse on battery life than KOreader or the stock firmware, the amount of time taken to load the dictionary is proportional to the number of dictionaries, etc.

Comment by ac29 1 day ago

I don't see anything about libby/overdrive support which isn't surprising but is unfortunate.

Integration with libraries is the killer feature of ereaders IMO

Comment by 47282847 1 day ago

Is it? Calibre with deDRM is a must for me. I love Overdrive but cannot imagine to stick to the forced regime of lending periods and random waiting times. I also typically read multiple (sometimes dozens of) non-fiction books in parallel, plus one or two fiction. That just wouldn’t work at all with digital lending.

Comment by Marsymars 1 day ago

It's the only way that works with digital lending! If you want to always have something available to read you need to be steadily queuing up books, but then they come in at a semi-random time so you have to jump between books depending on lending periods / length / interest to get through everything you have checked out before they get returned.

Comment by ForHackernews 1 day ago

This is really sad. You're just pirating books. At least go use a pirate website and don't ruin libraries for the rest of us.

We will no longer have public goods if the public abuses them.

Comment by 47282847 17 hours ago

I honestly don’t see the harm about removing the lending period for my personal reading. It will only make me check out and read more books. Can you detail the harm I am causing? It’s like making photocopies of books for my own use, which is still legal.

Comment by ForHackernews 16 hours ago

The chain of causality is about one link long: If libraries become common vectors for privacy, the powers that be will end libraries. https://time.com/6266147/internet-archive-copyright-infringe...

Photocopying an entire book is, in fact, against the law in most cases: https://fairuse.stanford.edu/overview/academic-and-education...

Selfish people like yourself are why we can't have nice things. Either pay for your books or pirate them outright from bittorrent.

Comment by ethagnawl 1 day ago

I love the idea of OverDrive but I've yet to have success with it. Either the book I'm interested in isn't available or it's unavailable for weeks. I don't have a ton of time to read or to drop what I am reading when something becomes available, so I usually just wind up buying the book if I'm really excited about it.

Granted, my library is not part of a major city's system but it's also not what I'd call a small one. I'd be curious to know how NYC or Chicago compare, as those are where people I know have had very positive experiences with these options.

Comment by y1n0 1 day ago

What works for me with overdrive is using holds and then when it comes available, if I'm not ready to read I let someone skip ahead of me. That way I'm still next in line but it gives me a few days until someone else finishes the book and then it pings me again.

Comment by aardvarkr 1 day ago

If you read one book a quarter then yeah it’s not for you. If you read one book a week you can queue up fifty good books and wait for that one to come available at some point in the year.

Comment by komali2 1 day ago

I used to do that but then like 10 books would come available at the same time and I'd feel all this pressure to read them as fast as possible.

In the end I gave up and just download now.

Comment by IlikeKitties 1 day ago

Just Pirate stuff on Annas Archive. Jumping through these ridiculous hoops for less than a floppy disk of data is just a humiliation ritual.

Comment by kelnos 1 day ago

Authors should get paid for their work, though. Publishers, too, to be honest (they also do a lot of work and usually run on thin margins).

Waiting in line in a library app is annoying, but the waiting signals demand, which drives the library to buy more copies to circulate.

Comment by komali2 1 day ago

If you care about the author, navigate to their website and buy a book directly from them, or a tshirt or something. Then they'll actually get paid, unlike from a library loan, or the scraps that Amazon gives them (unless the author depends on Amazon's print on demand for all prints of their books in which case, I guess buy it from Amazon).

Comment by ethagnawl 17 hours ago

Also consider buying from bookshop.org and supporting a small bookstore in addition to the author.

Comment by shrubby 1 day ago

Yup.

In order for the writer not to starve, we must bypass the zillionaires.

Send pennies directly to the artist and work for a just society.

I'd prefer a complete bypass of the enshittified economy. Replaced with a system that doesn't trust that people with absolute power won't turn into narcissist cunts.

We've seen this waterfall of a system in communism, capitalism and more recently technofeodalism so one would think the logical solution would be to replace it with a grassroots up system.

Comment by komali2 1 day ago

> I'd prefer a complete bypass of the enshittified economy. Replaced with a system that doesn't trust that people with absolute power won't turn into narcissist cunts.

I've been running a co-op for about 4 years now and I really want to expand the model since it seems to be working really well. Turns out giving everyone in the company ownership and an equal say in what we do with our profits (including simply redistributing it to everyone) results in ridiculously hard working people. I'm trying to leverage this into making our own internal product development happen but am kinda stuck coming up with ideas.

Anyway someone interviewed me recently and was asking, "why don't more companies form as co-ops? What's the hidden downsides?" I was surprised that there was this suspicion that there must be some sneaky hidden downside, when in fact co-ops are more sustainable, have lower turnover, higher profit per person, and happier employees. There's no actual downside, it's literally all upsides - oh, except for the fact that there's no way to get obscenely rich as the owner of a co-op. That's it, that's the entire reason. People with capital start companies so they can exploit labor to get even more capital, and only people with capital have enough time and money to start companies, so thus there's not many co-ops.

> replace it with a grassroots up system.

This is basically how Marx wrote about Communism, and how Kropotkin wrote about Anarchist Communism. There have been many... interpretations... of their work in practice. Spanish anarchist syndicalism actually worked remarkably well, they had nearly their entire economy syndicalized before they were betrayed by the communists and then killed en masse by the fascists.

Comment by IlikeKitties 1 day ago

> Waiting in line in a library app is annoying, but the waiting signals demand, which drives the library to buy more copies to circulate.

This is not true for digital libraries. They do not "buy more copies" to circulate. They don't physically send you an USB Stick with a copy of the book and you send that back without making a copy. They can send everyone "in line" as many copies as they want. Whats the size of an ebook these days? 1MB? How many trillion copies could you make in a day?

You have to wait in line to hopefully someday maybe be allowed to read a copy of a book while meta torrents a petabyte of books for their AI usage. This is nothing but a humiliation ritual.

Comment by Marsymars 1 day ago

> They do not "buy more copies" to circulate.

That is exactly how ebook licenses for libraries work.

Comment by IlikeKitties 1 day ago

No, that is not how ebook licenses work. They buy more LICENSES not more COPIES.

Comment by wkat4242 1 day ago

Huh cool, we don't have any such large online libraries in Europe. Some countries or regions have some small online repos but it's a real PITA to get working as they all use Adobe drm.

I used to buy on kindle but since they made it much harder to break drm I just pirate now. I'm not paying for content I don't get to own.

Comment by 47282847 1 day ago

I have an account with Berlin libraries and they offer both Libby and Overdrive (and some others) with a fairly large catalog. There is deDRM for calibre, and a command line tool called Knock which does not require Adobe software to remove the DRM.

Comment by wkat4242 1 day ago

Ah nice we don't have anything like that here.

But I don't think I will go back from what I'm doing now. It took a lot to get me to leave Amazon, but the DRM thing and also lately the larger amount of books "not available in your country or region" has just made me give up on the industry.

I will buy books now only if they are available to buy without DRM, and if they are not I will just pirate them.

Comment by Schinken_ 1 day ago

From what I gathered the (germany centric?) available "Tolino" eReaders are just a rebranding of Kobo (or the other way round). So depending on the model the OS should also run on Tolinos right?

Comment by 7839284023 1 day ago

Yes it does.

I bought a Tolino Shine 5 and converted it to Kobo Clara BW following this guide: https://old.reddit.com/r/tolino/comments/1hni1fn/you_can_con...

At the end I still returned the Shine 5 because the small front-facing LED kept shining for no reason. I don’t know if it was hardware related or happened because of the firmware switch.

Comment by habosa 1 day ago

I’m trying to leave the Kindle world. I’ve already stopped buying books on Amazon, instead getting them elsewhere and using Calibre to strip the DRM and sideload them.

What I really want is a physical eink reader that can load books from the bookshop.org ebook store. Then I can support both authors and bookstores.

Their website claims that they have an integration with Kobo on the way, but it’s said this for about a year now with no progress.

Comment by mesaoptimizer 1 day ago

Reminds me of Project Oberon: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38892164 and https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9847955

Comment by ctkhn 1 day ago

Love my jailbroken kindle, but would love a full replacement OS like this.

Comment by haoya 1 day ago

Yes, Quill OS would look amazing running on a Kindle!

Comment by Curiositry 1 day ago

Currently supported devices lists Kindle Touch: https://github.com/Quill-OS/quill/wiki#currently-supported-d...

Comment by ctkhn 1 day ago

I've got a paperwhite 4. But for now KUAL is enough

Comment by ihaveone 1 day ago

I'd love to see this on the Aura HD

Comment by listenfaster 1 day ago

Same - maybe no one’s tested it on the aura HD yet?

Comment by Schlagbohrer 1 day ago

Considering the Kobo ereaders have bluetooth antennas, it is really too bad that they cant be put on the FindMy network to find a lost ebook. Open source firmware should enable that though since the FindMy protocol has been reverse engineered.

Comment by cromka 1 day ago

So you mean it's not _currently_ possible, not that they _can't_ be put on the network?

Comment by stonogo 1 day ago

This project is basically abandoned, as they chose to rebuild it from the ground up targeting a different platform: https://github.com/PorQ-Pine

Part of the motivation derived from newer Kobos deploying with SecureBoot, making it tough to reflash them.

Comment by pryce 1 day ago

From the wiki: currently supported devices does not appear to support the recent Kobo eReaders

Comment by wkat4242 1 day ago

Yes because they use signed firmware, it was in another article here recently

Comment by __float 1 day ago

What I don't really understand is why they've tied the reader app so tightly to the entire custom OS. It seems like it used to be more standalone, and these days that is essentially impossible?

Comment by pxc 1 day ago

I have a Kobo Elipsa 2E (which I love). I never new about the PineNote! It seems awesome. Maybe I will have to get one.

Comment by mrsssnake 1 day ago

Should really be called Restricted Boot

Comment by didacusc 1 day ago

If they ever make a Kobo like the Kindle Oasis, I'll switch. Until then, I'm holding onto the best e-reader experience I've ever had.

Comment by Western0 23 hours ago

I need ssh+mc+cc+git

not for real coding but for sometimes writing a patch and meybe creating a small script

Comment by EbNar 1 day ago

I'd try it but sadly disassembling an IP68 device is a no go for me. :(

Comment by tuananh 1 day ago

what's the recommended ereaders now aday? with an open OS?

Comment by listenfaster 1 day ago

Rakuten, the company behind kobo, has always tolerated hacking their devices, so there are several options, including KOReader, Plato and the subject here, Quill. Personally I think Kobo is your best option, if i understand your ‘open OS’ requirement.

Comment by wkat4242 1 day ago

Not anymore! They've recently moved to closing their devices with signed firmware

Comment by ulfw 22 hours ago

Why would i need another OS for ... an e-reader? Are people just so bored? Who would keep this up-to-date? And why?

Comment by systems 1 day ago

is it a linux?

Comment by voxadam 1 day ago

https://github.com/Quill-OS/rootfs

Yep.

Comment by theodric 1 day ago

I'd love to try this, but (tangential) have they fixed their screen issues? I sent back three Kobo Elipsa 2E units in a row before just getting my money back due to bright point spots on the lit-up screen, which are reportedly caused by dust caught between layers during assembly. It's a bit disappointing to spend over €400 on a device several times and discover that the manufacturer apparently can't even bother assembling them in a clean room to avoid messing up the primary feature of the device.

Comment by phyrex 18 hours ago

I hate the stock kobo reader, so this is exciting!