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 — the Kobo, the Nook, the Kindle and even the iPad — are closed devices, operating as small moving parts in a set of giant closed platforms whose owners’ interests are not always aligned with readers’.

Joeycastillo‘s aims are more than good. It is a step in the right direction. Sadly, the e-ink screen currently available for such “built-it-yourself” hardware is not comparable with those of Kobo, Nook or Kindle. It’s way too small, and its resolution are too coarse.

I would rather prefer a “free-as-in-freedom” ROM for my Kobo. Luckily it seems that there are several custom firmware for Kobo, according to DuckDuckGo. You can even turn your Kobo into a Debian Linux Tablet. Here’s some random links about it:

• https://blog.the-ebook-reader.com/2018/03/17/list-of-hacks-mods-and-add-ons-for-kobo-ereaders/ https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=295612 https://wiki.mobileread.com/wiki/Kobo_Touch_Hacking
• https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14079721
• https://gitter.im/koreader/koreader https://github.com/koreader/koreader
• https://github.com/koreader/koreader/wiki/Installation-on-Kobo-devices https://github.com/ccoffing/OcherBook https://github.com/ccoffing/OcherBook/wiki/Installation
• https://it.kobobooks.com/products/kobo-clara-hd

The one I liked more is okreader. Its README says:

Free/libre software stack for Kobo ebook readers. No proprietary software (except WiFi and EPD controller firmware), no spyware and no DRM. Based on koreader and Debian.

I now have an official excuse to get me another Kobo: I can’t mess up those of my daughter, she will need it this summer!

Per chi non lo conoscesse, YotaPhone è uno smartphone Android prodotto dall’omonima società con a bordo un secondo schermo sul retro che permette, grazie alla tecnologia eInk, di leggere ebook ed utilizzare alcune funzioni del sistema operativo con un impatto quasi nullo sulla batteria.

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