Re: Free as in speech hardware ebook reader
Hi Panayiotis,
I too like the idea of e-readers, without spying, adverts, and other freedom
impeding 'features.'
The Kobo and the Bookeen (recommended earlier in this thread) both
look like they use the linux kernel and busybox, so offer source for
those, but are otherwise quite proprietary. I can't imagine running
your own software freely on them, or modifying their reader software.
The only project that I know of that addresses what you want is
OpenInkpot - openinkpot.org. They've been quiet lately, but are
still active. It's an entirely free, community built Linux
distribution (not sure how much gnu stuff is in there), designed for
e-readers with e-ink displays. It works well for a few older
e-readers - if you wanted new hardware I think you'd have to get
quite involved with the project to add support. But if I were you
I'd get a second hand oldish ereader based on the Jinke V3 and put
OpenInkpot on it. Someday I plan to do that. Apparently the Kindle
is very nice hardware, so I'd like someone to finish porting
OpenInkpot to that, but I lack the time and money ;) Anyway, the
list of supported hardware is here
http://openinkpot.org/wiki/Hardware - note that lots of ereaders are
rebrands of the Jinke V3, so they should all work. A review of
OpenInkpot is at https://lwn.net/Articles/354714/
Resist the dull shiny of android tablets, get a second hand
e-reader, with a real community distribution behind it, and read
happily!
Best of luck,
Nick
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