Ebook Readers and Book Machines

I was an ebook-reader nerd long before most people knew what an ebook reader was.

I followed every bit of news about Sony’s upcoming Reader and waited and waited for it to be released. When I heard my local Borders had finally gotten them, I traveled all the way across town to see it.

I walked up to the counter and said, “Hi, I’m looking for the Sony book reader.” The clerk looked confused and asked, “You mean a book about Sony?” I explained that it was an ereading device made by Sony. She still had no clue what I was talking about and offered to search for a book about it. lol

Luckily, another employee overheard us and pointed toward a tiny display in the far back corner. They’d apparently gotten the Readers in the day before.

So I found the display and picked one up, but I couldn’t figure out how to turn it on. There was already text on the screen, so I assumed it was a fake display model with a printed sheet under the glass. Then I accidentally pressed the page button. The words faded away and a completely different page appeared.

It had been turned on the whole time!!

I’d never seen an E Ink screen before, and I couldn’t believe how much it looked like an actual printed page!

The background looked light, the letters were crisp, and there was none of the glare I was used to from reading on LCD screens.

I turned the page two more times, put it down, and immediately found someone who could grab me one from the back so I could buy.

I’ve never replaced the screen or battery, which looks like it would be very difficult to do.

The paint has worn away in spots where I held it so much, but the original pleather cover has also survived.

It was my main reader until the first Kindle arrived a year later.

Today, the page turns feel slow, it offers only three text sizes, and changing sizes can force it to sit there and reformat the book. I don’t really know how I managed to read on it every day for a year, but I guess at the time I seemed like magic!! lol

I may try to read a short story on it or something for old times sake.

SPECS:

The PRS-500 was Sony’s first Reader released in the United States. It reached stores in the fall of 2006, more than a year before Amazon introduced the Kindle.

Six-inch, 600-by-800 E Ink screen with four shades of gray, about 64 MB of usable internal storage, SD and Memory Stick expansion, and an advertised battery life of roughly 7,500 page turns.

It weighed just under nine ounces and loaded books from a computer rather than through Wi-Fi.

Sony replaced it with the faster PRS-505 in 2007, then closed its North American Reader Store in 2014 and eventually left the consumer e-reader business.

This turned into an interesting little project. It's my first time installing KOReader on a legacy device like this.

I found this Kindle 3, (also known as Kindle Keyboard), for $10 at a thrift shop. Edge of the screen was cracked, the battery lasted about 20 minutes, and most of the corner of the case had some kind of ink or dye stain on it.

I replaced the battery and screen, then added a skin to cover the damaged case. I don’t really love this faux wood skin ($1 on eBay), but it still looks better than the stained plastic underneath.

Once I had the Kindle working good, I decided to install KOReader. Oh boy!

I love KOReader on newer e-readers, but the interface works better with a touchscreen. This legacy version runs on the non-touch Kindle Keyboard, so navigation with the directional pad can feel awkward, and the software isn’t quite as smooth as it is on modern hardware.

The installation process sucked, and took a long time. First, I had to update the Kindle’s original firmware to version 3.4.3. Then I had to find the correct jailbreak file for my exact Kindle 3 model, install it, and restart the device. There are several nearly identical files for different Kindle versions, so choosing the correct one matters.

After jailbreak, had to install a Kindlet Kit thingy, restart again, then install an updated developer certificate because the certificate included with the older package had expired.

I initially had the wrong version, so I had to repeat part of the process with the correct file. After all that, I copied the Kindle Keyboard version of KUAL over onto it.

Only then could I finally install KOReader. None of the individual steps were super hard, but took a lot of files, updates, restarts, and model-specific versions to sort through. Probably took me about 3 hours since I had to sort though all the stuff.

Results are mostly worth it. I love the control that KOReader gives me over fonts, font sizes, margins, line spacing, etc.

It struggles with unusually large files tho. I tried an omnibus containing all the Harry Potter books in one ebook, and KOReader froze several times. The whole screen locked up, which forced me to perform a long restart.

Regular-sized books have worked fine so far.

Now that I have all the correct files and understand the installation order, I may put KOReader on my other Kindle 3s. But man, this first one was a tough setup.

My kobo is my favorite ebook reader at the moment. Its easy on the eyes, blacklit, lasts for a week or two on a charge. Can work with audiobooks if thats what you want.

I use calibre for sideloading all my books. But kobos default fonts are pretty good. Screen is stronger than my kindle. You can see the dofference.

Kindle on the left, kobo on the right.

The EU Battery Regulation mandates that by February 18, 2027, all portable devices—including e-readers—must feature batteries that are easily removable and replaceable by the end-user.

I ordered this Kindle 1 in November, 2007, the first day Amazon released it, and it’s still going strong. I still remember doing ordering it because I was a huge ereader at the time and following the news of it. I was at work, and I was late to a staff meeting, because I wanted to buy it that morning. Good thing too, cuz they were sold out a few hours later.

I recently had to replace the battery, but I can’t complain because the original lasted nearly 19 years!! The screen is still sharp, the page turns are quick, and everything works about as well as it did when it was new.

When it came out, it was before ebooks were well-known. So believe it or not, it caused quite a stir. So much excitement AND shit talking.

Most were saying, "I prefer paper books, no one will buy these!" lol

Sounds like how Lemmy feels about new tech lately too! Why are a bunch of tech nerds like Lemmys all hating tech all of a sudden?! lololol

Also, amazon sells more ebooks than paper books now.

When I took it to work, everyone was asking to look at it. There weren't ebook nerds, so they had never heard or seen e-ink before. I had a Sony Reader (still have that one too!), but I'd never taken it to work. Fun times.

And man, lots of people called this original Kindle design ugly, but I’ve always liked the design. With all the angled buttons, odd shapes, and chunky plastic, it reminds me of the futuristic technology from Space: 1999.

It looks like someone in the 1970s tried to imagine what people would read books on in the future, which is part of its charm.

It’s not my main reader anymore since it has no built-in light, but I still read on it. I use Calibre to convert my DRM-free books and short stories to MOBI, then transfer them over directly.

Every once in a while, I pull it off the shelf and will read an entire book or story on it just for fun. Like I'm doing today. I also have a couple of nonworking Kindle 1's around for spare parts if I ever need them.

I freaking love the fact that it’s still chugging along. The plastic is doing what plastic does, so it's not as white as it used to be. The entire case is getting a little more faded over time, but I don't know how to stop that from happening yet.

An open-source, Qt-based eBook reader for Kobos (and other devices). - Quill-OS/quill

I used to work with the devs on this project. Works well on older not locked down Kobos. It worked well while it lasted. I hope one day it leads to some significant open hardware. I know the apps eventually spun off and had a life of their own which is nice. Anyways just wanted to share.

Anyone else have software they use with their ebook reader? In before Calibre ;)

A while back i made this ebook reader out of an old heltek v3 that i had around. Threw some code at it and made it work. Anyways it was a fun project. Not very useful as the screen is super tiny! But it was fun to code it up and make it work.

I love the color of this!

The NOOK GlowLight 4 Ocean Teal Edition is exactly what it sounds like: the familiar 2021 GlowLight 4 in a much brighter shell. The teal finish covers the back, sides, and front bezel, giving the reader more personality than the standard black model.

It’s a limited-edition release, but there’s no new screen, faster processor, or major hardware upgrade hiding beneath the color.

That isn’t necessarily a bad thing. The GlowLight 4 still has a sharp 6-inch, 300-PPI E Ink display, adjustable white and amber lighting, physical page-turn buttons on both sides, USB-C charging, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and 32GB of storage.

Page turns are quick, the reading software is polished, and there’s a solid selection of fonts, margins, and line-spacing options. It supports EPUB and PDF files, including compatible DRM-protected books and library loans transferred through Adobe Digital Editions.

The recessed screen also cuts down on glare, though only part of the storage is available for personal sideloaded books.

The Ocean Teal model makes the most sense for established NOOK readers, collectors, or anyone who simply likes the color.

I bought this in 2008. It was sold by the Dutch company Endless Ideas, but the hardware came from the Chinese manufacturer Jinke and was based on the Hanlin V3.

The same basic reader appeared under several regional names, including the Astak EZ Reader (which I also have!) in the United States, the Papyre 6.1 in Spain, and the lBook V3 in Eastern Europe.

It has a six-inch E Ink screen with a resolution of 600 by 800 pixels. It came with a full-size SD card slot, a removable battery, and a Linux-based operating system.

No touchscreen, Wi-Fi, or built-in bookstore connection. Books can be copied directly through USB or loaded from an SD card. Supports EPUB, PDF, FB2, TXT, HTML, RTF, Mobipocket, and DjVu.

It's the first reader ever 'hacked.' I replaced the original OS with OpenInkpot.

OpenInkpot was a free and open-source operating system created for early ebook readers. Development began around 2007 after several programmers (particularly Yauhen Kharuzhy and Mikhail Gusarov) became frustrated with the limited factory software on Hanlin V3 readers.

Their goal was to create a complete open system for E Ink devices, including the interface, reading programs, fonts, file manager, and hardware support.

The first public OpenInkpot release appeared in 2008, with the Hanlin V3 and its rebadged versions, including the BeBook, as its main supported hardware.

OpenInkpot 0.2 arrived in 2009 with a redesigned interface and support for more readers.

Development later ended, and version 0.2.2 became the final release.

It's a great example of an early attempt to create a general-purpose, open operating system for dedicated ebook readers.

This is the only device I have it working on right now, but I am looking to install it on my Astak EZ Reader soon.

Very interesting project vid. I may try this in the near future! I've kinda been spending my day going down this rabbit hole.

Because if I built my own, then all my issues with current ones would be solved because I could make it a personal permacomputing ereader project.

I could make it easy for myself to repair its screen, replace the battery, take apart and repair the case, etc. Then I wouldn't ever have to worry about replacing it.

I have zero skills to do any of this, but I'm inspired now! lol

I've got the 7in boox with the color screen and it's awesome. Mostly, I'm posting to see if this community will go anywhere.

Vannevar Bush sat there in 1945 staring at books, libraries, filing cabinets, and academic journals and basically decided that that the whole damn paper empire seemed like a busted carnival of dead trees and crap design.

And totally useless if ya just wanted to sit down on your couch, quickly find and read whatever, and hang out while nursing a drink and smoking a cigar.

So his answer was the Memex, a hypothetical electromechanical ebook reader with a name mashed together from “memory” and “index.”

The concept was first unleashed in his 1945 essay “As We May Think.”

The idea was simple. Swallow your whole intellectual life in one bite. Every book ya owned, stuffed inside. Notes, letters, photographs, drunk 3 a.m. scribbles, all shoved into its metal gut.

You'd sit down, hit a few keys, and pages would snap onto translucent screens. Pure ebook reader behavior, long before plastic slabs and progress bars.

The Memex didn't care about the neat ritual of reading a paper book from page one to page three hundred. It wanted a lil nerdy chaos thrown in.

Ya hit one page, launch to another, graffiti the margin, peel off into some half related rabbit hole, vanish for a week, then drop back in right where your brain scorched the wallpaper.

The whole contraption ran on microfilm, that jittery strip of analog futurism that smelled exactly like the back corner of my high school library where I once considered trying to kiss Lisa Hummel. She was dating some football dude, my confidence existed only in theory, and the only thing I touched was a dusty book I pretended to study when she caught me staring.

Under the desk, the Memex had mechanical guts chattering away, and Bush knew the whole thing was clunky and earthbound.

Portability was just offstage, waiting for the tech to stop being heavy and embarrassed and shrink from desk monster to briefcase stowaway to backpack companion to something that disappears into your hand like a smug little Kindle.

The Memex deserves its spot as an early ebook reader concept because it was an early idea to digitize books.

Wikipedia article about it with pics: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memex

Essay where the concept was introduced: https://web.mit.edu/STS.035/www/PDFs/think.pdf

This makes me so happy. It's so fun to take these apart and clean them up!

EDIT: Ok, besides the fact that I have over 45 ebook readers already, fuck it, I just ordered one of these. It's small, so just one more is fine, right?! :)

The Xteink X4 is a miniature e-reader from Xteink, a small hardware company based in Shenzhen, China. The company’s founder, Crusoe Hu, introduced Xteink to international readers in late 2025 at a price of $69.

The basic idea was simple: make an e-reader small and thin enough that people would actually carry it everywhere. Instead of competing directly with a Kindle as a primary home reader, the X4 was meant for short reading sessions during lunch breaks, appointments, bus rides, or other moments when people would normally reach for their phones.

The X4 has a 4.3-inch black-and-white E Ink screen with a resolution of about 220 pixels per inch.

It measures approximately 4.49 by 2.72 inches, is just under a quarter-inch thick, and weighs around 74 to 77 grams, depending on which company figure is used. That makes it noticeably smaller and lighter than a typical Kindle.

Its other major specifications include:

• ESP32 processor

• 650 mAh rechargeable battery

• USB-C charging

• Wi-Fi and Bluetooth

• 16 GB microSD card included

• Support for microSD cards up to 256 GB

• EPUB and TXT book support

• JPG and BMP image support

• Physical page-turn and navigation buttons

cross-posted from: https://feddit.org/post/33602109

I am looking for an e-paper device with a polychromatic screen, with a GPS chipset, able to run OSMAnd, enough storage for offline maps (64GB+) and preferably an option to flash LineageOS or any other de-googled OS. Or is there maybe even a dedicated e-paper GPS navigation device not reliant on Android? Any recommendations or tips?

The One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) XO is basically an ebook reader that was disguised as a bright green toy laptop. Created around 2005, it was def way ahead of its time. Background on the project: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_Laptop_per_Child

Best feature is the screen. The 7.5-inch display had a sharp 1200 × 900 resolution at 200 dpi, which was impressive in 2007. Indoors, it works as a color LCD.

I don't know why screens like this didn't take off. Outside, you can turn off the backlight and use it as a crisp black-and-white reflective screen that is amazing to read in direct sunlight. It used as little as 0.1 watt in reflective mode, so super low power.

The display rotates and folds flat over the keyboard, turning the XO into a chunky tablet. Buttons around the screen work as page controls, and the vertical layout feels like it was designed with ebooks in mind.

The built-in Read activity handles digital books and PDFs. You can load books through USB or an SD card, so the machine doesn’t depend on internet access.

The XO is designed around a simple idea: one small machine can hold an entire library. In places where schools have few textbooks or almost no library, that’s a big deal. Even now, it makes a neat offline reader for public-domain books, manuals, old magazines, and PDFs.

The hardware looks like something that escaped from a cartoon and volunteered for humanitarian work. White shell, bright green trim, a carry handle, rubberized edges, covered ports, and those fold-out Wi-Fi ears.

This mofo is built for dust, heat, rough handling, and children who'd mess around and test whether it can also serve as sports equipment. Tonka Tough, for those of us old enough to remember that phrase.

It runs from wall power or its battery, and it can also work with solar charging setups. Hand cranks show up in early publicity, but they never become the practical everyday power source people sometimes imagine. Solar power makes much more sense.

Sucks that the project never fully got off the ground, because it had real potential as a cheap, tough ebook reader for underprivileged kids.

The screen is sharp, easy to read in full daylight, and uses very little power, while the case can take abuse that would probably kill a normal tablet. It could’ve been a rugged little portable library, packed with textbooks and free books, and carried anywhere without needing constant internet access or perfect conditions.

Mine still loads up fine, as you can see. I did hack it and put linux on it, but ugh, it's super slow now, so this will be an ongoing project.

Not a dedicated reader for most, but it was my dedicated ebook reader in 1996, and introduced me to the idea of ebooks. The first book I read on it was The Hobbit. I read the crap out of this thing.

I read soooo many books on this back then. And the resolution sucks, so I don't know how I did it. I guess I didn't know any better. lol

I actually still have it, but the screen doesn't react to touch anymore. I may look into seeing if I can fix it though for a fun challenge.

The Pilot 1000 and Pilot 5000 wee the first generations of PDAs produced by Palm Computing (then a subsidiary of USRobotics). It was introduced in March 1996.

The Pilot uses a Motorola 68328 processor at 16 MHz, and had 128 kB (Pilot 1000) or 512 kB (Pilot 5000) built in Random-access memory.

The PDA has a plastic case (various colors). Its dimensions are 120x80x18 mm and weight is 160 grams.

The Pilot has a 160x160 pixel monochrome LCD tactile panel, with a "Graffiti input zone" presented in the bottom third of the screen. Underneath the screen sits a green on/off button, four applications buttons (Date Book, Address Book, To Do List, and Memo Pad) and two scroll buttons. At left, contrast control. At right top, stylus slot.

On the back of the device there is a Memory Slot door, Reset button, battery compartment (held two AAA batteries) and Serial Port (for use with the PalmPilot Cradle).

Memory is kept in a "memory slot" under a plastic cover at the back top of the PDA. A 512 kB ROM chip stores the Palm OS 1.0 and resident applications. RAM is available in 128 kB, 512 kB or 1 MB; with a PalmPilot Professional memory card, up to 2 MB of RAM. Hardware limit is 12 MB of RAM and 4 MB of ROM.

After a calibration test presented during the initial power up, the Pilot would boot and be ready for use and synchronization. Connecting and synchronizing the PDA was initially done through a utility called Pilot Desktop.

For the PC, Pilot Desktop was distributed either on 3½ inch disk or on CD-ROM (according to an original floppy disk set, v1.0 was for Windows 95 and included a tutorial disk and two win32s disks for Windows 3.1; v2.0 was for Windows 95 and Windows NT).