[Wylug-discuss] advice on ebook reader or similar...

[Dave Fisher]

On 22 September 2011 09:22, james riley <jimr1603 at gmail.com> wrote:
> Much against my better judgement, I'm _contemplating_ purchase of a
> portable device for reading PDFs etc. This is prompted by Linux Journal
> stopping doing a print copy and going digital only. I really don't enjoy
> extended reading on my desktop machine and my Laptop is hardly "portable".
>
> Anybody got a recommendation? If so what formats does it hanlde, etc.
> If anyone has any general advice on what to watch out for, I'd be glad to
> hear. Needless to say, I'd prefer something running Linux (just to keep on
> topic :-).

I was pretty sceptical myself, but changed my mind after having been
loaned a Kindle for a long journey.

After about a year of mulling and investigating the e-ink market, I
finally bought a Kindle last month.

I can't recommend it more highly ... utterly brilliant ... a small,
basically simple, device that does everything it promises and much
more than I'd expected.

I'm still learning the UI, but I'm so convinced by e-ink, that I've
just skipped or given away a third of my paper book collection (many
hundreds of books, many thousands of pounds worth of cover price, and
quite a few cubic metres of space).

As to the alternatives, I'd say the Kindle is easily the best value
for money and easily the best performance for the basic task of
reading prose-based texts. I've seen a few more open devices, but they
are extortionately expensive (short production runs) and most have
performance flaws (page turning speed, poor UI, poor battery life,
etc.)

There are only three, relatively unproblematic, limitations I can see
in the Kindle.

1. It's proprietary, but easily rootable ... to be honest, I can't
think of any good reason to root it, other than simple curiosity. Like
a Phillips screwdriver, it does the job it was designed for very well,
and is unlikely to be the best tool for anything else.

2. It doesn't re-flow PDF text ... not a problem if you have the A4
Kindle, and mostly surmountable by (imperfect) conversion on the
smaller device.

3. Amazon's proprietary .azw format seems like an obstacle, but it's
not ... it's a subset (maybe superset?) of .mobi and is easily
convertible to the open (and easily editable) epub format. I've yet to
encounter a DRM'ed .azw file, but cracking the DRM looks pretty
trivial for even novice Linux users.

Most of the alternatives under GBP 300 have similar limitations, cost
more, and function poorly by comparison.

There's lots more I could say, but I'll finish on two tips:

1. If, like me, you buy the smaller Kindle, also get the leather cover
with the built-in led lighting ... it's irritatingly expensive, but it
does the job perfectly and elegantly ... the device is extremely
readable in both direct sunlight (no perceptible glare at all,
certainly less than white paper) and in utter darkness.

2. Whichever reader you go for, install the Linux-based Calibre
library manager (calibre-ebook.com) on your main system and check out
their excellent forums at (mobileread.com) ... the sqllite db is dog
slow once your e-library grows to over 3,000 books, but the basic
functionality (especially the conversion) is brilliant.

I've had my Kindle for a month or so, and have yet to re-charge the
battery ... despite doing most of my nightly reading in bed using only
the led light.

I'd be happy to answer any more specific questions.

Dave