this post was submitted on 22 Oct 2023
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It's unfortunate that there just aren't a lot of options in the e-reader field.
Kobo devices work out of the box, and they are very hacker friendly, a good middle ground. They run mainline Linux with a custom UI, but you can change that to other systems, e.g. PostmarketOS (an alpine based linux distro) or install more fully featured reader programs like Koreader. With some hacking you can use the devices without a Kobo account. Some devices run from a simple sd card, so you can easily grow storage size, and easily backup the whole system. Most devices have hidden a serial port inside, with some soldering you can connect peripherials!
I have a clara hd, I use it as a tactical glide computer with xcsoar,, with an external serial gps and barometer
I'm not going to lie. A lot of that went right over my head. But I see a fair amount of praise for Kobo. I looked at them in the past but I can't remember why I didn't pull the trigger and get one.
Ok, elevator pitch for muggles:
They are good devices, and there is a huge hacker community behind them. Having a hacker community means, that they are not locked down, and when the manufacturer will disappear you can still use them with some tricks. You really own them, you can do whatever you want with them.
Any kobos with an sd slot currently? I can't find any with anything about that
Libra 2 and Clara 2E both have internal micro sd, from the currently available models. You have to remove the back cover of the reader to replace them. Wiki lists all features of all readers, check the "Storage" column: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kobo_eReader
Open book, remarkable, anything calibre supports should be okay
I bought my daughter a Kobo years ago and it has worked great. This was before Walmart bought them and they were much harder to find in the US but Kindle was requiring my daughter to have an Amazon account to check out library books. In order to have an Amazon account you must have a credit card attached. Tech support's solution for me was to just give her a pre paid card. They didn't understand why I wasn't interested in forcing my 7 year old into Amazon in order to check out library books.
Kobo has Overdrive installed in the device. You can also load PDF files directly onto it. I don't know if they've changed that over the years but her device is now 7 years old and working great.
Walmart didn't buy Kobo, although they did/do own a small share of Rakuten, Kobo's parent company.
In 2018, in an attempt to keep up with Amazon, Walmart partnered with Kobo to sell ebooks and Kobo devices in Walmart stores and online, and I believe that devices purchased from Walmart had the Walmart logo when they booted up, and I think the Kobo site in the US also had Walmart branding, but Kobo was then and is now a Canadian company fully owned by a Japanese company.
Good to know. I was worried that Walmart would screw up the PDF capabilities, among other things.
I've just purchased an Onyx Boox device to replace my old original Kindle Paperwhite. Moves like this make me feel good about choosing to go that route since it is essentially an Android tablet that will support any format as long as there is a reader app for it.
That said, to anyone thinking of buying one from the website that this article links to, there are lots of negative reviews for them so it might be best to find a different distributor.
I'm satisfied enough with my Paperwhite but would like to diversify off Amazon hardware to something that I can just run their app and also others for more variety.
What Boox device did you get and how do you find the battery life? I'd like to see how things work with color so the mini-C looks interesting as an e-book replacement, and there apparently an "ultra C" which is more of a tablet device but might be a bit bulky (plus more expensive)
I haven't even received it yet, so I can't comment on the actual device. In the end I decided on the Page as I didn't want something too much bigger than my current Kindle and I wanted the page turn buttons since I always found the touchscreen page turning on my Kindle to be inconsistent.
I turned an old android tablet that was too slow to run anything into an ebook reader. I just installed Moon Reader and it works for me.
Personally I'm trying to find something that isn't an illuminated screen.
Agreed, the paper-like screen is non-negotiable for me.