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The Open Book - An open hardware reading device that's easy to build, easy to manufacture, and easy to make your own (hackaday.io)

submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by Voyager@psychedelia.ink to c/opensource@lemmy.ml

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This is a complete reimagining of the Open Book Project, but the original mission remains:

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 are closed objects, operating as small moving parts in a set of giant closed platforms whose owners' interests are not always aligned with readers'.

The Open Book aims to be a simple device that anyone can build for themselves. The Open Book should be comprehensible: the reader should be able to look at it and understand, at least in broad strokes, how it works. It should be extensible, so that a reader with different needs can write code and add accessories that make the book work for them. It should be global, supporting readers of books in all the languages of the world. Most of all, it should be open, so that anyone can take this design as a starting point and use it to build a better book.

Check out the promo video as well:
https://youtu.be/vFD9V8Hh7Yg

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[-] FederatedSaint@lemmy.world 7 points 1 year ago

You can do this with a kindle, too. I'm not advocating for them specifically, just pointing out that you can use a Kindle in a similar way. I've never even enabled WiFi on it. Just drag and drop some epubs on it via USB once in a while. Works great, is cheap, and is waterproof.

[-] settinmoon@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 year ago

Can you do usb drag and drop for kindles? I always thought you need to send the book over to the special kindle email address.

[-] PeachMan@lemmy.world 7 points 1 year ago

Calibre is how people do this. Install it on a PC or Mac, and it can easily send books to your Kindle and convert to the right format automatically.

But yes, you can also drag and drop to USB like you're asking. You just gotta make sure you drop on the right format (or use Calibre).

[-] FederatedSaint@lemmy.world 6 points 1 year ago

Yep, it just mounts like an external USB drive and you can load it with epub files. Alternatively, you can use calibre that will handle your library on your computer and will detect and load what you want on the Kindle as you desire.