I recently got a Sony prs 600 e reader from 2009. The battery is at the end of its life (It lasts about 3 days with heavy reading, and a couple weeks without reading). No backlight, no Wi-Fi, just an SD card that I can load epub files and small PDFs. The screen is slow and the contrast isn’t the best. The “touch screen” is the old resistive type where you really need to press with your nail or a stylus. Despite all those flaws, it’s fantastic. It’s just good enough for reading books.

I read with large text so I don’t even need to put on glasses, and it’s easier to read than an actual book. Combined with Anna’s archive, I’m reading more than I ever have before. No Wi-Fi nd slow screen make the experience feel closer to an actual book than a smartphone. It’s great to just have a device do one thing without distractions popping up every minute.

It’s all old technology, but it’s so rare to see anyone with an e-reader. Probably because they’re still expensive and designed to microtransact the fuck out of you.

So do you think there could be a simple open source e reader? I see pine64 is making the “pinenote”, but it’s still just the developer version, it’s expensive, doesn’t have an sd card, and looks like it’s trying to be a lot more than an reader. Maybe it’ll come down in cost, or they’ll release a simpler version? The biggest obstacle for making an e-reader seems to be the screen, so maybe the pinenote’s screen could become something of a standard.

Or maybe I’m overthinking it, because there’s already so many old Kindles and nooks out there that could be improved with a new battery and maybe new firmware too.

Thoughts?

  • Lettuce eat lettuceM
    84•3 months ago

    Kobo e-readers are known to be pretty hackable and many of their models can be used with ‘KoReader’ an open source e-reading OS/app

    • @[email protected]OP
      26•3 months ago

      Very Cool, I didn’t know about these. Maybe just keeping readers out of landfills is the way to go.

      • @[email protected]
        23•3 months ago

        You might be in a better position than you realize! I see two great options for you:

        Option 1.

        Here’s a new battery for your reader, it’s about $13.

        Here’s a battery replacement video. It’s amazingly simple! I forgot what wonderful times the aughts were for diy repair.

        Option 2

        If you’re feeling a little more carefree and like saying “damn the aesthetics!” Especially when you mention keeping readers out of landfills:

        Buy a broken eReader off of eBay that still turns on and scavenge the battery. Most of them seem to use the same voltage. If the battery you source doesn’t fit, make a notch in the side of your reader and tape the new battery to the back or whatever. Donate the remainder to your local Makerspace.

        If you end up enjoying your little rebellious repairs, buy bulk non-functioning eReaders and try using them to repair each other. Donate the functioning ones to your local library and the non-functioning parts to your local Makerspace.

      • fmstratEnglish
        4•2 months ago

        You can also run KoReader on some Kindles. I have it on an old paper white.

        • @[email protected]English
          2•2 months ago

          I’m gonna look into that, we have an old kindle collecting dust that would be a good candidate I think!

    • @[email protected]
      5•3 months ago

      Yeah, even if you don’t hack em, I just use it for ebooks from my library and that works great. Not open source by a long shot, but wayyyyy better than kindle.

      • Lettuce eat lettuceM
        2•2 months ago

        I don’t have one currently, but from some of the stuff I’ve read, the Clara HD model is one of the most popular for hacking/modding.