My older Kindle is jailbroken and does just fine. Jailbreak if you can, if you can’t don’t Kindle.
Weird.
I didnt know my Calibre server stopped working.So the product lineup is now called “Kindle Paperweight” instead?
lol i already jailbroke my 2012 paperwhite and intstalled Koreader on it so I can sync it with my calibre epub library over wifi
Check out [email protected]
It’s a pity Calibre to date refuses to be refactored into a self-hosted service.
The core logic should be portable, with the app just being an interface to it, but no, the entire project is so much spaghetti it would feed the entire boot for over a year… such a shame.
Agree, though calibre-web exists and runs in a single Docker container. I’ve been using it for a few years, and it’s great.
Sure its a whole Linux server under the hood just to run Calibre and the services required to give it a web interface and API for reading apps - making it way bigger than it needs to be - but it does the job.
Calibre-web isn’t Calibre. It uses the same database, but that’s about it, unless you use the optional conversion mod on the linuxserver container.
A docker container is preferred, but again, CW isn’t Calibre. Same database but completely different management system + also lacking a lot of the sync opportunities.
The issue is that there’s no open protocol for library syncing. It doesn’t exist because all big players (Amazon, Kobo/Rakuten, B&N, etc.) have their own proprietary system, and need no open alternatives.
OPDS is a thing but it’s meant to replicate a physical library (one you can walk into) in behaviour and approach, not a personal library (list all books I have and give me easy access to them). It’s essentially just an RSS-style feed that has no defined structure, thus isn’t software navigable - e.g. there’s no guarantee you can list all book series, or all authors, and most implementations usually give you very roughly defined “recently added”, or “hot now” book lists…
I’ve actually been working on a solution for this, something that provides an almost Kindle library experience (see all your books from a remote server, sync down the remote ebook file, sync back read progress, filter/search based on book properties, etc.), while being flexible enough for non-readers applications as well. But I haven’t even gotten to the point where I can define the API contract properly, let alone the backing database and mapping to Calibre. Honestly at this stage I feel like the best approach is starting from scratch, establishing modern requirements, and going from there.
A docker container is not a whole separate Linux server, it uses the kernel running on the host
Have you seen the apt sources list that CW generates on boot? It’s semantics. 😊
With default runtime, very true. There are other runtimes that can be used that provide better isolation like gVisor, kata, firecracker, etc.
That’s exactly what I did, but I use Grimmory/BookLore.
optimal solution (lol)
Got my wife a Kobo for her birthday to replace her aging Kindle. She’s bought 1 book so far and gonna look at the Library integration.
Anyone got any tips for ways to use the Kobo? For example I have Calibre on my Mac and have used that to copy books I’ve “acquired” for her, is there any benefit in self hosting Calibre? Is it possible to get her Kindle books on the Kobo or is the DRM a nightmare nowadays?
Is it possible to get her Kindle books on the Kobo or is the DRM a nightmare nowadays?
Calibre has a plugin for that: DeDRM
does it still work? even when I used it last you had to do some janky shit like download a specific version of kindle pc app and use that to download the book for the first time or the book would be downloaded with newer drm and stuck that way forever, and get the file from the old kindle pc app into dedrm
If it doesn’t just download copies from libgen you’ve already paid once.
I haven’t used it in a few years, I use a certain anonymous rodent to get my books now.
If she still has access to her Kindle account, you might be able to get the Account Key and enter that into Calibre to remove the DRM.
you can interface with calibre web via opds from eBook readers. basically you can browse and download books in your calibre server. I use koreader to do it. as for previous books she’s interested in I’d just look for them in the electronic library
You got any more specific info on how to do this? I spun up my caliber web container on my home server, but once I realized you can’t download books over the wifi, you still had to connect to a PC, I stopped hosting it.
What ebook readers are capable of this magic?
Any Kobo can install KOReader with a minor firmware update (that only needs to be done once). There’s instructions here: https://github.com/koreader/koreader/wiki/Installation-on-Kobo-devices It supports OPDS out of the box (though IMO is a little unintuitive to use)
koreader is an android app, for e-book readers based on android.
from what I’ve read it can be installed on the kobo (may need root)
here’s a picture of how to set up koreader
https://wotaku.wiki/guides/manga/opds
the only thing to mind is that the opds address is not the calibre web one but
<calibre address>/opdsif I’m not wrong.Also my calibre web does have a download button for the ebooks so if there is a browser on the kobo you should be able to download them. Are you using “calibre web” or “calibre” web?
Ive been converting some pdfs to epub for the kobo and that has worked great. Its not perfect but gives a better experience than pdf. Ive also put some solo card game rules on there so a deck of cards and the kobo gives another fun on the go activity.
Just another day in the life of an enshittificator.
Corporations like Amazon are a scourge. Switch to free and open formats, software and hardware. Ditch what you can. Hack and pirate what you must. Starve big tech.
I’m poor. I pirate stuff. When I can, I buy physical copies of the stuff I like.
Here’s a reminder that Boox makes amazingly good e-readers in all form factors Amazon does (including a variety of tablets!), with stylus support (USI 2.0 for smaller devices, EMR for their Note series and above), fully open (recent Android versions, regular updates, unlockable bootloader, straightforward to root devices), support KOReader, with a solid built in reader (plus support for cloud sync, including syncing books to a free 10GB Boox server storage), support for OPDS (a better way to access your library than Calibre’s sync, plus it can be utilised with most digital libraries too), and altogether quite well priced devices.
At the moment I have on my hands a Go Color 7 gen2, a Note Air5 C, and a Palma2 Pro. The experience is surprisingly good for a “random Chinese brand”, the hardware, compared to similarly priced devices, is superior (seriously, 4/6/8GB RAM, 64/128GB internal storage, SD card support), not to mention their customised e-ink waveforms (which give you near LCD-like scrolling with minimal trailing effect and little to no ghosting, something I can’t say about my Kindles…)
The only downside I found of these devices is the relatively bad battery life in locked/standby (due to Android, but you still easily get over a week per charge with average use, or about 20-22 hours of active use!), and the speakers… definitely not meant for audiobooks.
Being Norwegian it is my patriotic duty to shill for ReMarkable, it’s pretty good at being what it is.
It’s expensive, though.
Sorry but no. Abysmal hardware, shitty software that’s locked down AND crap when opened up, and horrid QA. Talking from experience.
it is definitely too closed down, haven’t had those other experiences though, I’ve had my ReMarkable 2 for quite a few years now. Then again, I haven’t tried hacking at it
My second-hand, old as hell, button-only kindle has never downloaded any book from Amazon since I got it. Only Calibre.
So, I cannot buy new books or download my current ones. But, I can download them without paying and then install them still over USB? OK Amazon, that clears things up fine for me.
Yet another reason to not buy Kindle.
They can still be jailbroken and Calibre still exists
As far as I know, it might still work with Calibre
My kindle has never been connected to the interwebs. Always used Calibre, wonderful software. About two weeks ago I used it to transfer books, worked with no problems.
This is about the Kindle Store. Calibre will continue to work, it just copies files via USB, you don’t even need Calibre for that.
Can books be transfered via USB even on the 2013-era Paperwhite? I’ve always used the email feature in Calibre-web to send books to my Kindle (even for books I’ve paid for) - I didn’t realise it was doable over USB!
Have a Kindle Paperwhite (1st gen). Have send over USB, through Calibre - software, never used the web one -, books and documents in various formats. Never had an issue.
Yes, it’s basically just a USB drive, no special software required.
You can even plug em into your phone and transfer from there, super handy on the go.
That’s the joke
Good job me never ever having bought any books on amazon. I go out of my way to buy them DRM free. Good old Paperwhite Gen 1 still going strong here.
Battery completely shot in it for me. I wonder if it’s replaceable.
Mine couldn’t for some time now. You can’t download them as files and transfer them. Amazon has become unusable for books at this point.
It’s crazy to think that Amazon literally started as a book store.
Google was a search engine. Shit is crazy.
R.I.P. Irony (100,00 BCE - 2025)
Yay, enshittification
Not to mention the super abusive stance of Amazon to writers and publishers, the sooner people stop buying Kindles and giving Amazon their money, the better.
If only my 2 Kindles had lasted more than a year…
What happens to them? I don’t read enough to do much damage but mine has been fine for 4 years.
And yet, my ancient Kobo just keeps on ticking along.
