Please!!! Put Calibre on Chromebooks For My Classroom. Please!!!

[kovidgoyal]

I doubt very much you'd ever get a program like calibre to run on a chromebook. ChromeOS is artificialy restricted to run simple client apps that connect to a (usually google) server to do all the real work, with the nice side effect that the server operator (usually) gets to own all your data.

Your best option is to uncripple your chromebook by installing a real linux operating system on it.

Failing that, you would need to run the calibre content server on a server and connect to it with Chrome on the Chromebook. The problem with that is that the calibre content server is currently read only. It is on my TODO list to change that.

[eschwartz]

Originally Posted by kovidgoyal

Failing that, you would need to run the calibre content server on a server and connect to it with Chrome on the Chromebook. The problem with that is that the calibre content server is currently read only. It is on my TODO list to change that.

The man himself appears!

This.

What with the increasing popularity of Chromebooks, the rise of cloud computing, the time is fast approaching if not here already when calibre could be extremely handy as a server application. IMHO.

This is one thing I would really like to see move off the TODO list and onto the DOING list... but I understand if you don't have any deep urge to work on this particularly ATM.

Oh well, I am hopeful.

[bbpo8]

Thank you Kovid for the brilliant program.

I too hanker for a Chromebook version of Calibre. I understand the technical difficulties as you describe them, and yet ...

1. Chromebooks are such a win for users (cheap, no-maintenance, fast for the most-performed tasks), and cloud computing has such tremendous growth prospects.

2. Calibre is such a key program for making full use of ebooks...

I can't help but think that some sort of solution will eventually emerge. If I were Google, I would beat a path to your door. Do you hear that Larry Page?

[Terisa de morgan]

Originally Posted by bbpo8

1. Chromebooks are such a win for users (cheap, no-maintenance, fast for the most-performed tasks), and cloud computing has such tremendous growth prospects.

Really? So I tie me to Google for all the programs and services? And I have to be all the time connected to Internet? And I've been listening about the wonderful cloud computing for years (yes, I suspect it will be a real thing some day)

[BearMountainBooks]

I like the idea of using Linux. We have a couple of machines doing that now. But it sounds like Kovid will change the read-only status and then students/teacher will be able to do a bit of fiddling and get it to work on the server for the Chrome devices.

[peterwardgd]

i need more than four choices me thinks.

[Graham]

Originally Posted by Terisa de morgan

Really? So I tie me to Google for all the programs and services? And I have to be all the time connected to Internet?

Neither of those are true for Chromebooks, Terisa.

You could happily use Office 365, for example, and many apps work well offline.

Graham

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by msjohnson007

To clarify my position, the students I teach enjoy reading when given the chance to choose their literature. My class reads 40 books per year at a minimum and the students get to choose, within certain parameters, those 40 books. My classroom "hard copy" library is limited by my ability to fund its growth and I do not make enough to keep abreast with the voracious curiosities and varying interests of 35 fifth-graders. I barely make enough to supply art materials, notebooks, and copy paper. Our school library is rapidly dwindling in response to a severe deficit in the goodwill of our society toward the public school system. As it is, the local public libraries are carrying less and less books. It may not be this way at your child's public school yet, but my students are being greatly disserviced.

I did some work for a local high school when the Australian Federal Government funded a "One Laptop per Child" program. The students were 12-14 years old - which I suspect is considerably older than msjohnson007's fifth-graders, down here they would be 9-10 years old.

The problem was that the Feds didn't fund any support programs, additional infrastructure (like a half-decent school network) nor did they fund any teacher or admin staff training. The teachers ended up supporting the technology but they failed to take a unified approach - the English, Math, Physics, et al, teachers were all pulling against one another. The schools where it was more successful were were private schools (what the UK would call public schools) and some denominational schools - less bolshie teachers mayhap.

The main issue was NOT the OS it was the applications the teachers wanted the kids to use.

I wonder how many nine-year-olds would have the discipline to use calibre, which takes a very structured approach, unlike music libraries which tend to be more ad-hoc - OneNote v Evernote is another example of that difference.

The idea of a Calibre-Lite has been discussed from time to time - perhaps Chrome OS could be the first target platform.

msjohnson007 - rather than money, you could may get more traction for your 'project' if you 'crowd' sourced one or two experienced developers who were willing to donate their time and intellect.

BR