ASUS EEE PC as e-book reader?

[drahnreb]

Hi,

who have some experiences with the Asus eeePC as an ebook reader?

I ordered a black one (4G) in German version (the delivery date will be 02/15/2008)

Greetings and a hyppy new year.

Bernhard

[wallcraft]

I don't have a Eee, but FBReader and a PDF reader (probably Adobe's acroread) are pre-installed. FBReader is a very good e-book reader, but only for DRM-free e-books. There is currently no e-book reader software for generic Linux machines that supports Digital Rights Management of any kind.

If it runs Windows or Linux, you can try out FBReader on your existing Desktop. It also runs experimentally on some OSX desktops.

[Country2220]

Hi there. Bought the 4G Eee for my dad for Xmas, he was thrilled and has been enjoying this thing greatly! I've had a bit of time playing with it as I am looking for a new ereader myself. I have a dell Axim which is not about 3-4 years old; bought a Ebookswise 1150 about 3+ weeks ago and found it not as easy as the ads claim in "reading" file formats other than its own. Actually you have to do so much editing, it really is not worth it.
So am looking at the 2G Eee for myself as an ebook reader. I have a fair number of ebooks, about 250+, mostly in html format so I want to be able to transfer or download the file I want and move it quickly onto whatever reader I choose.
From the little that I've played with the Eee - it looks just that easy and because of the html file format just transfer (if not downloaded directly) onto the hard drive and open in firefox. Any text format or adobe format will also just pull up the related program, with no problems that I've seen yet. So far this unit at $299 is at the top of my list, although apparently there will be a couple other models out this new year by other manufacterers which I may also look at.
Anyways, I'd say the Eee looks good!

[carld]

I've looked longingly at the Eee myself. When it was originally announced at $199 for the 4G model I was sure I was going to get one. When they basically halved the specs and doubled the price I decided to wait on the Kindle instead. It's still a nice machine but as an ebook reader the short battery life, the lcd screen and its larger size (compared to the kindle) would put me off. But for a sub-notebook system it's about perfect (except for the increase in price).

[RCR]

I've got both a Sony Reader and an Asus eee.

The Asus, running Win XP, will display any ebook format that Win XP can handle. And you can easily re-orient the display any way you like with <ctrl> <alt> <arrow>.

And it has wireless/internet built in.

But - the screen is only 15cm x 9cm. It is fiddly to get it to display a page that is easy to read. The Asus is clumsy to hold like a book. Battery life is apparently only three and a half hours (I've never run mine down to find out).

Summary - I love my Asus but I find it too clumsy and fiddly to read ebooks on. It has all the other problems of reading ebooks on a normal computer made worse by that tiny screen.

Or maybe it is just that having a Sony Reader has spoiled me.

[slayda]

Originally Posted by Country2220

Hi there. Bought the 4G Eee for my dad for Xmas, he was thrilled and has been enjoying this thing greatly! I've had a bit of time playing with it as I am looking for a new ereader myself. I have a dell Axim which is not about 3-4 years old; bought a Ebookswise 1150 about 3+ weeks ago and found it not as easy as the ads claim in "reading" file formats other than its own. Actually you have to do so much editing, it really is not worth it.
So am looking at the 2G Eee for myself as an ebook reader. I have a fair number of ebooks, about 250+, mostly in html format so I want to be able to transfer or download the file I want and move it quickly onto whatever reader I choose.
From the little that I've played with the Eee - it looks just that easy and because of the html file format just transfer (if not downloaded directly) onto the hard drive and open in firefox. Any text format or adobe format will also just pull up the related program, with no problems that I've seen yet. So far this unit at $299 is at the top of my list, although apparently there will be a couple other models out this new year by other manufacterers which I may also look at.
Anyways, I'd say the Eee looks good!

Where did you find it for $299? Interested myself at that price.

[wallcraft]

By default the Eee comes with Linux and FBReader, and FBReader does not read any DRMed formats. There is always the LIT+ConvertLIT approach, but eeeuser forums report that the Windows eReader reader software will run via wine. This may make eReader the only DRMed format that can currently be read on all common Desktop systems (Windows, OSX, Linux).

As RCR says, you can also install Windows on the Eee and then you have many e-book readers to choose from. Note that Eee's with Windows XP pre-installed are supposed to go on sale in the US in about a month, see here.

[Greg Anos]

I agree the the EEE PC's screen is just a little too small (and at 800x480) and just a little low on the resolution side for a good e-book reader. But if you don't have to have it immediately, wait 6-9 months. There are multiple other EEE PC equivalents coming out, some of which may have somewhat larger screens. I also hope some of them have a rotating screen joint to fold back over the keyboard, so it would be easier to handle in ebook (or PMP) uses.

[dcalder]

Originally Posted by Country2220

bought a Ebookswise 1150 about 3+ weeks ago and found it not as easy as the ads claim in "reading" file formats other than its own. Actually you have to do so much editing, it really is not worth it.

"So much" editing to convert files for the Ebookwise 1150? What are you trying to read on it that requires so much editing?

I've converted literally hundreds of fanfic stories to IMP from html, doc, and rtf formats using the eBookwise Librarian and I've never once touched any of them to edit them. Maybe I've simply had amazingly good luck, or maybe it has to do with the sources of the files (html is usually the product of a DeFFNetizer download or an eFiction save of the "Full Story" printable; a small amount is manually saved web pages).

[RCR]

Originally Posted by Ralph Sir Edward

I also hope some of them have a rotating screen joint to fold back over the keyboard, so it would be easier to handle in ebook (or PMP) uses.

If the Asus had this it would be far less clumsy to read on. Though I guess then it would have been more expensive.

[DaveNB]

Here's an interesting follow on their initially very enthusiastic reviews of the Asus EEE PC:
http://gizmodo.com/351086/asus-eee-p...fficially-over

And another follow up:
http://www.geek.com/eee-pc-chronicle...ality-sets-in/

There are some issues: Small display size, WiFi flakiness, OS Stability and poor battery endurance (still drains too much power even while sleeping). Too bad b/c it would have been a great little laptop stand in if they'd kept it to it's original announced price and if these issues get ironed out.

Dave

[wallcraft]

This isn't the original source, but see Eee PC in ‘Kindle’ mode. Even without a convertible design, the Eee is small enough for some to try a rotated "book" mode.

[RCR]

Originally Posted by wallcraft

This isn't the original source, but see Eee PC in ‘Kindle’ mode. Even without a convertible design, the Eee is small enough for some to try a rotated "book" mode.

There's a video on YouTube of someone using an Asus eee to read a comic book in portrait mode. Type Asus eee into their search field to find it.

[yvanleterrible]

I've just recently seen the EEE in a Cicuit City flyer here in Canada. The stores here are called The Source and La Source in Québec. I went in to see yesterday but they won't have them in before next thursday. Looking forward to that.

[TommyCooper]

Hi - just to let you guys know that I purchased the EEEPC2GS to be used specifically as an e-book reader [ I know you're all gonna groan, but I do like backlit displays ] and find it very satisfactory indeed. I also use a CyBook [second generation- incorrect and my error] first-generation reader and, believe it or not, my trusty Rocket reader - which is still going strong .

Be aware, if you buy the 2G model it does not come pre-installed with FBReader -though goodness knows why not. This may prove awkward if, like me, you have no knowledge of Linux and wish to install from the FBReader site. However, after some searching on various web sites for install information for Linux software I finally managed and was glad that I did - the FBReader is an excellent and versatile piece of free software with many options for displaying your e-books.

I find the screen resolution [800x480] of the EEE to be very eye-friendly [ although this obviously depends on the state of your peepers and fonts etc ]and through the FBReader is able to display text in many formats in either landscape or portrait orientation. I downloaded some extra fonts and am currently enjoying reading my books in PDB format in landscape mode with Verdana bold 14 and 1.5 line spacing. This gives me a nicely spaced [ half ] page of c 12 words per line and 15 lines per page.

If anyone wants any further info please let me know and I'll be happy to post some further impressions of this device as an e-book reader and help if you have problems installing FBReader - not that I'm an expert, but at least you can learn from my mistakes.

Best wishes for a great forum - Tommy