Quote:
Originally Posted by SmokeAndMirrors
That's very cool, but a lot of work. I'm a semi-geeky Linux user myself (Linux Mint FTW!),
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I have been using Mint Linux as my main desktop at home ever since Celena came out. Before that I was just playing with Bianca. Before that it was FreeBSD, and PC-BSD, and before that Slackware.
Quote:
Originally Posted by SmokeAndMirrors
but your average person is not going to be able or willing to do all that work for every book. With an ereading app, you can just change the settings once and it will stay that way for every book.
Also, a lot of the visually impaired people I've seen post here say that a back-lit screen is actually better for them. I imagine it probably depends on what type of impairment you have, and I wouldn't know - I'm just a little bit near-sighted. But that's what I've heard.
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I was reacting to the statement that no e-ink reader can do black background with white text.
Well, it obviously can.
Of course an iPad is a better choice for a person with vision problems. But, a new iPad costs $499, and a new e-ink reader can be had for $79.
If you desperately need a reader for your kid to be able to read at all, and you run on a tight budget, a bit of work isn't such an unreasonable proposition.
I know that converting books can be a hassle. This is why I have PocketBook that can digest almost any format and present it in a form that I like.
When I began with e-books, a looooooong time ago, I used an old, salvaged, bombarded-out little notebook with 4MB of RAM, 386 processor and 640x480 grey-scale display. My first pocket sized reader with non-backlit screen was Cassiopeia A-11 with Windows CE 1.0 (GRRRRR!). For that Cassiopeia I had to break books into 200kB chunks and convert them into PocketWord format, otherwise it choked to death ;-).
But 2 minutes of work preparing a book that will provide many hours of entertainment isn't that bad trade-off.