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RoboRay · 04-23-2010, 07:56 AM

I've been experimenting with my OLPC XO as a reader for the last few months and was wondering if anyone else is using one as such. A brief search didn't find much here other than a handful of old OLPC posts and lots of commentary on Pixel Qi screens.

I'm running Teapot's modified Ubuntu 8.10 from an SD card and installed FBReader. Responsiveness is great (pages flip instantly), although the long boot times (well over a minute) cause me to rarely shut the thing down unless I'm going to be away from AC power for a while. I normally just turn out the backlight when I'm done and don't worry about the couple of watts the machine is drawing while idle. The D-pad and other buttons on the screen bezel are functional under Ubuntu and mappable as keys in FBReader, so you can flip the display around to tablet mode and rotate the screen as desired.

I've found the dual-mode display makes for very comfortable reading both indoors and outdoors under all lighting conditions, including under direct sunlight. My wife's Kindle 1 seems slightly better for text, but the color and responsiveness of the XO's LCD more than make up for it as I also use the XO for reviewing photos in the field, web browsing and other "light-weight" tasks. This amazing screen is the primary reason I wanted an XO.

I haven't timed it, but my XO can handle a long evening's worth of reading before the charge runs low, so long as the backlight is off (or dimmed to the lowest setting in a dark room). My Tekkeon external battery pack keeps the XO running for 20 hours or so when I don't have an AC source handy.

I have not yet attempted to install Calibre on the XO as I keep my library on a desktop system at home. Out of curiosity, has anyone dabbled with Calibre on the XO, under any OS?

04-23-2010, 07:56 AM	#1
RoboRay Zealot Posts: 132 Karma: 270 Join Date: Apr 2010 Device: NookColor (CM7); OLPC XO (Ubuntu 8.10); HTC Thunderbolt (CM7)	OLPC XO I've been experimenting with my OLPC XO as a reader for the last few months and was wondering if anyone else is using one as such. A brief search didn't find much here other than a handful of old OLPC posts and lots of commentary on Pixel Qi screens. I'm running Teapot's modified Ubuntu 8.10 from an SD card and installed FBReader. Responsiveness is great (pages flip instantly), although the long boot times (well over a minute) cause me to rarely shut the thing down unless I'm going to be away from AC power for a while. I normally just turn out the backlight when I'm done and don't worry about the couple of watts the machine is drawing while idle. The D-pad and other buttons on the screen bezel are functional under Ubuntu and mappable as keys in FBReader, so you can flip the display around to tablet mode and rotate the screen as desired. I've found the dual-mode display makes for very comfortable reading both indoors and outdoors under all lighting conditions, including under direct sunlight. My wife's Kindle 1 seems slightly better for text, but the color and responsiveness of the XO's LCD more than make up for it as I also use the XO for reviewing photos in the field, web browsing and other "light-weight" tasks. This amazing screen is the primary reason I wanted an XO. I haven't timed it, but my XO can handle a long evening's worth of reading before the charge runs low, so long as the backlight is off (or dimmed to the lowest setting in a dark room). My Tekkeon external battery pack keeps the XO running for 20 hours or so when I don't have an AC source handy. I have not yet attempted to install Calibre on the XO as I keep my library on a desktop system at home. Out of curiosity, has anyone dabbled with Calibre on the XO, under any OS?