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No, FBReader is definitely usable. I read with it a lot on my 770 while I was in Thailand.
But it has quirks, and development is, well, not stalled exactly (they just came out with a beta) but not moving at great speed. They work much more on their Java version, and they seem neurotically focused on adding format support -- not on adding usable features, or refining the interface. It's trying to be all things, when they should pick maybe two or three formats and run with it. (ie: epub, fb2 and xhtml)
Bookmarks are killer for me -- I like to correct my ebooks, and without bookmarks I cannot note the errors. Bookmarking has been on their todo list for approximately 10^52 years.
CSS doesn't work, either, so HTML and ePub are iffy. Even fb2 isn't that hot (can't do much layout.) Without layout, you cannot get even mildly complex documents to look good.
So, it's usable, but quirky. And there are not a lot of choices on Linux where ebook-reader software is concerned. It seems to be: FBReader, text only, pdf or your browser.
In the Calibre section, I noted that Calibre's ebook-viewer is an excellent app that would be great as a stand-alone viewer. Installing Calibre to the Nokia tablets is overkill, though, and to the Smart Q series as well.
But ebook-viewer is tightly integrated with Calibre. It would take some effort, I expect, to pry it loose. Still, it reads CSS and has bookmarks. It uses Webkit to render, so it looks good. If a coder wanted to work on something like that, it's probably an easier job than coding from scratch.
$.02
m a r
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