Cheap, e-ink, most compatible w/ Calibre books/plugins or can jailbreak - Page 2

ottischwenk · 05-12-2020, 08:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JSWolf

And how is that a good idea when Kobo is the better choice?

Why should Kobo be a better choice?
I know Kobo, but I know only one reason - Kobo is a little cheaper than Tolino.
When I check "About Tolino" I see

Quote:

tolino is developed and designed by
Rakuten Kobo Inc.
135 Liberty Street
Suite 101 Toronto, On M6K 1A7
Canada

The advantage of Tolino is that Rakuten-Kobo was forced to Android when buying Tolino, that all Kobo devices under the Tolino name are Android devices.

Quoth · 05-12-2020, 08:26 AM

Android is "fine" for a general purpose tablet that you add apps to that has the Android GUI and VM. It's a lazy solution for dedicated eink ereader, a customised Linux is better. You need a custom GUI anyway for eink. Almost all apps and programs use the "scroll" model to show more content. The proper eink applications use paging. It's one thing the Kindle DXG web browser does better than any newer Kindle or Kobo browsers.

The Tolino may be fine, but I'd assume non-android is better. Certainly every TV I've ever seen with Android TV is worse than other Smart TV GUIs. The Andriod model has been badly ported to TVs. The only thing Android TV does better (sometimes) is installing and browsing Android Apps. Which I don't want on a TV.

Certainly the later Sony ereader I tested based on Android was inferior to the earlier Sony ereader without Android.

"The disadvantage of Tolino is that Rakuten-Kobo was forced to Android when buying a Tolino, that all Kobo devices under the Tolino name are Android devices."
But maybe they are fine

Android uses the Linux Kernel and some Linux/GNU tools. The difference is the framework for Android apps (API to Google services and Android Services), the clone of the Java Virtual Machine to run the Applications, essentially written as if for Java. On a plain Linux you can use any tools or languages or libraries support by Compilers for ARM and Linux. Android, while technically open source, is Google controlled. Google approval requires also binding and distributing the closed Google "blob" needed for the PlayStore and other Google services.

JSWolf · 05-12-2020, 08:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Quoth

Certainly the later Sony ereader I tested based on Android was inferior to the earlier Sony ereader without Android.

As I've had both the 650 and the T1, I will have to disagree that the t1 was worse then the 650. They were just different. I liked RMSDK on the T1 better then I did on the 650.

ottischwenk · 05-12-2020, 10:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Quoth

........

You write a lot of garbage without ever seeing a Tolino.
I know both - and my Kobos are flying around somewhere because they are without the necessery comfort I want.
The Kobos are far from meeting my needs, but everyone, he believes.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Quoth

Certainly the later Sony ereader I tested based on Android was inferior to the earlier Sony ereader without Android.

No Sony ereader starting with T1 was without Android and they were much better than the Linux stuff they produced before.

4691mls · 05-12-2020, 10:33 AM

For those who are interested, there are ongoing threads in the Mobileread Tolino forum about differences between Kobo and Tolino and about customizing Tolinos.

ps67 · 05-12-2020, 01:39 PM

Personally when I saw the first post I immediately thought to a Kobo and nothing else occurred to me. Then the Pocketbook came to mind but not the Tolino. It was not intentional, I certainly have nothing against the Tolino that I have never had and I have followed very little on the forum so I cannot speak ill of something I don't know.

Instead, I looked at the forum on the Pocketbook because I had the curiosity of the Inkpad X, even if I didn't do anything about it and I will wait for something with colours with the big screen.

I can recommend the Kobo because it adapts very well to the needs of the OP: excellent interaction with calibre, high configurability and not too expensive price given the offer on the Clara.

It's true, you can't put the Kindle app in it but personally, having a Kindle ereader, I don't miss it, maybe that's why I didn't think of it: I notice that even the OP already has a Kindle, of course I don't know if he thinks the same way.

I also feel the need to edit badly formatted books (i.e. almost all of them) so when I buy a book - everywhere - or download one in the public domain, then I have my copy in Epub formatted properly: another reason why I didn't come to mind that a Kindle app or of any other vendor may be useful. Note that OP specified that most of his books came from outside the Amazon store so it means that he has no trouble in converting books.

But all considerations are personal, of course: if I recommend a Kobo, based on my experience, I don't mean that the rest sucks.

For example I own a Paperwhite and it is an excellent device, but if the calibre integration is important this is a weakness of it because You have only a very basic treatment of metadata: Author, title, cover and stop. And no collection available.

At the end I am convinced of what I have written and I think that he will be happy with Clara.

05-12-2020, 08:26 AM	#17
Quoth Still reading Posts: 13,653 Karma: 103503445 Join Date: Jun 2017 Location: Ireland Device: All 4 Kinds: epub eink, Kindle, android eink, NxtPaper	Android is "fine" for a general purpose tablet that you add apps to that has the Android GUI and VM. It's a lazy solution for dedicated eink ereader, a customised Linux is better. You need a custom GUI anyway for eink. Almost all apps and programs use the "scroll" model to show more content. The proper eink applications use paging. It's one thing the Kindle DXG web browser does better than any newer Kindle or Kobo browsers. The Tolino may be fine, but I'd assume non-android is better. Certainly every TV I've ever seen with Android TV is worse than other Smart TV GUIs. The Andriod model has been badly ported to TVs. The only thing Android TV does better (sometimes) is installing and browsing Android Apps. Which I don't want on a TV. Certainly the later Sony ereader I tested based on Android was inferior to the earlier Sony ereader without Android. "The disadvantage of Tolino is that Rakuten-Kobo was forced to Android when buying a Tolino, that all Kobo devices under the Tolino name are Android devices." But maybe they are fine Android uses the Linux Kernel and some Linux/GNU tools. The difference is the framework for Android apps (API to Google services and Android Services), the clone of the Java Virtual Machine to run the Applications, essentially written as if for Java. On a plain Linux you can use any tools or languages or libraries support by Compilers for ARM and Linux. Android, while technically open source, is Google controlled. Google approval requires also binding and distributing the closed Google "blob" needed for the PlayStore and other Google services. Last edited by Quoth; 05-12-2020 at 08:32 AM. Reason: Android is really Google.

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05-12-2020, 10:33 AM	#20
4691mls Wizard Posts: 2,776 Karma: 30081762 Join Date: Jan 2012 Location: US Device: ALL DEVICES ARE STOCK: Kobo Clara, Tolino Shine 2, Sony PRS-T3, T1	For those who are interested, there are ongoing threads in the Mobileread Tolino forum about differences between Kobo and Tolino and about customizing Tolinos.

05-12-2020, 01:39 PM	#21
ps67 Guru Posts: 753 Karma: 7025494 Join Date: Aug 2017 Location: Italy Device: Kindle Paperwhite, Kobo Elipsa, Pocketbook Inkpad 4, Inkpad Color	Personally when I saw the first post I immediately thought to a Kobo and nothing else occurred to me. Then the Pocketbook came to mind but not the Tolino. It was not intentional, I certainly have nothing against the Tolino that I have never had and I have followed very little on the forum so I cannot speak ill of something I don't know. Instead, I looked at the forum on the Pocketbook because I had the curiosity of the Inkpad X, even if I didn't do anything about it and I will wait for something with colours with the big screen. I can recommend the Kobo because it adapts very well to the needs of the OP: excellent interaction with calibre, high configurability and not too expensive price given the offer on the Clara. It's true, you can't put the Kindle app in it but personally, having a Kindle ereader, I don't miss it, maybe that's why I didn't think of it: I notice that even the OP already has a Kindle, of course I don't know if he thinks the same way. I also feel the need to edit badly formatted books (i.e. almost all of them) so when I buy a book - everywhere - or download one in the public domain, then I have my copy in Epub formatted properly: another reason why I didn't come to mind that a Kindle app or of any other vendor may be useful. Note that OP specified that most of his books came from outside the Amazon store so it means that he has no trouble in converting books. But all considerations are personal, of course: if I recommend a Kobo, based on my experience, I don't mean that the rest sucks. For example I own a Paperwhite and it is an excellent device, but if the calibre integration is important this is a weakness of it because You have only a very basic treatment of metadata: Author, title, cover and stop. And no collection available. At the end I am convinced of what I have written and I think that he will be happy with Clara.