Looking for a simple Ebook reader

[Chiron scriba]

Silly question perhaps, in particular here, but that's exactly what I would ask Santa Claus for: a tiny thing that fits in my hand on which I can read the Ebooks I already own or the ones I choose to download to my PC.
No WiFi then, no colors, no internet browsing, no news, no hi-fi, no games, no beer tap... just a small gadget to replace a paper book (or maybe a few thousand paper books) when I'm away from home.
In particular, being at the moment the not-so-proud owner of a Kindle 4, I'd like to avoid that someone peeks over my shoulder to control what I'm reading or tampers remotely with my files without telling me.
So far I got rid of that risk by lobotomizing my Kindle (just a matter of removing two small capacitors thus gagging the WiFi), but in the course of the operation a few small plastic latches broke and fell off, so I had to close the patient with duct tape and now I have to refresh the duct tape every couple of weeks

Then, if Santa Claus hadn't run out of patience before such an unreasonable request, I'd also ask him to be able to arrange my books in a tree-like fashion without having to juggle half-an-hour with Calibre.

And if he didn't tell me yet to go to Hell and stay there until further notice, I'd add an old dream of mine, the possibility to correct small typos (or scanning errors) on the spot before I forget them, even if I'm on a plane and the nearest instance of Sigil is several thousand miles away.

Am I asking too much? Probably yes. But I remember from an unspecified booklet on Murphy's law a funny "don't believe in miracles, rely on them "

Is anyone here conversant with miracles?

[Sweetpea]

The most important question: why didn't you simply turn off the wifi? I know my husband's kindle hasn't seen any network action for a few months... (he turned it on during our holiday to test something out )

And there are not a lot of devices anymore that don't offer wifi (as everybody needs to have it apparently, I personally don't see the need...), and also have a decent folderlike- structure for books...

[Chiron scriba]

Originally Posted by Sweetpea

The most important question: why didn't you simply turn off the wifi?

Because it isn't as safe as turning off the light in your room: there you simply cut the power to the bulb, whereas if you tell a Kindle to turn off the WiFi you actually issue a command to the firmware; whether then the firmware really executes it or just pretends to depends on how seriously it has been written. Now I tend to distrust a firmware written by (or for) a company so morbidly interested in poking its nose into my own business.

Paranoid? Well, probably yes. But better paranoid than sorry

[meeera]

I can't help your paranoia, but a Kobo Mini, registered once with a fake email, then never connected to wifi again, would fill most of your needs. It's pretty obvious that the wifi is actually off, by the altered battery drain. If readers were really leaving the wifi active when placed in Airplane mode, I would have thought air safety authorities would have had something to say about it over the last few years.

I don't know of any mainstream e-ink readers with on-the-fly correction capabilities, sorry - they're readers, not editors.

[jj2me]

Too bad you didn't post a question before operating on your kindle. There are at least a few instances of indirect observation of wi-fi-"off" working correctly. Like when you borrow something from the Kindle Lending library, turn off wi-fi (via software!), and the ebook is still readable on your Kindle after the one-month lending term is over.

You could also look for a cheap matching Kindle in need of repair, for salvaging the parts you need for fixing your original Kindle.

[Chiron scriba]

Thanks Meeera, your arguments are pretty persuasive. I think I might give it a try.
And at the next paranoia outbreak I can still open up the Kobo Mini (maybe more carefully than the Kindle) and lobotomize it too...

Originally Posted by meeera

I don't know of any mainstream e-ink readers with on-the-fly correction capabilities, sorry - they're readers, not editors.

That's a pity! But hope is still allowed and free, right?

[kacir]

Originally Posted by Chiron scriba

... but that's exactly what I would ask Santa Claus for: a tiny thing that fits in my hand on which I can read the Ebooks I already own or the ones I choose to download to my PC.
No WiFi then, no colors, no internet browsing, no news, no hi-fi, no games, no beer tap... just a small gadget to replace a paper book (or maybe a few thousand paper books) when I'm away from home.
...
Then, if Santa Claus hadn't run out of patience before such an unreasonable request, I'd also ask him to be able to arrange my books in a tree-like fashion without having to juggle half-an-hour with Calibre.
...
the possibility to correct small typos (or scanning errors) on the spot before I forget them, even if I'm on a plane and the nearest instance of Sigil is several thousand miles away.
...
Is anyone here conversant with miracles?

Here I come ;-)

Have a look at the PocketBook.
They have quite a few devices, with WiFi and also without. Those with WiFi can be registered with a fake address.

Huge possibility of configuration,
hierarchical directories support,
I have installed Vim text editor on mine, that could be used to correct a typo or two in a txt or html file. Perhaps even epub - but you would have to unzip it first (You could do it at the time you load the book and then just edit the xml file and assemble the corrected book when you connect the reader to PC to download the corrected ebook). Beware, Vim is extremely powerful editor but has somewhat steep learning curve.


Have a look at the devices that have Android, such as Onyx Boox T68, or Boyue T61 E-ink Android Tablet ( http://the-digital-reader.com/2014/0...rived-install/ ). With those you can hack away or install whatever you want - even epub editor, *if* such beast exists for Android

[Chiron scriba]

Originally Posted by jj2me

Too bad you didn't post a question before operating on your kindle.

Hmmm, I took that drastic step two years ago and run into mobileread forum just this morning...

There are at least a few instances of indirect observation of wi-fi-"off" working correctly. Like when you borrow something from the Kindle Lending library, turn off wi-fi (via software!), and the ebook is still readable on your Kindle after the one-month lending term is over.

True, but there is still the possibility of a human error (mine) creeping in: sometimes it's the tongue faster than the brain, sometimes the fingers... it may take a fraction of a second to push the wrong button and a lifetime to regret it

You could also look for a cheap matching Kindle in need of repair, for salvaging the parts you need for fixing your original Kindle.

That's a very cool idea! Yes, I'll look for a not-so-badly-damaged rear cover, that's all I need.

[Chiron scriba]

Kacir, are you an angel in plain clothes or what?

In a few minutes I'll be googling for the PocketBook, it looks exactly what I'm dreaming of!

About the Onyx Boox T68 I gave it a thought or three till I saw the price - my wife would kill me before I had the opportunity to enjoy it

[eschwartz]

Originally Posted by kacir

Here I come ;-)

Have a look at the PocketBook.
They have quite a few devices, with WiFi and also without. Those with WiFi can be registered with a fake address.

Huge possibility of configuration,
hierarchical directories support,
I have installed Vim text editor on mine, that could be used to correct a typo or two in a txt or html file. Perhaps even epub - but you would have to unzip it first (You could do it at the time you load the book and then just edit the xml file and assemble the corrected book when you connect the reader to PC to download the corrected ebook). Beware, Vim is extremely powerful editor but has somewhat steep learning curve.


Have a look at the devices that have Android, such as Onyx Boox T68, or Boyue T61 E-ink Android Tablet ( http://the-digital-reader.com/2014/0...rived-install/ ). With those you can hack away or install whatever you want - even epub editor, *if* such beast exists for Android

vim can edit zipfiles if properly configured. PC should by default but I don't know about the Pocketbook package. In any event, you can wrap epub to zip, see Kovid's discovery here: https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=103114

[eschwartz]

Once the Kindle is hacked, you can do all kinds of cool stuff to the OS, perhaps blacklist the WiFi driver. Or search for the BBB (Block Big Brother) Firewall hack for Kindle. Replacing iptables with expanded modules allows you to be fairly sure Amazon isn't being extra-sneaky, even if you don't trust the GUI. And I challenge your fingers to mess up enough to circumvent the firewalling of every Amazon server.

That being said, I am not paranoid and none of this is necessary.

[Chiron scriba]

Originally Posted by eschwartz

Once the Kindle is hacked, you can do all kinds of cool stuff to the OS . . .

Eschwartz, you're dipping your finger in salt and then rubbing it into my open wound: long ago I used to write my own software and firmware - operating systems included - in plain assembler (no, I may be paranoid but no masochist, that was before C became popular ). But then Fate turned me into a hardware engineer and in the meantime the world of software spawned thousands of subtle variants I completely lost track of.
As a result hacking a Kindle, unless it's just a matter of using some ready-made software, would be to me as easy and bloodless as shaving my ugly face with a rusty kitchen knife

Would you be amenable to lending me a hand and patiently showing me the way without swearing too loud?

[dkgmunich]

Hey Chiron,

Now that you mention that you already been down to rabbit hole, I guess things would be simpler for you to play around.
If you have already not found on this site
https://wiki.mobileread.com/wiki/K5_Index
and
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...19#post2169819
And I think it will be childs play for you.

Regards,
dkg

[Chiron scriba]

Thanks dgk! I'll give it a try right away - and then maybe I'll come back to sob on your shoulder

Drück' die Daumen für mich...

[eschwartz]

Originally Posted by Chiron scriba

Eschwartz, you're dipping your finger in salt and then rubbing it into my open wound: long ago I used to write my own software and firmware - operating systems included - in plain assembler (no, I may be paranoid but no masochist, that was before C became popular ). But then Fate turned me into a hardware engineer and in the meantime the world of software spawned thousands of subtle variants I completely lost track of.
As a result hacking a Kindle, unless it's just a matter of using some ready-made software, would be to me as easy and bloodless as shaving my ugly face with a rusty kitchen knife

Would you be amenable to lending me a hand and patiently showing me the way without swearing too loud?

There's lots of prepackaged hacks for the Kindle, courtesy of the MobileRead Kindle developers team. And a big thanks goes to Ixtab, NiLuJe,twobob, geekmaster, knc1, Yifanlu, and Co.

In this case, the Block Big Brother Firewall. https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=205925

Requires:

Jailbreak
KUAL