Anyone want to make a hacker ereader?

[lumpen]

Search [link deleted.]

There are some cheap looking readers available just waiting for some great English software and a nice bulk order...

How hard is it to play around with firmware on something like this?

[Dr. Drib]

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Don
(Moderator)

[lumpen]

Okay, well I found a way to bulk order 100-500 6" e-ink readers for $145USD each. I don't know who else would be interested in this besides a large community of ebook reading people.

Try searching for 'E-ink' or 'eink' on websites which list electronics made in China or elsewhere in Asia. There is no reason for an E-reader to cost over $200.

We could get around all the restrictions on file types and limitations on online stores and order some ereaders of our own.

[Redcard]

And then we can open ourselves up for lawsuits for the people who own the patent rights and what not on those restrictions for file types.

I like the thought , personally, but I don't like the lawsuit potentiality.

[Kevin2960]

Originally Posted by lumpen

Okay, well I found a way to bulk order 100-500 6" e-ink readers for $145USD each. I don't know who else would be interested in this besides a large community of ebook reading people.

Try searching for 'E-ink' or 'eink' on websites which list electronics made in China or elsewhere in Asia. There is no reason for an E-reader to cost over $200.

We could get around all the restrictions on file types and limitations on online stores and order some ereaders of our own.

What your suggesting is illegal, morally wrong, and most members already have eReaders so that idea too is not well thought out, Sorry,

[zelda_pinwheel]

just to keep things in perspective, it looks to me that lumpen is merely proposing to get a group of interested people together to take advantage of the lower prices you can get by buying in bulk. I am really not sure how that would be illegal *or* morally wrong, in fact it seems like a pretty interesting idea if someone is willing to handle all the logistics. or am I missing something ? lumpen, perhaps you could clarify your idea ?

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by Kevin2960

What your suggesting is illegal, morally wrong, and most members already have eReaders so that idea too is not well thought out, Sorry,

How is a group buy illegal or morally wrong? Or am I not understanding the OP correctly?

[Dr. Drib]

lumpen, are you affiliated in way, context, or form with the link you initially provided in your first post?

Thank you.



Don
(Moderator)

[Iphinome]

$145 is about what my refurbished Kindle cost it doesn't sound like much of a deal especially for a bulk and for having to deal with shipping costs, probably import duties and the effort of writing new firmware or writing patches for the current that will no doubt void the warranty.

[ASparrow]

The new Kobo ereader will retail for $149 at Borders when it comes out next month. It's already on sale at Indigo stores in Canada. It also has a six-inch e-ink screen.

Personal Disclaimer: I am not personally affiliated with Kobo or Indigo or Borders or Canada (though I have been to Toronto, and my book is available from Kobo).

[Kevin2960]

Originally Posted by zelda_pinwheel

just to keep things in perspective, it looks to me that lumpen is merely proposing to get a group of interested people together to take advantage of the lower prices you can get by buying in bulk. I am really not sure how that would be illegal *or* morally wrong, in fact it seems like a pretty interesting idea if someone is willing to handle all the logistics. or am I missing something ? lumpen, perhaps you could clarify your idea ?

It's the ""Getting Round the Restrictions" that Alarms me, Sorry,

[lumpen]

I am not affiliated with any company. I was looking all over for a cheap ereader, and the Kobo stood out immediately as it was cheap and I live in Canada, I kept looking and and noticed the foxit ereader which looked strikingly similar with the same 6" e-ink screen and that square menu button on the bottom right. I looked up e-ink readers on sites listing manufacturers and found many listings of similar items with 6" e-ink screens and that same layout.

By "hacker" ereader, I meant one that gave us access to the OS and ability to customize everything (fonts, zooms, image viewing?), but I do not know if this is actually an option with ereaders straight from the manufacturer, and I do not know how to program. I don't like the idea of being limited to amazon or any other online store for ebooks, I like to use my local library website or other free services like gutenberg. However, I mainly need to read scientific research articles which no reader seems to be good for.

The more I look into it the more this is a bad idea, Iphinome hit most of the points: "$145 is about what my refurbished Kindle cost it doesn't sound like much of a deal especially for a bulk and for having to deal with shipping costs, probably import duties and the effort of writing new firmware or writing patches for the current that will no doubt void the warranty." I think the software immediately available for these will have poor English setups (Many seem to support Chinese, English and Russian). There would be no warranty or technical support. The price can be beaten by other companies and the technology is advancing quite quickly. An order of 100 would be impossible, and if not sold right away they would become outdated and worthless in a few months, if not weeks. Also, not having the backing of any legitimate online stores would raise costs and limit the availability of reading material. I don't know how patents on file formats work, but I assume if they manufacturer supplies an OS which can support "TEXT: TXT, Fb2, FB2.zip, TXT, PDF, RTF, HTML, PRC, CHM, DJVU, DOC, EPUB, TCR Image: JPEG, BMP, PNG, TIFF" then these formats are already cleared in some way.

The supplier I talked to said I could get a single sample reader for $185USD (180 for 10-15), but it looks exactly like a Kobo from the poor quality pictures available and paying an extra $30 dollars to support "any file format" may not be worth it for me.

[solomon]

Originally Posted by lumpen

By "hacker" ereader, I meant one that gave us access to the OS and ability to customize everything (fonts, zooms, image viewing?), but I do not know if this is actually an option with ereaders straight from the manufacturer, and I do not know how to program. I don't like the idea of being limited to amazon or any other online store for ebooks, I like to use my local library website or other free services like gutenberg. However, I mainly need to read scientific research articles which no reader seems to be good for.

The Barnes and Noble Nook E-reader (aka NookE) is pretty well hacked right now - see nookdevs.com etc. Admittedly not to the degree you're asking for, but it's likely going to be better than what you initially suggested.

Note also that DRM is pretty hard to remove without the keys! Thus, an ereader which took DRM'd ebooks and read them without the keys is likely a pipe dream. There are however well-documented removal tools for the various major formats - so once you legally have a book, you should be able to get it onto another reader. Discussion of this topic is discouraged on mobileread though....

Note that for non-DRM content, Calibre is an excellent tool which converts well between the various ebook formats. (Nothing does PDF -> other very well IMO, but that's not the converter's fault!)

I picked the Nook for the hackability and the Trook application (once hacked) which allows WiFi access to one's Calibre library. It's about $100 high for your desired price point though.

HTH,
Richard