
OcherBook: Open-source replacement Kobo firmware - artsandsci
https://github.com/ccoffing/OcherBook
======
acabal
Very interesting and timely considering I just bought a Kobo Aura One. The
Aura One is a really nice device, and you don't realize how small and
uncomfortable the Kindle Voyage is until you use a big device with a textured
back. Plus the eink Kobo's epub rendering engine is easily best-in-class. It
blow's Kindle's rendering capabilities out of the water. (Assuming you use
their dumb ".kepub.epub" format extension--if you upload regular epubs it'll
fall back to rendering with Digital Editions, Adobe's eldritch horror of a
renderer.)

If OcherBook is meant to entirely replace the Kobo firmware, why not base the
document rendering portion on something like Readium? That's another best-in-
class renderer designed to be used in other software but it seems like it's
almost always overlooked.

On a side note, It's always been a faraway dream of mine to do a Kickstarter-
like project to fund a completely open and libre eink ebook reader. As far as
hardware startups go it'd be on the simpler side (the stripped-down minimum
device is just a touch eink screen, ram/cpu/storage, usb-c; wifi and backlight
not required). But, I have zero hardware experience and honestly I don't know
if it'd be a venture that could be made profitable or not. Kindle/Kobo devices
are loss leaders for their ebook store, so an ereader without a store, and
competing on just libre-ness can't compete on price. If anyone's interested in
chasing the dream, get in touch...

~~~
houqp
One of the KOReader maintainers here ;)

I have been discussing with other maintainers (mostly @chrox) about starting a
full stack open and libre eink reader for more than a year. Now that @lgeek
has done the ground work at the firmware and OS level, coming up with the
hardware design is the last piece. I am happy you are interested in this too.
I will definitely reach out to you through emails. Meanwhile, if anyone else
is also interested in this, please feel free to join our gitter channel at
[https://gitter.im/koreader/koreader](https://gitter.im/koreader/koreader) for
further discussion. I will be hanging out there after work hour (PST).

And yes, we are also evaluating readium. Right now, we are using coolreader's
awesome engine for epubs.

~~~
chme
Great work with KOReader!

I tried KOReader on my Kobo Glo some time ago. But I think there was a problem
that it always froze after some time. Never had the time and opportunity to
further analyze it to give a good bug report. I really should try the latest
version of it on all my ebook readers. So much to do and so little time ;)

------
lgeek
Funny coincidence, I'm developing okreader
([https://github.com/lgeek/okreader](https://github.com/lgeek/okreader)),
which is a package of u-boot, deblobbified downstream kernel images, Debian
and KOReader
([https://github.com/koreader/koreader](https://github.com/koreader/koreader))
for a range of Kobo devices. I've been working with upstream KOReader
developers to get the features required to use KOReader without the Kobo
firmware. okreader replaces the whole software stack on the device.

~~~
chme
Cool. Will try it out.

I can also recommend the Pocketbook Touch Lux 3 for hacking. Changeable
buildin microsd card, Allwinner A13 Soc and pins for serial connection. Only
problem with it is touch and display controller. AFAIK they don't work with
the mainline kernel.

Oh and what I didn't like about the Kobo reader software is their library and
that they always want everything to index first. With the default Pocketbook
firmware you can browse directory structures, so much superior if you have a
very big library on it.

~~~
houqp
KOReader runs on many pocketbook models too ;) Although I am not 100% sure if
it works for Lux 3 specifically since I don't have this model to test it
myself.

~~~
chme
Yeah, I should try KOReader on it at some point. Should work. Problem is just
Pocketbook has own proprietary modules to load the touchscreen and display
drivers, but that is just kernel space. I am not sure if that is even GPL
compliant.

------
kybernetikos
Other alternative readers for kobo include koreader:
[https://github.com/koreader/koreader](https://github.com/koreader/koreader)

Alternative shells for kobo include the Kobo Start Menu:
[https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=266821](https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=266821)

The kobo developers corner forum is very useful
[https://www.mobileread.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=247](https://www.mobileread.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=247)

------
dorfsmay
Does it still allow you to buy books from kobo.com ?

By the way, I was surprised how Amazon is making special offers to authors
when they restrict the publication of their ebooks on Amazon's platform only,
leading to some authors to stop publishing on Kobo. Found this out when my
daughter could no longer buy the new books in a series she was reading. The
author confirm the reason (and actually sent the new book epub for free).

~~~
gommm
Yes, it's an issue I've often seen. I really dislike this practice from
Amazon. I can understand author's doing it since it's tough for self published
authors to earn money but it's a monopolistic practice on the part of Amazon
that doesn't sit well with me.

~~~
logfromblammo
I didn't publish on Kobo's platform because their software arbitrarily decided
that I wasn't allowed to, and none of my attempts to communicate with a
customer service human to find out why generated any response.

I figured that I could still sell on Kobo via Smashwords, so didn't give it
much thought.

In the end, my book is now exclusive to Amazon KDP for one, and only one,
reason:

    
    
      - royalties from Amazon = $24.60
      - royalties from everyone else = $0
    

(It's not the amount. It's the principle.)

I was already _de facto_ exclusive to Amazon, anyway.

~~~
dublinben
I'm sure your readers appreciate being forced to purchase DRM-crippled copies
of your book from a monopolist. Have you considered offering DRM-free EPUB
downloads directly on your own site?

~~~
logfromblammo
As should be apparent from the amount of the royalty, I don't have a
significant quantity of readers. They _all_ chose to buy the book via Amazon
_when it was also available on other [non-DRM] platforms_.

I didn't force my readers to do anything. I followed their money to the only
platform that paid off.

I have also elected to keep my day job. Offering free downloads wouldn't even
be a waste of bandwidth, really--just a waste of server disk space. I don't
have interests in both writing _and_ marketing, so it doesn't make much
difference to me if I am not making any money because no one knows who I am,
rather than not making any money because nobody who knows who I am can figure
out how to pay me anything.

Also, the only person who bought the book for whom I can be certain that they
actually read it is my Mom, who left the most passive-aggressive 5-star review
I have ever seen--simultaneously shilling for it and telling me how I should
write the next book.

~~~
a3_nm
> Offering free downloads wouldn't even be a waste of bandwidth, really--just
> a waste of server disk space

You are very humble. :) I would be very surprised if there isn't someone who
considered reading your work but didn't because it wasn't available online for
free.

In fact, if your comment contained a direct link to a free copy of your work,
someone from HN would already have looked.

~~~
logfromblammo
Such a post would definitively link a pseudonym username to a real name. I'd
have to create a throwaway.

It would also be offtopic anywhere but a Show HN thread, and even then seems
iffy. The only bit of technical interest would be the script I wrote to
finagle 7Zip into outputting a valid .EPUB file. 7Zip and plaintext editors
were the only tools used. I'm not sure whether I am more afraid that no one
would look, or that it would get an HN hug of death.

------
jaddood
Related: calibre
[https://github.com/kovidgoyal/calibre](https://github.com/kovidgoyal/calibre)

~~~
FreakyT
An absolutely indispensable tool when it comes to eBook management and
conversion!

I just wish the UI wasn't such a mess. Anyone know if they're open to UX
contributions?

~~~
lfowles
3+ years ago:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8213947](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8213947)

This seemed to be a common theme whenever I looked at contributing to calibre.

~~~
nathancahill
> he didn't seem to have any interest in simplifying the UI

> he wants it to have as much features as possible

Not mutually exclusive.

------
vdnkh
Is there anything wrong with stock Kobo firmware? My paperwhite is pretty
dated and I was thinking of jumping ship.

~~~
DanBC
My Kobo mini had weird online activation requirement, and there's a bunch of
gamification that makes no sense.

It's a nicely hackable device though.

[http://uscoffings.net/clc/tech/embedded/kobo-
touch/](http://uscoffings.net/clc/tech/embedded/kobo-touch/)

~~~
efesak
Yes especialy kobo mini is fun device. Large community of paragliding pilots
are using it as flight computer by adding GPS and pressure sensor. See
[http://unity.paragliding.xyz/wp-
content/uploads/2015/05/Unit...](http://unity.paragliding.xyz/wp-
content/uploads/2015/05/Unity.jpg)

------
dottedmag
Nice one!

But it is not a full replacement firmware, only alternative book-reading
application.

From the website: "I am working on a replacement (called OcherBook) for the
Nickel application (the core of Kobo’s e-reader software stack)"

------
downrightmike
Six years too late. Threw the Kobo out some time ago.

------
jbmorgado
Hum, but this project seems dead. Last update was one year ago and it's got
only 1 contributor.

Can anyone recommend some alternative project (even for other e-readers)?

~~~
cschmittiey
At least in my experience, most of the e-reader hacking going on is over at
the mobileread.com forums, in the "Developers Corner" subforums. Both the
Kindle and the Kobo Dev Corners are pretty active, with lots of information.

