[ExI] Ebooks Formats and ebook readers

[Tomasz Rola]

On Fri, 9 Dec 2011, F. C. Moulton wrote:

> On 12/09/2011 12:05 PM, Tomasz Rola wrote:
> > 
> > Yes. And a prospect of my legally bought device being examined by some 
> > third party, without asking me for permission, is, at least for me, 
> > totally unappealing.
> > 
> 
> I should have added that the ereader I currently use is an Aluratek
> which is about two years old and is not tied to any vendor but it does
> not have any WiFi connectivity.  It does have a 2 GB card that I can
> load with whatever I want; I am in complete control.  Of course being
> almost two years old it is a couple of generations behind.

Sounds really nice. Being behind sounds nicer than lemmings would've 
expected. This includes being behind the wheel :-).

> As I said I do not recommend the Kindle.  The Nook Tablet and the new
> Kobo units both look promising but I have not investigated them in detail.

Well, in some cases choosing a reader can be very hard.

My ideal ebook reader is PDA fitted with e-ink display.

PDA (personal digital assistant) was the latest hit before cellular took 
over and sent PDAs into oblivion. I bought Compaq Ipaq some 10 years ago, 
installed Linux on it and used as ebook reader until CF card went bunk. I 
am yet to revive the thing (unfortunately, Familiar Linux seems to be 
gone for good, probably dead with sources, too, so the only other option 
is, I guess, Angstrom - but I digress).

A lot of html files had been read in full sun, since I had been ordaining 
fresh air to myself every day and I could not take a PC outside with me. 
Ipaqs had remarkable displays, that looked great in sunshine and could be 
backlited when indoors. IMHO, their displays were amongst the closest to 
e-ink that could be done with LCD - those were transflective LCDs, if I am 
correct.

As far as I can tell after watching some youtube films, contemporary 
devices are close to useless outdoors, at least for heavy reading. Of 
course I didn't watch everything. And of course, I didn't bother checking 
neither Kindle nor Ipad.

Nook looks interesting, but I am not going to buy it right now. Before I 
do, I will have to examine the "sunshine problem". Unless Eugene takes his 
for sun bathing :-).

Also, I would really like to have Linux on it. By Linux I mean a terminal 
emulator and ability to control the device from it, without a need to use 
pointy-clicky interface. I had such thing 10 years ago, no reason to go 
graphical now, especially if we expect things to improve over time. The 
only improvement I want is bigger terminals (like, true vt100 emulation 
that fits on the display). Size of emulated terminal was my only complaint 
about Ipaqs - some 30x20 characters (30x10 with keyboard enabled) instead 
of 80x24. Still, it was a killer for me - running scripts, vi etc out of 
the pocket. Tweaking the system while birds were singing over my head. You 
got the idea.

Unfortunately, even having Linux on board does not guarantee me a total 
control. Especially if Linux is ran on one cpu while some other software, 
possibly virus-infected, runs on modem or wifi hardware, and remains out 
of my reach all the time.

Android is _maybe_ good, but I need to see what is going on with "remote 
control" in Android devices.

Nokia made few interesting tablets, but I am not sure if they are going to 
consider Linux in the future or maybe go to Windows (and beyond).

So far, not so good. I don't have to hurry, so I don't read on the subject 
too extensively. If things go in the right direction I expect one day 
there will be cheap enough laptops with e-ink displays (or hybrid 
lcd/e-ink). Laptops are - at the moment - preferred from my point of view. 
It is easy to find and install normal Linux distribution on a laptop (i.e. 
PC by another name). It is also possible to repair them, if such need 
arises. Not trivial but some folks manage.

One alternative possibility is to buy some e-ink/touchscreen capable 
reader and reflash it with whatever I want. Again, some folks manage to do 
it but this is still kind of unknown territory for me. Also, producers 
don't like it too much.

Seems like I am yet to see an ultimate pda/reader that could seduce me 
better than this 10 years old thing I mentioned above.

> And ebooks are becoming increasingly popular.  One reason is ease of
> transport and ease of reading.  A typical ereader or tablet is so much
> easier to handle than a large hardback.  And if my eyes get tired then
> it is one click of my thumb and the text is enlarged.

Sure. And I really like the fact there is so much great stuff on 
Wikisource, Project Gutenberg and Archive. And few other places.

Regards,
Tomasz Rola

--
** A C programmer asked whether computer had Buddha's nature.      **
** As the answer, master did "rm -rif" on the programmer's home    **
** directory. And then the C programmer became enlightened...      **
**                                                                 **
** Tomasz Rola          mailto:tomasz_rola at bigfoot.com             **