KOReader is so good for reading PDFs, compared to the native reader, I’m very impressed. Supports proper landscape mode (where swiping to next page moves to the second half of the current page, THEN next swipe gets you to the first half of the next page), supports auto-rotation, support auto-cropping of PDFs with controllable margin (killer feature), supports contrast adjustments, … It does not support handwritten annotations, but for just reading PDFs - it’s perfect.
https://terminalbytes.com/reviving-kindle-paperwhite-7th-gen...
What is extremely annoying is people constantly and universally lauding the Kindle for Kids option, when it is only offered in the US. Or, at least, its barely offered in the EU.
I jailbroke it and installed KOReader. Suddenly, no delays, great interface, wi-fi sync with Calibre. I might replace the battery one day, but it still lasts 2-3 books.
So only Kindle 3+ with keyboards work with this method, the early ones were whispernet only.
Even the battery surgery wasn't that hard and fixed the only problem mine had.
For context, it's been a little while since we've had a fresh gaolbreak for new Kindles. Last one was LanguageBreak, which came out back in 2023 and required firmware 5.16.2.1.1 or lower.
I first read gaol in a 1960s kids book by Randolph Snow. An Australian as it happens.
But yes, we do differentiate between jail and prison - the former usually being for those with short sentences or for those awaiting trial, and the latter being for those with long sentences. Interesting that other countries don't maintain that distinction - but I guess most countries don't have such a sprawling prison-industrial complex to warrant separate short-term v. long-term detention classifications.
In practice, the distinction is overblown.
Jails do hold long term prisoners, and prisons get pre-trial prisoners too.
There’s literally a market for jail beds. So prisoners are often sent where there’s an open spot, with little distinction between “short term” and “long term”.
A better distinction is that jails are run by a law enforcement agency, while prisons are not.
> A better distinction is that jails are run by a law enforcement agency, while prisons are not.
Depends on whether you count corrections agencies as law enforcement agencies. On the one hand, I'm pretty sure all states have distinct agencies for police v. prisons, but on the other hand, corrections officers are usually sworn peace officers and therefore would count as "law enforcement".
Another distinction, come to think of it, is that prisons are usually under federal or state agencies¹, while jails are usually under county or municipal agencies.
----
¹ The only exception I've found is Chester County Prison in Pennsylvania, which is under the Chester County Dept. of Corrections. Wikipedia also has an article on a "Northampton County Prison" (also in PA), but that county's website calls it the "Northampton County Jail"; on a tangential note, if corrections agencies don't count as law enforcement agencies, then the Northampton County Jail would be an exception to the "jails are run by a law enforcement agency" rule.
Post conviction, the prisoner will be moved to a state penitentiary to serve out their sentence.
I don't know how these distinctions work at the federal level.
Most of the customers are states that need to put a prisoner somewhere, and most of the sellers are states that have a spare cell somewhere.
It’s mostly government to government sales.
I agree concern over private prisons is overblown. The very idea conjures up Dickensonian workhouses. Not quite the reality.
It seems like there's a lot of beliefs that don't universally apply.
You inhabit a very different reality than everybody else. Americans do not differentiate jail and gaol; Americans don't use the word "gaol" under any circumstances, ever. It is not a part of American English.
These same games will have voice actors pronounce "ye" as it's written, unaware that the y is a typographic substitute for Þ. "ye olde" is pronounced "the old". But likewise, there's some VAs that clearly only ever read a word, like in the newer God of War games where a character mangles "prescient".
Americans never use ‘gaol’. It’s rarely used in Ireland but definitely a term there.
Although that distinction is rarely relevant in casual conversation in practice. People say "jail" and mean "prison" all the time.
It can definitely come across as a “Frankenstein’s monster” type of pedantic correction, but they truly do mean two different ideas in the US
Since that's the topic being discussed, then first portion of your statement wasn't necessary.
British English also differentiates jail and prison, by extension I assume that's universal.
I don't think I've ever once encountered "gaol" before today. Reading the parent comment, I believed it was a non-English language loanword, and probably a recent one at that, until I read the comments.
It's not like I avoid archaic works, either. It's possible I did come across the word at some point, but it was a one-off and without any repetition it faded quickly from my memory.
Am I a one-off?
(Sidenote but I'm still impressed that thing would work without giving my computer half a dozen viruses)
I keep seeing “tyre” on here too. I guess hn is hipster for alternative spellings.
Some of Australia's more popular historical sites are old gaols.
Prisons are where convicts go. Jails are where suspects awaiting trial go. People in prisons have been convicted and sentenced. People in jails might be proven guilty or not.
There are some variations among states, too; e.g., in California, some state felony convicts serve their sentence in county jails rather than state prisons.
I mean when two Australasians speak with each other in a foreign place I definitely hear the accent rise up a bit more outta the both of us but Aussies are something else when it comes to putting on a show, especially when Americans are involved (in my experience).
Never heard of it down here in NSW, and I worked with Police, Justice Department, Juvi, and the rest of police to prison pipeline.
Nobody writes/uses I can concur. The pedantry here, is somewhat apposite surely?
I realize the terms are often used interchangeably but I think the distinction is important especially because of the implications for presumption of innocence from conflating the two.
Pet peeve, but despite being a frequently claimed technical distinction, this is wrong both in terms of the strict definition of the terms and the way they are used as names of real institutions (though it is approximately true in most US state justice systems—but not the federal system—if you consider only felony crimes.)
It's odd that it doesn't mention it as archaic, because it's provably Just Not Used in the real world [0], but it's also an American dictionary, so all bets are off
> https://www.oed.com/search/dictionary/?q=gaol
If you click on the entry your search results give, it takes you to the entry for jail (eg: jail is the canonical noun it's using). Jail and gaol have slightly different routes into English, with gaol being via Northern French. Sez the OED:
> "remains as a written form in the archaic spelling gaol (chiefly due to statutory and official tradition); but this is obsolete in the spoken language, where the surviving word is jail, repr. Old Parisian French and Middle English jaiole, jaile. Hence though both forms gaol, jail, are still written, only the latter is spoken. In U.S. jail is the official spelling."
Finally, though, "jail" as a noun is pretty infrequent compared to "prison", which are the same thing in the UK (unlike the US), but the latter is much more common. The verb form on the other hand is almost always "jail", so when you are "jailed", you're sent to a prison.
0: https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/100681/which-wor...
https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/gaol
Cambridge is British, is it not?
https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/gaol
I believe Collins is the standard dictionary that British people use, much like Merriam-Webster for Americans.
And you would be wrong. They've only been putting out a dictionary since 1979. OED[0] is The Dictionary in the UK, and I've quoted its take on it in an adjacent comment.
I suspect fewer than 1% of British people own any paper English-language dictionary, but the sort of people who need a dictionary beyond what dictionary.com can offer will have online access through their employer, their institution, their local UK public library, or for the princely sum of £8/m for a personal account when paying annually.
Regardless, the authority that the OED holds on British English is best understood through the criticism section of it on Wikipedia, with people decrying its absolutely overwhelming influence:
> criticizing the OED is extremely difficult because "one is dealing not just with a dictionary but with a national institution", one that "has become, like the English monarchy, virtually immune from criticism in principle"
I've routinely referenced it in both the university library and the local town library since 1980.
There's been a digital version of almost all of the second edition kicking about since just prior to the print release of the second edition - I have that on most computer images I own.
The OED offers digital subscription access to the second edition and to the in progress third edition which a good number of people, libraries, companies subscribe to.
It's the dictionary of reference for those serious about the English language.
If people do use a dictionary these days they most likely do use a Collins or Oxford Dictionaries (not the same as the OED). But I imagine that most people would just use a Google search and rely on the top box which itself is using Oxford Dictionaries for its definitions.
Kindle is removing download and transfer option on Feb 26th - 299 Points | 173 comments - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43070155
Amazon ends kindle ebooks "Download and Transfer via USB" - 121 Points | 94 Comments - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43041726
That day, I decided to stop buying ebooks at Amazon. So, who cares if they shut down the download feature? You still have a week to download everything you need, and then you better buy at shops that value their customers' wishes.
(I genuinely don't know. Until now, I've always downloaded Kindle purchases via ”Download and transfer via USB”, then stripped the DRM and transferred to the device with Calibre.)
It would allow another source to downloading them from the Amazon website (as that is going away) on to a PC where stripping software can (in some cases) be applied.
It also might (but might not) be a way for decryption keys to be extracted from devices for that purpose, but it doesn't automatically provide such an exploit.
Right.
I wonder how hard it is, or would be, to simply emulate whatever alternative channel the Kindle devices use to download Kindle ebooks from Amazon's servers.
Until now, there hasn't been much motivation to do so, since the "download and transfer via USB" in option existed. But now there obviously will be.
It's way better than the built-in Amazon reader app.
There's however a dark mode still if you need it; go to the gear icon, screen, auto warmth and night mode. Tap the mode line to switch it from automatic settings (either on time schedule or coordinates) to manual.
[0]: Basically, E-ink displays have to fully "reset" their screen by repeatedly toggling the pixels on and off, since they can't fully toggle themselves off normally; doing so will leave them with a bit of grey. Because this isn't very friendly on the eyes, most displays usually do this every couple "page changes" (actual pages when reading or moving in a menu.)
When you're using a device actually for reading, you don't care about minor defects on the page, just like you wouldn't care about some stain on the page of a paper book when reading it.
I hate the idea of my book collection being chained to Amazon by DRM, absolutely hate it. This whole DRM mess is one reason I haven't bought a dedicated e-reader.
Though, to be frank, it's not the only one, I spent a jaw dropping amount of money on a really good hardcover copy of The Lord of the Rings recently, and I feel like no ebook will ever come close to the reading experience of that thing. There is something about this immense, weighty, hardcover tome that just commands your attention and I still find that print on good paper causes less eye strain than even the e-ink screens I've used (though they are pretty good).
Edit: it has AskGPT!
I don't. I would be much happier buying ebooks without DRM and I would buy substantially more of them if they were DRM-free.
Besides that, a lot of publishers who sell their own books do so without DRM by default. As does almost every book bundle hosted by Humble Bundle.
Yes, not many people know what DRM is but many of the effects are noticed when it ruins their experience.
For me, I bought a single DRM book against my better judgement because it was the only available way to get it quickly at the time. Predictably, I eventually lost access to it and never bought another one since.
And to be clear, I understand and agree with the moral objections to DRM. I think we have lost something more than just the loss of ownership and control. But while you're actually reading an ebook, none of that ever actually affects the experience.
Also, ebooks do support links (I see them most commonly used for linking to chapters from the table of contents, or linking to appendix notes), so you could make interactive fiction if you wanted.
You can also install FFUpdater (either via F-Droid or directly) for a huge range of browsers.
What do you see as locked down?
I can see someone has ported syncthing [1], which could be convenient for syncing the contents of the device. But probably still too much work compared to using e.g. Calibre and a USB cable a few times per year.
A reader with native epub support is a good feature. With the stock reader, Calibre needs to do an epub -> mobi conversion (works well, but still...).
edit: found this link. I don't think this list is complete.
I, for reasons nobody will wonder too hard about, have a downloads folder here with a few hundred Kindlebooks in .azw3 format. While non of them is quite as small as 91kb, many of then are around that 468kb size.
And they're whole goddamned novels that some talented author probably spend a whole year writing, not just single "small" webpages.
The modern web is insane.
I am surprised by the amount of CSS, 109kb uncompressed but minified is a lot of styles for a rather simple design, but I guess its the "just-the-docs" standard and thus somewhat verbose by being generic.
Edit: Also, https://10kb.club/
That's 1:40 on dialup.
Not 50MB, that's not lightweight, which this thread is about.
I'm not sure what you're meaning to say to this but my point was that 50MB is absolutely humongous and so many websites are around that order of magnitude. 91kb is a lot smaller than it could be, even though it's not exactly absolutely small.
Specifically, it's a Fullscreen popover that says "cloud not available" which I of course know because it's in airplane mode! You pay 300 dollars and get treated like you're using their device instead of yours.
Does anyone know if factory reset downgrades the firmware?
I could rant about how dramatically heavier the new Reddit UI is, but I'd be wasting my time - the people here should presumably know why making everything heavier isn't great
Or maybe they don't, as evidenced by this new Reddit link not being absolutely buried
It does mostly attract users who aren't as technically minded as users on HN.
iOS Apps - 36.65% | Mobile Web - 24.85% | New Reddit - 24.37% | Android Apps - 13.30% | Old Reddit - 0.82%
I should leave my bubble more often.
Kobo jailbreaks from back in the day gave you root on a stripped down Linux install, complete with telnet ssh and ftp. You could even install python and essentially do anything the cpu/display permitted. Another cool aspect with those older kobos was that they had two microsd card readers… one hidden inside the enclosure that contained the OS, accessible without even needing a screwdriver.
Seems like a jailbroken Kindle is a requirement to get it. https://github.com/mitanshu7/tailscale_kual
This gives me OPDS access to my Kavita library from anywhere and I basically never need to plug in my Kobo to the computer.
I have at least 3 RPi lying around in my home, if I want to tinker that's what I will use.
I also have a hard time describing the process as jail breaking. Updates to the Kobo are simply unprotected zip files which contain firmware updates along with a gzipped tarball that contain updated files for the filesystem. Anyone with a knowledge of Linux can modify the software.
Ibalso consider the situation as rather stable. Not only has Kobo/Rakuten been ignoring modifications of the open source components for over a decade, they have been ignoring patches to the proprietary binaries.
- Much much faster than stock interface
- More customisable
- Comes with an ssh server. I load a static rsync binary and use rsync for syncing the library
- Much better for reading manga. Supports cbz, cbr format natively. Has the ability to clip empty space around the content to make reading on a small screen easier.
PDFs that don't suck, I hear.
Also, it's not like other ebook readers let you buy non-DRM versions of whatever books you like. Most popular ebooks have DRM of some kind.
The simplicity of it makes it really appealing to users who just want to read books and not think too much about it. Android e-readers also tend to have far worse battery life and higher-friction integration with the ecosystem.
You can, of course, read non-DRMed eBooks on a Kindle, if you can find them.
Edit: I finally got it working by trying one more time, without factory reset.
Not sure where the title of this HN post came from, but given the jailbreak came out on Jan 1st, I wouldn't be surprised if Amazon has already patched the exploit for hardware they're still supporting.
[1] https://kindlemodding.org/firmware-and-flashing/downloading-...
I know on my older jailbroken Kindles, the jailbreak is very fragile and they can no longer be connected to the internet, partly because of Amazon's agressive OTAs and partly because Amazon disables developer mode and hence the jailbreak every time my Kindle 4s touch the internet.
(PS. If anyone can suggest a way to prevent this and secure my jailbreaks, it would be much appreciated - I've tried 3 different OTA blockers and none work reliably)
I would have kept the voyage for longer but the micro-usb was killing me. That's the only reason, the battery was still holding on, it had turning page "buttons" (better than nothing) and an amazing screen.
the only thing giving me pause is that I apparently have to register the kindle, which if possible, I'm sure I've avoided. any insight on why this is necessary?
Now I am using a PocketBook and it is also great. The synchronization feature between browser, phone and the reader is very good, it is reason enough to have it instead of a Kindle.
They also officially endorse this wiki, which has information on unlocking the bootloader and gaining root access: https://www.daylighthacker.wiki
For anyone stuck in the hotfix installation step - try turning Airplane mode on before updating your Kindle. It worked for me.
I wonder how many Kindles were hurt during the making of this…
Right now WinterBreak remains unpatched, but it is patchable and likely will be in the near-future
I have a Kindle 11 and an old Kindle 3. The Kindle 3 actually works better - easier to read, no random pauses, easier to search.
i use a boox these days,but i do have 4 kindles collecting dust
So I got her a Kobo Libra H2O. Just as waterproof, significantly cheaper, and you can actually repair it. I ended up getting a Libra Colour for myself and love it.
At one point, I had some issue with one of the Kindle while it was past 1 year. Amazon sent overnighted new Kindle for free when I was just hoping they give me some troubleshooting steps.
I stopped using Kindle about 4-5 years ago mostly because of all the bad press especially around them removing purchased books. Now I mostly buy paper books. I also use BOOX e-ink tablet to borrow books from library or newspapers. (BOOX is not ideal but there is no other choice of e-ink tablets that can let you use 3rd party apps, sadly.)
what’s your source for books and how often it happens for the books you’re looking for to be unavailable?
My needs are unique, all of our needs are unique I suppose, but I want epub but also want to use the Kindle app (in cases of them being the only place to get a book).
I worry about firmware updates(security), but also my needs do not require the tablet being online constantly. So in a case like this, not a phone, not online, I only bring the wifi up to download books from Amazon via their Android app.
Otherwise, I copy epubs over via USB.
This is the middle ground.
I've been quite happy with the Meebook E-Reader M7.
Older Kindles did have an optional cellular connection, but that was to make purchases easier.
Kindles aren’t limited to the Amazon store. Your kindle has an email address you can email books to, and there are ways to transfer via USB, etc.
And yes I can pay then find the epub (and not all are available, due to small author), but the experience is then much worse.
I would suggest you write them (each of them) a letter, or email, which:
1. Discourage them from publishing on an Amazon platform, explaining how Amazon, and DRM-laden reading, is terrible.
2. Suggest that they publish with a link allowing readers to pay them directly, or at least via a payment platform (see here for example: https://www.mightynetworks.com/resources/patreon-alternative... )
Not sure what problem we’re trying to solve.
Then Amazon locked my account, and said I needed to prove who I am. So I did, sent in documents to prove who I was. Didn't matter, apparently I had broken some rule about using my login in different amazon stores or something. Apparently I wasn't allowed to do that.
So now I lost all my books I had bought, because Amazon decided to ban me.
If I had bought these books from any open store, I would still have my books.. but because I bought from Amazon, I've lost them all.
That's why DRM free books are important.
There's also the problem of moving those books onto another platform once Amazon directly affects you and you wish to move onto something else. (Amazon Unlimited DRM hasn't been broken yet.)
There are other peeves. Covers for example: it's against the TOS to have a cover that shows female nipples, but it's okay to show male nipples. Beyond the sexism of the rule, I'm worried that the way to enforce this is to have some ML system checking all the covers and making judgements about nipples. Which means you have to ask your cover artist to not draw anything that may accidentally look like the wrong kind of nipple \o/ .
Probably because of the kindles with 'free data' to download books.
Supporting a terrible platform to become the main place to get books is way, way worse.
edit; yes, i know about the pirating options. i'm not talking about those.
In my opinion this is actually more of a blessing than a curse since I consider 99% of that garbage I don't want to sift through.
Sometimes multiple store headaches are still a necessity depending on region. Even on Amazon.
The total amount for these 30 randomly selected books came to: Paperback price: ₹13,017 (~$149) Kobo price: ₹13,252 (~$152) Kindle price: ₹9,171 (~$105)
no need to be locked into kindle anymore.
transferring books is also easy. you can install Calibre on your computer, connect the Kindle to it via USB and transfer. if you're into self-hosted, you can run Calibre on a server, either as an installed binary or in a container, and send books to it via email or dropbox.
I'll never get a Kindle again because I was blown away by how impossible it was to repair (plus the closed system really sucks). Mine broke for no reason at all a bit ago; my best guess is the battery started to swell inside it and that broke the screen. Got a Forma super cheap ($25!) and I've been super happy with it, feels a bit cheaper but it's actually got some level of grip. Have read more on it in a month than I did on my Kindle in the last 3 years.
Haven't even dabbled into the custom tools stuff much but it all sounds great. Might get a cheap secondary one to play with, can become an (outdated) offline Wikipedia reader if nothing else.
In general the Forma looks overpriced imo, the benefits of the 8 inch screen don't really warrant a price that nears the Libra Color or Sage.
Treat users with respect.
Make hardware open, firmware open, repairable.
Let’s be honest here, there are user hostile products and pro-user products. Let’s make making user hostile products illegal / unprofitable with laws.
0. https://www.accc.gov.au/media-release/broken-but-out-of-warr...
https://gregsamborski.com/macbook-pro-led-screen-discolorati...
An iPhone can generally get fixed under warranty for 2-3 years. I’ve never tried a Kindle but the premium model should get 2 years without too much fuss.
[1] https://goodereader.com/blog/kindle/amazon-removing-download...
You should build a company founded on that principle.
Call it GTL Pty Ltd
Formerly known as Guaranteed To Last, but they dropped that naming and are now know simple as GTL after a social media smear campaign where people were saying ‘guaranteed to be the last thing you ever buy from that company’.
My in-laws have a few kitchen appliances from the 80s. Still working rock-solid. Not the wifi-enabled modern crap with some shitty cloud-based app that you need to replace all the time.
For comparison, I've used PostmarketOS on Pinephone, and it required a lot of fiddly to get a poor experience.
But maybe the simpler usecase of "just reading" has good solutions?
Posted the details here: https://zabirauf.dev/blog/aviation/glider_flight_computer
I have a remarkable 2 and really like it, but my wife needs a new "Kindle" and I'd rather cut my finger off than pay Amazon to abuse me. Looking forward to trying out the kobo
I own a Kindle Scribe, Paperwhite (a couple versions) and reMarkable 2, and while I promise myself to set up an easier experience for using reMarkable for reading and then selling the Scribe, I didn't find the time so they "got me".
Devices made specifically to be e-readers are usually a bit less friction. but to me, The openness and hackability of the remarkable and it's excellent feature set for writing makes it an excellent choice.
I hope there’s new models coming from Kobo that address that soon.
Worse, they have the audacity to state on their pages that only some ebooks are eligible for a refund and to find out whether yours is, they send you back into the docs and chat bot loop. I guess they don't want people to refund, so they made finding any contact info especially difficult.
How to make a real shitty user experience 101, presented to you by kobo.com. With this it is clear to me, that I will never again buy any ebooks from them. For anyone, who does not own their Kobo device already, I say hands off this one! Maybe buy the book and download a DRM free ebook from ... elsewhere. That way you pay, can have a clean conscience and enjoy your ebook.
What you describe is a pain and all true, this is just the state of ebooks unfortunately.
Kobo is not great at offering refunds like Amazon, as expected in many ways being a much more lean business not being propped up by AWS margins.
I agree on the freedom for geeks, but let's not fool ourselves into thinking non IT experts want to deal with files.
The very newest generation of Kindle changed the storage protocol from traditional mass storage (which was compatible with everything) to MTP, which is mildly annoying for Mac users, but it is still intended to just show up as a flash drive.
Not being bound to an ecosystem, has really been a blessing - and in part kept it in use.
1. https://github.com/pgaskin/kobopatch-patches/releases optional but nice to tweak some small ui details and get rid of ads
2. https://github.com/videah/kobo-tailscale to have a secure connection with your calibre-web instance, but you could also use self-signed certs
3. https://github.com/janeczku/calibre-web/wiki/Kobo-Integratio... adding books to calibre-web will cause them to appear on the device the next time it syncs with calibre-web
Out of curiosity, why block updates? Does it conflict with your modification
Maybe it's time to take a second look. The hacker in me's interest is piqued.
Frankly though, the biggest thing that keep me on Kindle these days I suspect are hard to replicate. For example, automatic audio book/kindle sync where I can switch back and forth, listening to the audio book in my car and reading at home in bed. For two, read.amazon.com where I can read from my locked down work machine without installing anything. The whole whispersync ecosystem.
Trashy sci fi is my vice.
I despise Amazon as a brand but nothing comes close to the kindle hardware wise. Waterproof, indestructible, and never had it crash.