Open Source @lemmy.ml Voyager @psychedelia.ink 1 yr. ago

The Open Book - An open hardware reading device that's easy to build, easy to manufacture, and easy to make your own

This is a complete reimagining of the Open Book Project, but the original mission remains: As a society, we need an open source device for reading. Books are among the most important documents of our culture, yet the most popular and widespread devices we have for reading are closed objects, operati...

This is a complete reimagining of the Open Book Project, but the original mission remains:

As a society, we need an open source device for reading. Books are among the most important documents of our culture, yet the most popular and widespread devices we have for reading are closed objects, operating as small moving parts in a set of giant closed platforms whose owners' interests are not always aligned with readers'.

The Open Book aims to be a simple device that anyone can build for themselves. The Open Book should be comprehensible: the reader should be able to look at it and understand, at least in broad strokes, how it works. It should be extensible, so that a reader with different needs can write code and add accessories that make the book work for them. It should be global, supporting readers of books in all the languages of the world. Most of all, it should be open, so that anyone can take this design as a starting point and use it to build a better book.

Check out the promo video as well:
https://youtu.be/vFD9V8Hh7Yg

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140 comments

When they say build it yourself, they mean it:

3D print case

Solder PCB

Compile your own firmware

For those interested, base price to build this might start at $85 based on one estimate linked from the resource.
For the people commenting about prices and comparing it to kindle:

Unfortunately, open source hardware is in its infancy, and faces severe barriers of entry, but projects like this one are really nice in order to further develop the concept and make working prototypes, proving its viability.
Rakuten Kobo is a good alternative to Amazon Kindle. I can just drag and drop books, no internet connectivity necessary, no DRM... I have no problems with it at all. Would be cool to be able to load custom firmware, but I do not need to since it already doesn't spy on me and doesn't force DRM (3rd party book imports).
I just want a digital notebook that doesn't need my phone and doesn't cost $300 to amazon
I'm likely being an ass, but I'd argue that the most popular and widespread devices we have for reading books are probably still books.
Though PocketBook, Tolino, Kobo, Onyx are pretty good at openness or ability to make it open.

Sure, not Open Hardware, but you can at least read what you want with them.
I need something in between this and a Kindle. I don't want to build my own electronics, I just want to buy them from somewhere without sketchy ulterior motives for how they'll use their control over my device.
I love the hell out of the circuit board labeling. Absolutely wonderful for the hobbyist diyer. Well done. o7

This is such a cool project. I think I might give this a go once I look into the details a little more.

I've been tinkering with ESP32 as a main component of a 50WPC a2dp Bluetooth receiver / amplifier. These SoCs are so incredibly capable. I'm eager to use them for a bunch of other things, now.
Doesn't it make way more sense to just hack Kindle hardware? I remember having a Kindle years ago and torrenting books and just slapping them on there.
IDK. Building your own is cool in theory, but there are a bunch of options that aren't that bad price wise that run Android.

The issue is that they're made by random Chinese companies and the software support is of varying quality. A focused community effort to support an Android build explicitly for readers and to hack their way to being installable on as many as possible seems like a better plan.

I have two (13" boox max 3, 6 inch reinkstone r1 that I just grabbed because it was $140 with color) and even with the mediocre software support the reading experience is pretty decent.
For anyone interested our Discord is here! We’re a fun group of folks and have a couple of other projects. The project is mostly for fun and definitely centered around folks who are maybe trying to break into the hardware and software space with something tangible that they can use and show off, it certainly isn’t financially the best option out there but to learn and grow it’s great fun!
Shut up and take my money
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I’d love one at the right price - but aren’t e-ink screens expensive because only a couple of people make them ?

I think I paid about 30 quid for my first one - but since then kobo and Amazon have tried to force the value up and abandoned basic devices
The screen looks like absolute trash sadly. Doesn't even compare to what was available 5 years ago. I wish hobbyists had access to even somewhat modern technology...
That's very nice
I don't own a 3D printer so can someone spitball the cost of printing this?
Dang, this looks pretty awesome. Too bad it would probably suck for manga.
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Does it have a SD card slot, and if so can it take a 256GB card? 26k epubs and pdfs. Who pays for books?

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