In general, hackers don’t like others telling them what they can and can’t do with the hardware or software they’ve purchased. Unfortunately, it becomes more and more complicated to avoid DRM and other draconian regulations and limitations as time goes on. Digital “e-books” and the devices used to view them are the subject of such scrutiny, which is why [Joey Castillo] set out to expand an open-hardware e-reader that actually belongs to the user.
[Joey] has been working on what he calls the “The Open Book Project” for a few months now, and he’s just recently announced that the first reader has been successfully assembled and powered up. As is usually the case, a few hardware issues were identified with this initial prototype. But it sounds like the device was largely functional, and only a few relatively minor tweaks to the board layout and components should be necessary before the hardware is ready for the masses.
If you feel a bit of déjà vu when you see this, don’t worry. The Open Book Project took a devious direction to come up with this first prototype, and [Joey] had already evolved and built the “Feather Wing eBook. “Although it looks very similar, this previous incarnation required an Adafruit Feather to function and was used to help refine the firmware and design concepts that would become the ultimate hardware.
The Open Book is powered by a ATSAMD51N19A processor with a GD25Q16 2MB flash chip to hold the CircuitPython code, and a microSD slot to store the actual book files. It also features support for audio output via a standard 3.5 mm headset jack, an RGB status LED, and expansion ports that tap into the I2C interface for adding whatever other hardware you can dream up.
One of the most interesting aspects of this Creative Commons licensed reader is the extensive self documentation [Joey] has included on the silkscreen. Every major component on the back of the PCB has a small description of its purpose and in some cases even a breakdown of the pin assignments. The idea being that it not only makes the device easier to assemble and debug, but that it can also explain to the curious user what everything on the board does and why it’s necessary. It’s a concept that makes perfect sense given the goals of the Open Book Project, and something that we frankly would love to see more of.
[Marc Juul] presented his paintings on a FOSS operating formula for older Kindle models to HOPE XII as a form of Orwellian surveillance of the user’s reading habits. So, it’s appealing to see someone take this concept to the next point with an absolutely relaxed drive. . hardware. Unfortunately, none of this addresses the limited availability of DRM-free eBooks, but step by step.
This is pretty cool
Italo Calvino’s quote (in Italian) about the PCB is the icing on the cake
Limited availability of DRM-free eBooks? Libgen says “Ahoy, dude!”
I’ve heard of LibGen before, thank you.
Interesting choice of processor. I’m also surprised, given the specifications of the SAMD, that an IO extender is required. I would have opted for an ESP32 to download content on the go.
I didn’t see any battery run time info.
I got the complete Jules Verne-Collection and reading thru it at the moment. Great stuff!
It’s incredible, just a few days ago, while reading the ColomboOS article, I imagined how wonderful it would be to have a low-consumption e-book reader, with which I could read all kinds of wisdom stored by humanity. Kindle, while a wonderful solution, cannot be qualified due to the lack of an SD card interface.
I envisioned a similar device that could be mass-produced. Something like a reasonable microcontroller, an SD card, and an eink display. This type of device can run for weeks if supplied with a proper battery. Or heck, why give him a battery? Just run it on solar panels. At first I didn’t think it would have the I2C expansion port, but in a post-apocalyptic world it would be a necessity.
I don’t think they use CircuitPython, however, it would be better to take the time to write effective code with low-power states. Just my 2c. Either way, I’m sure this type of device would have much greater compatibility for other people than a Z80-based computer, if you already have it.
Indeed. If I was worried about some kind of societal collapse, I’d make sure I had something that could be read by a copy of Wikipedia. The general wisdom of any and all subjects that you may believe in would be invaluable.
Low force intake that can simply rotate or apply solar force would also be very useful with e-paper, as it doesn’t need electrical power while reading.
Indeed. Python’s ok for education, prototyping, etc. but a battery powered, embedded system needs something a bit more efficient.
You have to take a look at the battery life of a smartphone running a Java application to see the proof.
If you look at the force intake of your smartphone running a Java application, you’ll see that most of the challenge comes from the screen rather than the Java application.
The H. In fact, it is.
What I meant, of course, was the force input of the Java runtime, especially the initialization phase, compared to the compiled code. All things being equal, of course 🙂
A strong magnet inside a thin cable reel with many turns. With the correct circuitry, the magnet will enter the coil and any movement will cause the magnet to move and induce an existence in the coil.
I have one of those “Faraday lanterns” like that. Hold it directly and the magnet will stay in place. Shake it and the magnet will go in and out of the coil.
You can also use a pair of coil springs that are sufficient to hold the magnet to rest on the coil.
Either way, every time you get up, leave the player, move with urgent buttons, or touch the screen, small jolts of force will be generated.
With an eInk demo, a decent supercapacitor can have enough speed to provide the force needed to open the eBook file, move to the next page, and push it onto the screen. Then, when the demo is changed, the player can be turned off. completely.
Instead of a software loop running in an incredibly low-force mode to monitor user inputs, go old-school with a prevention device that physically connects the force source (with a well-designed anti-bounce circuit) to force actuation. This will require a hardware formula that can launch and replace the page demo in no more than a second. It goes to sleep/monitor for a short period before shutting down completely.
There’s Baen (https://www. baen. com).
In addition to free DRM in multiple formats, they have a free library. Don’t replace the sort order if you stop at it, as the full first page doesn’t look very “appealing” 🙂
What about a third-party playback app on Google Play?Is it subject to monitoring?
Google is the spy, with a backdoor for fisa orders.
What I need to see is a universal player. US as in Our software, not theirs. OUR will be able to open any DRM-free eBook registration format, adding the old PalmDoc and TealDoc and others that were popular on PalmOS.
What would be fantastic is if OUR could run on as many devices as possible, adding Palm, WinCE, PocketPC, Windows Mobile, Symbian, Zaurus, etc. For devices without built-in UTF-8, Unicode, etc. , OUR deserves to have its own support.
Convert an eBook with UTF-8* encoded punctuation to TealDoc and you’ll end up with a record that has a punctuation character “for *every*”, or simply shows no punctuation at all.
*Simply say no to UTF-8, HTML Friendly, or Unicode for any punctuation in any language that employs the extended ASCII character set. With the exception of one character that is rarely used in Norwegian, all the punctuation, all the characters with accents, they are all there as a single byte.
Have you seen Caliber-eBook? I’ve been lucky enough to use it to transfer formats and manage libraries on multiple drives. I don’t see any help for Palm etc, but it’s open source so check their forum to see if there’s interest.
I don’t recall the actual process, but I used Calibre + ImageMagick to convert ebooks to .jpg files so that my sick wife could use a cheap 7″ digital picture frame as a book reader.
Great idea, when you can say it’s mine, it’s your own device!
Don’t forget that you can use Calibre and DeDrm to unlock your Kindle books.
Would it work with a larger e-ink display, such as a nine- or 10-inch one?
Somehow missed this on HaD, I’ve been watching the github etc for a while now. Now on patreon too.
Just wonderful level of documentation, device is beautiful and I’m desparate for one!
Please be kind and respectful to help make the comments section excellent. (Comment Policy)
This is what Akismet uses to reduce spam. Find out how your observational knowledge is processed.