The Open Book
hackaday.io
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.

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

  • @doublejay1999English
    7•1 year ago

    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

    • BobVersionFour
      1•1 year ago

      They both still have basic device for about 100$ ( cnd ) sure it more than 30$ but i still have a 10 years old kindle tha work flawlessly so worth the price. And since i own every book i ever got on amazon thx calibre ( even tho amazon working real hard to make it stop )

      The open book would be nice if overdrive/libby would work on it because i hate kobo but it’s the only way i can borrow ebook in canada