I did another post showing my 2008 BeBook, but the most interesting thing about it is the fact that instead of running the original commercial firmware that came with it, mine runs OpenInkpot, a community-built Linux system that tried to create a common, fully open platform for ebook readers.

Common enough to do today, but definitely wasn’t commonplace back in those days.

OpenInkpot’s developers wanted to replace the whole software stack, including the Linux kernel, hardware drivers, file manager, interface, reading software, fonts, power management, and development tools. The idea was to build one open system that could work across readers from different manufacturers without tying users to a company’s bookstore or proprietary software.

The project began in late 2007 with two Linux developers who owned different versions of the same Chinese-made reader. Yauhen Kharuzhy, a systems programmer from Minsk, had an lBook V3. Mikhail Gusarov, a developer in Novosibirsk had the same basic hardware. The lBook was a regional version of the Jinke Hanlin V3, which was also sold under names such as the BeBook and Astak EZ Reader (which I have and will be posting later!).

Both developers were frustrated with the original firmware. It was slow, awkward, and limited. Kharuzhy also objected to the manufacturer not providing the source code for its modified Linux kernel.

Gusarov became the project’s organizer and technical lead. He helped set its direction, handled public communication and commercial contacts, and built much of the development infrastructure. Kharuzhy worked closer to the hardware, including the kernel, boot process, drivers, and device support.

Alexander Kerner joined from Germany and focused on libraries, applications, and the graphical environment. Canadian developer Marc Lajoie worked on applications and the user interface.

The Hanlin V3 didn’t come with the kind of technical documentation an independent OS project needed, so Kharuzhy reverse-engineered the hardware and examined the original firmware. He also modified an existing Linux E Ink driver to improve screen refresh speed.

OpenInkpot’s software environment was based on IPlinux, Gusarov’s Debian-like fork of an earlier embedded Linux distribution called Slind. The team tried OpenEmbedded but decided against it. OpenInkpot instead used standard Linux components, Debian package tools, an X server, and the Enlightenment Foundation Libraries, usually called EFL.

OpenInkpot 0.1 arrived in 2008, with the Hanlin V3 as its only officially supported reader. Gusarov admitted it was “rough at corners,” but said it was usable enough for regular readers to try.

Kharuzhy later said version 0.1 reproduced most of the original firmware’s major functions while remaining completely open. The developers also published experimental snapshots so users could test newer code and report bugs.

OpenInkpot attracted wider attention through Google Summer of Code in 2008. Alexander Kerner worked on EFL and FBReader, Ondřej Herman attempted a Cybook Gen3 port, and Wenjie Zhang worked on Sony Reader support.

Only the Hanlin version reached full support in 0.1, but the larger goal was clear. OpenInkpot was never meant to stay tied to one reader. The developers wanted an open platform that could cross hardware and manufacturer boundaries.

Its main reading programs were FBReader and Cool Reader. Together they supported DRM-free EPUB, FB2, TXT, HTML, RTF, Mobipocket, Plucker, and Palm database formats. LocoPDF handled PDF and DjVu files, while Madeye displayed images.

Users could install TrueType fonts, change text formatting, rotate the screen, use hyphenation dictionaries, and create custom CSS files to control how books looked.

OpenInkpot 0.2 came out on December 6, 2009, and added official support for the Hanvon N510 and N516. The Ukrainian ebook company Azbooka even financed the Hanvon port and sold an N516 with OpenInkpot as its official operating system.

OpenInkpot didn’t support DRM, which was one of the things I liked most about it.

OpenInkpot returned to Google Summer of Code in 2010. Kerner worked on reducing memory use and improving graphics on low-color displays. Evan Kroske proposed replacing the standard C library with the smaller uClibc. Another developer, Riccardo, attempted to port OpenInkpot to the Kindle DX.

The Kindle DX port never became an official release. Neither did the earlier Cybook Gen3 or Sony PRS-505 ports. The developers believed OpenInkpot could work on many more readers, but they didn’t have enough people or time to maintain all the different hardware.

There doesn’t seem to have been one official announcement saying OpenInkpot was dead. It just gradually slowed down.

Version 0.2.2 is generally listed as the final numbered release, although experimental builds continued afterward. Users were still discussing a daily build from March 2012. By later that year, people were asking if development had stalled, and by 2013 users were openly describing the project as dead.

The official website and many of the original download links eventually disappeared. The source code still survives in GitHub repositories and web archives, while installation files are scattered across old forums and community archives.