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.
this post was submitted on 13 Oct 2023
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For those interested, base price to build this might start at $85 based on one estimate linked from the resource.
It’s crazy how subsidized a Kindle is. I recently paid 60€ on sale for a brand-new Paperwhite. That has a superior display, and requires no extra work. It’s even worse if you look at voice-assistants, On sale, you can probably get 3-4 echo dots for the price of the materials of a single self-built one…
Mass production does that.
It's not just mass production and economies of scale. That's obviously a huge part of it, but the cheap Kindle devices are also definitely sold at a loss with the expectation that you're going to buy a lot of ebooks from Amazon which will more than make up for it (and also some of the devices are ad supported).
...and we can be sure Amazon finds ways to monetize user data as well (they see your book purchases, downloads, reading habits, etc)
I don’t believe it’s to that level. Shitter pieces of hardware cost more on AliExpress.
and underpaid labor in asia
It's also the economy of scale. You get better prices when you're buying thousands of units.
Mass production. Plus ads on the Lock Screen. It’s $20 cheaper with the ads.
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You don’t need the know-how compile the firmware! It’s available to drag and drop from GitHub: https://github.com/nvts8a/libros
DIY is like that. If you look up how to make a birdhouse they will tell you you need a saw, a hammer, nails, drill, paintbrush and something to measure with. Having a 3d printer and a soldering iron nowadays is pretty low entry, you can get into it cheaper that buying the saw, hammer and drill for the birdhouse. You don't have to buy the bambulab printer and the weller / hakko iron. You can print this case on an ender 3 you found in the dumpster. Or pay 10 bucks for someone and they will print it for you. On the other hand you will have a device you can infinitely repair unlike the kindles that are kicking the dust every few year for everyone.
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Is that $85 for all parts?
Calculate the extra cost if someone doesn't own a 3D printer (or doesn't have access to one) or soldering gear.
Right! I believe that assumes you already have necessary tools, and it certainly can't take into account the cost of your time or the cost of mistakes along the way.
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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.
I don't understand, it seems perfectly reasonable - people are just so used to these products being sold at a loss or at cost and subsidised by huge companies.
I would happily pay extra to not be tied to a massive corporation.
And if we think about it, it would only cost more at first, because open hardware would last longer and be repairable, costing much less in the long run.
Yeah, products like a Kindle or Kobo e-reader are sold to be paired with the company's e-book market. It makes sense for them economically I kind of view it as a win-win because I use it both for their books and for other reading material.
Ideally, how would open source hardware look like for you? I mean that as in after it has achieved something akin to mainstream adoption.
This is a great question. I don't believe it can reach the point of any person simply being able to create their own hardware, unless we're talking about an utopic future with multimaterial 3d printing in small scale, but I can see small businesses being able to manufacture custom open source hardware on demand, based on open standards. For me, the ideal scenario would be something like going into an open hardware service shop and asking for a device with your requirements, and they creating it for you, or repairing/upgrading yours.
Like with skating, many shops can provide you with wheels, decks, gear. Amazon can sell their one-piece e-books at loss, but eventually it can turn to modular open design where nothing is irreplaceable. It's a matter of demand. If there could be a good project and something like a big org or a government programm funding it, it would end well. Like, supplying troubled communities with an e-reader? If only there wouldn't be DRM fuckery, it's golden.
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It doesn't seem super utopic to think a 3d printer could make a pcb, dispense solder paste, pick and place, and heat it to solder it.
Making the ICs themselves on the other hand...
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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).
Have you installed nickelmenu and koreader? Brings the experience up a couple of levels software side.
Koreader blasted my "aging" 1st Gen H2O into space with all the speed and features it added.
- Faster page turning
- Wallabag support
- Most of all: SFTP transfer from my phone
It's wild.
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I just want a digital notebook that doesn't need my phone and doesn't cost $300 to amazon
There's slowly starting to be more options for this. The reMarkable devices seem pretty good, but they're a little pricey (though, I'm pretty sure they're not owned by Amazon, so it might technically fit your requirement).
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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.
It's true. Counterpoint: if you move places a lot (let's say if you happen to belong to a generation of people who will never be able to afford a place - which is a huge amount of people), your library needs to fit into a small tablet sized reader. Can store 5000 books, I do not have the means to move that amount of books every time my landlord decides to make my rent more unaffordable. An ereader fits in my pocket.
You could also ise a library. The ones I have used are free or almost free
If they have what you need, it's indeed a great option. Many of them lend eBooks too, nowadays.
Unfortunately, living in a French speaking area, my local library network doesn't carry a lot of English material, so the selection is very limited. I've found it to be problematic especially for non-fiction, which often doesn't have translations available. Otherwise, libraries are great.
Teenage me would be ashamed to see I barely read any books anymore. I used to read two large novels a week, now it's more like one or two a year...
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On the Open Book GitHub I have collections of free books and short stories that are digital only from Tor.com. That’s actually why I wanted to get an eReader, digital only online short stories are winning Hugo Awards now, and then couldn’t decide and got involved with the Open Book is that I wanted a little device to load up with them.
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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 have a Kobo with KOReader installed and Calibre with the DeDRM plugin for managing eBooks and it's pretty great! It'll open just about anything you throw at it and is pretty customizable.
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 haven't been keeping tabs on this, but if you appreciate the legacy of pine64 (hardware kill switches on phone, Linux everywhere, etc.) They did release an epaper device:
https://www.pine64.org/2021/08/15/introducing-the-pinenote
I think they're saying it's still developer oriented and not quite user friendly yet though
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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.
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.
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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.
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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!
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Shut up and take my money
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
All the original patents expired. There are new patents, but nowadays, you can actually get very affordable hobby eInk screens in all kinds of sizes. The fancy ones are better, but also not as free.
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Can't wait for the devs to make prebuilds buyable!
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