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Ask HN: Clear, Open E-Reader?

by easterncalculus on 3/4/25, 4:58 PM with 5 comments

I'm looking on the market for an ereader, one that is (reasonably) open and that lets me sideload epubs, ideally supporting Calibre. I have about 50 epubs of classic works that I'd like to read, sourced from Standard Ebooks and Project Gutenberg.

I'm willing to pay for something that has the following:

1. Clear screen (ideally close to the Kindle Paperwhite, but just clear in general)

2. Annotation support (either highlighting/notes, or both)

3. Some way to read articles (does this even still exist anymore?)

4. Sideloading, no full lock-in is a must. Willing to jailbreak if needed.

5. Reasonable page-turn speed (less than 1 second)

Are there e-readers that fit most of these?

  • by syncbehind on 3/4/25, 9:06 PM

    Pocketbook is what you want.

    For some reason not popular state-side, but it's absolutely the bees-knees.

    Drag and drop install of Koreader. Built in RSS reader. Performant PDF reader (if you want to not use Koreader) Linux, so you can write your own stuff if you want.

    I own the Era model, and it's been amazing.

  • by acabal on 3/4/25, 5:11 PM

    I'm the editor in chief of Standard Ebooks and currently I read on an older Kobo eink reader, the Aura One.

    When using their Kepub format, Kobo has the best eink renderer on the market. I believe you can also install Koreader on them.

  • by kristian1109 on 3/4/25, 5:07 PM

    Have you looked at Daylight? Friend of mine showed me his and I was super impressed. It's more of a full tablet than a strict e-reader, but very nice soft screen

    https://daylightcomputer.com/product