KOReader
169
HI version is available. Content is displayed in original English for accuracy.
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Discussion Sentiment
84% Positive
Analyzed from 1978 words in the discussion.
Trending Topics
#software#koreader#https#kindle#kobo#com#reader#support#more#reading
Discussion (65 Comments)Read Original on HackerNews
I think this boils down to profit not being the only driving force for these companies, but prestige and a sense of duty and responsibility towards something larger and less immediate.
You're assuming long lasting soy sauce companies have anything to do with software development. Japan produces great video games despite how terrible otherwise the developer environment and culture is there and nearly all of the other software shows it.
Wouldn't wanna live there permanently. Wouldn't want to have been born Japanese. But my god the products and services are head and shoulders above my baseline expectations; it's simply nicer.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_adult_adoption
What? It can’t even maintain a stable 30fps on its own target hardware. That’s not an example is point to for something running “well.”
Software Japan
- Format support: EPUB, CBR/CBZ (comics, graphic novels), PDF
- Dark mode
- Fully programmable gestures and shortcuts
- Automatically syncs with my readeck instance (think readitlater/instapaper) to dowload the articles I save for example here on HN
- Calibre integration over wifi
- RSS/Atom
If you are into manga, there is an extension for directly downloading them on the device
I'm really happy I made the switch. - Custom dictionaries
I did find it hard to get the bezels to be even and it still doesn't always format well depending on the book. I still kind of prefer the default viewer.
I use this plugin in KOReader which lets you download books from Z-Library within KOReader.
https://github.com/ZlibraryKO/zlibrary.koplugin
Another cool thing is you can use custom fonts and dictionaries. I use the OED short version and the Wikipedia one. There's built in ones that it can download but pirated ones like OED you have to upload yourself.
Unfortunately on MacOS it seems you have to use Amazon's app to access the filesystem.
Edit:
I think they changed it on the newer Kindle which I have.
there's open source alternatives to the send to kindle app.
KOReader comes with SSH, so you can just SSH into it.
Hmmm not really my experience, unless it's a new thing. I am still able to access it via finder. Although I need to exit KoReader first and go back to the stock UI.
I can recommend using a Filebrowser plugin for KOReader, that way you can access the file system over a web interface and upload that way. No cables needed or anything, quite convenient.
Very grateful for this software!
[0]: https://github.com/simonpacis/kohico
I finally got around to installing it as I got an xteink x3 and wanted to have cross device syncing back to my Grimmory server. Works great with OPDS and KOSync.
Although I miss using the native kobo sync where I could just add a book to my virtual shelf and have it auto sync to my device. OPDS seems very rudimentary in comparison, but it works nonetheless.
It's nice to have another option though and if the UX improves one day maybe I'll use it as my main reader.
This is the guide I used and it's up to date.
https://kindlemodding.org/
Also the fact that you can install different plugin on KOreader and customize it in a way you like is fantastic. for example just check:
- https://github.com/doctorhetfield-cmd/simpleui.koplugin - https://github.com/AndyHazz/bookshelf.koplugin
Or with Lua you can develop your own plugin for that. to people who wanted to jailbreak their Kindle I can recommend these two links:
- https://kindlemodding.org/ - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qtk7ERwlIAk
All in all I am supper happy with KOreader and can't imagine to use anything else
I have a problem with epubs though. This need to support every single thing under the sun makes the pipeline exceedingly complex. All you need for a vast majority of fiction is:
- headings
- paras
- emphasis (bold/italic)
- block quotes
Add simple "image" syntax to it to display maps etc from detective stories
Basically a ruthlessly cut down version of markdown.
The mini-readers from Xteink came in at the right time for such experimentation.
And then the UX… great project but could use a systems guy used to jailbreaking installations and a UX designer
Worked fine for me.
It has super useful features like the semi-auto-cropping which removes margins in PDFs (like papers or books), including unnecessary things like page numbers or similar, so that you can really maximize the size of the core content. It also has a nice chapter overview and other useful things!
Truly one of the best pieces of software I have used so far.
31-mar-2025 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43539103 106 comments
10-apr-2024 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39996947 33 comments
I actually made a mod to try to upgrade Kobo's built-in reader so it's more correct, i.e. more faithful to how KOReader renders text. Sharing it here since it may be interesting for anyone with Kobo e-readers: https://github.com/nicoverbruggen/NickelTypeFix
Murasaki [1] is the most performant and sleek ebook reader you can get for MacOS currently. It's magnificent, but the creator has regionally limited who can get it, unfortunately.
[1] https://genjiapp.com/mac/murasaki/index_en.html
Less surprising but still annoying is how many hoops you need to jump through to get a good reading experience for manga, particularly on macOS. I had to try many options that were either too buggy, too difficult to install correctly, various aggressive paywalls, or straight up don’t function with high quality scans.
Eventually I landed on one(will edit the name in when I have access to my laptop) that functions well but has some memory issues in importing books, possibly a memory leak.
Maybe I’ve just become shit at finding apps in the modern unsearchable age, but it really feels like reading of all types has diminished enough that we are an unserviceable market.
It also searches Wikipedia.