I have a Boox Go Color, but most Boox ereaders are good devices. You can have a Calibre library self-hosted and use the Android app "Calibre sync" to access it on your ereader.
this post was submitted on 29 Jan 2025
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Privacy
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I recently got a Boox Go 6. It's just a really simple android tablet with a paper type display. So whatever android reading app you use you could probably run it. Strictly in terms of privacy I'm not sure if it's uniquely well suited. But I would expect it's better than Kindle or Kobo.
I only trust my ebook because I never connect it to the internet)
In theory the boox only has wifi. Presumably you could never connect it to anything, even by usb, if you loaded your books onto an sd card.
To my knowledge, they don't have SD cards - but indeed, you could just load books by wire.
I have had the same Tolino Shine for... 10 years now? It recently broke down and I will definitely get the new Shine at some point. You can put books on it yourself via usb and basically never need to connect to the internet if you don't want to. Unsure tho if it is available outside of Germany/EU.
AFAICT currently Tolino is just a rebranded Kobo.
I use a Kobo Libra 2 and it's been great
there's the pineNote but its a bit pricy
PineNote (Pine 64) or reMarkable (Pro if you have budget, 2 or even 1 otherwise)
Both work on Linux proper, the reMarkable comes with Linux out of the box whereas PineNote comes with Android but one can install Linux on it.
They are mostly to sketch but it is also good to read. You can pretty much use whatever you want on them, including developing your own software. I don't know if they have Calibre clients because whats I do is... just scp my ePubs or PDFs on there.
Here are my tinkering notes on both https://fabien.benetou.fr/Tools/Eink but feel free to ask any clarification.
PS: the Bookeen Diva also does not require any software, namely you can plug it on Linux, it gets detected as a filesystem and you can copy DRM-free content on it. It's a totally different form factor (much smaller so IMHO not great for comics) and I don't think there is the same open-source community as the other 2.
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I have a Kobo sage and its pretty good. Just avoid the color ones.
Why avoid color ones? I have Clara Colour, works great with Koreader firmware...
iirc, they are a bit more geared to selling you stuff, and the screens are sometimes a bit dodgy.
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I don't have experience with any readers until recently. Did some research and went with. Kobo colour. It has met expectations and I'm using it with no issue.
I wanted physical buttons.
I didn't want an Amazon device.
im still amazed the e-ink so expensive. you can get an androiud table for 40 quid.
Oof, I get you about eInk, but how crappy is that tablet?
It would last about a week if you’re careful ! The whole thing, not the battery !
I have a Remarkable Paper Pro that I love for graphic novels, aside of its hand-writting capabilities. It's also good for reading books, but the size is a bit too big to carry it without a bag or when out and about. Ideally, I'd like something like the Boox Palma 2, but not sure if I can justify the price + Pen having already another eNotebook.
I use a Lenovo M9 tablet and Readera as an e-reader and Smart Audiobook player and am very happy with it. Both apps are free without ads but also have a paid version with a couple extra features. I hop on wifi and connect to calbre-web download all the books I want and then turn wifi off for maximum privacy
The Miyoo Mini Plus. It's a Gameboy Linux Emulator device. Besides being able to run most games up to ps1, you can also put ebooks as pdf or epub on it.
That's not really an adequate recommendation imo. The Miyoo Mini Plus has subpar battery runtime due to it's size limitations and it's LCD screen, compared to actual eInk devices. The screen size and ratio is also not suitable for effective reading, even though it is possible to read eBooks with it.
Yeah well it's more of a fun recommendation, don't take things so seriously. There are already enough serious recommendations in the comments.
True that. And with one thing you are right: the Miyoo Mini Plus is absolutely awesome for what it is designed for!