this post was submitted on 04 Aug 2023
110 points (98.2% liked)

Selfhosted

38768 readers
97 users here now

A place to share alternatives to popular online services that can be self-hosted without giving up privacy or locking you into a service you don't control.

Rules:

  1. Be civil: we're here to support and learn from one another. Insults won't be tolerated. Flame wars are frowned upon.

  2. No spam posting.

  3. Posts have to be centered around self-hosting. There are other communities for discussing hardware or home computing. If it's not obvious why your post topic revolves around selfhosting, please include details to make it clear.

  4. Don't duplicate the full text of your blog or github here. Just post the link for folks to click.

  5. Submission headline should match the article title (don’t cherry-pick information from the title to fit your agenda).

  6. No trolling.

Resources:

Any issues on the community? Report it using the report flag.

Questions? DM the mods!

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
top 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] [email protected] 38 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (13 children)

My Kobo Libra works perfectly with my self-hosted Calibre-Web, it syncs directly with it in the same way as it would sync with their online platform. You can also use both as it uses the later one as fallback.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago

Agree, I would also recommend Kobo. In addition, at my Kobo I can also borrow books directly from our public library for free in Sweden. Very convenient.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago

Thanks. Kobo libra h2o is high on my list

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

I’ve been trying to run this with a Libra but the calibre-web sync has been borked for awhile. Kinda frustrating, tbh.

load more comments (10 replies)
[–] [email protected] 22 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Pretty much all the big brands work with Calibre.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Wirelessly pulling books from calibre and syncing the progress? I doubt my current kindle can do it.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 year ago

Well, you didn't specify that requirement in your post.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I believe Calibre has the ability to send books via the Kindle email address to get them on your device that way.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

This is how I get books to my Kindle. So, take that to the bank for what it's worth.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I run Koreader on a Kobo Libra 2. I just connect to my OPDS catalogue on my Calibre-Web instance. It's not exactly a sync setup; it just gives me access to my library whenever I need to download something, and that covers my needs. There are several other sync options; check out Koreader's features here: https://github.com/koreader/koreader/wiki

If you like it and decide you want to it, go through the list of supported devices and see what sort of sync capabilities are available for them (support for Kobo devices seems to be the best/have the most options).

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 year ago (4 children)

There's this company, which makes ebook readers that don't seem to be tied to any particular vendor:

https://shop.boox.com/collections/all

They have so many models, though, that I have no idea where to start with them.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago

They use GPL and won't release the source. Fuck Boox

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

I am very happy with my boox note 2. Use it to read books, manga, and take notes in OneNote for classes.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It looks like it’s Android based. Can you run eBooks readers on it?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Yes, I haven't come across any apps so far that didn't work. Performance is an issue with some apps, but nothing major.

load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments (1 replies)
[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago

I use an iPad. Apple doesn't seem to care where the file came from, they just make it readable. I was somewhat mad about it, as I have never been an Apple fan, but the actual experience of using the iPad as a reader converted me.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago

I have a Kobo Libre and with KoboCloud[1] it syncs automatically with Nextcloud and other cloud providers. It’s awesome.

[1] https://github.com/fsantini/KoboCloud

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago (11 children)

On the Kindle, you can email yourself e-books.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago

I use it with calibre. Works perfect. Even displays the book covers (no matter where you got them) as lock screen background of the kindle. Can absolutely recommend this!

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I wish to track progress across multiple platform without amazon. So far calibre web and kobo ebook readers look like the go to

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

You should put your requirements in your post.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Also idk about the newer ones but the old ones last forever. You might need to change their battery but that's not too hard. I got a kindle keyboard that's been going strong for over a decade now.

Also kindles work fine with calibre, you just need a different file format. Mine can read PDFs! (I do not reccomend reading PDF scans on a kindle)

load more comments (8 replies)
[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago

I just use Kindle for my calibre/calibre-web stack, all within the KOReader app)

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago

I’m interested as well. I hope there’s a different answer than Amazon Kindle, as I refuse to buy anything from them

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago (6 children)

I just use Kindle for my Readarr/calibre/calibre-web stack.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Calibre is amazing

load more comments (5 replies)
[–] beppi 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Onyx Boox Leaf 2, and use the OPDS feature of calibre(web) to download books and read them, all within the KOReader app

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Thank you i will check it out

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Been enjoying using my Boox Nova Air that connects to my Kavita through Moon Reader+. I just download my epub or PDF to read. That flow has been working like a charm to me.

Keep in mind that it's an e-reader, so it's black and white only. May be fine with you or you may want an iPad or an Android tablet for color and speed

EDIT

Have read also from my Kindle and Kobo library as it is an Android device and have both apps downloaded

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

I have a Kobo Forma and a Boox Lumi.

The Lumi is huge and works well for manga, especially considering the sad state of legally obtainable manga in the United States where everything requires proprietary Android apps, or if you want to do workbooks or something using the stylus. It's surprisingly good, even for things you wouldn't normally do an an ebook device. I've never used any of the smaller Boox devices so I can't say whether it's the same for all of them.

The Forma is a normal size so it's much more portable.

Both of them have wifi and you can run your own software on them, but I think running your own software on Kobo devices is less well supported than running your own software on Boox devices.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I use a Kobo Libre 2 with Calibre Web to sync.

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Not the answer you're looking for, but I have a self-hosted Calibre server and I stuck to a second hand Kindle I got. It would be neat to be able to browse my remote library like on the Kobo, but I'd rather buy what's second-hand, cheap and readily available (lots of these perfectly working pre-loved Kindles and Kobos). Transfer lots of books at once and I rarely have to do it since I read slowly. If you use it for magazines/news/comics, then other more libre and open recommendations seem quite good.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

My boy pointed me to this one the other day, it’s like completely open. Does not care where you get the book from and can do books and comics ( even though this particular model has a smaller screen)

Pocketbook Touch Lux 5 | E-Book Reader | Glare-Free & Eye-Friendly E-Ink Technology | 6ʺ Touchscreen with HD Resolution | Wi-Fi | Adjustable SMARTlight | Micro-SD Slot | E-Reader in Ink Black https://a.co/d/gXY8b2e

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Check out the Onyx Boox which might cost a bit more but run a version of Android.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

I used an Asus Android tablet (Android 7, it was OLD) with a giant SD card +& Moon+ Pro reader app. It syncs reading progress & bookmarks via Dropbox, WebDAV, or Google Drive. I moved to a Fire 10 that I added Google Play Services to. It can sync with my phone or any other Android device. I don't bother with calibre-web as I don't have a PC I can keep turned on 24/7 yet, so I just copy over my Calibre library to the SD card. 15k books, 512 GB SD card with ~300 GB left. Moon+ does take a bit to add new books to its database after I think 10k books.

[–] Anafroj 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

selfhosted ebook library

Is that what we call hard drives, now? :P

I have two android tablets, one 7" to read small books, and one 13" to read US Letter format books, I took the cheapest ones I found, disabled Google Play and installed F-Droid to install FOSS readers, and it just works perfectly. You really don't need anything specific to just read text, you just want to make sure that you can display an entire page on your screen in a size you're comfortable reading, otherwise PDFs becomes quickly insufferable.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

@Anafroj @daninet

I got an e-ink device because it's easier on the eyes and battery easily lasts a week when I go camping.

If it were possible to get an e-ink display, I would definitely use one for programming.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

@feitingen Huh, I stand corrected.

load more comments
view more: next ›