Open Book Touch: A Pocketable, Open Source E-Reader for Every Language
Open Book Touch: open-source e-reader
After six years of development, I am thrilled to introduce Open Book Touch, a compact, front-lit e-reader designed solely for reading. This completely open-source device features a 4.26-inch touchscreen, supports EPUB files, and renders dozens of writing systems with proper typography. Powered by an ESP32-S3 microcontroller, it offers a distraction-free experience with no browser or notifications, allowing you to carry a library of the world in your pocket.
It's a liberated book for the people.
- hamdingers
> There are no physical buttons on the front
That's too bad. For whatever reason I find swipe gestures on e-ink annoying. I currently use a Kobo Clara BW and miss dedicated page-turning buttons.
I see they're offering the print files for the case, maybe there will be some pins on the ESP32 exposed somewhere for adding buttons
- gabriel666smith
This looks nice - I think ‘small enough to be pocketable’ is an important form factor. Reading preferences are a very personal thing, and for people like me - who feel they internalize more effectively when reading from a physical book better than when reading from a screen - this form factor makes owning one more worthwhile.
I have always wondered why the form factor that has been settled on for e-readers was ‘book-like’, other than the obvious screen-size advantages. I wonder if there is a better form-factor out there and if anyone has any ideas. Electronic devices don’t need to resemble the thing they are replacing, and it’s sometimes better that they don’t.
I know a lot of people lust after the clamshell e-reader imagined in the film It Follows. [1]
The haptics of a physical book are, I think, what helps me better remember them, because memory is intrinsically linked non-digital sensory information like touch, and smell.
I’ve personally tried a few prototypes to try to bring unique sensory inputs to individual books read digitally to help me remember each one better: converting an AliExpress Game Boy into one to enable more haptic and visual differentiation; generative ambient & binaural music that is automatically created based on the text shown.
Each did help, to an extent, in preventing the way everything I read on an e-reader slightly blurs into indistinct memories of ‘reading generally’, rather than ‘reading this specific book’.
Maybe the e-reader has to be as person […]
- demetrius
> Cyrillic scripts like Russian and Ukrainian are supported via GNU Unifont, along with Arabic and Hebrew.
So much for proper typography...
I guess it's still useful for an ocasional Cyrillic word inside an English text, but reading a book set in GNU Unifont is not going to be a pleasurable experience.
- holysoles
I almost bought an xteink the other week but held off due to lack of a frontlight option.
I instead resurrected my nook simple touch (2011) with this project [1] from XDA forums, its made it infinitely more usable and still has good battery life.
[1] https://xdaforums.com/t/nst-g-the-phoenix-project.4673934/
- Grombobulous
4.3” screen, that’s a dealbreaker. That is a real shame.