For the unaware, there is an existing solution that integrates with Kobo's native software (Nickel).
It has been maintained for years, and it supports every Kobo AFAIK.
It's called NickelMenu, and it's great. I'm in the Kobo ecosystem because of NickelMenu and Plato.
One note if you're thinking about getting a kobo due its relative openness: consider getting a two-core device. I did not do my homework and got a Clara BW because I don't want the color display. Later I found out that color is the only one with the two-core CPU.
>These are photographs of the device, not simulator captures
Thanks for the clarification Claude
Isn't the whole point of Kindle (or other ebook readers) being able to read books without distractions?
There's a contingent of enthusiasts who, once they find out a device runs Linux or can run Linux, seems determined to expose a terminal on it. I don't know why someone needs to SSH into their toaster, but damned if they're not gonna do it, just because they can.
Me personally, I just want a reliable toaster.
Obviously you ssh into your toaster so you can host a website on it, or run DOOM
I always assume it's more for the challenge and accomplishment than anything practical. The results are always neat, but rarely anything you'd actually use for general-purpose computing.
In my personal experience, this can help in case the books are little technical and you have to switch to my laptop/mobile to get more information about the topic, which ends up consuming more time it should.
Some people came for the compact package containing an eink screen, a moderately powered application board, and a reasonable amount of battery and storage. For some, it may be the perfect thin client.
That's what I want from my e-reader device too. Yet being able to turn a $140 e-ink tablet into a general purpose tool is really neat.
Wow. This is rad, well done. I've been trying to find an alt OS for my Clara Colour and this looks great. Being able to author apps means I can finally add a way to review my highlights/quotes and search them with ease.
Edit: damn, just saw the BW note. It looks like the Clara Colour would be blocked by Cobalt...
If you're happy to email the highlights to yourself, you might like my service: https://highlights.email/
I see a recent merge for Elips 2E support, hopefully color gets tested soon
You can already do that. Look into NickelMenu.
FWIW, some Kobos can run PostmarketOS. I built this UI for my Clara - https://www.github.com/bjesus/air . It runs Firefox, Syncthing, and KOReader.
Very cool and definitely useful. I'm not the audience but I'll say: I like my ereader to just have books that sync. That is all. It's my library room and peace time, the last thing I need is Claude to distract me.
I am enjoying the recently trendy Xteink e-readers that can't do anything but read books. An app store and the internet would just make an e-reader feel like a "worse phone" to me.
Previously I built something using NickelHook
https://github.com/Podginator/KoboOmnivoreConverter
It took a lot of messing around trying to figure out how nickel fit together. This is much more … impressive.
I find LLM copywriting revolting, especially Claude's and it is pretty obvious that it is Claude, and even though I might find the software interesting since I own a Clara 2E, it puts such a sour taste in my mouth that I don't want to touch this thing with a 10 foot pole.
If your software is mostly written by the slop machine, fine. I don't have to be upset about it unless I think about contributing and then notice the uncanny nature of the source code. But a website and a README is directly user facing and it is a major disservice, and in my opinion, lack of respect, to generate your website copy with an LLM.
So cool. I have this exact model. Might try to build something
I need OTP for loging to ssh and meshtastic
For most of the use cases I would need an app for, koreader's plugin system works just fine for it. You'd be surprised the gems you can find for koreader.
As a Kindle owner; I'm very jealous.
You can do a lot of the same things with a jailbroken Kindle and KindleForge.
I'm not. I want my Kindle to do ONE job well, not turn into another multi-purpose device.
I too would like my Kindle to do one single thing well. Sadly, we seem to be waiting for that future to arrive.
I remember when my PaperWhite glitched while I was attempting to jailbreak it and got stuck with the screen inverted. It was great! I can't believe I have to jailbreak a reader to get that simple functionality for better in-the-dark reading. (epilogue: I let it run out of battery and the inversion was gone upon boot)
You don't need to jailbreak it. Swipe from the top and press the big button labelled "dark mode".
Yeah, I was going to say. I only installed KOReader because my Kindle Touch has lackluster ereader functionality.
I still miss the UI on my old Kindle Keyboard, which only showed the book list without an attempt at curation/upselling.
I can simulate it by staying on the "Library" tab, but it tends to forget halfway frequently.
It is totally different to be able to do something versus actually doing it.
It is not because you can install and run apps that you have to.
That's what's great about open hardware. You still have the ability to do that. Even if the original vendor of the device tries to decide differently.
the one job that it does well is show you ads lmao (in case you haven't jailbreaked your Kindle yet)
Not to defend amazon but you can remove the ads by paying to remove them, they sell one model ad supported and another that doesn't have ads if you buy the ads supported you can remove it later.
Your Kindle is an appliance you have little control over, the Kobo in this scope is a multitool. More choice is better than less choice as it relates to device ownership and control, imho.
HN Search: enshittification - https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&qu...
Just bought a kobo bw after reading this article
Noting again that postmarketos exists and works on some kobos (and potentially could be ported to more?)
This is incredible and super useful. More reasons to use my e-reader around the house instead of my phone.
I vote for Zotero integration!
Amazing. Hopefully Kobo don't ruin this by locking it down.
Would this also work on a Tolino?
The Tolino Shine 5 is the same hardware. You can even install the kobo firmware.
Vibecoded, from what I see in the git log.
I think so too. I wish all projects had a tag with amount of AI usage.
It's not that vibe coding is bad on its own, but it makes me worried about project's future (ease come, easy go).
This wasn't a flag?
Store-only by design: installing it proves delivery of an app the USB package never contained.
Yes. Also from looking for device compatibility:
> Tested on one device: the Kobo Clara BW (N365, device code 391), firmware 4.45.23697. Every device write is gated on an exact match of framebuffer identity, geometry, device code, serial model prefix, firmware version and kernel release, so a different reader is refused rather than guessed at.
I can't stop reading "gated" on LLM output lately.
Anyways, I wish this worked on my Libra :<
Was it the "AI Command Center" app that gave it away? That could actually be pretty cool. Read a book on the deck with the vibemill running in the background.
Even the homepage copy is LLM output. Not necessarily a bad thing, but something to point out.
> Charge a Kobo Clara BW (N365) and connect it over USB. Other models are refused, not guessed at.
Isn't everything vibecoded ?
poob has it for you
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Hey, author here. NickelMenu is terrific and Cobalt uses it to show the menu item in the default Kobo menu. It's just that Cobalt and NickelMenu are not the same in terms of project goals.
I created this as I could not find anything existing that gives the capabilities I wanted. I read several things downloaded over web apart from books on my Mac and phone, which I would prefer to do on an eInk display. Search papers on arxiv and read them offline later, Substack, even spending a lot of time on chess puzzles, monitor my Claude/Codex remotely, generate explainer audiobooks and listen to them on my bluetooth speaker etc.
The longer battery and the display makes some use cases really shine and I wanted to create apps for my own Kobo and potentially helpful for others as well.
but also note that a color e-reader will have significantly worse contrast than a black and white model, which negates the usefulness of the device to people like me.
Also NickelHook, which adds the native hooks into the Nickel application. I used it for intercepting http calls previously
I also have the Clara BW and haven't done any modding on it but it's been on my todo list. Would you be willing to briefly describe issues you've run into with it?
0 issues using nickelmenu out of the box.
I recommend enabling ssh (native kobo feature) so it's easier to modify the config without needing to plug in, though obviously this is optional.
If you connect over SSH, I would recommend not touching system files. The new kobos don't have a removable SD card so if you corrupt the system files and it can't boot, you need to either do some PCB surgery or get a new mainboard.
What does the two-core CPU get you? I'm very satisfied with my BW with KOReader, haven't noticed any shortcomings but I only read books on it.
I encounter freezes mostly when I enable Bluetooth/wifi. Haven't tried on a multi-core kobo but I imagine the UI thread can keep running there.
When reading, agree on it being more than sufficient.
My recommendation is partially because the price can be identical when they have a sale. That was the case when I got a BW--it was the same price as the color.
I should also mention I run quite a few things on my kobo: boringtun to connect to my home network, a fetcher to sync my books and feeds, Plato and its article fetcher whenever I update my Wallabag articles. I'm beyond pleased with my reader experience. The extra processing power would just be icing on the cake.
Ah yeah, mine takes a while to connect to wifi too. I assumed that was just how it was, luckily I do it rarely.
I got the BW over the Color only because I had read the color screen wasn't as sharp, though I've never compared them side by side.
Likewise. I'd had a Kobo Glo HD for more than 10 years and it was still going strong. I looked at the new color screens and they didn't look as clear to me, though it was a subtle difference. Only got the Clara BW because I wanted to use the BT remote.
I do like my BW kobo, but it's on the slow side, even just when switching pages on the stock app ; and that's annoying. Sometimes because it's stuck it doesn't register the page change, and then it will highlight text instead. That's breaking the reading flow and I really hate that.
Are there any writing apps? Any way to connect a Bluetooth keyboard? (Or USB)
KOReader probably lets you edit text files but I only use my kobo to read. Have not tried connecting any external devices.