Hacked Up Reader for epub/fb2/txt/rtf/html/pdb/etc

bhaak · 02-27-2012, 08:25 AM

HackedUpReader is a CoolReader 3 port for the Kindle Touch and the Kindle Paperwhite using the X11 gui of the CoolReader project, somewhat adapted for the touch interface.

That means it uses the current CoolReader engine for reading and parsing e-books but for displaying them the X11 GUI port is used instead of the Qt interface that CoolReader 3 for Kindle is using.

It was only meant to act as a temporary solution to get a ePub reader for the Kindle Touch until something better comes along. If it doesn't suit you, you might want to check out KOReader which sees more development these days.

Latest version is 0.4.1, released on 2014-10-29.

What works:

reading e-books
opening other e-books
setting options
battery display
searching
bookmarking
screen refresh for removing e-ink artifacts (automatic after a configurable amount of pages)
manually rotated screen

What doesn't work:

dictionary support

For display quality and preventing crashes when using non-standard fonts install this version of the freetype library.

The download of the compiled binary as zip with a standard Kindle update bin including Launcher extensions or a simple tar.gz of the HackedUpReader directory:
http://bhaak.net/kindle/hackedupreader_0.4.1.zip
http://bhaak.net/kindle/hackedupreader-0.4.1.tar.gz

Older releases are here:
https://github.com/bhaak/HackedUpReader/releases

There are 2 different GUI launcher extensions (so you don't have to launch it with command line commands):

https://github.com/varnie/HackedUpRe...cher/downloads (directly start HackedUpReader) (works with the Unified Applications Launcher)
https://github.com/bhaak/HackedUpRea...sion/downloads (builds a Launcher sub menu out of your documents folder for starting HackedUpReader) (doesn't work with the Unified Applications Launcher)

The source code is available on GitHub:
https://github.com/bhaak/HackedUpReader

Other reading software for the Kindle Touch and Paperwhite that are using the Cool Reader engine and therefore have at least the same format support as HackedUpReader are:

KOReader (formerly known as KindlePDFViewer)
CoolReader 3 on Kindle (using a QT-interface that is IMO unfortunately not well suited for a touch screen)

lukeroge · 02-27-2012, 02:10 PM

Looks good!
I'll be sure to give this a try once its more polished up and integrated with a the launcher. Good luck

aliar · 02-28-2012, 05:25 AM

wow! great!

pirl8 · 02-28-2012, 08:49 AM

This is really good news!

aditya3098 · 03-04-2012, 03:50 AM

Bump, if you are not going to do it yourself

varnie · 03-04-2012, 01:56 PM

Hi!
is it possible to embed FB2 support into HackedUpReader?

bhaak · 03-05-2012, 06:26 AM

HackedUpReader should already support the same formats CoolReader3 supports unless I screwed up during configuration and compilation.

I'll check later today when I'm back in a LAN where I can ssh into my kindle.

bhaak · 03-05-2012, 02:51 PM

Just verified it. FB2 support is already in as expected.

varnie · 03-05-2012, 03:51 PM

wow, it is superb!
if you ever know how many users are waiting for FB2 support in Kindle Touch!
so, I think it should be a matter of honor to add the remaining features you mentioned in the initial post.
thank you.

BTW, I don't get why the integration with GUI Laucher is a difficult task. are there some caveats we should be aware of? Please share the experience.

thatworkshop · 03-05-2012, 07:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by varnie

BTW, I don't get why the integration with GUI Laucher is a difficult task. are there some caveats we should be aware of? Please share the experience.

To locate an input file is one of the limitations, but I think one should write a page to show a dialog to select the file and then simply pass it to the coolreader binary file.

ixtab · 03-05-2012, 08:50 PM

Just a thought: why not try to integrate it "properly" via the application registry?

aditya3098 · 03-05-2012, 09:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ixtab

Just a thought: why not try to integrate it "properly" via the application registry?

Will that allow download as well.

aditya3098 · 03-05-2012, 10:06 PM

If you read yifan.lu , there is a js function nativeBridge.dbgCmd();. If that could help.....

bhaak · 03-06-2012, 02:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by varnie

BTW, I don't get why the integration with GUI Launcher is a difficult task. are there some caveats we should be aware of? Please share the experience.

I didn't say "difficult", I just said "missing".

I don't think there should be any issues but one of the reasons there is no GUI launcher integration is because I haven't installed the GUI launcher yet.

varnie · 03-06-2012, 12:19 PM

Howdy, bhaak
I have a rather simple question - is it safe to run the reader from kindle touch (using ssh method)? I mean, how can I be sure the hack doesn't put any files into kindle file system so that I won't know which ones should I delete after?
thanks in advance.
ps: yes, I am paranoid.

02-27-2012, 08:25 AM	#1
bhaak Groupie Posts: 164 Karma: 164969 Join Date: Dec 2011 Device: Palm IIIx, (iPhone\|Kindle) Touch	Hacked Up Reader for epub/fb2/txt/rtf/html/pdb/etc HackedUpReader is a CoolReader 3 port for the Kindle Touch and the Kindle Paperwhite using the X11 gui of the CoolReader project, somewhat adapted for the touch interface. That means it uses the current CoolReader engine for reading and parsing e-books but for displaying them the X11 GUI port is used instead of the Qt interface that CoolReader 3 for Kindle is using. It was only meant to act as a temporary solution to get a ePub reader for the Kindle Touch until something better comes along. If it doesn't suit you, you might want to check out KOReader which sees more development these days. Latest version is 0.4.1, released on 2014-10-29. What works: reading e-books opening other e-books setting options battery display searching bookmarking screen refresh for removing e-ink artifacts (automatic after a configurable amount of pages) manually rotated screen What doesn't work: dictionary support For display quality and preventing crashes when using non-standard fonts install this version of the freetype library. The download of the compiled binary as zip with a standard Kindle update bin including Launcher extensions or a simple tar.gz of the HackedUpReader directory: http://bhaak.net/kindle/hackedupreader_0.4.1.zip http://bhaak.net/kindle/hackedupreader-0.4.1.tar.gz Older releases are here: https://github.com/bhaak/HackedUpReader/releases There are 2 different GUI launcher extensions (so you don't have to launch it with command line commands): https://github.com/varnie/HackedUpRe...cher/downloads (directly start HackedUpReader) (works with the Unified Applications Launcher) https://github.com/bhaak/HackedUpRea...sion/downloads (builds a Launcher sub menu out of your documents folder for starting HackedUpReader) (doesn't work with the Unified Applications Launcher) The source code is available on GitHub: https://github.com/bhaak/HackedUpReader Other reading software for the Kindle Touch and Paperwhite that are using the Cool Reader engine and therefore have at least the same format support as HackedUpReader are: KOReader (formerly known as KindlePDFViewer) CoolReader 3 on Kindle (using a QT-interface that is IMO unfortunately not well suited for a touch screen) Last edited by bhaak; 10-29-2014 at 08:39 PM. Reason: new maintenance release 0.4.1

03-05-2012, 03:51 PM	#9
varnie Connoisseur Posts: 99 Karma: 30196 Join Date: Dec 2011 Device: Kindle Touch	wow, it is superb! if you ever know how many users are waiting for FB2 support in Kindle Touch! so, I think it should be a matter of honor to add the remaining features you mentioned in the initial post. thank you. BTW, I don't get why the integration with GUI Laucher is a difficult task. are there some caveats we should be aware of? Please share the experience. Last edited by varnie; 03-05-2012 at 04:01 PM.

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02-27-2012, 02:10 PM	#2
lukeroge Enthusiast Posts: 35 Karma: 10 Join Date: Feb 2012 Device: Kindle Touch	Looks good! I'll be sure to give this a try once its more polished up and integrated with a the launcher. Good luck

02-28-2012, 05:25 AM	#3
aliar Junior Member Posts: 6 Karma: 10 Join Date: Nov 2008 Device: SONY PRS 505, Kindle DXG, Kindle 3 3G, iPad 1	wow! great!

02-28-2012, 08:49 AM	#4
pirl8 Pest Posts: 204 Karma: 239254 Join Date: Jan 2012 Location: Italy Device: KT, PW3	This is really good news!

03-04-2012, 03:50 AM	#5
aditya3098 Guru Posts: 608 Karma: 1588610 Join Date: Jan 2012 Device: Kindle Scribe	Bump, if you are not going to do it yourself

03-04-2012, 01:56 PM	#6
varnie Connoisseur Posts: 99 Karma: 30196 Join Date: Dec 2011 Device: Kindle Touch	Hi! is it possible to embed FB2 support into HackedUpReader?

03-05-2012, 06:26 AM	#7
bhaak Groupie Posts: 164 Karma: 164969 Join Date: Dec 2011 Device: Palm IIIx, (iPhone\|Kindle) Touch	HackedUpReader should already support the same formats CoolReader3 supports unless I screwed up during configuration and compilation. I'll check later today when I'm back in a LAN where I can ssh into my kindle.

03-05-2012, 02:51 PM	#8
bhaak Groupie Posts: 164 Karma: 164969 Join Date: Dec 2011 Device: Palm IIIx, (iPhone\|Kindle) Touch	Just verified it. FB2 support is already in as expected.

03-05-2012, 08:50 PM	#11
ixtab (offline) Posts: 2,907 Karma: 6736094 Join Date: Dec 2011 Device: K3, K4, K5, KPW, KPW2	Just a thought: why not try to integrate it "properly" via the application registry?

03-05-2012, 10:06 PM	#13
aditya3098 Guru Posts: 608 Karma: 1588610 Join Date: Jan 2012 Device: Kindle Scribe	If you read yifan.lu , there is a js function nativeBridge.dbgCmd();. If that could help.....

03-06-2012, 12:19 PM	#15
varnie Connoisseur Posts: 99 Karma: 30196 Join Date: Dec 2011 Device: Kindle Touch	Howdy, bhaak I have a rather simple question - is it safe to run the reader from kindle touch (using ssh method)? I mean, how can I be sure the hack doesn't put any files into kindle file system so that I won't know which ones should I delete after? thanks in advance. ps: yes, I am paranoid.

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