Mastodawn

ZiClaud has moved May 7

Elena Rossini on GoToSocial ⁂

One of my biggest regrets from the past few years was losing the habit of reading books. All the usual excuses: child to look after, too tired, not enough time…

I didn’t read a ton, but I had an average of 30 books a year. Last year I must have read 6. This year in early April I was at 0… and the realization shook me to my core.

Something had to be done.

I found out about KOreader and SimpleUI - having on an e-reader homepage a bar with reading stats would be an incredible motivator… I thought.

Jailbroke my #Kindle, installed #KOreader and #SimpleUI. And 18 days later I have… an 18 day reading streak and I’m averaging 43 minutes of reading time per day. I’m just so happy! 😊

(Unrelated but #Technofeudalism is REALLY GOOD - off to go resume reading it for another 20 minutes or so).

#books #reading #habits #KindleJailbreak

projectmoon May 7

@elena I jailbroke my Kindle and broke the Kindle. It loads, but is in some kind of weird state. Have to maybe try again and start from scratch...

Elena Rossini on GoToSocial ⁂May 7

@projectmoon I would try to factory reset it before the Amazon deadline for registration of old Kindles. Is that May 10th?

projectmoon May 7

@elena My Kindle is an Oasis 8th gen. Seems like I had already factory reset from my prior attempt. Did jailbreak with winterbreak, and everything worked fine. Now koreader etc is all set up and Amazon and OTA updates blocked.

cwicseolfor May 7

@elena @projectmoon The 20th, but never hurts to leave a few spare days for troubleshooting to be on the safe side!

cuan_knaggs May 7

@elena you might also be interested in Blood in the Machine by Brian Merchant

Rainer König May 7

Thanks for the book recommendation, added it to my "to read" list on Bookwyrm. 🙂

tootbrute May 7

@elena whoa whoa...simple UI? what's that. i already have KOReader on it and it's lovely. yours looks even lovelier. i need to get this.

tootbrute May 7

@elena also varoufakis is the man. the coolest economist and stood up for greece when troika tried to kill greece with debt.

SamuelJohnson May 7

@tootbrute @elena He mooned Greece's creditors and got crushed. The people who tried to kill Greece were Greek tax dodgers and the American consultants who helped the govt cook the books.

Elena Rossini on GoToSocial ⁂May 7

@tootbrute it takes a couple of minutes to download and install it and it's GORGEOUS

Arnel Šarić Sharan

@elena I need to jailbreak mine too.

@elena I bought the X4 https://www.passweird.com/, little e-ink reader that you can have basically in your pocket. It's really great compared to the Remarkable2 because I have it always with me, and can read a couple of pages everywhere basically.

And it's cheap !

Passweird - Passwords too Gross to Steal

This website will create for you a secure password so utterly repulsive that not even the most hardened criminal, identity thief, NSA agent, or jealous boyfriend would ever want to use it.

Passweird

Elena Rossini on GoToSocial ⁂May 7

@hyde this space is BRILLIANT for my mind... and terrible for my wallet. So many temptations, LOL 😅

Yes yes of course I will look into it 😂

@elena Oops wrong link pasted 😅 :

https://www.xteink.com/products/xteink-x4

Xteink X4 Developer Edition

Elena Rossini on GoToSocial ⁂May 7

@hyde I figured, no worries!

I AM BANKSY ☕ / 🗑‍🔥May 7

@hyde I was going to ask about that link :D

The X4 is pretty cute. With the 3rd party OS, it's even quite usable.

Yeah I installed crosspoint on it ! 👌

@hyde @elena ahaha, I was so confused by the link :D

David - Forking Mad May 7

Nice idea, but why not just read on your phone, @hyde?

I always have mine with me so wouldn't need something else stuck to the back

Ukiah Danger Smith May 7

@daj @hyde @elena for me, the phone has too many distractions. My Kobo has nothing but other books. The phone is a pit of attention, pulling me in multiple directions.

Also, I feel like, for me, there is a psychological shift when I'm looking at a black and white eink versus a brightly colored screen.

David - Forking Mad May 7

@UkiahSmith fair point. Me, I turned of all the notifications on my phone. I decide when to check emails and the like. I'm not owned by the constant ping

Ukiah Danger Smith May 7

@daj @hyde @elena oh, I have notifications turned off too. It's the curiosity of my mind that is the distraction, and the phone enables it more than the dedicated ebook reader.

For instance, the book mentions a fountain pen... I wonder if that brand is real or made up. I wonder if they are still sold. And the browser is a couple if taps away.

Actually, I do have some non-audible notifications. So maybe that's something for me to think about turn off.

Morgan ⚧️May 8

@UkiahSmith @daj @hyde @elena this is also an idea that is better or worse for specific people, and if one has ADHD or gets distracted really easily, it either won't be enough or it could even be detrimental. If I, for example, turned off all my notifications, I'd just start forgetting more important things and I'd still get distracted the same way you do. But I'm willing to bet it'd be a good money-saving hack for a lot of people who want to read more, and a compromise could be turning off most

@daj @UkiahSmith @elena

I try to limit my daily usage of my phone. Less than 30 min / day.

No notification, no email configured there because all of them can wait.

I love the attraction to books, even digital ones on this device, instead of a colourful display. Plus, you can read with the sun, not always the case with a phone.

Also, it's not tactile, no risk of turning pages by mistake ...

Autonomy 2-3 weeks

What else ?

@daj @hyde @elena I switched from my phone to an xteink because I get super distracted by notifications, and just find it much nicer reading on an eink screen for long periods. Phone is much easier, and more convenient, and I've read a lot of books that way, but I was intrigued by the xteink and have ended up really enjoying them.

💯 the reading experience is way better !

Chris Oliver May 7

30 books a year isn’t a ton? I’m a very slow reader, and I’ve been alternating between the same 3 books for the past 6 months. At my best, I had a goal of 12 books a year, but I was reading a lot of short nonfiction books for work at the time. 30 books in year sounds impossible for me.

Wouter@nukleos May 7

@elena #technofeudalism Darn, that's another title to add to my (already long) list of "books I need to read" !

Jane in NZ May 7

@elena Glad to hear you’re back into reading. I’ve gone the other way and increased my reading by going back to paper books, which has been fun.

I AM BANKSY ☕ / 🗑‍🔥May 7

@elena I started reading about two years ago. Instead of podcasts or scrolling FB or Twitter or Reddit. Deleted the social media apps and games off my phone and suddenly I have all this time.

I was using Calibre but moved to self-hosted grimmory. Both allow OPDS to download new books and sync progress (though grimmory does KOreader sync which is better IMO)

For tracking what I read in a fedi fashion, I have a bookwyrm.social account, but I don't use any gamification on my reading at all now.

Pacific Byiringiro 🇺🇬May 7

@elena Ohh, that is also the case for me. I used to read books during my high school days, but now I have almost stopped. I don’t really know what demotivated me, but I just find myself like that.

Why do you think this happens to us? Is it because we have too many things to do?

@elena
I have downloaded the free app FB reader and read 30 minutes to an hour befor bedtime.
And in the waiting room at the hospital, MD, ...
No streak counter needed, no pressure, and anyways half a library with me to choose from.

WhiteHotaru May 7

@elena how did transitioning from real paper to eink feel for you. I tried it in the past, but always got a disturbing feeling when reading books from a display. Comics are ok, though.

Jacqueline May 7

@elena I regret falling behind on reading as well.

@elena “Books” App on iPhone works for me. But I also have a paperback copy and Kindle just to be sure I keep reading:)

Xco_Nieko May 7

@elena Just learned that my Pocketbook Supports koreader and it is not as complicated to install as i thought. Thanks for the hint

Jumbled HTTP May 7

@elena Reading to your kid counts and frankly they NEED you to do that these days more than any.

Elena Rossini on GoToSocial ⁂May 7

@thtp in that case I read a hundred books a year and 30-45 min a day just for the kiddo 😅

@elena I have an x4 and love it as well, the excellent foss firmware CrossPoint is a must! x4 has contributed to me reading again!

https://crosspointreader.com/#flash-tools

CrossPoint Reader - Open-Source E-Ink Firmware

A better reading experience for your Xteink. EPUB support, WiFi uploads, KOReader sync, and more. Flash from your browser.

Lee Hauser May 7

@elena I read in KOReader on my Kobo. I tried SimpleUI and ZenUI, but they slow things down too much (which seems to be only a me problem...don't understand it). Trying to get sync with Readest set up so I can hop between Kobo/iPad/iPhone when I want to.

Currently in the middle of Ada Palmer's "Inventing The Renaissance" which is a hoot and eye-opening at the same time.

A. P. Howell May 8

@elena Congratulations! I love it when people find a solution that works for them.

Andy Piper May 8

@elena agree, Technofeudalism is good, I need to finish it!

🇵🇸 Òscar Selfa ⚪️⚫️🟠May 9

@elena can you sync your reading between KOreader and Kindle reader?

Elena Rossini on GoToSocial ⁂May 11

@oselfa great question. I'm not sure. Since I started using KOreader I never use the Kindle interface anymore...

We don't need AI. AI needs us.May 9

@elena
Elena I followed your example, and after two day of calling the saints, I jailbroked my kindle with KOReader and simpleui. There is a thing, it does not display the covers, while in standard mode I had them. There is something I should do?

Grazie per l'ispirazione.

#Kindle #KOreader #SimpleUI #Technofeudalism #books #reading #habits #KindleJailbreak

Elena Rossini on GoToSocial ⁂May 11

@Imprinted great!

re: the covers, I'm not sure. Maybe try take a look on Reddit, there's an active community there (KOreader and KindleJailbreak). For my sleep screen, I uploaded semi-transparent custom wallpapers

We don't need AI. AI needs us.May 11

@elena
OK thank you I will.