[IAEP] [OLPC library] bookreader at lists.laptop.org , collaborations with the gnubook project

[Samuel Klein]

Mikus,

Some readers are mainly accessed online, but a reader is not a 'web'
service per se, it is an interface.  Now it's true that every
interface is a service of a sort... I could host an fbreader instance
for you, but that wouldn't change anything.

Comparing fbreader with a standalone gnubook instance (say by adding
gnubook support to evince, which we are considering), and with the
current Read activity (which should be more flexible than just a pdf
reader to live up to its name, and read all formats), is a pertinent
subject to address.

I think it likely that the best readers will not require the overhead
of a browser, but there are certain advantages to readers that work
the same online and off.

SJ


On Fri, Jan 23, 2009 at 5:55 PM, Mikus Grinbergs <mikus at bga.com> wrote:
>> Dear all,
>> We are working with the gnubook developers to help optimize it for
>> reading books on the XO.
>
> Back in November, the majority of the discussion in the OLPC Library
> list concerned what the OLPC did (plus descriptions thereof).
>
> Since then, discussion has been much about __non-OLPC__ capabilities
> such as bookreader and gnubook.  From what I can gather, these are
> Web services (though suited for children's use) -- which I prefer to
> access from a display physically larger than what the OLPC provides.
>
> What I have done for myself is install on my XO as many *programs*
> for ebook reading as I could find (FBReader, Adobe Reader, jbook
> reader, etc).  Plus I have an SD card in my XO to which I save the
> texts that I access with those programs.  Then I can use the XO for
> what it was designed for - to read books in places where there is
> *no* web connectivity.  If all you are discussing is "how to use a
> browser" -- then there is no specific need for an XO to be involved.
>
> mikus
>
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