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> Also, I realize this is a personal preference, I don’t like the “file explorer” view. I prefer a “library” view like Kobo or Kindle defaults to. If that makes sense.

I'm with you, my reading device is something where I don't want to fiddle or be distracted by settings and options. I just want a stock, opinionated device with good defaults that just works and I have to charge once a month. That's it.

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For many people, this is what the Kindle used to be, but isn't now.
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Why? I'm using my old Kindle Paperwhite every day, for many years now and I haven't had any issues or "distractions" pop up ever. Rarely I have to plug it into my computer to send books to it with Calibre, that's my only interaction with this device.
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I'm just lazy and toggle airplane mode with the send-to-kindle @kindle.com email, though sometimes Amazon isn't happy and doesn't send it.

It does refresh the lockscreen ads for a month or so, though. I have a cover so they don't really bother me.

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agreed, obviously reading a book itself is the simplest way to read a book. but the simplest way to carry around an entire library is technology. so id like to remove the fiddling or needing to interact with said technology as a barrier to me turning off my brain from life to get sucked into a book
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It seems like you would only have to do this stuff once. So the main complaint is 'the settings menus need to be better organized'. That seems achievable.
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> I don’t like the “file explorer” view

Exact reason why despite having a jailbroken Kindle, I stick to the stock book browser. It's so tough to navigate on an old-gen Kindle with a low refresh rate.

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Check out this plugin: https://github.com/AndyHazz/bookshelf.koplugin

I had the same problem and someone here shared the plugin, it does the job very well independently of your file structure and nesting.

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You can add a library view! Checkout this Bookshelf plugin:

https://github.com/AndyHazz/bookshelf.koplugin

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One thing I really appreciate about KOReader is that it runs on so many devices. I like its stock experience, and I can have that experience on my Supernote and on my Kobo, and sync progress between the two.

Over the years I've gone from Kindle to Pocketboot to Boox to Kobo. Sometimes eReaders break, sometimes I hand them down to family members. Whenever I need to buy an eReader, as long as runs KOReader somehow I can pick the device purely based on its hardware instead of worrying about the stock software, compatible formats, etc.

But you're absolutely right that finding the specific setting you're looking for is an unintuitive process.

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> I care about

Feels like you have my problem: "I can not be bother to switch from another app".

When every one wants their e-reader with custom setup you get that long list of options. Since the beginning of computing I have always wanted a custom UI on apps, i.e. add an icon here that does these three things in the app, or "add this view to that window". Even browsers plugins have a hard time getting it right.

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Check out https://github.com/AndyHazz/bookshelf.koplugin

I had the same problem with the missing Home Screen view and that solved it: you can see all your books no matter how deeply nested they are

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Yeah, the UI IMO is very confusing and I'm not sure it has any benefits for me or features over the stock Kobo interface. It also will understandably never support vertical writing too so it loses some more appeal there for me.
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Exactly my thoughts. But it all changed when i just put the tailscale proxy on kindle and allowed claude to ssh into it. Now i can just configure it remotely and never really need to do anything else except reading on kindle itself.
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Ohhhh that's not a bad idea at all. I'd read the article and was still largely in the "but why do I care?" space, but hands off management makes a lot of sense.
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Why does Tailscale need to be used for Claude? Can’t you just ssh into it locally?
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For me Tailscale is what i setup for all my homelab services. This way my Kindle feels like just another homelab service exposed by Tailscale. I'm sure you can do it differently.
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Agreed. KOReader is great in terms of capability but it is really let down by poor UI. I got used to it but it's not great
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The UI can be confusing at first. Bu take some time to get familiar with it and it can be really nice. The main benefits for me is dealing with poorly formatted epub and sensible viewing of pdf on small screen (kobo libra 2). There’s also OPDS support to connect to my calibre server instance and get book that way.

There’s no benefits if you get your books from the stores. But if you manage your ebook library yourself, koreader is great.

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