Kindle replacement: What's the most bulletproof way to serve digital books to kindles reddit / selfhosted ---------------------------------------------------------------------- greypic · 2023-12-27 16:59 My wife has a kindle. I read from the kindle app on my tablet. What's the easiest / most full proof way to serve kindle and epub files to these devices. I have to acquisition side worked out. I have kativa installed on my unRAID server but I would like to see if there is a way of serving files to kindle before trying to convert my family to a new system. I keep hearing about calibre but there seems to be mixed reviews and I can't figure if I use it for back end and something else for front end. So, what works for you? Thanks ---------------------------------------------------------------------- PuckSR · 2023-12-27 18:07 Email. You just email the epub you want to read to your kindle address. It shows up on all your devices and syncs your current page across devices. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- zanfar · 2023-12-27 18:08 Calibre has a web interface. Your eReader may or may not be able to download books directly from this. However, Calibre as an app is pretty easy--plug in your reader, select the books you want, and click "add". Either way, both can run from any data store that's accessible to the program. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- adamshand · 2023-12-27 18:47 If you're willing to move to Kobo, the integration with Calibre-web is really great. Calibre books show up in the Kobo store and you can download them them directly. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- greypic · 2023-12-27 18:55 Thanks will check that out. when you say the kobo store is that an app? Does that work on Kindle? ---------------------------------------------------------------------- greypic · 2023-12-27 18:56 So the user need access to the server and has to individually download a book and then email it to their kindle account? ---------------------------------------------------------------------- theDrell · 2023-12-27 19:03 Calibre web. Setup accounts for each user and put in their send to kindle address. Have them browse the web on their phones they find something they want to read, click send to kindle. Shows up in a few minutes. At least that was how it used to be last time I tried it. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- emprahsFury · 2023-12-27 19:19 Kavita has an email sender, the user can just see the book they want from the kavita UI and then use the "Send to Device" functionality. They only need to configure their send to kindle email from amazon into kavita. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- helium_uplands · 2023-12-27 19:37 Yeah if the micro usb port works... ---------------------------------------------------------------------- BelugaBilliam · 2023-12-27 19:41 With a kindle, you can setup the device through an Amazon account to have a kindle email address. From there, you can email different files such as .pdf, .mobi, .epub etc, to the Kindle and it will show up as a book. You specify what emails are allowed to send emails to the Kindle. I set this up for my gf, and wrote a script that monitors a directory, and once a new file is detected, email it to the Kindle. So when she adds a book via readarr, it'll show up on her kindle without any more hassle. This is the way. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- PuckSR · 2023-12-27 19:45 Calibre supports this, but I’ve never used it as server ---------------------------------------------------------------------- PuckSR · 2023-12-27 19:46 And you need to whitelist your kavita email ---------------------------------------------------------------------- CrispyBegs · 2023-12-27 20:38 this is the way i do it and it's fantastic, works every time perfectly ---------------------------------------------------------------------- zanfar · 2023-12-27 20:42 This is news to me; thanks! ---------------------------------------------------------------------- CactusBoyScout · 2023-12-27 21:31 Calibre-web has an email function built in ---------------------------------------------------------------------- dudeude · 2023-12-27 22:52 Calibre is my go to. Served me well over the years and still does. I even have my calibre web up and running too. It has my vote! ---------------------------------------------------------------------- adamshand · 2023-12-27 23:03 This was the guide that helped me get it working. It's pretty simple. https://code.mendhak.com/kobo-customizations/#syncing-kobo-with- calibre-web ---------------------------------------------------------------------- adamshand · 2023-12-27 23:04 No. Kobo is an alternative eReader to Kindle that has it's own store. https://www.kobo.com/ ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Greetings-Commander · 2023-12-27 23:29 You can setup Kavita to email the books to your Kindle email address. Used it for a long time now, works great. https://wiki.kavitareader.com/en/guides/settings#Devices ---------------------------------------------------------------------- NotAtAllHandsomeJack · 2023-12-27 23:52 I've just started using Calibre and Calibre-web. It's working well for my partner, will see how long until it breaks... ---------------------------------------------------------------------- No_Ja · 2023-12-28 02:52 This is the best answer. Then the user can browse the library and be self sufficient. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ryan_not_brian_ · 2023-12-28 03:19 I'm using Calibre with the Send-To-Kindle email address. It works well and syncs with the Kindle app on every device. The only potential issue is that I'm relying on Amazon to keep the books for me, and I'm not so sure about how long WhisperSync is going to be free. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- greypic · 2023-12-28 03:42 > and wrote a script that monitors a directory, and once a new file is detected, email it to the Kindle. Readarr adds everything an author has written. She doesn't mind a dozen books being added? Also, don't think I can write a custom script. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- greypic · 2023-12-28 03:54 Do you have to first install calibre? Or is calibre web a different docker entirely? ---------------------------------------------------------------------- its-nex · 2023-12-28 04:08 I believe there is a setting box you can check in readarr, so you don’t automatically monitor the entire bibliography unless you want to. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ajleece · 2023-12-28 04:10 Ohh thanks for that. Always wanted a better way of handling things than just plugging it in via USB. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- originalripley · 2023-12-28 05:30 Calibre-Web is independent of Calibre. You can run it entirely on its own. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- BelugaBilliam · 2023-12-28 07:47 No she adds the author, and she doesn't monitor the whole author typically. She will add the author, typically monitor, and I showed her if she wants to add a book, click monitor, and either Do an auto search, or the manual way. She got that part figured out after a little while, and then they show on her kindle. If she cannot acquire a book, she will just tell me, I will do my hunting via other sources (easier for me than to teach her how to do this), get it myself, and just move the file over to the directory and have it email to her kindle automatically. If enough people are interested I could post the code on GitHub, or alternatively, maybe try to chatgpt a basic script if you wanted. Just an idea! ---------------------------------------------------------------------- SchmeepyDooDoo · 2023-12-28 08:04 I dont know how to write custom scripts either; but I have one that monitors new books added to a folder and then adds them to my calibre library automatically. I just googled my use case, found a super similar one and slightly modified it. You can probably find whatever you need on the internet; research the guts of it, find the closest thing to copy, tinker with it, and id it doesnt work, post it here and aomebody will help :) Scripts seem really complicated but their basically just logical instructions to so something. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- theDrell · 2023-12-28 11:22 I setup calibre to manage my book collection then calibre web to give a more modern front end. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- no_step · 2023-12-28 12:42 I use Calibre to create the library, with the library files on a network share. For server ebooks to the kindles, I use [COPS](https://github.com/seblucas/cops), which is a very simple ebook server. From the kindle you open the web browser to the COPS server ip:port number. Browse to the file you want , and click to download. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- SnowyLocksmith · 2023-12-28 13:00 I have a bit more complex solution, but works well for me. I jailbroke my kindle and installed the KO Reader app. It works amazing well, and adds a ton of features that justify the effort needed to jailbreak. It also has a ssh server so you can just scp any books you want. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- greypic · 2023-12-28 14:55 did you install it on an unraid server? having setup issues. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- MrHaxx1 · 2023-12-28 22:46 Yes, that's a prerequisite for using it in the first place lol ---------------------------------------------------------------------- helium_uplands · 2023-12-29 05:51 I cannot load books via USB anymore haha, but I don't know why. Because charging works. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Effective-Ad8776 · 2023-12-30 18:58 I had good success using ChatGTP writing scripts for me. Just describe what you want to achieve, what system you're running, give it directories etc and it'll give you a script and tell you how to run it