I recall an Ukrainian maker doing some small (5") readers some years ago
based on free software. Actually, like Android, ALL readers are based on free
software. Only they put proprietary stuff on top to make sure you are locked
away for good. Mostly is the Adobe junk, the major exception being Amazon.
Adobe means YOU HAVE to register with adobe online in order to make use of
your device. The app is quite handy, but it's a huge price paid for that
functionality. And IT IS buggy. And it handles large page PDFs badly. An
irony as Adobe is the inventor of that ugly format.
Also, beware. EPUB is marketed as the electronic book standard. It's badly
supported on Linux. The version is 3.0 for some years now. Adobe and all the
rest use different flavors of 2.0. And also, there are many apps that produce
broken EPUBs. Those broken EPUBs break in so many ways the reader apps, most
certainly you need to redo the file on a desktop before uploading it to the
device. And if there is DRM in the story, than the effort is simply not worth
it.
If you are willing to ignore the eInk screen, any Android not connected to
the Internet would fit the bill. Remember the cheap ones have shitty battery.
And the expensive ones have memory you don't need. In a way, the Android
market is the worst development in the computing history.
Mobileread.com forum is the place to go for ebook readers. Only most users
there don't really get what is free software and why one might want it.
