A Google group has been established to discuss FBReader — the world-class e-book reader that runs on the Nokia 770, Linux desktop, Sharp Zaurus and other devices.
And among the first news there is that FBReader will soon support texts in OEB and in CHM and not too far after that even OpenReader.
The Google group URI is groups.google.com/group/fbreader.
The FBReader forum at mobileread.com will continue, but the Google group permits posting in Russian (although the primary language is English).
And I will continue to post matters of interest here (and at the Internet Tablet Users blog), with comments and discussion always encouraged.
Btw, I understand a new format and a new platform are in the works for FBReader, but I’ll wait till their announcement — or mention in one of these forums — before writing about them here.
In one of the first posts at Google groups, Geometer (aka Nikolay Pultsin, FBReader’s developer) writes:
About platforms: currently I am working [on a] port for GPE (http://gpe.handhelds.org). In fact, the version for OpenZaurus/GPE is almost ready, I hope to release it next week. Another device planned to support in near future is Archos PMA430. (This device runs Qtopia and is very like to Sharp Zaurus.)
About formats: I plan to add support for OEB and CHM files. And maybe for OpenReader format.
This is great news — the tools to disassemble encrypted but non-DRMed[*] (or “personalized”) e-books in the Microsoft Reader .lit format are not hard to locate, their result being an OEB package file and the content files. Plunk ’em all into a zip file and add the OPF to FBReader’s library and you’ve got a direct pipeline for thousands of e-books in this very popular format[**].
And isn’t CHM the most popular format for documentation of Windows-based programs? The universe of content readable in FBReader is about to get very bigger.
Gee, I wish some clever developer would take the open-source code for the GTK-based FBReader and port it to Microsoft Windows. Then there’d be a really great e-reader ready when those fabulous, wonderful and just a tad pricey ($1200 for the first one!) UMPC’s arrive.
[*] I can’t say what they do with DRMed content, because I’ve never owned any such in .lit format.
[**] If you’re Linux-based, I should add. If you’re Windows-based, the big draw may be the ability to format the e-books in the fashion (or type size) you prefer to read them in, this being one of FBReader’s strengths.
