Amazon Kindle and Fedora

[Robert L Cochran]

The Kindle2 is pre-orderable as of now. It looks like just a slimmer
version of the original Kindle with extra storage and reinvented hand
controls.

No color.

No indication that the Kindle2 actually handles PDF better than the
first Kindle.

Still DRM-encumbered.

$359, and a waste of money in my opinion. I can get a netbook for not
much more and it gives me color and document flexibility.

Bob


Dave Feustel wrote:
> Bob,
>
> Thanks for the feedback. I'm sorry the Kindle has not worked out for
> you. I'm leaning strongly toward a netbook, but I'm really wondering
> if the reason the Kindle has not been restocked is that Kindle2 is in
> the works. If that were true I would be surprised if many of your
> criticisms were not dealt with in the new version.
>
> On Thu, Jan 22, 2009 at 05:42:49PM -0500, Robert L Cochran wrote:
>   
>> I do own a Kindle and I have connected it to my Fedora 7 machine (yeah,
>> I know Fedora 7 is way out of date, I hope to finally upgrade later this
>> year.) The Kindle just appears to be another hard drive. I also happen
>> to have a 4 Gb flash card installed in mine, and I can see that, too, as
>> another hard drive.
>>
>> I can't remember if my Kindle can read a PDF file directly or if the pdf
>> has to be converted to *.azw format. It reads HTML and I have added PDF
>> books but I think I first converted those to *.azw.) I do not like my
>> Kindle.
>>
>> The Kindle has been available for more than a year now, I believe, but
>> there hasn't been one single firmware update made available to improve
>> its numerous failings.
>>
>> It does not handle pdf's, even converted ones, correctly.
>>
>> It shows images only in grayscale. Not having a color Kindle when you
>> can get a color netbook for close to the same price is a waste of money.
>> If I had a choice (with hindsight) I'd now buy a netbook. They do more
>> and are still very portable.
>>
>> A similar device is the iRex iLiad. It costs more than the Kindle. I
>> don't know if it is still being marketed.
>>
>> The Kindle forums on Amazon had one guy who claimed to be a medical
>> doctor and I don't understand how he was able to use his Kindle for
>> study. The Kindle simply does not do text, images, or HTML tables very
>> well. Doctors are expected to study books which are of extremely complex
>> nature.
>>
>> Please note: I am saying all the above after having downloaded only one
>> free sample chapter of a Kindle-ized book, and I have never bought a
>> Kindle Store book from Amazon.
>>
>> My impression of the Kindle is that its total purpose is to give you,
>> the buyer, an extremely limited experience. And give Amazon a broad,
>> rewarding bottom-line experience.
>>
>> Maybe I really should order that netbook....
>>
>> Bob Cochran
>>
>>
>>
>> Dave Feustel wrote:
>>     
>>> Has anyone any experience transferring ebooks between Amazon's Kindle book
>>> reader and Fedora using the Kindle's usb connection?
>>>
>>> Thanks,
>>> Dave Feustel
>>>
>>>   
>>>       
>> -- 
>> fedora-list mailing list
>> fedora-list at redhat.com
>> To unsubscribe: https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/fedora-list
>> Guidelines: http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Communicate/MailingListGuidelines
>>     
>
>