linux-friendly ebook with decent support in Israel?

[geoffrey mendelson]

On 1/9/2014 12:31 PM, Vassilii Khachaturov wrote:
> Can anyone recommend an ebook reader? I need one that
> 1) allows me to read my own PDFs and taking notes under Linux;

Any Android tablet.  Though these days a used iPad 2 16gb Wifi sells for 
around 1200 NIS. Not Linux, and old, but still current as far as iOS and 
really nice hardware.

> 2) is sold and (well) supported in Israel;

There are plenty of those. The 600 NIS ones are probably one time 
devices, you use them until you can no longer get apps to run on them. 
If you did not follow it, look at the thread I started recently about 
Chinese tablets and Android 4.4 (subject was Chinese KitKat).
>
> 3) doesn't require me to have a non-Linux machine to flash the updates;

That's because the people who built the mods use Windows. Actual 
supported devices will download the updates via WiFi and install them.My 
android phone did that, but my Chinese android tablet (sold by the now 
defunct Office Depot) has no update option.

> 4) doesn't require me to go online to download my own content to it;
Just about all of them use SD cards for storage, and the USB port to 
connect to a computer. You can move files via an SD card reader, or when 
connected via USB as if it were a disk drive. My Chinese tablet also 
supports OTG (on the go) storage, It has a type A USB port, and you can 
plug in memory sticks or hard disk drives.


>
> 5) isn't illegal to have in Israel because of its wireless 
> capabilities (in fact, I'd like to be able to disable any wireless 
> technology and not to use it anyway).

You can turn WiFi off on them, and there are no illegal tablets due to 
wifi. US CDMA devices simply won't work here (although AFAIK, they are 
only iPads). 5.8gHz WiFi became legal here 1 April 2012. Someone posted 
a link to the document from the MOC stating that, you can look in the 
archives.

>
> Something for which I don't have a desktop sync app in Linux as 
> opposed to Mac/Win and have to mount the reader as a usb storage 
> device is fine.
>
http://calibre-ebook.com/



> For a global picture, there is a cool "master list" over at

It's pretty much obsolete. Probably 99% of ebook reading is done on 
iPads and Android tablets. In the real world where people buy their 
eBooks, the iPad and Android tablet offer the ability to buy books from 
several sources, while the dedicated readers don't.


Geoff.

-- 
Geoffrey S. Mendelson 4X1GM/N3OWJ
Jerusalem Israel.