What are the best native EPUB readers for *BSD/Linux. Browser add-ons are not an option.
I prefer non-Qt applications but you can share Qt applications if you want. If possible, I want a program that remembers the page I was last viewing.
3
asked Oct 19 '12 at 19:13
6
I looked into this recently, and a lot of people pointed to Calibre. I think it's primarily a converter and library app, but it has a built-in viewer as well.
-
And the viewer is conveniently called E-book Viewer. It does remember the page; it's the only (IMHO) valid reason for using Calibre as a package. – Deer Hunter Oct 19 '12 at 20:06
-
2There are many valid uses of calibre. BTW, calibre's
ebook-viewerhas the same UI problems as the rest of calibre which suffers greatly from NIH-syndrome and the author's idiosyncrasies....it works well enough for the most part, but I wish it used standard UI conventions (a standard menu bar instead of the giant and sometimes incomprehensible icons would be a good start). – cas Oct 20 '12 at 3:36 -
@CraigSanders, can you suggest any good alternatives? (to the converter/reader parts of Calibre, I don't care much about the library functionality) – dubiousjim Oct 21 '12 at 22:21
-
1There isn't really anything that competes with calibre for ebook reading or conversion. IMO the UI is tolerable because the underlying features (library, indexing, reading, conversion) work so well...shame the UI is so weird and clunky. However, if you don't want to use the main calibre GUI, calibre's
ebook-viewercan run standalone, andebook-convertis a command-line conversion tool. – cas Oct 22 '12 at 3:51 -
1Jugding from this discussion about an exploit one should really careful when using calibre. – qbi Nov 4 '12 at 13:14
5
Try FBReader. It loads the last page you were reading by default and probably has all the features you could want. It is a Qt app (and new to the Linux desktop), but I've used it for several years on Android and it keeps getting better.
It's open source, reads many file formats, supports bookmarks, local/online catalogs, and has lots of customization options. Recently installed it on my Gnome Shell desktop and it integrates fairly well with the UI.
4
+25
If you're not interested in library management and other extra features, you might want to try CoolReader. It does use Qt, but it's light, quick and very easy to use. It also remembers the pages you were last reading.
Edit: A fine alternative is the multiplatform Quivi. Also fast and sufficiently configurable. I believe that remembering what page you were on is in the to-do list so keep an eye out for it.
Edit2: I have started using mcomix. Less configurable than quivi, but still very well-made.
1
Lucidor is a computer program for reading and handling e-books. Lucidor supports e-books in the EPUB file format, and catalogs in the OPDS format.
