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Apologies for my recent radio silence! For some reason, a bunch of my company's hosting customers decided to launch or take part in bid processes all at the same time, and I'm still pretty swamped with paperwork. Unfortunately, I can't promise things will improve in the near future, either. With SREcon happening here in Dublin this week, I'll probably have some interesting stories to tell you in the next issue. I'm just not sure if I'll be able to finish it by next Monday. Please bear with me!
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Mentor Monologue
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I’ve been a voracious reader since my childhood. My approach to reading has, of course, changed over time. And today, I’m pleased to tell you about my new reading setup based on a combination of amazing hardware, open-source software, and DRM-free reading materials.
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Back in my childhood, my mum usually had to call me to lunch and dinner several times, and finally come fetch me in person because I got lost in a book again. I was into Science Fiction early on, and our local library provided me with plenty of material. My favourite read was “Perry Rhodan”, a space opera spanning thousands of years. The series launched in the early 1960s, and is still being published in the form of weekly booklets to this day. (Quite the feat, don't you agree?) When I got into computers, reading was essential to get a grasp on technology, programming languages and software engineering. The IT books I've read could fill many shelves. I just wish I had acquired note-taking skills early on; I would have accumulated a treasure vault of preserved knowledge over time.
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Since the Amazon Kindle introduced me to the advantages of e-books and e-ink screens, I’ve been buying nearly all books in digital form. The only exceptions are books that are meant to be enjoyed in paper form, for example, visually rich books such as “Core Memory”. I enjoy the freedom of a digital library. I can easily carry my whole library with me, I can highlight important text, and even bright sunlight won’t render my screen unreadable. But lately, I realized that DRM in fact severely limits my freedom. It's actually a pretty precarious freedom because e-book publishers like Amazon can make books I paid for unavailable on a whim at any time.
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This realization happened when I ventured outside the Walled Garden of Kindle. A few weeks ago, I bought an Onyx Boox Go 10.3 for reading and annotating PDF files. This is something I do regularly for work, and after downloading all issues of BYTE Magazine, for leisure, too. (All those articles and adverts from the 80s and 90s are a wonderful trip down memory lane!) Skimming whole pages in a magazine or white paper is much easier on the Go’s bigger screen. It also prevents strain on my ageing eyes with its two- or three-column modes, which zoom into the text and allow me to progress on the page first top-down and then left-right.
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The Boox Go runs on Android, so installing Kindle and Safari Bookshelf, the app for my O’Reilly subscription, in addition to the built-in apps for reading and note-taking only took a minute. But it also didn’t take long until I started to experience a feeling of fragmentation caused by having to use so many different applications for basically the same thing. I wondered if there was a way to manage my reading with a central open-source solution, similar to how I manage my video library in Jellyfin.
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I started playing with Calibre and Zotero, two popular open-source applications for managing, reading and annotating digital documents and e-books. Zotero worked well with PDFs, and Calibre had no problems importing e-books like the ones I got from backing Michael W. Lucas’ Kickstarter project “Run Your Own Mailserver”. I also found KOReader, an impressively full-featured e-reader application that can sync books directly from Calibre. KOReader is available for both Linux machines and Android-based devices such as my phone and the Boox Go. This felt like I was on the right track. The problem I ran into at this point was, of course, that the Kindle library I’ve collected over the years is DRM-protected and therefore limited to Amazon-approved hard- and software.
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Or is it? Turns out, the open-source community has developed a solution in the form of a Calibre plugin that can remove DRM once you’ve provided it with the required decryption keys. The level of faff required for getting those keys depends on the DRM technology. For e-books copied from a Kindle e-reader via USB, you only need this particular Kindle’s device ID. Obtaining the DRM key for Adobe Editions e-books is a bit more convoluted because you have to do it on Windows. The result was worth the effort, though, because I ended up with all my books stored in Calibre and synced to KOReader.
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However, I was not fully happy yet. Would it surprise you that I quickly started missing my Kindle? A lightweight device dedicated exclusively to reading is a really nice thing. My phone does it in a pinch, but it’s just not the distraction-free experience of an e-reader. And while I don’t have many apps on my Boox Go that threaten my attention, the device is missing front lighting. This makes it a bit lighter and thinner than similar devices, and it also improves the handwriting experience. But it's merely not the right device for reading in bed. Fortunately, you can install KOReader on e-readers, too! The process for Kindle devices was too complicated for my taste, but it’s the opposite for Kobo devices: Run a script. Launch KOReader, which is masquerading as a book in the Kobo app. The end. So I purchased a Kobo Libra BW. It’s reasonably priced (as opposed to my Kindle Oasis), super light, and has not only front lighting but also one of the best black and white e-ink screens on the market.
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And that’s my new reading setup! It’s got Calibre as the central place where I manage all my books and magazines. From there, KOReader makes them available to me on my Fairphone, my Boox e-ink tablet, and my Kobo e-reader. One of the plugins built into KOReader syncs reading locations between devices, and another plugin submits the text sections I highlight to Readwise. These highlights then get transferred into Obsidian, where I can reference them from my notes.
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With my new hard- and software setup, I’ve also changed my purchasing habits. Sure, being able to remove the DRM from e-books I’ve purchased gives me peace of mind that they won’t vanish from my devices overnight. But from here on out, I’ll prefer buying new books from publishers that don’t add DRM in the first place and treat their authors well, too. In consequence, less of my money will go to Amazon, and more of it to vendors like Humble Bundle and Pragmatic Bookshelf.
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What do you think of my new “Libre Libros” reading setup? Do you have any questions? Please let me know via email or my socials!
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Do you find my content helpful?
If so, please consider signing up for a membership in The Server Room! The BRONZE membership level will give you access to my community of DevOps practitioners. At the SILVER level, you can also take part in various community events. And with a GOLD membership, you get to attend my courses at no additional cost!
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Taking time off is part of the job
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Are you getting PTO (Paid Time Off)? If you're employed, you probably do. It means that even when you're taking time off work (within limits), you won't forgo any of your salary. Thanks to the people who fought this right out for us over the last century or so, it's part of any proper employment contract today. So, your work …
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I was on the Beyond Blocks podcast
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Oliver Davies, a Drupal expert whom I've known for years, graciously invited me to join him on his podcast. "Beyond Blocks" is a weekly podcast about Drupal, PHP, open-source, and related software development topics. I enjoyed every minute of our chat, which covered all kinds of topics such as infrastructure automation, Drupal, WordPress, DevOps, Linux training, and (of course) mechanical …
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The secret to Linux workstation peace of mind
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In our inaugural Deep Dive session in The Server Room, I gave a demo of my Linux workstation setup. (Deep Dive sessions are part of the recurring events program in my DevOps membership community.) In my demonstration, the operating system did, of course, take centre stage. After my community members, it now your turn to learn why I'm installing Bluefin …
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Thanks for reading!
I hope you found my News from The Server Room enjoyable and helpful. If you have any feedback or questions, simply reply to this email!
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Jochen, the Monospace Mentor
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