Installing Koreader on Kobo ebook readers

Just collecting some useful links here, as I’ve recently discovered the wonders of Koreader as a front-end for my kobo ebook reader.

Key links here in the mobileread.com forums: One Click Install

It includes instructions and scripts for Windows, MacOS and Linux. Obviously Linux the most relevant. The installation process is incredibly straightforward and easy.

More central information here: Installation on Kobo devices, but you probably don’t need to read that if you follow instructions at the previous link.

Other services to look at

Once you’re using koreader, it opens up some new possibilities. I certainly haven’t explored all of them, but two that I found worthwhile.

Calibre web interface

Calibre Web is a separate piece of software to the core Calibre ebook software. It’s essentially a web-based package that you can run to expose your calibre library to the Internet (or just local network, whatever you prefer).

Installation is pretty much self explanatory, and the approach I took was to run it under its own (unprivileged) user account, and point it at the calibre folder owned by my primary account. This means it has read-only access to the books and database, but that’s fine from point of view of allowing searching/downloading.

Koreader Sync Server

The Koreader Sync Server provides a mechanism to allow you to synchronise your progress on the books you’re reading, so that you can pick up the progress on another device later. In this case I set it up using docker (which I usually avoid), and it “just worked”.

The first time any given user connects to the server, via the koreader app, they set a username and password, and then use the same credentials on other devices.

It’s nothing hugely fancy, but it works well in my experience so far.