#calibre

@rl_dane was bothered by #calibre's new AI features, I poked for a bit and found out you can hide most of it. Out of sight, out of mind.

This is a short #tutorial just in case you want to do the same.

This is day 41 of #100DaysToOffload

https://joelchrono.xyz/blog/disable-calibre-ai-features

For anyone tracking what's going on with generative AI appearing in the eBook software calibre, the calibre developer seems to be asking us to avoid his software:

In a GitHub issue about adding LLM features:

I definitely think allowing the user to continue the conversation is useful. In my own use of LLMs I tend to often ask followup questions, being able to do so in the same window will be useful.

In other words he likes LLMs and uses them himself; he's probably not adding these features under pressure from users. I can't help but wonder whether there's vibe code in there.


In the bug report:

Wow, really! What is it with you people that think you can dictate what I choose to do with my time and my software? You find AI offensive, dont use it, or even better, dont use calibre, I can certainly do without users like you. Do NOT try to dictate to other people what they can or cannot do.

"You people", also known as paying users. He's dismissive of people's concerns about generative AI, and claims ownership of the software ("my software"). He tells people with concerns to get lost, setting up an antagonistic, us-versus-them scenario. We even get scream caps!

Personally, besides the fact that I have a zero tolerance policy about generative AI, I've had enough of arrogant software developers. Read the room.

#AI #GenAI #GenerativeAI #LLMs #calibre #eBooks #eBookManagers #AISlop #AIPoisoning #InformationOilSpill #dev #tech #FOSS #SoftwareDevelopment

Definitely read this whole thread about the eBook manager calibre adding AI slop to "chat with books", and why that's a horrible move that immediately destroys trust in calibre. Here are some highlights I especially appreciated:

Here, Calibre, in one release, went from a tool readers can use to, well, read, to a tool that fundamentally views books as textureless content, no more than the information contained within them. Anything about presentation, form, perspective, voice, is irrelevant to that view. Books are no longer art, they're ingots of tin to be melted down.

It is completely irrelevant to me whether this new slopware is opt-in or opt-out. Its mere presence and endorsement fundamentally undermines that stance, that it is good, actually, if readers and authors can exist in relationship to each other without also being under the control of a extractive mindset that sees books as mere vehicles, unimportant as artistic works in and of themselves.

https://wandering.shop/@xgranade/115671289658145064

#AI #GenAI #GenerativeAI #LLMs #eBooks #eBookManager #calibre #AISlop

Ughhhh, et tu calibre?

New features
- Allow asking AI questions about any book in your calibre library. Right click the "View" button and choose "Discuss selected book(s) with AI"
- AI: Allow asking AI what book to read next by right clicking on a book and using the "Similar books" menu
- AI: Add a new backend for "LM Studio" which allows running various AI models locally

Release: 8.16.1 04 Dec, 2025; or here on their GitHub

Calibre is one of those pieces of software that I use from time to time but don't follow closely. I wasn't aware they'd been sipping from the poisoned chalice.

#calibre #FOSS #OpenSource #books #eBooks #eBookManager #AIPoisoning #InformationOilSpill

I've always used kindles and I've been reasonably happy to do so, recent store/software degradation notwithstanding. The number of active readers in the household has increased, so I'm looking at buying a third e-ink book reader of some flavour.

I normally load books with #calibre, so I'm not technically wedded to kindles, though the hardware is solid.

What's everyone's favourite e-reader?

#reading #books #kindle #ereader

[Tools] Using calibre-web as reference library for TTRPGs

Calibre, if you are not aware, is an open source ebook management system. It’s one of the best and most easily available ways to manage a collection of electronic books. It stores books in a rather transparent library that allows easy editing, tagging, and conversion between different ebook formats. It also allows to easily send books to connected ebook readers.

Ok, the interface is a bit meh, very 2000s, but it’s usable.

It does also have the ability to run a content server to have people access a library from remote. That is serviceable but not really convenient. It’s not the focus of the app I think.

Calibre-web is a web version of this that is using the same database as the desktop client. It lacks a few features and amenities of the original program, but it makes up for that by a much nicer interface which looks very much like a modern web app. Editing the metadata for the books in the library is a bit awkward, but it makes up for it with a much nicer and responsive interface to browse the collection.

I have both configured so I can edit the database on my notebook, then synchronize with the database on my VPS, which updates either at night or when I request it, to make the changes visible.

The main idea of having the web portal was to give my wife access to my ebook collection. She lately was interested in some of the books I have in there, and having a way for her to access it and browse according to her interests (she’s on a Star Wars binge lately) makes it easier for her and me.

By the way, there’s also an android app (calibre-web-companion) that allows you to interact with the calibre-web app. Which makes this even more convenient. (although the app is a bit rough in parts)

But, having said that, and having the system already in place to use for her and me, I was thinking that it easily could be used for other purposes… Roleplaying games.

Calibre-web at its core is a library system, and it would of course be an easy way for me to give access to my collection for other people. But it’s also my personal book collection which contains copyrighted and partially DRM’d files and I don’t really want this stuff to get downloaded and shared all over the net.

But you don’t necessarily have to share all of it.

Calibre-web has a white-list function that allows you to restrict access for any given account to a specific tag. Any book that is not tagged the right way is simply not visible. So I created a tag called ttrpg-shelf and whitelisted it for a test user. Then I added a few books I had lying around my hard drive. Et voilá: a small collection of ttrpg books and ‘zines.

You need a way to share books with your players? Create a few accounts (or a single shared one), whitelist the books in question with an appropriate tag, and there you have it.

You might not need all the options the web client gives you. It has a nice option to present random books from your collection, or the most downloaded books, etc. You can switch that off.

You might also want to switch off the option to download books, forcing people to read with the inbuilt ebook reader. This might be useful if you are using copyrighted stuff, especially if it’s tagged with your name.

Note 1: there is another version of calibre-web in calibre-web-automated, which aims to give calibre-web the full feature suit of the desktop app. I haven’t tried that one out though, so I can’t say if it works as well as it claims it does.

Note 2: Standard Ebooks and Public Domain Library produce nicer editions of classics available on Project Gutenberg. That said, Project Gutenberg has a large library of etexts that are generally available as EPUB and MOBI files as well.

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#calibre #ebooks #rpg #ttrpg

So here's something I was just recently working on:

Calibre, if you are not aware, is an open source ebook management system. It's easily one of the best and most easily available ways to manage a collection of electronic books. It stores books in a rather transparent library that allows easy editing, tagging, and conversion between different ebook formats.

Ok, the interface is a bit meh (very 2000s), but it's usable.

#calibre #ebook #ttrpg #opensource

https://calibre-ebook.com/

So, my 15 year old kindle is getting increasingly glitchy the longer I refuse to connect it to the Internet, and I'm looking for a new ebook reader before it dies completely. Recommendations requested!

Needs:
- epaper with backlight for night reading (this is the only way I can read with a headache)
- load on epub files via usb
- can handle ao3 fanfics (the images in these are part of what's glitching out my old kindle)
- preferably fits in my skirt pocket (so, 7inch or so)
- does not *require* internet connection ever. Not even to set the clock. (Again, kindle glitch has made it so I can't tell what books are newly added because the time is glitchy and apparently the Internet is the only known fix.)
- works with Calibre for transferring books
- it would be nice if it worked with Libby for my library too, but I kind of expect libby to enshittify so I'm not going to worry too much about it.

I suspect the logical replacement is a kobo, but I'm worried corporate enshittification will leave me in the same state I'm in now. I'd definitely prefer a free software option so I won't have to worry as much about some corporate changes making my books annoying, but I'm not a purist so this is more about having a device that works before this one dies on me.

#ebook #ao3 #calibre #OpenSource