Looking for a solution to manage and access the directory on my NAS that is full of ebooks. Optimally I want to be able to web reader them but also automagically send it to the email that sends it to my kindle. And e-book wise, the majority of mine are epub/mobi that I got from various kickstarters or humble bundles. But I also have some RPG books (so PDF with a LOT of pictures) and manga (PDF or CBR).
Did some research and checked the various reference lists. Mostly narrowed it down to
Weird-ass Calibre running in Kasm and accessed through a god awful web UI: This is actually what I used for the past year or two because there was a solution that was fairly plug and play with unraid. I… would rather never do this again
“Calibre Web” https://github.com/janeczku/calibre-web. This seems to be what I actually want (an actual web interface to Calibre!) but it looks like the lead dev lost their shit with obnoxious demands from users. And while I appreciate they are still supporting it, “I am going to ignore the issues unless I feel like it” seems like a good way to get a bunch of unacknowledged CVEs…
Kavita https://www.kavitareader.com. Only found out about this today but it looks clean and efficient (plex-like). REALLY not a fan of the subscription model already being there but I also don’t want any of those features.
Thoughts? There anything better I am missing because none of these look all that great?
FWIW, I was also looking for an ebook server solution. I looked at Calibre/Calibre-web and did not at all like how that worked and how Calibre-web was dependent on the Calibre library, and I hated how janky Calibre was as a docker container.
I settled on Audiobookshelf. I already had that up and running for my audiobooks, and they’ve been adding and improving ebook support, and I’ve been very happy with Audiobookshelf for both ebooks and audiobooks.
I didn’t care for Kavita because of the folder structure it required for ebooks. I may have been biased against Kavita’s folder requirements because I already had Audiobookshelf up and running.
For Audiobookshelf, the structure is:
Author > Series Directory (if applicable) > Book Title (directory) > Book file
The epub reader needs work imo, however it’s more than usable and its what I use myself. Once the reader gets a few qol updates I’ll always recommend it over Cal-web or kavita.
You are not logged in. However you can subscribe from another Fediverse account, for example Lemmy or Mastodon. To do this, paste the following into the search field of your instance: !selfhosted@lemmy.world
A place to share alternatives to popular online services that can be self-hosted without giving up privacy or locking you into a service you don’t control.
Rules:
Be civil: we’re here to support and learn from one another. Insults won’t be tolerated. Flame wars are frowned upon.
No spam posting.
Posts have to be centered around self-hosting. There are other communities for discussing hardware or home computing. If it’s not obvious why your post topic revolves around selfhosting, please include details to make it clear.
Don’t duplicate the full text of your blog or github here. Just post the link for folks to click.
Submission headline should match the article title (don’t cherry-pick information from the title to fit your agenda).
No trolling.
Resources:
selfh.st Newsletter and index of selfhosted software and apps
FWIW, I was also looking for an ebook server solution. I looked at Calibre/Calibre-web and did not at all like how that worked and how Calibre-web was dependent on the Calibre library, and I hated how janky Calibre was as a docker container.
I settled on Audiobookshelf. I already had that up and running for my audiobooks, and they’ve been adding and improving ebook support, and I’ve been very happy with Audiobookshelf for both ebooks and audiobooks.
I didn’t care for Kavita because of the folder structure it required for ebooks. I may have been biased against Kavita’s folder requirements because I already had Audiobookshelf up and running.
For Audiobookshelf, the structure is:
Author > Series Directory (if applicable) > Book Title (directory) > Book fileThe epub reader needs work imo, however it’s more than usable and its what I use myself. Once the reader gets a few qol updates I’ll always recommend it over Cal-web or kavita.
I use audiobookshelf and it’s amazing. So polished and just works.