Inky

[forteller]

I've also been working on a companion web app for Crossink called Inky for a few months now. It's got various tools that I thought would be helpful. As someone who doesn't particularly like having to connect via the File Transfer method to send files, I made a standalone EPUB optimizer that can send EPUBs to your device via USB (only possible if you're unlocked, if not you can still download the file to transfer to your SD manually). I also made a dictionary prep tool to speed up dictionary lookups (not necessary but is recommended), a downloads page for fonts and pre-prepped dictionaries, and a dedicated Crossink flash tool. I hope you guys find it useful!

Hi. I think this new tool is very interesting and promising, and I thought we need a discussion thread to talk about it. So I'm making one here :)

[forteller]

My first question is: Even though I understand that you first and foremost made Inky because you don't like the WiFi-based file transfer method, do you have any plans, or even just ideas, about maybe developing this into a full fledged alternative to crosspoint.local – so that one can both search through OPDS, download dictionary/font files, change settings, and transfer stuff to the device from the same place?

[forteller]

I think it's very cool that Inky has OPDS sources! Searching them on the device is a hassle. Would it be possible to add a feature that would let me add more OPDS sources on my local browser?

[uxjulia]

I actually do have very ambitious plans for it! I have a version that you can self-host and install via docker which will let you add your own OPDS servers, webdav, or atom/rss feeds and transfer to your device over WiFi. I also have a prototype Mac desktop version working and if there's enough interest, I could release a mobile app version, but I also have to be upfront that I don't know how much support I can realistically provide for it either (Crossink and a full-time job is already taking up a lot of time), so that's something I need to think about. But a self-hosted or desktop version is definitely something I want to get out there, it closes the gap for better OPDS/WebDav/RSS feed support.

[uxjulia]

Example of my self-hosted instance's source options:

Example of my sources, bookorbit and Reddit added here:

[jajabro1]

I would love to self host this, I guess I need to look at your repos more closely especially if it has all these features

[uxjulia]

Inky isn't public yet but when I have time I'll clean it up and make the self-hosted version public! I'm still working through the best way to split up the different modes (desktop, self-host, public, etc) in a way that makes sense since a self-hosted version doesn't need all the extra stuff bundled in with it