Use Your Acer Aspire One as an eBook Reader

This will probably be a series of posts explaining what you can do to make your Aspire One an ebook reader. This is for the version of the Aspire One that uses Linpus for those of us out there still running it.

Some things to get out of the way:
I want to be upfront about this. You cannot install any of the programs that work for the Nook or Kindle. There are some workarounds though, but to date they still don't work for the DRM that gets setup with ebooks sold for Nook proper or Kindle proper.

In the meantime, here are some tips of what you can do to read ebooks on your Acer Aspire One.

1. Install Wine

To do this, install Wine by running: yum install wine
So far so good. I haven't had any problems with the older version it installs, and it hasn't ruined any of the applications.

2. Install eReader on Wine For pdb Files

eReader is an application that allows you to read the eBooks that are DRM'd from eReader.com. Wine is a an application that allows you to run some Microsoft Windows programs in Linux. eReader.com is a Barnes and Noble book store. The Nook application for Windows is based on eReader, but doesn't run quite well on Wine. As an option, you can buy ebooks from eReader.com and read them on eReader under Wine (the DRM requires you to input your CC# and Name on your Credit Card once to open the eBook).

Download eReader for Windows
1. Open up Terminal and unzip eReader: unzip "eReader Win Pro 3.0.3.zip"
2. Open up Terminal and run the setup for eReader: wine setup.exe
3. Follow the Windows prompts to install it in Linux
4. Once done you can open it up from /home/user/.wine/drive_c/Program Files/Palm Digital Media/eReader. You can either "cd" into there, or run the string above with quotes like this: wine "/home/user/.wine/drive_c/Program Files/Palm Digital Media/eReader" and it will open. If you download any pdb files copy them to "drive_c" and any directory therein and point eReader to that place, and it will use that directory as your library catalog.

3. Use Adobe Acrobat for PDFs

If you have a PDF of an eBook that's not DRM'd, you can use the built in Adobe Acrobat app to read the pdf'd eBook.

4. Use ePub Catalog in Firefox for reading epub files

Open Firefox and install the EPUBREADER Extension.
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/45281
You can now read ePub files in Firefox and catalog them in Firefox.

5. Rotate Your Screen

Yes, you CAN rotate your screen in Linux for reading eBooks so that your screen is more like a Kindle or Nook.

In Adobe Acrobat:
1. Open your PDF
2. In Acrobat go to: View > Rotate Screen > Counter Clock Wise
3. In Acrobat go to: View > Full Screen Mode

To revert back, click on the escape key on your keyboard ("Esc") and then rotate the screen clock wise.

You can now "turn pages" by clicking the down arrow (it will be pointing left if you hold the netbook with the mouse pad in your left hand). Optionally, the right arrow, which is the down arrow if your holding your netbook as an ebook reader will work too.

In Everything Else:
1. Open Termnal
2. Type in: xrandr -o left

Wine
1. Open Terminal
2. Type in: winecfg
3. Select "Graphics". Then select "Emulate a Virtual Desktop"
4. Change resolution to 600 x 1080
5. Select Apply, then OK.

Open the apps as normal after you've rotated your screen. It can get a little confusing navigating the screen once you've rotated it because you've rotated EVERYTHING on the screen, but the mouse navigation is still the same (if you go up on the mouse, it goes left if you've changed your screen orientation to face left).

To return back to normal: xrandr -o normal