Amazon and/or Penguin Books have managed to complicate the use of Skindle for Maemo users running FBReader. Today I used Skindle to de-DRM a .azw file, then used Calibre to change the file format to FB2 before copying to Maemo devices (Nokia N800 and 770).

In FBReader, after a few pages of the novel were turned by tapping the screen, any further tap caused the default browser to open and attempt to connect with http://www.penguin.com . The FBReader was minimized until the browser was closed. The page did not turn.

[EDIT: THIS PROBLEM CAN BE AVOIDED by following the advice from Engmex and geneven in later posts. They advise converting the file to .txt or .epub rather than .fb2 .]

I would be really happy if my kindle books worked on the n900. My oreilly collection of ebooks now works with toc enabled due to a friendly developer at fbreader who gave me access to development builds. but I have like 15 kindle books that I can't take with me on my phone.

I think if I could do it again I would not have bought a kindle, I do wish they would just put stuff out in epub.

Try using the other readers? mebook and mgutenberg, they accept .epub format.

Scaler When converting is Calibre there is an option in structure detection which allows you to remove headers and footers. Have you tried using this to remove the link to penguin.com. Alternatively try converting the file to .txt, which doesn't allow hyperlinks. I have an N810 on this the zoom button on the top of the device is used for page turns. It's easier to use this than tap the screen when reading in portrait mode. What happens if you turn off "open external links in default browser" in Fbreader options->web?

Just realized this possibility this morning and opened the thread to see what I should edit in my previous post, then found your post. Yes, this is the way to forestall unwanted linkage to Penguin site. Pages still do not turn on tapping, though. (Other things need editing in my previous post, written before I had noticed the "Rotation" setting in fbreader.)

Perfect! I would give you a second Thanks if I could. (EDIT: Achieved this on your next post, below.)

When first converting the file, I deliberately chose something other than .txt, because I wanted to use fbreader's "Table of Contents" feature with its links to all the chapters in the book. However, the converted Kindle book doesn't even have a Table of Contents, so there is no reason in this case to avoid the .txt format. In .txt, the text is black, not green, pages turn as they should, and there is no misbehaviour by the browser. Thank you again.

Thanks for telling me about this. I have just started using fbreader since reading geneven's and debernardis's posts. The zoom buttons do turn the page on N800 and 770 as well as on N810. I had previously been using the 4-directional switch.

Ease of use is a personal thing (as Steve Jobs recently had to learn) and can also vary from device to device. I find it comfortable to hold either of my IT's in one hand in portrait mode for reading, supporting it at the portrait-mode bottom, with my thumb at the edge of the screen. A tiny roll of the thumb causes the thumbnail to touch the screen and turn the page. Turning pages back is less easy but seldom required. The zoom keys are not easy to reach when the device is held like this.

I hold the N800 and the 770 slightly differently. The slim 770 is the more comfortable one to hold. With the thicker N810 or N900, things might be completely different.

Fbreader accepts epub format, that's the main format I use.I've never had a problem with it, though maybe I've never tried penguin.com books.

mgutenberg is good for retreiving books but primitive for reading them. I've briefly tried the other readers and so far they don't seem to have much going for them.

I have only purchased one book from the Kindle store. After removing the DRM with Skindle and renaming the file .mobi I could not open it in Fbreader as it gave an unsupported compression method error. I first converted the file from .mobi to .mobi using Calibre, which worked in Fbreader albeit with some formatting issues. So then I tried .epub as geneven has suggested. .epub works perfectly in Fbreader including the jpg cover and the contents with hyper-links, very nice. As for holding I nearly always read in portrait mode and hold the N810 in my right hand. What I do is open the support on the back of the N810 and pass my four finger through the support and onto the left hand side (bottom). My thumb is then on the right hand side (top) I find that my thumb sits naturally right on the zoom button making page turns virtually effortless. Another advantage is that opening the support and passing my fingers through makes it difficult to drop the device. I must say the N810 makes a very nice ebook reader. I live in Mexico and it's difficult to get English Language books. I've read hundreds if not thousands of pages like this. I have Fbreader set up with a grey background and black text, it almost looks like an Eink display though of course it's back lit, which means you can read in the dark. Still I can't help being tempted by the new $139 Kindle.

I am using dorian to read ebooks on my N900 - seems to cope with my O'Reilly epubs better than fbreader. I am tempted by the new cheap Kindle, although all this messing about with format conversion to read epubs does sound like a bit of a chore.

Unfortunately Dorian is not available for us N810/800 users. Yes the Kindle only reads amazon format, mobi and pdf files. Maybe the $149 Nook is a better option. It supports epub natively plus it is running Android 1.5 and can be rooted so other Android Apps can be installed. I imagine that eventually someone will get the Android Kindle app working on the Nook so then you can have the best of both worlds.

This works on the N800, although the camera bump makes it rather uncomfortable.

After helpful advice from you and geneven about file conversions that avoid creation of the hyperlink to publisher's site, it does not much matter how we hold the device. We can each turn pages in the way that we find comfortable.

As so often, the greater accuracy of the 770's touchscreen makes touch operation much easier than on the N800. Navigating the fbreader library is a nightmare on the N800.