Building an e-book service using Raspberry Pi

Introduction

Caliber 3.0 was recently released, which allows users to read e-books in the browser! Note that Raspbian's repository has not updated it (as of writing). E-books are a great way for teachers, librarians, and others to share books, class materials, or other files with students, as long as you have reliable bandwidth access. But even if you have a slow or no connection, there's a simple solution: Create an e-book server using the open-source Caliber e-book management software that runs on a Raspberry Pi 3. This is what I did and you can too.

First I downloaded the latest Raspbian Pixel image and installed it on a new 8GB microSD card. I then plugged in the microSD, connected a keyboard, mouse and an HDMI cable to an old LCD TV, and booted up the Pi. After adjusting the Pixel environment resolution on my monitor and connecting to a local network, I was ready to get started. I opened a terminal and typed

sudo apt-get update

to get the latest updates for your operating system.

Updating Raspbian Pixel

Next, I type

in the terminal

sudo apt-get install calibre

To install Caliber.

Installing Caliber

I started Caliber from the command line (note it can also be started from the GUI). Caliber's interface is very intuitive. When you start it for the first time, you will see the Welcome to Caliber wizard. I changed the default "Caliber Library" to "CaliberLibrary" (one word) because this is easier when starting the content server.

After selecting the location for my Caliber content, I'm ready to start downloading the book.

Caliber's interface

I selected the Get Books option from the menu, where it was easy to enter my search terms and select the ebook providers I was interested in. I was looking for DRM-free material, so I chose Project Gutenberg as my source. (Caliber's disclaimer states that ebook transactions are between you and the individual content provider.) I entered "Mark Twain" into the author field and got 10 results.

Searching for e-books

I chose the book Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. On the next page, I can choose between the two ebook formats MOBI and EPUB. I chose EPUB and the book downloaded very quickly.

Choosing the e-book format

You can also add books to the library from other content providers instead of adding them to Caliber's list. For example, teachers can share open educational resources in e-book format with students through this content server. To load content, use the "Add Books" option on the far left side of the interface.

Depending on the size of your library, you may need to increase the size of your microSD card.

start_the_server.png

Once you add content to the eBook server, you can share the content with others on your network. By typing

in the terminal

ifconfig

Get your Raspberry Pi IP address. I'm using a wireless network, so I used the results from wlan0 in the example below. Click on the far right side of the interface and expand the menu. Then click “Connect and Share” and start the server.

Identifying the IP address with ipconfig

My next step is to access the e-book I added via my computer client connected to the Raspberry Pi. I opened a browser on the client and entered the address of the Raspberry followed by the port :8080. In my case it is http://192.168.1.10:8080 (Adapt it according to the address of your Pi).

You will see the home page in your browser:

Caliber's client homepage

I have tested and can easily connect to the server using iPhone, Linux, and MacOS computers.

You can explore the options from this home page, or click All Books to display all content on the server.

Browsing e-books

From here, you can download the book to your device and read it offline.

Have you not set up an e-book server yet? Or are you considering setting up one yourself? Share your suggestions or questions in the comments.

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