HackerReposA FIELD GUIDE TO OPEN SOURCE
ProSponsor the shelf♧ 0
← Back to top all-time
Quill-OS
quill
C++2023–2026
Quill-OS / quill

quill

An open-source, Qt-based eBook reader for Kobos (and other devices).

Systems & InfrastructureProductivityMobile & Desktop
Explore on GitHubRead Hacker News discussions
8Distinct people
10Mentions
0Explicit recommenders
802GitHub stars
REPOSITORY AT A GLANCE

What to know before exploring

What it is

An open-source, Qt-based eBook reader for Kobos (and other devices).

GitHub

Where it is used

No documented product use has been verified yet.

What people are saying

No recommendation phrase was found in the indexed comments.

No classified warning is attached to this page. Read the discussions before treating silence as approval.

Also in these discussions

No other repository is repeatedly linked in the same discussions.

This week on Hacker News

Nov 7–Nov 14 UTC · Direct repository links and separately labeled related project stories. Indexed through 11/14/2026, 5:04:57 PM UTC.

No direct repository links were found in the indexed HN discussions over the past seven days. Older discussions are available below.

Mentions over time

HN mentions by year10 dated mentions

Observed mentions: 2023-03-15 20:21:18 UTC to 2026-06-15 02:29:53 UTC.

012342023-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2024-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 4 mentions; 1 submissions, 3 comments20232024-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2025-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 1 mentions; 0 submissions, 1 comments20242025-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2026-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 3 mentions; 0 submissions, 3 comments2026-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2027-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 2 mentions; 0 submissions, 2 comments. Incomplete calendar period.2026*

* An incomplete calendar period is marked with an outlined bar. Its count is not directly comparable with a full period.

Counts come from the repository’s dated source evidence. Index cutoff: 2026-11-02 08:16:59 UTC.

View mention counts and date ranges
UTC ranges include their start and exclude their end. Select a period to filter the source evidence.
PeriodStart (UTC)End (exclusive, UTC)MentionsSubmissionsComments
20232023-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2024-01-01 00:00:00 UTC413
20242024-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2025-01-01 00:00:00 UTC101
20252025-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2026-01-01 00:00:00 UTC303
2026 (partial)2026-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2027-01-01 00:00:00 UTC202

What Hacker News says

10 sources
hardwaresofton·Jun 15, 2026
> More expensive and less out-of-the-box software, but straight to the point on device ownership/what kind of software you can run, fewer strings attached. This note was in the original comment, did you read it? The fact that it is $400 (more expensive) and has less out of the box software is literally mentioned to alert people to that. > The Kobos don't limit what you can do with them either, you can sideload alternative e-reader software like KOReader that improves on the built-in reader functionality. This is patently false, the latest Kobo Libra Color is using secure boot which completely locks out custom development: https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=363175 So much so that QuillOS which used to be Kobo focused rewrote to support the PineNote https://github.com/Quill-OS/quill https://quill-os.org/ The point is to buy
Read the rest
hardware that is built for you to freely modify and fully own, from the start. My post was to make sure everyone knew the PineNote was an option, because I certainly did not know it until someone on HN made me aware. Could you maybe make your point more concrete? Are you attempting to completely dissuade people from using the PineNote because it may not be easy to side load apps to it on hacker news?. Obviously different people have different propensities to do hacking, and some may not be able to afford the PineNote due to how expensive it is, but it's not clear what the goal of your comment was. If your goal was "invest in Kobo instead of PineNote", I disagree with that. I'm not interested in investing (whether money or time) in an ecosystem that is just going to rug pull me eventually, over nickels and dimes. BTW for those who agree, another great option is XTeink -- very hackable, and I've bought one myself: https://www.xteink.com/ And there's a Linux phone out there which looks pretty encouraging too: https://furilabs.com/shop/flx1splus/ Graphene is likely still the easier more polished option, but it's great to have options these days.
In Your ePub Is fine
hardwaresofton·May 28, 2026
This is a great point. Back when I was checking I think I was underwhelmed by the customization ecosystem for kobos but now I’m not sure what was stopping me/made me reconsider. Upon further inspection there is also the Pine Note! https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46283016 https://pine64.org/devices/pinenote/ It’s quite pricey but certainly more straightforward in its offering. Kobo is the cheaper and has a color option and is likely slightly less hackable. [EDIT] Ah, I think this is what I found: https://github.com/Quill-OS/quill Kobo’s switch to secure boot made things harder for Quill which seemed to be the only custom OS.
In Rust (and Slint) on a Jailbroken Kindle
sargstuff·Mar 16, 2023
Handwritting notes more efficient than hunting down individual characters on keyboard (aka not a touch typist). Stenograpy much more efficient than standard keyboard typing. Likely same reason student(s) hasn't put together open source smart glasses displaying "talk" as text to allow for real time user hightlighting (for what user wants to capture/'note'). This is way more efficient than writing/typing, as can also capture/note non-text presentations. aka inkbox[0]/epireader[1], soli[1] (finger gesture/sign the key(s)), diy open source glasses[3] [0] : https://github.com/Kobo-InkBox/inkbox [1] : https://gitlab.com/guyjeangilles/piereader [2] : https://atap.google.com/soli/techno [3] : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ZY760EIUc4
In Ask HN: Why do students still hand write notes?
sargstuff·Mar 15, 2023
So define the random shortcut keys via GPT-3 & and use 'text to speech' to automate 'visual cues' using ar glasses[0] to avoid all the memorization? ar/vr glasses instead of Inkbox[1]/pierader[2] would make for 'ligher' gui. [0] Open source smart glasses : https://github.com/TeamOpenSmartGlasses/OpenSourceSmartGlass... [1] : https://github.com/Kobo-InkBox/inkbox [2] : https://gitlab.com/guyjeangilles/piereader
In Zed, the new code editor from Atom developers, has entered open beta

MAKE YOURSELF AT HOME

A few shortcuts

/
Search the collection
?
Open this guide
Esc
Close dialogs and navigation

Your saved repositories and interests stay in this browser.