Open hardware consumer devices grow up
Open hardware consumer devices are user-facing gadgets whose designs, software, and repair information are shared under open licenses so owners can understand, modify, fix, and extend their products without depending on a single vendor’s permission or servers. For years, that idea belonged to solder-happy hobbyists. Now, two crowdfunded products suggest it is crossing into everyday life. The Open Book Touch, a 4.26‑inch open source e-reader now funding on Crowd Supply, is built for reading instead of tracking and upselling. The Openprinter, an open-source inkjet device, is “coming soon” to the same platform and promises to remove DRM and repair barriers from one of the most hated categories in tech. Together they signal a turning point: owning your tools, not renting them, is becoming a realistic default.
Open Book Touch: a DIY e‑ink reader that lets you own your library
The Open Book Touch is a pocketable open source e-reader designed around a blunt premise: your books should be yours, not entries in a corporate database. Unlike Kindle, it demands no account, tracks nothing, and ships with no DRM; you drop EPUB or plain text files on a microSD card, and they appear on your shelf to read offline. Because the device never phones home, no one can delete your titles or rewrite your reading history from afar.
This is also a rare consumer-ready DIY e‑ink reader. The battery is user‑replaceable and the enclosure is 3D‑printable, with all case files shared for owners who want repairs or cosmetic tweaks. Its bespoke Focus framework is open-sourced in C++, inviting forks of the interface as readily as firmware updates. The project has already raised USD 42,119 (approx. RM196,000) toward a USD 45,000 (approx. RM209,000) goal, with pricing between USD 149 and USD 249 (approx. RM695–RM1,160) and a campaign end set for Aug 20 at 04:59 PM PDT. That level of polish and transparency belongs in a mainstream store shelf, not only on a workbench.
Openprinter: fixing the most hated gadget in the house
If there is a device that proves how broken proprietary hardware has become, it is the home printer. Expensive ink, flimsy plastics, DRM blocks on third‑party cartridges, and absurd errors like refusing to print black text because yellow is empty have turned printing into a tax on everyday life. The Openprinter wants to end that pattern. It is an open hardware inkjet machine designed to be compact, repairable, and compatible with easy‑refill inks, using off‑the‑shelf parts and handling up to A3 paper.
On the technical side, it prints at up to 600 DPI in black and white and 1200 DPI in colour. Crucially, it avoids lock‑ins: no DRM, broad support for HP 63, 63 XL, 302, 302 XL, 803, and 803 XL cartridges including refillable options, and the ability to print with only a black or only a colour cartridge when that is all you have installed. It runs open-source firmware on a Raspberry Pi Zero W plus STM32 board, speaks standard CUPS so it needs no custom drivers, and connects via USB‑C, Wi‑Fi, Bluetooth, or even USB flash drives for PC‑less printing. Pricing is still unknown, but a working prototype already exists and the crowdfunding launch is described as “coming soon”.
Why these devices matter more than their specs
The important story is not another niche gadget but what these two designs say about the state of open hardware consumer devices. Both products are explicit about letting owners modify and repair their tools. Open Book Touch exposes its battery, publishes 3D‑printable case files, and releases its Focus UI framework as open source so anyone can hack, fork, or iterate on it. Openprinter’s electronics and mechanics are licensed under Creative Commons BY‑NC‑SA 4.0, allowing people to use and adapt the design as long as they share their work under the same license. As one summary puts it, “people are allowed to freely use and adapt this printer’s design for their own projects”.
This stands in sharp contrast to the wider industry trend toward more closed, subscription‑centric hardware where you are “a guest in your own library” and your devices serve the vendor’s metrics more than your needs. Open Book Touch comes with forums, documentation, and public repositories, inviting everyday readers—not only engineers—to participate in its evolution. Openprinter’s decision to rely on standard software like CUPS instead of opaque drivers hints at the same respect for users. The upshot: these aren’t developer kits wearing half‑finished shells; they are credible products that also happen to be transparent and modifiable.
From hobbyist projects to mainstream options
For years, open hardware has been easy to cheer for and hard to recommend to non‑tinkerers. The difference now is maturity. Open Book Touch does not ask buyers to assemble a prototype; it offers a focused reading experience with an adjustable front light and no distractions like browsers or notifications. Openprinter confronts everyday annoyances—costly inks, driver hell, arbitrary print failures—by supporting common cartridges, standard protocols, and repairable construction instead of assuming users will tolerate frustration.
This is why these devices matter: they prove open-source hardware can compete on convenience, not only on ideology. As mainstream e‑readers and printers drift toward tighter locks and rental‑like subscription models, a growing set of open designs shows that long‑term ownership, repair, and customization can be features rather than afterthoughts. Consumer‑grade printers are described as “awful,” and the Openprinter “plans to change that” by being transparent instead of adversarial. The next step is obvious. If crowdfunded teams can deliver production‑ready, open alternatives in categories as ordinary as e‑ink readers and printers, major brands no longer have an excuse to treat users as renters. They will either meet the bar for user ownership—or watch communities build the replacements.
