Summary

  • Calibre 8.0.1 brings improved Kobo support including EPUB to KEPUB conversion when transferring.
  • Also includes the capability to treat folders as USB mass storage, which is beneficial for Chromebook owners.
  • There’s an updated Calibre icon on the macOS dock, enhanced Tolino eReader support, and improved news sources.

If you have an eReader and want to organize and download ebooks or news articles using your Linux, Mac, or Windows computer, Calibre has been a go-to for years. Version 8.0.1 of the free and open source ebook manager is here.

One of the two big additions in the first 8.0 release is that Kobo support has been significantly improved. Calibre now has the ability to edit, view, and convert Kobo’s native ebook file format, KEPUB, or Kobo EPUB. Not only can it convert EPUB to KEPUB, it can do this automatically when you choose to transfer EPUB files to your Kobo device. Kobo is an alternative to the Kindle eReader series that is more ubiquitous in the US, as well as Barnes & Noble’s Nook line.

Devices showing some e-books from Kindle and Kobo subscription services, to the left of Kobo Plus and to the right of Kindle Unlimited.

Related

Kobo Plus vs. Kindle Unlimited: Who Has the Best eBook Subscription?

Where should you get your reading fix from?

Calibre, developed by Kovid Goyal, can also now connect to folders and treat them as USB mass storage devices. That might sound odd, but according to Calibre, this is especially useful if you’re running Calibre on a Chromebook. That’s because Chrome OS treats external USB drives as folders.

There’s a little bit of love for macOS users too in that the Calibre icon has been brought up to date. There’s now a white frame around the icon in the Mac dock to align with Apple’s latest recommended style for dock icons.

There’s also a variety of other odds and ends in the update, including improved support for eReaders made by the German manufacturer Tolino. Tolino eReaders are only sold in certain European countries, though they’re developed now by Rakuten, the same owner of the Kobo brand.

The table of contents editor in Calibre also now allows for moving multiple items at a time when you select them. You can now suppress author search links, too.

Calibre version 8.0.1 app window in Linux.

Speaking of search, now when searching Calibre in prefix mode, it can include results whose prefix appears after a period. So, if you search for the prefix “asi” it will return results that include not just “asimov” but also “isaac.asimov”.

Several bugs have been fixed as well, including an issue with broken tabs when editing cells with hidden columns, a bug with author names that had commas, and a problem that was preventing Calibre from indexing ZIP and RAR archives.

Another addition is improved news sources. One of Calibre’s features is the ability to let you find and download news sources for your eReader. The app has built-in support for over 1,000 sources, but you can add your own with a link to your source’s feed. With version 8.0 of Calibre, though, the built-in support for the following publications has been improved:

  • Linux Weekly News
  • Spectator
  • Economist
  • Granta
  • Hindu
  • 1843
  • Barrons
  • Frontline
  • Zaobao
  • Strange Horizons

If you want to use Calibre on your computer, you’ll need to download it from the Calibre website. It’s commonly available in Linux distribution default repositories, but Calibre recommends its binary install method described in its Linux download page. You simply type this command into your command prompt:

sudo -v && wget -nv -O- https://download.calibre-ebook.com/linux-installer.sh | sudo sh /dev/stdin

The command automates the download and installation of the latest version of Calibre. Unless your distro is bleeding edge, that’s the most reliable way to make sure you’re using the latest version.

Source: 9to5Linux