Devices that are primarily meant to read digital books. These will mostly feature “E-Ink” screens, although this is not a guarantee for an E-Book reader. Despite that, they have been included under “E-Ink devices” due to this expectation. For architectures and OSes, E-Book readers typically feature some ARM chip that runs a variant of Linux or Android.

Follow the instructions on the Kindle4NTHacking page to set up USBnet and obtain a root shell

The kernel on this is mainlined, although it is claimed to be “much less useful” upon running postmarketOS. Still, it works.

https://wiki.postmarketos.org/wiki/Amazon_Kindle_4_(amazon-yoshi)

For the first time there is up-to-date software compatible with the old kernel

This may be the most up to date version of a Linux port to the Kindle. Tested on the Paperwhite 3, but may work on other Paperwhites also. If one is to install Linux on the Kindles, this may be the best option overall.

https://github.com/schuhumi/alpine_kindle

https://www.reddit.com/r/linux/comments/cqeuy0/instructions_alpine_linux_on_kindle_paperwhite/

Set up some mounting, GUI launching, and unmounting scripts

Practically the same method as Debian, at it’s core. Chrooting and such. X is shown off here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C8aFW5wROS4

The first thing you need to do is jailbreak your Kindle

Basically just setting up a chroot by accessing the underlying Debian subsystem. Model specifics are not mentioned, so thus, it’s assumed this is applicable to many Kindles, warranting a “series-wide” listing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YegMZyk908w

https://github.com/kathamer/DebianKindle/tree/master

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=96048 (bad tutorial)

I used the USB networking debug mode Amazon left hanging around

This instance was done on the Kindle 2 from ~2009, but it may apply to other devices also. Apparently, the author of this hack was able to run a proper desktop environment, complete with X11.

https://fsck.com/~jesse/talks/2009/07/2009-oscon-kindle-hacking.pdf

https://techreport.com/news/17534/it-runs-linux-too-ubuntu-installed-on-amazon-kindle/

A page covering how to run X.Org apps directly on the Linux kernel the Kindle Touch uses by default.

https://wiki.mobileread.com/wiki/Running_X_apps_on_Kindle_Touch

A forum offering many different jailbreaks for unlocking many different models of the Kindle.

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=150

This was accomplished by rooting the reader and simply installing the emulator like normal. It runs quite well, as demonstrated.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0rwpfoCzPkA

Whether these emulators support operating systems for these consoles is unknown; it must be looked into further. Consoles without meaningful OSes are not included.

Sony PlayStation – various android APK emulators, see “Other” listing

This device runs an operating system which is known to emulate various devices with EOPs. See the Classic Mac OS page.

Just a bunch of things that can be ran on the Simple Touch by rooting the thing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rP2CVXzpK5s (various)

https://web.archive.org/web/20210722192349if_/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PH0wAmMbFgI (PSX 1)

https://web.archive.org/web/20140222224830/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXiiaprv3do (PSX 2)

https://web.archive.org/web/20210722162718/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M8MY26rwXuc (Video)

The USB can be changed to host mode

Unlike the Glo below, the Clara properly runs Linux, has a complete kernel mainlining, and has many functions already working, such as USB OTG, WiFi, touchscreen, and so on. It can be safely assumed that postmarketOS runs well on these.

https://wiki.postmarketos.org/wiki/Kobo_Clara_HD_(kobo-clara)

Analysis of original software: this device is shipped with Linux 3.0.35

Apparently, a lot of progress has been made in the name of mainlining the Linux kernel port to these. Function of postmarketOS itself is unknown, but appears to be preliminary.

https://wiki.postmarketos.org/wiki/Kobo_Glo_HD_(kobo-glo-hd)

You'll *want* to install another web browser.

A pre-made Alpine Linux chroot diskimage, with fully functional X, practical applications, and much more. Some updates have been made to it a bit more recently to improve speed and function. Generally makes the Kobos into nice little “paper ink” Linux tablets.

https://sourceforge.net/projects/xorg-kobox/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qOQt6Fxew2s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jICSx2SxzNM

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=336433

So if you want to run anything with a user interface, like vim or emacs, you can't

This is moreso just a teletype emulator that isn’t actually an emulator. Ultimately, it achieves a similar purpose with very little functionality.

https://old.reddit.com/r/unixporn/comments/8ec9p2/kobo_debian_kind_of_running_on_my_kobo_glo_hd/

Open the back cover of the Kobo. Replace original SD card with new one

Some actually put Debian Jessie on their Kobo Touch, having used Ubuntu 13.04 prior. It appears to be quite functional with games, apps, x11, and so on. It has only been tested on the N905C model of the Touch.

https://sites.google.com/site/gibekm/hardware/kobo/kobo-as-tablet

The most recent mainline kernel port to the Kobo, finally including the devices onto the recent versions of Linux, with mostly complete hardware support.

https://tuxphones.com/kobo-clara-e-book-ereader-linux-kernel-hack/