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A
Anonymous
January 12, 2020
Answered

Digital Editions for Linux

  • January 12, 2020
  • 3 replies
  • 2602 views

I know this is a losing battle, that Adobe has no intention of working with Linux users BUT I am trying my best to buy and read books legally. I'm hoping that someone out there has found a way of doing it and can help me out.

 

I've been buying and reading epub books on an android tablet, but it's not the most comfortable form of reading and I've recently been given an ereader to which I would like to add the books I have already bought and paid for.

 

I've installed ADE via Wine but it's incapable of opening my acsm files. Once or twice (in several dozen attempts) it has succeeded in downloading an epub in which any non standard characters are replaced by question marks. Closing ADE loses the file, it's not there when the program is reopened. 

 

Is there any legal way to obtain ebooks for Linux users or is Adobe encouraging us to be pirates? It's absurd to have to download a pirated version of a book which I have already bought and paid for and I'm beginning to wonder why I bothered paying for it in the first place. Are book publishers deliberately excluding Linux users or is Adobe forcing this on them? (Do publishers even realise how much of a deterrent ADE is to buying and paying for books?)

 

Any ideas greatly appreciated.

 

 

 

    Correct answer Judy35527921sr4w

    Thorium reader will not help with library books.  Library books require ADE.  I hasve just moved to Linux Mint and have not succeded in getting ADE via Wine to download library books.  At the moment I am keeping my Win 7 pc just for library books.

    3 replies

    J
    Juan28142551r8k2
    Participant
    January 27, 2023

    People have been asking for a GNU/Linux version for more than 11 years...plenty of time to get a Linux Version. Definitely, Adobe doesn't care much for providing a proper port

      J
      Juan28142551r8k2
      Participant
      January 28, 2023

      I suggest using Thorium Reader instead, that it provides a GNU/Linux version.

      J
      Judy35527921sr4wCorrect answer
      Participant
      February 18, 2024

      Thorium reader will not help with library books.  Library books require ADE.  I hasve just moved to Linux Mint and have not succeded in getting ADE via Wine to download library books.  At the moment I am keeping my Win 7 pc just for library books.

      P
      Paavola
      Participant
      May 14, 2020

      I am in the same situation. There is currently no way to download a legally purchased epub without Digital Editions and it is difficult or impossible to get it to run on Linux. I run Ubuntu 18.04LTS and I have tried every permutation of the available Digital Editions and dotnet packages in Wine and none of them works for me. I really wish Adobe would release at least a basic tool for downloading epubs on Linux. This shouldn't be hard.

        M
        Mlina
        Participant
        February 20, 2020

        So what the epub files are on your hard drive but they won't open? That is strange indeed.

        I had a problem getting ADE to detect my e-reading device but now I happily borrow e-books from the library. I download the acsm file and just drag it from File manager to ADE and voila epub file downloads.

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