Stians Tech Tips

Calibre

Calibre

Calibre is the desktop app I use to manage my ebook library. It organises your books, edits their metadata and covers, and converts between formats like EPUB, MOBI and PDF.

Calibre can serve your whole library over OPDS (a standard catalog feed that e-reader apps understand), so instead of copying files over USB, my e-reader just browses the library and pulls down a book on demand.

Turning it on via: Preferences → Sharing over the net, pick a port (8080 by default), optionally set a username and password, and enable “Run server automatically”. Then point your reader app at the OPDS feed:

http://<your-computer>:8080/opds

I read on an e-reader running KOReader with it pointed at that feed, so my entire library is a tap away without ever plugging in a cable.

To reach the feed when I’m away from home, I expose it over my Tailscale network. That keeps it private without opening any ports on my router. If you do open the server up beyond your own LAN, switch on the built-in authentication first.