Every format opens
Put a file on the device and it opens, whatever the format. No unsupported-file wall, no converting in Calibre first.
- EPUB
- MOBI
- AZW3
- DjVu
- CBZ
- FB2
- TXT
For most of history a library was a place you were let into, or kept out of, and the keys belonged to scribes and kings. Now the whole of it fits in your hand. The only thing left to decide is who holds the key.
The problem
The reading experience on a modern e-ink device is good. What Amazon and the other stores built around it is the problem. The home screen sells you the next book before it shows you the one you were reading. Your files are locked to one shop, you need an account to open what you already bought, and the device you paid for still shows you ads.
Pharos keeps the good part and removes the rest. It is only about the books, on your side, with nothing else asking for your attention.
Two modes, one switch
A reader by default. A computer when you want one.
Read Mode boots you straight into your library. One hardware chord drops you into Shell Mode, a real Linux shell. Flip them here, and try typing in the shell.
PHAROS
↳ Continue · The Odyssey
$ whoami
owner. not a tenant.
# type `help` and hit enter.
$
What it does
Your own catalog
Sideload over USB or pull from your own OPDS catalog. No store in the loop.
Forkable
Write plugins and reading modes. The home screen is code you can change.
Sleep screens, not a storefront
A wall of 1-bit classical plates when it rests. Use ours or bring your own.
How it stacks up
| Pharos | Kindle | Kobo | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Own your files, no DRM lock-in | ✓ | ✗ | ~ |
| Every format, no conversion | ✓ | ✗ | ~ |
| No store you can't remove | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
| No ads on a device you paid for | ✓ | ✗ | ~ |
| A real shell, scriptable | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Open source | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Sideload freely | ✓ | ~ | ✓ |
~ partial, or with caveats. Kobo is the most open of the incumbents. Pharos goes further, and hands you the keys.
Your library, your way
Sideload over USB, pull from your own catalog over OPDS, or drop a book on the web and let the device fetch it on its next refresh. Your files stay in storage you control, on devices you own.
There is no store, and there never will be. It works fully offline, with no account to make. Sync is there if you want it, never the price of reading.
Read anywhere
Your library is not trapped on one device. A companion app, installable on any phone, tablet, or desktop, mirrors the same shelf and reads in the browser. Pick up on the train where you left off on the couch.
It runs on the same storage you already control, and nothing leaves it unless you send it.
Open, and yours to fork
Open from the start. Fork it, write plugins, ship your own reading modes and sleep screens. A clean custom operating system, built for the device and the person holding it, not for a store.
$ git clone https://github.com/pharos-os/pharos Cloning into 'pharos'… it's yours now.
The roadmap
Phase A
Prove it on a Kobo, today.
Pharos Read Mode as a KOReader-based shell, running on a Kobo you can buy today. No new hardware, and we read on it ourselves.
Phase B
Our own hardware.
An open device built from the silicon up, so no vendor can ever lock the owner out, and no firmware update can take back what you bought.
Build log
- 2026-06-28Read ↔ Shell toggle and a typeable terminal land on the site.
- 2026-06-28Art set re-themed to classical antiquity; Cinzel wordmark, Pompeii-red accent.
- 2026-06-271-bit dithering pipeline, plus 12 device sleep screens.
- 2026-06-26OPDS catalog wired; book sync to private R2 storage.
- 2026-06-25Vision, roadmap, and the Kobo Clara BW dev playbook written.
Named after the lighthouse of Alexandria, the guiding light beside the greatest library ever built and the warning of what happens when knowledge sits behind one gate. Pharos is built so a firmware update can't quietly close your library, and no fire can end it the way one ended Alexandria's.
On the list. We'll write when it's real, not before.
Updates only when there's something to show. We won't track you or sell the list.