Like many people, Jaya Kumar wanted an e-book reader that was a little more capable than Amazon.com's Kindle. So he built one.

Kumar's custom-built e-book reader has a fully capable web browser — it can even handle Google Maps — and the same "electronic ink" display used by the Kindle and the Sony Reader.

"It offers an opportunity to get involved with a disruptive technology that is at the tipping point of having a huge impact in the real world," says

Kumar, an embedded Linux developer who lives in Malaysia. "It is also exciting to be using something that's cutting-edge but accessible in an open way so that a hobbyist can take the kit and manipulate it."

Kumar is one of a community of developers building e-book readers using prototype kits from E Ink, whose paperlike displays power both Amazon's and Sony's e-book readers. E Ink's kits allow do-it-yourself hackers and engineers to create their own applications and products.

It may not be as pretty as the neatly packaged Amazon Kindle or the Sony Reader. And at a whopping $3,000, the E Ink kit isn't going to threaten Amazon's market share (the Kindle 2 costs $350). But for the Lego-minded, the kits can offer an experience that pre-packaged e-readers will find difficult to beat.

E Ink launched the prototype kits about eight months ago targeted at product designers and hobbyists who want hands-on access to its display technology. The company's lower power, sunlight-readable, thin displays already power the Kindle and Sony Reader.

The prototype kit offers buyers a production sample of a glass-based display, a display controller and all the hardware and software necessary to produce a fully functional e-reader. The kit supports 5", 6", 8" and 9.7"

displays.

"The primary advantage is you can take it apart and look at each individual piece, like a block diagram," says Sri Peruvemba, vice president of marketing for E Ink. "You can do your own design and put together your own device or applications based on our technology."

For e-book enthusiasts, it offers what a Kindle or a Sony Reader can't. "If you buy one of those units you won't be won’t be able to reprogram it to your satisfaction," he says. "You can't copy the electronics or change the chipset or use a different software."

The kit is based around the open source Gumstix single-board computer, which combines a 400-MHz Marvell processor with a Bluetooth transceiver, USB, a serial port and a card reader. (In contrast, the Kindle 2 has a 532-MHz processor and no ports, but does include a built-in wireless access card.) The board comes installed with Linux. E Ink also offers software display drivers that are open source and sample applications to help developers and hobbyists get started.

The prototype kits are pre-configured to operate as a simple e-book reader. So out of the box, users can download page images from their PC to the included multimedia card and view them on the display with no further programming or assembly.

But the ability to hack and tweak has made it a dream gadget for developers like Kumar. Kumar has written several drivers for the kit that would make typical Linux applications run transparently on it. "It's more than just an e-book reader then," says Kumar.

Kumar's programming efforts allow Fennec, an Mozilla Firefox web browser for mobile phones and smaller non-PC devices, to run on the kit. (See video here.) Kumar can even have Google maps on his e-reader.

So far most of the applications are Linux-based, but there are users trying to run Windows CE and other operating systems on the kits, says E Ink's Peruvemba.

Earlier this month, product development firm Moto Development Group showed off the first E Ink display powered by the Google Android operating system. (See video here)

The community of DIYers keep the buzz alive on the prototype kits but companies also use them to create new products.

"A number of people are building the next-generation browsing device, tablet PC or handheld," says Peruvemba. "Those devices could run our display and companies want to experiment with it."

Photo: E Ink Prototype Kit Runs Wired Blog/Jaya Kumar