Calibre is an excellent software for managing your ebook collection. Apart from being a desktop app, do you know that you can also install it as a server so you can store your books in a central location and then access them from various devices? Here we show you how to install the Calibre content server on a Raspberry Pi.
Note: we used a Raspberry Pi 3B+ running Raspbian 10 (Buster) for this article. However, this method should work with most operating systems that are compatible with the Raspberry Pi.
How to Install the Calibre Content Server
To get started, run the command below to install Calibre.
sudo apt install calibre
With that out of the way, go to your applications and open Calibre. If this is your first time running Calibre on your device, you will have to go through an initial setup process where you have to choose your Calibre library location and your eBook device(s). This is rather straightforward, so we won’t focus too much on this here.
After completing the setup process, simply select “Connect/share” from Calibre’s menu.
Next, select “Start Content server.”
With the content server started, you can now access your content from devices on your home network. To access your content library on your internal/home library, you will need to know your Raspberry Pi’s internal IP address.
You can easily find this by selecting “Connect/share” from your menu again. You will see your Raspberry Pi’s internal address displayed. Simply enter this into the web browser of any device connected to your home network in order to access your content server. Remember to add your port number. The general format for doing this is:
IPAdress:8080
You’ll need to enter the IP address followed by the port number, which is displayed in the same area as the IP address when you select “Connect/share.”
If you want to access your content server from outside of your home network, you’ll have to make sure that the port you’re using with Calibre is forwarded by your router. In addition, you’ll have to find the external IP address of your Raspberry Pi. You can easily do this by going to https://whatismyipaddress.com. When you know the external IP address, you can access your content server from anywhere while connected to any network by entering the following:
externalipaddress:8080Wrapping Up
Following the method above, you can easily set up a Calibre content server on your Raspberry Pi. Next, you would need to fill up your ebook library, which you can do with these Amazon Kindle Unlimited alternatives.
Our latest tutorials delivered straight to your inbox
