How to read ePubs on Ubuntu 22.04

ePubs (Electronic Publications) is available without any licensing issues. It has no compatibility issues and can be easily run on electronic devices such as computers, tablets and smartphones. Additionally, JPG, GIF, PNG and SVG file formats can be read by ePub.

A number of cross-platform third party editors are available for reading documents with ePub extension (*.epub) but this article will cover the most well-known applications such as Calibre and FBReader.

This article demonstrates various methods to read ePubs on Ubuntu 22.04. Moreover, the following learning outcomes are expected:

  • How to install and read ePubs with Calibre on Ubuntu 22.04
  • How to install and read ePubs with FBReader on Ubuntu 22.04

How to read ePubs on Ubuntu 22.04

Ubuntu does not provide any built-in tool to read electronic publications. Therefore, you will need some third-party tools such as Calibre and FBReader to read digital publications. This section illustrates procedural steps to install and use Calibre and FBReader on Ubuntu 22.04.

How to install and read ePubs with Calibre on Ubuntu 22.04

Calibre can be one of the best digital books managers. It has some powerful tools to edit and convert your file in other eBook formats. It is totally free to use on Linux, Windows and macOS.

The following steps will describe the complete installation of Calibre application as well as a short demonstration to read ePubs.

Step 1: Keep System Repository Up to Date

It is a best practice to keep your system cache up to date. Try the below command for updating your system:

Step 2: Installation of the Calibre Application via CLI

From your terminal, run the command mentioned below to install the Calibre package.

$ sudo apt install calibre

The successful execution of command shows that the Calibre has been installed.

Step 3: Check Version of Calibre

The below “–version” command will confirm whether Calibre is properly installed in your system or not.

$ calibre --version  

Step 4: Open Calibre Application using Terminal

Open Calibre from the terminal with the command.

$ calibre

The Calibre will be launched, we have provided the way to add and read ePubs on Calibre.

Click on Add Books to add your books to the Calibre library.

Locate your folder path where the electronic books are stored.

Double Click to open the epub file.

Here you go! Start reading your electronic publications.

Until now, you have learned to install and use Calibre to read ePubs on Ubuntu 22.04.

How to Remove Calibre from Ubuntu 22.04

You can get rid of Calibre ePubs readers any time. Just run the following command to remove the binaries and configurations of Calibre from Ubuntu 22.04:

$ sudo apt purge calibre

The Calibre will be uninstalled and you can verify it as follows:

$ calibre --version

The output shows that there is no directory in which the Calibre is installed.

Note: You can use apt remove or apt purge, but keep in mind that apt remove will remove only binaries while apt purge will remove the package configuration files as well.

How to install FBReader on Ubuntu 22.04

FBReader is also a cross-platform editor which supports different e-book formats. These file formats include; EPUB, PDF, HTML, RTF and Doc etc.

The below-mentioned process will install FBReader on Ubuntu 22.04 and its usage is also provided. ion of FBReader will be covered in the following steps along with a short demonstration to read ePubs.

Step 1: Update System Packages

Your operating system must be up to date. So, update your system with the command:

$ sudo apt update

You will see that all packages are up to date now. Let’s move on to the next step.

Step 2: Install FBReader using apt (Ubuntu Package Manager)

Use apt ubuntu package installer to install FBReader alongside the required dependencies and libraries:

$ sudo apt install fbreader

The FBReader is installed and ready to use.

Step 3: Open FBReader via Terminal

The below application name “fbreader” can be run to open FBReader:

$ fbreader

Once the command is executed, the following interface is observed.

Step 4: Add Books to FBReader Library

Add your ePubs from destination folder and click Read Book

Your ePub file will be opened with something like the below interface.

How to remove FBReader from Ubuntu 22.04

This step is not necessary but it depends on your requirements. If you want to remove FBReader complete packages, try the below command.

$ sudo apt purge fbreader

The FBReader has been removed alongside its configurations.

Conclusion

Document in ePubs format can be read on Ubuntu 22.04 using third party applications. These applications can include Calibre and FBReader. This learning-based article practically demonstrated all the necessary steps to read ePubs on Ubuntu 22.04. We have provided a demonstration to read ePubs using Calibre and FBReader on Ubuntu 22.04.