Calibre is undoubtedly one of the best eReaders for Linux around. Its combination of library management, format conversion, and a built-in eBook viewer makes it a useful tool for readers and digital library enthusiasts, particularly those who prefer open source offerings.
With the release of version 8.11.1, Calibre has introduced its first AI feature.
Calibre Gets the AI Treatment
The highlight of this release is the new "Ask AI" tab in the e-book viewer. Users can highlight any text and ask AI models questions about it, receiving explanations, context, or summaries on the spot. The feature supports hundreds of providers, including Google, OpenRouter, GitHub, and local models via Ollama.
Calibre 8.11.1 also includes several bug fixes and usability improvements. The e-book viewer now handles highlights correctly, prevents duplicate highlights, ensures footnote popups close with the Esc key, and properly positions selection handles when modifying existing highlights. Very large eBooks on Windows also display links reliably.
Additional fixes address PDB input errors with slightly malformed headers and solve issues when adding the first icon rule in the Tag Browser.
Preferences tooltips now show keyboard shortcuts for each category, Windows builds have updated DLL signing, and news sources have been updated, including the New York Times, The Economist, El Diplo, and the New York Review of Books.
You can learn about this release in the release notes.
Get Calibre
Calibre is available for Linux, Windows, and macOS. Builds for this release can be downloaded from the official website.
For Linux users, they can install Calibre via the command line using the installer:
sudo -v && wget -nv -O- https://download.calibre-ebook.com/linux-installer.sh | sudo sh /dev/stdinSuggested Read 📖
Abhishek Prakash
