I'm having some strange issues with fonts on my Gen3.

I created a "Fonts" folder on the Gen3 and copied the "Bookman Antiqua" font family into it from my XP machine. That worked fine - when I select the "Font Family" menu while reading a book I now get the choice of Verdana, Courier New, or Book Antiqua, and all work OK.

However, I'm completely unable to add any other font to the machine. Copying other fonts into the "Fonts" folder either makes the Gen3 entirely hang up when I try to open a book or, if it succeeds in opening the book, if I select the "Font Families" menu item the resulting selector is entirely empty. I've tried copying Arial, Times New Roman, Garamond, Palatino, etc - none works.

Any ideas on what's going on? Is there anything I need to do after adding new fonts to get the Gen3 to recognise them? I've tried turning on and off and pressing the "Reset" button - niether has any effect on the behavior of the fonts.

It might be, that you are usinf opentype fonts. They have ttf ending aswell and might not work on the Gen3.
If you are using XP or Vista, then Arial, Times New Roman, Garamond and Palatino are OpenType Fonts. But so should the Bookman Antiqua be.

But i am guessing it has to do with that.

You're right - Bookman Antiqua is an OpenType font. I've just tried, however, adding a genuine TT font and that doesn't show up either.

It's almost as if adding that first font has "cached" something which is preventing it from seeing new fonts.

I see that in the "system" folder on the Gen3 there's a file called ".fonts.cache-1". Dare I try to delete that file and see if it helps, I wonder?

I see that in the "system" folder on the Gen3 there's a file called ".fonts.cache-1". Dare I try to delete that file and see if it helps, I wonder?

I did dare, when I had exactly the same problem (first added font shows up, fonts added after that don't).

It fixed it for me.

Great! Many thanks - I'll try it this evening. Does the font cache file get re-created automatically?

Yes, it's recreated automatically.

I had the same problem. When I add a new font it does not show up. But when I delete the Fonts directory, reset the reader and recreate the Fonts directory with the new font included it works fine.

Try deleting the ".fonts.cache-1" file in the "system" folder, as mbovenka suggests.

Try deleting the ".fonts.cache-1" file in the "system" folder, as mbovenka suggests.


It is not really a problem anymore. I 'solved' it by deleting and recreating the Fonts directory, including the new fonts. Then I can use them. It probably does the same, it flushes the cache

I mailed Bookeen about it

Just had a reply from Bookeen confirming our "workaround" to the font bug:

Dear Customer,


Thank you for your feedback.

Please try the following:
1. Switch on your Cybook.
2. Once on the “Library” screen, plug your Cybook to your PC with the USB cable.
3. On your Cybook, you should see a “Connected” screen.
4. On your PC, a “Cybook Gen3” drive should then appear.
5. Open the “Cybook Gen3” drive on your PC, and then open the “system” folder.
6. There should be a “user” folder and 2 other files.
7. Delete the file named “.fonts.cache-1”. Do not delete other files.
8. Unplug the USB cable; font information will be restored after about 30 seconds.
9. You should be back in the “Library” with proper font settings.

For your information, the issue you are meeting is not normal (it should work right away). We are currently trying to reproduce it consistently and will fix this issue in a future software update

I can confirm that the fix works. I've just deleted the cache file and added half a dozen OpenType font families from my XP box. Unplugged the USB cable and they all showed up correctly in the font selector.

What I really like is that if you add all the fonts in the "family" (eg plain, italic, bold, bold-italic) then you get the "proper" italic and bold fonts on the Gen3, rather than italics and bold "synthesised" from the plain font as you do on the Sony Reader. That's a very nice feature indeed! I've decided to keep the internal memory of my Gen3 for this kind of thing and store all my books on the SD card.

Thank you for posting this, it solved my font issue today :)

Dear Customer,


Thank you for your feedback.

Please try the following:
1. Switch on your Cybook.
2. Once on the “Library” screen, plug your Cybook to your PC with the USB cable.
3. On your Cybook, you should see a “Connected” screen.
4. On your PC, a “Cybook Gen3” drive should then appear.
5. Open the “Cybook Gen3” drive on your PC, and then open the “system” folder.
6. There should be a “user” folder and 2 other files.
7. Delete the file named “.fonts.cache-1”. Do not delete other files.
8. Unplug the USB cable; font information will be restored after about 30 seconds.
9. You should be back in the “Library” with proper font settings.

For your information, the issue you are meeting is not normal (it should work right away). We are currently trying to reproduce it consistently and will fix this issue in a future software update

Just had a reply from Bookeen confirming our "workaround" to the font bug:
I am having the same problem installing additional fonts.

However, my Cybook system folder only has the user folder and another file icudt36!.dat, but NO “.fonts.cache-1” as many of you see.

If I deleted all the fonts, the reader will not read any books other than pdf files. The basic default font is not present.

I find this very disappointing given the read behaves so different then other readers.

As posted elsewhere in the Other problem section, my reader also has problem with the book mark function.

Anyone else has the same problem?

Are you sure that you have Windows Explorer set to display all the files? It may be hiding the ".fonts.cache-1" file from you because it has no name before the ".". I find it highly unlikely that you wouldn't have the file!

Starting a file with a "." hides the file in both Windows and Linux. Under Windows, the easiest way to see these is to select the following in a standard folder window:
Tools > Folder Options > View > Show hidden files and folders
I have this turned on for all directories, which you can do in the Control Panel under Folder Options.

Um no, dot files don't get hidden in Windows. You need to set proper file attributes for that.

Um no, dot files don't get hidden in Windows. You need to set proper file attributes for that. My mistake. Dot files are not automatically hidden in Windows. In testing this I tried renaming a file to start with . and Windows XP won't let you do that. I was able to create a dot file with an editor, and, or course, it was not hidden.

I can't see why the Cybook OS would have hidden the .fonts.cache-1 file for Windows, but perhaps someone with a Cybook can test this.

Starting a file with a "." hides the file in both Windows and Linux. Under Windows, the easiest way to see these is to select the following in a standard folder window:
Tools > Folder Options > View > Show hidden files and folders
I have this turned on for all directories, which you can do in the Control Panel under Folder Options.

Thanks to Harry as well. The file does not show up in Mac but PC. I managed to remove the file and have new fonts showing.

On the side I loaded around 20 books with the Sony 505, it really takes a very long time to load a book and start reading. With the Cybook Gen 3, it is a snap.

Any thoughts to speed up Sony upload time?

On the Mac you can open a Terminal window, go to the directory and type

ls -al

That will also show the hidden files.

Thanks to Harry as well. The file does not show up in Mac but PC. I managed to remove the file and have new fonts showing.

On the side I loaded around 20 books with the Sony 505, it really takes a very long time to load a book and start reading. With the Cybook Gen 3, it is a snap.

Any thoughts to speed up Sony upload time?
Were using eBook Library to move eBooks to your 505? if so, what' going on is eBook Library is paginating your rBooks for you and writing the info out the the XML file(s) so that when you go to load the book, it doesn't have to figure it all out and make you wait.

Were using eBook Library to move eBooks to your 505? if so, what' going on is eBook Library is paginating your rBooks for you and writing the info out the the XML file(s) so that when you go to load the book, it doesn't have to figure it all out and make you wait.

Thanks. In this case I used the sony ebook to move about 26 classic free books into the 505. It takes a very long time to load the book and worse if you change the font size it will take some time to reflect the change. I can see the problem lies in repagination of the entire book. With the bible, it took almost a minute to load and change font size.

I suppose in this case, the ebook did not create the xml file(s) to speed up the loading time.
Did you use eBook Library to move these 26 eBooks or did you do it as a mass storage device? I'm thinking you've just copies the eBooks to the 505. eBook Library actually sorts out the pagination and writes to the XML files. When you just copy an eBook to the 505, the pagination has not been pre-sorted out so the 505 has to do it when you first load the eBook in a given size. So while it may appear to be slow loading 26 eBooks via eBook Library, it's actually doing more then just copying to the 505.

Thanks. In this case I used the sony ebook to move about 26 classic free books into the 505. It takes a very long time to load the book and worse if you change the font size it will take some time to reflect the change. I can see the problem lies in repagination of the entire book. With the bible, it took almost a minute to load and change font size.

I suppose in this case, the ebook did not create the xml file(s) to speed up the loading time.

However, this should only happen once when you first change the font size. After that it will be remembered.

Dale

However, this should only happen once when you first change the font size. After that it will be remembered.

Dale
Yes, once the 505 sorts out the paginations, it is wirrten to the appropriate XML file and thus remembered.

Hi..all the Apostrophes in one of my books are showing up as square boxes....Anyone know if this is a font problem, or a problem with the ebook itself. Ive tried all the fonts on the Cybook and some others that I added recommended by users on this forum....but it either shows up as a box or circle...depending on the font...also the ebook isnt something I created, but that I bought off BoB....

Anybody have an idea how I can solve this...Thanks...

Harry, when you added those additional fonts to your Cybook did they all show up under "fonts family" or did you get a screen that only shows the tail end of some of the names and the rest of the screen is blank? I added several fonts (possibly too many) and now when I go to change a font I get this screen and I am unable to tell which font I choose. I tried shortening the names in the fonts file but that didn't seem to help any. I have 27 fonts installed.

Harry, when you added those additional fonts to your Cybook did they all show up under "fonts family" or did you get a screen that only shows the tail end of some of the names and the rest of the screen is blank? I added several fonts (possibly too many) and now when I go to change a font I get this screen and I am unable to tell which font I choose. I tried shortening the names in the fonts file but that didn't seem to help any. I have 27 fonts installed.

I only have half a dozen font families on my Gen3 and that works just fine. Perhaps it can't cope with 27? Try deleting a few and see if that helps.

I only have half a dozen font families on my Gen3 and that works just fine. Perhaps it can't cope with 27? Try deleting a few and see if that helps.

I agree. As you can only use one font family at a time, try finding four or five you really like and just install those. Look, until Bookeen adds the ability to see multiple font families within an ebook, there's really no need for more than a few personal favorites.

Derek

The handling of many fonts seems to be buggy. As I see it there is no need to have a limit on the number of fonts you can add other than lazy or bad programmers or programmers with a deadline. But it seems to me that it should not take more time programming something that handles many fonts if you use good libraries.

The handling of many fonts seems to be buggy. As I see it there is no need to have a limit on the number of fonts you can add other than lazy or bad programmers or programmers with a deadline. But it seems to me that it should not take more time programming something that handles many fonts if you use good libraries.

I've got six font families installed. That comes out to 4.44MB of data. That means someone with 27 font families is going to have much of the internal memory sucked up by those fonts. Not a great idea considering that the Cybook doesn't allow the display of but one font at a time.

Derek

I've got six font families installed. That comes out to 4.44MB of data. That means someone with 27 font families is going to have much of the internal memory sucked up by those fonts. Not a great idea considering that the Cybook doesn't allow the display of but one font at a time.


it does not matter since you put all your books on the SD card anyway. Arbitrary limitations is nearly always just bad programming.

it does not matter since you put all your books on the SD card anyway. Arbitrary limitations is nearly always just bad programming.

Ummm... YES IT DOES MATTER! Remember, we've only got 64MB of internal memory for the owner's use. So stuffing 35 or 40 font families onto the Cybook will suck down the available memory to the point of uselessness.

And while arbitrary programming is not good, attempting to exceed physical limitations when those limitations are built-in is just plain stupid. :smack:

What I haven't done is experiment with putting font families onto the SD card. Now if that works....

Derek

Ummm... YES IT DOES MATTER! Remember, we've only got 64MB of internal memory for the owner's use. So stuffing 35 or 40 font families onto the Cybook will suck down the available memory to the point of uselessness.

And while arbitrary programming is not good, attempting to exceed physical limitations when those limitations are built-in is just plain stupid. :smack:

What I haven't done is experiment with putting font families onto the SD card. Now if that works....


I put my book on my 2G SD card so it does not matter how many fonts I use. As I wrote.

I put my book on my 2G SD card so it does not matter how many fonts I use. As I wrote.

Let me use small words here. It does not MATTER if you put all your ebooks on the SD card if you also fill up all available user memory on the Cybook with fonts! If you leave less than 500KB of internal memory free then the Cybook won't be able to open the ebook anyway! :smack:

Derek

Well, it looks like I opened a can of worms. I erased most of the fonts that I had installed and the weird looking screen went away when I go to choose a font family. My original idea was that I wanted to have a different font family for each genre of book that I was reading i.e. western, sci-fi, fantasy, horror.... I had originally loaded so many on so that I could see which ones that I liked best for what I wanted to read and then I was going to delete the rest. Instead I had to open my word processor and use that to decide and then load them onto the cybook.

One last thing I want to mention, even with all of those fonts installed the cybook ran just fine, it was only the font family screen that didn't work right.

Let me use small words here. It does not MATTER if you put all your ebooks on the SD card if you also fill up all available user memory on the Cybook with fonts! If you leave less than 500KB of internal memory free then the Cybook won't be able to open the ebook anyway! :smack:


Of course you do not fill the available space. But 40 font families as in your example will fit without problem. The biggest font family I have is 1M and all the other is smaller.

Well, it looks like I opened a can of worms. I erased most of the fonts that I had installed and the weird looking screen went away when I go to choose a font family. My original idea was that I wanted to have a different font family for each genre of book that I was reading i.e. western, sci-fi, fantasy, horror.... I had originally loaded so many on so that I could see which ones that I liked best for what I wanted to read and then I was going to delete the rest. Instead I had to open my word processor and use that to decide and then load them onto the cybook.

One last thing I want to mention, even with all of those fonts installed the cybook ran just fine, it was only the font family screen that didn't work right.

Thanks, I think you accidently answered my question from another thread. My font selection window was full at 14 fonts and I suspected they hadn't setup the window to scroll or double column. I didn't want to risk bricking it to find out. Nice to know you can just delete them and carry on. I really don't need any more fonts on it but it's nice to have them when I demo it to somebody.:smile:

You should probably let Bookeen know and hopefully they can fix it in a future firmware upgrade.

The Gen3 doesn't handle ANY menu or dialog box being larger than the screen at all well. It's definitely something which needs to be fixed.