My nearly first time posting, but didn't want to waste a topic in Introductions forum, so hi :)

I read a book on Cybook. No light on the unit is lit. I press left(or right) on the multi-function button to turn the page. The light lights up - in green. I wait 5 seconds. The light goes off. No page is turned.

This scenario happens often enough for me to wonder - is this a bug with Cybook in general? With my unit only? I sometimes have to press the button two or three times for it to turn the page. I can't say I didn't press it hard enough, because the unit did react. It just did not turn the page.

The same thing happens when I read manga and press the same buttons to go to next/previous page.

This can have an impact on the speed of page turning mentioned in the other topis, as 1.5s + 5s + 5s and 3 button presses is not just 1.5s. Personally I find it very annoying.

I can hypothesize that the unit is sleeping, and I press the button for long enough for it to recognize that it needs to wake up, but I let go before it's awake, so it doesn't have any idea what woke it and goes back to sleep. But if that's the case, the fact is that the button should be pressed twice (second time when the light's on already), or pressed long enough for the unit to register what it should be doing. I read on Cybook for 3 weeks, but I haven't mastered that technique yet.

What are your experiences?

I have noticed this behavior on my CyBook, but only very seldom so far.

I cannot for sure say it have happened. If it has happened it is just once or twice in a couple of weeks.

It does seem to very occasionally miss page-turn clicks, yes, I've found the same. Doesn't happen often enough for it to be a problem.

Yep. This has been happening to me, on widely-spaced occasions, since I first got my engineering sample way back when... As this has happened in firmware versions 0.91 - 1.0, I figure it's because I didn't press just right on the button - although I must say that this also happens on those times when I've pressed the navigation buttons too rapidly. As nothing else happens, such as the ebook shutting down or the Cybook powering off, etc., I ignore the occasional page-turn bobble. Also, I've managed to get similar results on my older Sony PRS-500.

Derek

I guess I've been lucky this hasn't happened to me yet but I've almost exclusively been reading mobi format books. Is it possible that it's a problem that only shows up in PDF or have you seen it when reading all formats?

I know when I read PDF on my computer I sometimes have to hit PgDn twice and I'm wondering if it's something similar.

I'm reading Mobi. It's probably no more than not pressing the page turn button firmly enough.

i've also experienced the Cybook failing to turn pages. doesn't happen very often, and I'm never quite sure if it's just that i needed to press the button more firmly. Certainly the directional buttons could be easier to press. Not annoying enough yet to complain, probably happens once every 100 page turns?

It happens to me every 2-3 page turns. I use pen for pressing the button now, since it's hard on my fingernails to press as hard as I do to turn the pages.

I guess the buttons aren't designed well enough to make sure they can be pressed with the same force on every device.

I've had the same thing, but I've always chalked it up to not pressing the button firmly enough. It's a very stiff button to begin with.

Possibly related : when I use Right to turn pages the page turn seems to happen quite a bit faster than when I press Down.
And yes, I often do find that page turns don't occure when I press Down the first time but I do not think it's because of how firm I push the button, often I notice that the green led lights up and the page turn does not happen.

If you're pressing the down button to turn the page that might explain it. The down button moves to the next link on the page but if it doesn't find one it will turn the page. It might be finding a link?

If you're pressing the down button to turn the page that might explain it. The down button moves to the next link on the page but if it doesn't find one it will turn the page. It might be finding a link?

I almost exclusively read PDFs on my Cybook so I do not think links have something to do with this behavior.
Anyway, I hope there will soon be a next firmware to fix some of the rough edges that still exist

Hello,

just found this forum, when researching the same behaviour on my new Cybook.

I have the same behaviour on my system: press flip keys only short, green light goes on for 1s, goes off again - no page flip.

I agree to the first post, that this might be a problem in the wakeup and detect key process of the Cybook.

When I press the key, hold it until the green light goes on and then release, I never experienced this problem.

Further: it happened with .prc, .txt, .pdf, .htm files and also in the library screen itself, so I'm sure this is some OS problem, not the reader software.

Happens to me every 2-3 turnings. (because i often push the button very very carefully)

You can go around it when you press the button a little bit longer - its not really a problem, but its a little bit aggravating. I hope they fix it in the next firmware-release...

I experience this behavior every now and then, too. It has nothing to do with the strength you press the button. The unit is working because the green light lits up. It is annoying but not really a problem. I own the Cybook a month now and find more and more (little) bugs. Well, I guess this is normal for version 1.0, though I will never understand, why more and more companies produce Chiquita ware (product ripens at the customer's).

Alan

Well, I guess this is normal for version 1.0, though I will never understand, why more and more companies produce Chiquita ware (product ripens at the customer's).

Alan

Given the minor nature of the bugs which have showed up, would you really rather that the release of the product had been delayed for several months to fix them?

Happens to me every 2-3 turnings. (because i often push the button very very carefully)

You can go around it when you press the button a little bit longer - its not really a problem, but its a little bit aggravating. I hope they fix it in the next firmware-release...
Are you sure it is a firmware issue and not a hardware issue?

Given the minor nature of the bugs which have showed up, would you really rather that the release of the product had been delayed for several months to fix them?

If it takes months to fix these bugs, they are definitely not minor.

I would not consider all of the bugs as minor anyway. Missing page numbers, bookmarks not working, no way to sort books in the library, unreliable battery indicator, no indicator at all if you are reading a book and some more - well, these are not minor bugs, they are mediocre at best.

And again - if it really takes months to find out and fix these things, I would rather they have waited a little bit longer and presented a (almost) bug free product to their customers. €350 is a lot of money. $350 is much less but still a lot of bucks. This should be considered when we speak about "minor" bugs.

But I tell you something. Two years ago I bought one of the most expensive digital satellite receivers available. I wanted a long lasting and reliable product. I chose a well established brand and paid big bucks. What I got is a box of bugs - literally. It is really amazing what that thing can do when it comes to broken software and bad programming. I emailed the company two pages full of bug descriptions. They did not even bother to reply neither do they have had any firmware updates in a year.

Would I really rather that the release of that receiver had been delayed? Yes, certainly. Same with Cybook, though the bugs there are nothing compared to the ones I find in that receiver.

For €/$350 I really expect better quality. If we report bugs to Bookeen, we are doing the work they should have done long before.

Alan

For €/$350 I really expect better quality. If we report bugs to Bookeen, we are doing the work they should have done long before.
You do know that sometimes it can be hard to find intermittent bugs. Those are the hardest to catch and by more people using the Gen3 under different circumstances, it's easier for these bugs to pop up. So reporting them to Bookeen will help them be able to fix them for the next firmware release. However, I am surprised they have not yet gotten a new firmware release out to fix any of the known issues.

You do know that sometimes it can be hard to find intermittent bugs.

Oh yes, I know.

So reporting them to Bookeen will help them be able to fix them for the next firmware release.

Sure, and I will continue to do this (in this forum). But nevertheless: Bug testing - sincere bug testing - should be part of the development process, not something the customer has to do.


However, I am surprised they have not yet gotten a new firmware release out to fix any of the known issues.

I suppose their main goal right now is to fix delivery problems (producing and shipping more devices). But I do hope they will release an update soon.

Alan

However, I am surprised they have not yet gotten a new firmware release out to fix any of the known issues.

How long did it take Sony to fix the battery meter bug, Jon? :)

How long did it take Sony to fix the battery meter bug, Jon? :)
It did take a while yes. And there was a work around for it. But, that was the only bug there was that we complained about.

I would not consider all of the bugs as minor anyway. Missing page numbers,

You can't claim that something that you think should be there, but isn't, is a "bug", come off it :). Of what conceivable use are page numbers on a device where on has a limitless variety of fonts and sizes? My page 100 in a given book won't be the same as your page 100.

bookmarks not working

I use bookmarks ALL THE TIME to mark pages with errors while I'm proofreading my books. I am aware that some people have had problems with bookmarks, but it seems to be a damned elusive bug! Have you encountered it yourself?

no way to sort books in the library

Yes, there is. You can sort by title, file size, file date, or something else I forget off-hand. It would be nice to be able to sort by author or genre, I agree, but you can't claim that there's "no way to sort books".

unreliable battery indicator

Unreliable in what way?

no indicator at all if you are reading a book and some more - well, these are not minor bugs, they are mediocre at best.

Again, I have to say that "something that you think should be there but isn't" is not a bug - it's a feature request.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that the v1 firmware is perfect - it obviously isn't. But I think that FOR a v1 it's pretty damned good, and I'm sure that Bookeen will improve it with future firmware releases; their history of doing that with the old CyBook (which I also have) is very good indeed.

You can't claim that something that you think should be there, but isn't, is a "bug", come off it :). Of what conceivable use are page numbers on a device where on has a limitless variety of fonts and sizes? My page 100 in a given book won't be the same as your page 100.
Page numbers are of a very good usage. For one, it tells me how many pages there are at a given size. And as long as the ebook has an internal ToC, I can look at that ToC and see what page number the next chapter starts so I can decide If I want to stop reading now or continue till I finish the chapter.

Page numbers are next to useless for me, but I can see how others would miss them. I find the progress bar to be good enough, considering that it saves the spot where I am reading.

I haven't had any issue with bookmarks. They seem to work flawlessly. I have heard some people saying that if you loose your charge completely they don't work though.

To get a quasi-sort by author, put books from each author in a named folder and sort by File Path.

I've found the battery life meter to be pretty off as well. It seems to go from 100% to 90% with nothing in between. Also, though I haven't had mine loose its charge completely, I understand that after it hits 40% it is drained completely shortly thereafter.

All in all, I am happy with the way it works now, though I look forward to future improvements.

I have to say that the biggest 'cool factor' I've had is in using that 'new' 1913 dictionary that was posted to do lookups. Since I've mainly been reading Dickens [Thanks HarryT :)], there are quite a few older and rarely used words that I've needed definitions for.

Are you sure it is a firmware issue and not a hardware issue?

Yes, absolutely certain. The Gen3 has an "activity light" which flashes when you click a button, etc. Even when the Gen3 "misses" a page turn, the light still flashes. The key press is being "registered" by the o/s, but not acted upon for whatever reason. Probably some kind of timing issue.

It did take a while yes. And there was a work around for it. But, that was the only bug there was that we complained about.

With respect, Jon, your memory is being a little selective. The original firmware on the 500 was pretty flaky, especially when it came to RTF files. I particularly remember this because RTF was my preferred reading format at the time (this was before I discovered BD). There were all sorts of RTF files that the Reader wouldn't handle - it just gave an error when you tried to load them.

Another issue was that it would randomly lose all your bookmarks. That one was particularly infuriating if you'd spent days marking all the errors in a book.

Both of those issues were fixed in the first firmware update.

To get a quasi-sort by author, put books from each author in a named folder and sort by File Path.


That is an absolutely BRILLIANT idea! What a stroke of genius! You could use that method to sort by genre, too.

Thanks for the suggestion.

Sure, and I will continue to do this (in this forum). But nevertheless: Bug testing - sincere bug testing - should be part of the development process, not something the customer has to do.


I a not sure they are reading the bug reports here so you should really email them.

I have emailed them at least four bugs report and only one of these bugs I think they could have detected in testing and they might have done it since if was a pdf document that hanged but since they are actively working on getting the pdf reader better they might just have ignored these problem for the release.

One of the other bugs were that for one book the Cybook hanged when I used the Liberation fonts. Another was that generating a book with a certain image with mobigen cause the Cybook to hang. And another was that for a certaing dictionary and looking up certain word the lookup went wrong.

That is an absolutely BRILLIANT idea! What a stroke of genius!Thanks, I had to do the same thing on an old MP3 player I used to own that didn't sort by the ID3 tags. :)

EDIT: Strange, I'm using the Liberation fonts as well, but haven't run into any problems. I did need to deleted the cache before the font would recognize though.

You can't claim that something that you think should be there, but isn't, is a "bug"

Right, technically it might not be a bug. Practically it is, because they just "forgot" to ad an important feature.

Of what conceivable use are page numbers on a device where on has a limitless variety of fonts and sizes? My page 100 in a given book won't be the same as your page 100.

When I buy a paperback book it has more or less pages than the hardcover version. So we don't need page numbers there either? I do not need page numbers to compare one book with another (though that might be helpful too) but to navigate in the book I am reading right now.

I use bookmarks ALL THE TIME to mark pages with errors while I'm proofreading my books. I am aware that some people have had problems with bookmarks, but it seems to be a damned elusive bug! Have you encountered it yourself?

Yes, I have. Apparently frequent reboots solved that problem for me (for the time being). It's like Windows only worse. :stunned:


Yes, there is. You can sort by title, file size, file date, or something else I forget off-hand. It would be nice to be able to sort by author or genre, I agree, but you can't claim that there's "no way to sort books".

OK, again a badly integrated feature then.

Unreliable in what way?

It is unreliable under 40 %. 40 % or less rather means "empty". Battery indicators are always more or less a problem. But there is indeed a difference between 40 % and 10 %. With the current firmware 40 % means "charge battery immediately!". Good to know. I can live with it, as long as I know how to interpret those numbers. But there should not be any interpretation if the indicator would work more accurately.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that the v1 firmware is perfect - it obviously isn't. But I think that FOR a v1 it's pretty damned good, and I'm sure that Bookeen will improve it with future firmware releases; their history of doing that with the old CyBook (which I also have) is very good indeed.

I do not doubt that in any way. They will certainly improve the firmware over time. But this was not my point. My point is: Please to not outsource an important part of the development process to the customer. Testing is part of the development process. You will never find all bugs, that's for sure. But you can at least eradicate the big and crunchy ones before you begin to ship your product.

Alan

My point is: Please to not outsource an important part of the development process to the customer. Testing is part of the development process. You will never find all bugs, that's for sure. But you can at least eradicate the big and crunchy ones before you begin to ship your product.


I agree they might have added more features, but we don't know what situation they were in - they might as well have said: If it sells, we'll work on it, we have to eat too, we can't spend another half a year developing the product we don't know if anyone will then buy at all.

I believe none of the bugs ever happened to anyone in Bookeen before they shipped. My work is a bit similar - I port games from Windows to MacOS. Recently we released a new game, rather known, after testing it for 6 months on variety of Mac models. Shortly afterwards, Apple released a new line of Macs - and the game doesn't run at all on any of them. I agree the situation isn't quite parallel, but it's similar in that I have no new models to test on (too expensive to buy), and Bookeen has no units exhibiting the problems (users have them), and has to locate them in their storage somehow before they can start finding out what's wrong. Maybe the test units were more carefully produces... It's not like every company out there has infinite amount of resources to polish the product.

With respect, Jon, your memory is being a little selective. The original firmware on the 500 was pretty flaky, especially when it came to RTF files. I particularly remember this because RTF was my preferred reading format at the time (this was before I discovered BD). There were all sorts of RTF files that the Reader wouldn't handle - it just gave an error when you tried to load them.

Another issue was that it would randomly lose all your bookmarks. That one was particularly infuriating if you'd spent days marking all the errors in a book.

Both of those issues were fixed in the first firmware update.
When I got my 500, I didn't get to use it with the new firmware. I gott o update it before I got to use it. So I have no idea what was going on with the original firmware.

How long did it take Sony to go from the original firmware to the first update?

How long did it take Sony to go from the original firmware to the first update?

The Reader was released late October 2006; first firmware update around mid Feb 2007, so that's a little under 4 months.

Might this be a precursor of the problem I am Having? Just got a new Cybook Gen 3.
After reading about 10 - 15 pages the device just locks up. Nothing will work and I have to turn it off and back on to be able to read again, just to have the problem reappear in another 10 or so pages. I have reloaded the books, taken the battery out of the Cybook and reconnected it, I have tried the reset button, but nothing seems to work. There is no SD card in it and the battery is totally charged. I really would appreciate any helpful advice. Thanks all.

What kind of ebook are you reading? PDF or PRC? Did you buy it in an online store or did you create it? How did you create it? Where did you buy it?

Alan

The one I am currently trying to read is a PRC and I bought it from mobipocket's German language site. However I do not think that that is the problem, since even the books that came with the Cybook from Bookeen are giving me the same problem.

The one I am currently trying to read is a PRC and I bought it from mobipocket's German language site. However I do not think that that is the problem, since even the books that came with the Cybook from Bookeen are giving me the same problem.


OK, I would have recommended to try to read a book bought at mobipocket. But you are already doing that. Since this problem is not limited to only one book in your library, it is certainly not related to a single ebook file.

You could try something else: Hook your Cybook up to your computer. Delete everything in the ebook folder (but before please copy it to your hard disk). Then transfer a single ebook file to the ebook folder, either by using the Mobipocket reader or just by drag and drop. Try again.

Alan

I've had some time to play around with my Cybook since Christmas and I must say that I'm pretty pleased so far. I have followed the threads in this forum for a while even before I bought it but I must admit that I didn't really have most of the problems reported by some people here.

So far the only problem was one freeze which I didn't notice immediately because if the book hangs you still see the text and think that the button is not accepted. I've just read a few responses up that someone connected the freeze with the Liberation fonts, I also use Liberation Serif (thanks, btw, found this font by a suggestion through this forum) and have been using it for nearly two weeks now. With only one freeze I cannot say for sure that it's connected to the font but if it is it doesn't seem too frequent.

Other than that I had two "crashes" (system reboot, just like if you switched off and on the device) when trying to open two PDFs. One PDF was 80MB, though, and the other 40MB and I received them from a friend so not sure which Version number (of Acrobat) these conform to (or whether they were made with some other software). As those two documents are really very big, I wouldn't really say that's a bug, although strictly technical it probably is.
But as Harry T. already pointed out in this forum: It is currently not very viable to read PDFs formatted as a full page (Din A4, e.g) on a device like that and there's not a lot they can do about it (at least as long as PDFs are displayed as graphics, so a reflow is not possible).

As for the other "bugs": While I certainly agree that they should add most or all of the features discussed in this thread, I'd go with Harry T. in that I wouldn't see those as bugs. A missing feature (even if it is an absolutely indispensable one) IMHO is only a bug if the features is mentioned in the official feature list (or handbook). Otherwise nobody said it would be there...

I've had a couple of electronic gadgets recently and while I absolutely hate it that nowadays everything seems to come as an unfinished product, the Cybook IMHO is one of the best v1 I've had in a while. A few small things I am willing to accept and I give them that it was very important for them to start selling it in time to ship it before Christmas as that surely a major economic factor.

One thing bothers me a little bit, though: The last entry in the official blog dates back to November and the entire blog doesn't really give you much information (I don't really count those entries which just tell you that there's a new review available -> those things should go in the "Press" section), I would have expected more info on what is worked on...

Does anyone know if they read these forums? If not maybe one should try to make them aware if it, there are some excellent suggestions in the wishlist for the next firmware release and it would be counterproductive if everyone mailed them the same thing over and over again. Also they might give the forum back some information which would help a great deal...

Snuffi,

I tend to agree with you... Their blog must be updated as this is a company blog and their customers deserve recent information. Still, I like the Cybook and I'll be happy when I get my repaired/replaced one back! :)

Derek

I didn't know this was a common problem. In any case, I am refunding mine as it's too bothersome. The buttons are hard to press as it is, then every few pages I find myself having to stop and press it again. All I want is a reader when I can turn the page when I have finished reading. It shouldn't have to be like this.

I have heard, that Bookeen is looking into this problem, and they hope to have this solved with the next firmware update.

I also suggested, that they implement an option, so you can use the main button as pageforward button when reading a book. I dont know, if they have taken up the idea though.

The buttons are getting less hard to press with use. When I got the unit I my reaction was the same as yours. But after I read a few books whe button was not so hard to press anymore. I think the spring, or whatever they use, is getting more flexible. That is a better approach than make it easy at the start and to easy after a while so that pages start turning when you sneeze.

To make it easy to turn over a page on my cybook gen3 I cut out a square piece of cardboard, (a piece from a leather belt of similar thickness would be better), of similar colour to my cybook leather case, fitting the square hole in the leather case, leaving a small square hole in the centre so that I was able to press the centre button. I use electrical tape to keep it in place. It is much easer on the thumb. It would be helpful if the the designer of the leather case could alter it, leaving just a hole in the middle, with printed arrows around the hole. I must say the square must fit pretty perfectly, similar thickness to the leather case, so that it looks part of the case.
From derekjanet

To make it easy to turn over a page on my cybook gen3 I cut out a square piece of cardboard, (a piece from a leather belt of similar thickness would be better), of similar colour to my cybook leather case, fitting the square hole in the leather case, leaving a small square hole in the centre so that I was able to press the centre button. I use electrical tape to keep it in place. It is much easer on the thumb. It would be helpful if the the designer of the leather case could alter it, leaving just a hole in the middle, with printed arrows around the hole. I must say the square must fit pretty perfectly, similar thickness to the leather case, so that it looks part of the case.
From derekjanet

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