With the writepad on the DR1000 not able to automatically create new pages like the iLiad, a good note template is important.

Right now, I'm just using 50 sheets of lined paper as a template for writing notes.

I wish I was more creative, and could come up with a better design.

What does everyone else use?

pop along to the "sketching goodies"
http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=30729

you'll find another 4 useful ones there (single pages)

With the writepad on the DR1000 not able to automatically create new pages like the iLiad, a good note template is important.


I am thinking of buying the digital reader, and was confused with this comment.

Suppose I am reading a pdf and want to scribble some notes about what I am reading. To do that, I will need to go to a separate pdf, write there, and then merge the two pdf's together!!! Where is the convinence of digital paper here. I might as well write on a piece of scrap paper, scan it, and merge it with the pdf.

Or did I misunderstand your statement.

Thanks.
Adi

I am thinking of buying the digital reader, and was confused with this comment.

Suppose I am reading a pdf and want to scribble some notes about what I am reading. To do that, I will need to go to a separate pdf, write there, and then merge the two pdf's together!!! Where is the convinence of digital paper here. I might as well write on a piece of scrap paper, scan it, and merge it with the pdf.

Or did I misunderstand your statement.

Thanks.
Adi

You misunderstood. When you want to write notes on the DR1000, you press the menu, click the writing button, and select pencil. Now you can write all over the pdf you are currently reading.

My comment was regarding functionality that was in the iLiad software. The notes pages on the iLiad were png's. You could essentially build one page as a template, and on the iLiad, press a "new page" button that would duplicate the base page to give you another to write on. On the DR, you have to create a document that has as many pages as you'd want to use.

You misunderstood. When you want to write notes on the DR1000, you press the menu, click the writing button, and select pencil. Now you can write all over the pdf you are currently reading.


I plan to read journal articles on DR1000. Frequently, the comments that I want to make are big (about one or two handwritten pages), which are hard to make in the margins.

I assumed that I could just add a new page in the pdf and add notes there. Is that possible or not.

Thanks for the clarification.

With the writepad on the DR1000 not able to automatically create new pages like the iLiad, a good note template is important.

Right now, I'm just using 50 sheets of lined paper as a template for writing notes.

Uhm, once a file is "templated" in the PC Companion i.e. has that flag set in the corresponding metadata.db, it automatically creates a new "page" every time you start scribbling on it!

These are labeled originalname 001.pdf, originalname 002.pdf etc. Start writing on those and you will edit the existing page. Start writing on the templated original, and it creates another instance.

To clarify, when I say "page" it assumes a 1-page document, otherwise the entire (multi-page) document is duplicated, like the included "Meeting Notes.pdf" from iRex.

I plan to read journal articles on DR1000. Frequently, the comments that I want to make are big (about one or two handwritten pages), which are hard to make in the margins.

I assumed that I could just add a new page in the pdf and add notes there. Is that possible or not.

Thanks for the clarification.

No, you can not alter the original document. The writing is layered on top (on the reader only!), and can later be merged with the original using the PC companion software.

I plan to read journal articles on DR1000. Frequently, the comments that I want to make are big (about one or two handwritten pages), which are hard to make in the margins.

I assumed that I could just add a new page in the pdf and add notes there. Is that possible or not.

Thanks for the clarification.

No, that's not possible.

I think you'll have trouble doing that on any device. The software would have to physically modify the layout of the PDF. There's almost no PDF reading software that can do that now.

Uhm, once a file is "templated" in the PC Companion i.e. has that flag set in the corresponding metadata.db, it automatically creates a new "page" every time you start scribbling on it!

These are labeled originalname 001.pdf, originalname 002.pdf etc. Start writing on those and you will edit the existing page. Start writing on the templated original, and it creates another instance.

I use my reader as a "notebook". So I want to be able to create an unlimited amount of continuous pages to write on... I create new instances from a template when I want a new notebook to write on for a different subject.

I assumed that I could just add a new page in the pdf and add notes there. Is that possible or not.
I think you'll have trouble doing that on any device. The software would have to physically modify the layout of the PDF.No, that's easily done. All the reader has to do is to show an empty page for you to scrible on and to store the finished scribble with a flag indicating to the merging software that it should go on an additional page with the same physical dimensions right after the page you were looking at. That's trivial on the side of the merging program and should be straightforward in the reader.

I use my reader as a "notebook". So I want to be able to create an unlimited amount of continuous pages to write on... I create new instances from a template when I want a new notebook to write on for a different subject.

I see. Didn't realize that your pdf consisted of 100 blank pages itself. In that case, yeah, you could just create (re)named copies beforehand and avoid the renaming issue. Hey, at least you're not stuck putting them in the Writepads folder ;)

No, that's easily done. All the reader has to do is to show an empty page for you to scrible on and to store the finished scribble with a flag indicating to the merging software that it should go on an additional page with the same physical dimensions right after the page you were looking at. That's trivial on the side of the merging program and should be straightforward in the reader.

If this information were available, writing a merging program to insert the page at the correct location (using TeX, for example) will be trivial. But, if DR1000 doesn't allow insertion of pages, there is not much that can be done at a scripting level.

Try the software attached. With a PDF printer you can create more or less any paper you want. It will do lined, graph, polar plots, perspective. Best of all, its free!

http://pharm.kuleuven.be/pharbio/gpaper.htm

Uhm, once a file is "templated" in the PC Companion i.e. has that flag set in the corresponding metadata.db, it automatically creates a new "page" every time you start scribbling on it!


Is there a way to convert a pdf into pdf template without the companion software. I am on Linux, so the companion software is not an option.

Adi

Is there a way to convert a pdf into pdf template without the companion software. I am on Linux, so the companion software is not an option.
No easy way that I know of. In Linux fashion, somebody has to just whip up a little utility, I guess. I'm also mostly using Linux, but keep a Windows boot partition handy for these circumstances.

As I understand it, once SQlite is installed, it could take a shell one-liner to write the corresponding flag to the appropriate metadata.db...

As I understand it, once SQlite is installed, it could take a shell one-liner to write the corresponding flag to the appropriate metadata.db...You're right:
mktemplate () { echo 'update file_metadata set is_template = 1 where filename = "'$1'";' | sqlite3 metadata.db; }
Instead of shell function, you can use a script of course ...

You're right:
mktemplate () { echo 'update file_metadata set is_template = 1 where filename = "'$1'";' | sqlite3 metadata.db; }
Instead of shell function, you can use a script of course ...

Thanks. Works perfectly.

Maybe we should start collecting all linux related snippets somewhere. I managed to get shortcuts working by trial and error (if the filename/directory constains spaces, do not escape them). Next is merging notes and pdf.

Thanks,
Adi

Next is merging notes and pdf.
You could start by checking out Thomega and Ross' efforts: thread link (http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=30465).

You could start by checking out Thomega and Ross' efforts: thread link (http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=30465).FYI: My code is now hosted at http://irextools.forge.ocamlcore.org/.

NB: the merging code appears to work except for a still mysterious scale factor. I thought I had it figured out from examples posted here, but last saturday I finally received by own unit and after playing with exotic paper formats, I noticed that my interpretation of the zoom factor was rather wrong :smack:. I didn't have enough time last week to solve the puzzle (too busy loading research papers and lecture notes onto my shiny new toy ;)), but there is a command line option -scale that you can use to adjust (something between 0.6 and 0.9 usually works).

Also: most of the database manipulation stuff is still inactive, as I'm gathering data for what the correct semantics should be for everyday use :bookworm:.

Finally: you have to compile it yourself ...

Thanks. Works perfectly.


This works as desired for multi-page pdfs (what the manual calls pads of paper), but I am not sure how single sheets are supposed to work. Can one "add pages" on a single sheet of paper on the reader, or do I always have to create multi-page pdf on my computer?

Thanks,
Adi

Here is a pad I made.
Only horizontal lines, no vertical ones.
My writing is pretty big - especially on the reader, so distance between lines is large. (~1cm)
I think it fits exactly on screen, with no margins. 16cm x 19cm.
31 pages, "only" 24kb.

One major property of a pad on the DR1000 would be that it opens quickly...
Does anyone know which PDFs open fastest? Bitmap? Vector? :chinscratch:

These are my writepads and I like the line spacing on them, not because my writing is particularly big, but because the calibration is so poor at the moment. Hopefully it'll all improve :)

I designed them to fit on the screen, even with the toolbar at the bottom.

Since my contribution from a while ago is getting lost in the shuffle, I figure I might as well merge it in this thread.

The original thread (http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=30729) still has the image files if you want either preview the formats or are interested in using them (you can template and write on image files, but merging in the official PC Companion works only for PDFs...)

The pads are 50 sheets each. The originals were designed exactly at the DR1000's resolution of 1024x1280 but PDFs work slightly differently; still they work best full screen, either fit or hide margins.

I had to format my iLiad an al works fine, but the tamplate files for notes are gone. Where an how can I get them?

:help:

Excellent work! I've really been needing a graph pad for my DR.

It's ok, I got my notepads paper:D

Thanks for all the templates.
I just wonder wether you could merge notes with more than 10 pages with the iRex Companion Software 2.0.
There are error after 8 pages.

Thanks for all the templates.
I just wonder wether you could merge notes with more than 10 pages with the iRex Companion Software 2.0.
There are error after 8 pages.

As far as I know there is no maximum for the number of pages. However, it has been reported in the forums that the Companion Software has a maximum number of scribble it is able to merge. As a workaround, it has been suggested to do a first merge, which results in a partly merged PDF, than delete the scribbles that did merge and do another merge. I have not tried this myself. Drawback is, it is quite cumbersome.

If you are running Linux, you might use the alternative Merge software available on this forum somewhere.

Groen

As far as I know there is no maximum for the number of pages. However, it has been reported in the forums that the Companion Software has a maximum number of scribble it is able to merge. As a workaround, it has been suggested to do a first merge, which results in a partly merged PDF, than delete the scribbles that did merge and do another merge. I have not tried this myself. Drawback is, it is quite cumbersome.

If you are running Linux, you might use the alternative Merge software available on this forum somewhere.

Groen

Thanks Groen.
I deleted the scribbles that did merge and did another merge again and again as you suggested . Finally, I have backup the notes in write pad to my computer. Now I only use template with 5 pages. I guess there would be no more error while merging later. :)
I am using Vista. So what a pity i could not use the 3rd party merge software. I hope I could use Xournal instead of write pad if the Xournal could print pdf.
Thanks again.

I hope I could use Xournal instead of write pad if the Xournal could print pdf.
You missed this (http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showpost.php?p=522487&postcount=60) post!?

You missed this (http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showpost.php?p=522487&postcount=60) post!?

That's exactly what I need.
Thanks Mackx.

I am attaching a pad of 50 sheets with 20 lines on a page. I created this using ConTeXt (a TeX macro package), so the pdf size is only 10kB.

Can the DR1000 only have one template at a time? I have one called meeting notes that is set up as a template but whenever I try to make something else a template it doesn't seem to actually work. Do I need to get rid the other template to make a new default or can you have multiple templates? I can't figure out if my companion software is just messing up or something

Can the DR1000 only have one template at a time? I have one called meeting notes that is set up as a template but whenever I try to make something else a template it doesn't seem to actually work. Do I need to get rid the other template to make a new default or can you have multiple templates? I can't figure out if my companion software is just messing up or something

You can have as many templates as you want. Just stick a PDF on your SD-card, run the Companion Software, select the PDF and click "Convert to Template".

If that doesn't work, tell us what you get (or don't get), so we can try to figure out the problem.

Groen

When I'm in the companion software I highlight the pdf file (Notes -50 for example) and the companion software says that its converted to a template but then when I go to the device its not a PDF template its just a regular PDF. Could my metafile be corrupt maybe and I need to delete it? It seems like a pretty straightforward way to create templates so something odd is going on

When I'm in the companion software I highlight the pdf file (Notes -50 for example) and the companion software says that its converted to a template but then when I go to the device its not a PDF template its just a regular PDF. Could my metafile be corrupt maybe and I need to delete it? It seems like a pretty straightforward way to create templates so something odd is going on

Does the supposed template file show the icon for a template?

I have no idea what could be going on. If you are going to delete the metafile, do not forget that you are also deleting scribles you made in other files in the same directory. You might want to store those elsewhere before you delete the file (copy or move to another directory).

Groen

I got it to work, I needed to uncheck the hiding of file extensions in windows
http://support.irexnet.com/index.php?_m=downloads&_a=viewdownload&downloaditemid=34&nav=0