Hi,

I have a 64MB Cybook, and I have been reading the OpenInkpot IRC logs for the last half a year, hoping to see OI on my Cybook in the near future. In the summer, OI on the Cybook was progressing, and it was nearly working by the end of summer, but then the development stopped. As IRC logs say:


10:28 Rampant Too bad the version for cybooks's not ready yet
10:29 Rampant i sooo looking forward to it
10:29 LunohoD nobody is working on it
10:29 jekhor_ Rampant, nobody has time or pleasing for it
10:30 Rampant well, that's not very cheerful
10:30 jekhor_ *wish
10:31 Rampant i've read it part of the next milestone
10:31 LunohoD Rampant: we need more cybook developers
10:31 LunohoD ondra was our single cybook dev
10:31 Rampant gosh, if only i could code
10:32 Rampant so what you're saying is there will be no version for cybooks
10:32 LunohoD do you know how to clone people?
10:32 Rampant nope, sry
10:33 Rampant hell, i should have gone for hanlin, now im stuck with stupid cybook
10:33 LunohoD Rampant: if there are no developers - there will be no version
10:33 Rampant what happened to ondra, if u don't mind me asking
10:33 LunohoD I don't know, he is jsut disappeared.
10:34 Rampant :) ppl don't just disappear
10:35 LunohoD I think he is busy with his study
10:36 LunohoD he doesn't want to be forever student
10:36 Rampant how far is he with the cybook port, any idea
10:38 Rampant maybe i could help, what is it coded in? c++
10:38 LunohoD afaik, you can run OI and bookshelf is working, but the bookreader is not working - keybindings are not adapted for the cybook
10:38 LunohoD I've got no cybook or any other netronix clone, I cannot test it myself
10:38 LunohoD and the overall performance is lousy

So it looks like the OpenInkpot won't be made to work on the Cybook, or, if ever, it will only run on Cybooks with 512MB of memory.

Currently active OI developers would probably be satisfied with seeing it on V3, iLiad and possibly Sony, and overall are much more interested with seeing new programs on it (and more skilled in that area) than with fitting all this code and data into 16MB of Cybook memory.

Is there anything I can do to see OI on Cybook? I can't currently devote enough time to learning specifics of Linux and its kernel programming and behaviour of those particular chips the Cybook has, and electronics needed to take Cybook apart and get to the COM ports needed to program it. I would donate money if that would be likely to cause OI on Cybook development to progress.

I guess I just hope that something changes if I post that short summary here...

So it looks like the OpenInkpot won't be made to work on the Cybook, or, if ever, it will only run on Cybooks with 512MB of memory.


Stop spreading rumors. Thanks a lot.

What IS the current state of OpenInkpot on the CyBook?

http://users.openinkpot.org/~lunohod/IMG_4363.jpg

It seems to be possible to open a book.

Stop spreading rumors. Thanks a lot.

Did you notice the words "looks like" ?

That's not a rumor, that's my opinion.

We have not given up on Cybook, but in order for development to happen, we need to have developers with devices.

willing developer+device=progress

Cybook development stalled when our Cybook developer broke his Cybook (I believe). So in order to get Cybook development going again, you have two options:

#1: Find us willing developers who have Cybooks (canvassing the Cybook forums might be a good start)

#2: Donate some money to OpenInkpot for Cybook purchase, and/or encourage others to do the same.

In other words, you can influence the state of development by your efforts and contributions towards the OpenInkpot project, which is not some profit-obsessed behemoth multinational company, but something very much of human scale. In other words, don't despair, do something!

Did you notice the words "looks like" ?

That's not a rumor, that's my opinion.

"512mb of memory" is a plain nonsense.

#2: Donate some money to OpenInkpot for Cybook purchase, and/or encourage others to do the same.

I'm willing to donate if you tell me how :)

I'm willing to donate if you tell me how :)

See the project homepage. Paypal (or Yandex.Money, for Russian).

Ok done, a small contribution for the Cybook development :thumbsup:

We have not given up on Cybook, but in order for development to happen, we need to have developers with devices.

willing developer+device=progress

Cybook development stalled when our Cybook developer broke his Cybook (I believe). So in order to get Cybook development going again, you have two options:

#1: Find us willing developers who have Cybooks (canvassing the Cybook forums might be a good start)

#2: Donate some money to OpenInkpot for Cybook purchase, and/or encourage others to do the same.

In other words, you can influence the state of development by your efforts and contributions towards the OpenInkpot project, which is not some profit-obsessed behemoth multinational company, but something very much of human scale. In other words, don't despair, do something!

I think I will donate ... but I thought that currently Jekhor is the only developer knowledgeable in Linux kernel specifics/low level programming - and isn't he working on Sony? If you had lots of Cybooks available now, would it speed up anything?
I don't despair, I just wanted to talk about the matter, as it interests me a lot. Perhaps I hoped someone would read it and think he has some free time and knowledge to help a bit in this area of OI... those kinds of thoughts. I just didn't want to leave it in silence.

"512mb of memory" is a plain nonsense.

I don't see how the scenario in which by the time developers have time/devices/will to port OI to yet another device, 64MB Cybooks become rare and thus it's decided to go with the 512MB version "first", as available to test on, and used by majority of users, can be a plain nonsense.

Ah. I think that there's a bit of confusion between memory and storage. There's 512 meg of storage on the new cybook, but the same amount of memory (I believe). And since the hangup is memory, 512 meg of storage changes nothing. So porting to the 64 meg one and the 512 meg one is the same thing.

As for your question of how having Cybooks on hand could speed up development, an example would be to give it to a developer as an enticement to develop.

As for jekhor being the only knowledgeable one in low level stuff, it is not mostly kernel hacking that is needed at this point, but optimization of our libraries (which is a lot less specialized).

Dottedmag, please correct me if I'm wrong in any of the above.
(I also have a tendency to spout pure nonsense :)

As for jekhor being the only knowledgeable one in low level stuff, it is not mostly kernel hacking that is needed at this point, but optimization of our libraries (which is a lot less specialized).


Do you need a Cybook for that?

Can you optimize and test on the Cybook without open it up and fixing a serial connection?

http://users.openinkpot.org/~ondra/cybook-pre/openinkpot-cybook-20081128.zip

please, try it and tell us what's working and what's not.

if page turning doesn't work, put this file on sd card and open it in the bookshelf(the screen will be blank for some time, don't panic):
http://users.openinkpot.org/~ondra/fbreader_0.8.17-1.oi12_armel.deb

open a regular book then. try to turn the page with Up and Down keys.

64 Mbyte and 512 Mbyte Cybook no difference for the project it’s outstanding good news.

The image posted is also a great incentive for us all who are looking into the effort’s done.

Thank you very much once more for your hard work.

Best regards,

PS: any timeline in a (even early beta) solution?

As previously stated, Cybook development is currently stalled because of a lack of Cybook-owning contributors. So, think of it like a download: if the rate is 0, the ETA is infinity :) (though that doesn't mean it will never be done, of course!)

DDHarriman, I see that you also have a Sony PRS-505. The port for the Sony is advancing steadily (can be monitored at http://openinkpot.org/wiki/PRS505DetailStatus, though I don't know how often it's updated).

this photo was taken by delphidb96 two(?) months ago. there was no progress since that.

Thank you both, once more, for the clarification.

I’m keeping an eye on both platforms (Cybook and Sony) until I see something Hanlin (and clones) owners are enjoying.

Best regards,

I just tested the image. .mobi files are not displayed and .t2b files are displayed... I also see what you mean about the speed. The navigation was pretty slow sometimes.

I looked a bit on the Wiki. I did setup a Linux development environemnt for just testing applications on Linux a while ago. But then I got sidetracked with other things.

What I feel is missing is instructions how to build new images for and rootfs for the Cybook. Being able to do some changes and test on the Cybook would be very good in term of motivation.

I also tested using the irc channel a while back and I understand that it is good and motivational if you work everyday with this. But I kind of miss some framework for information spreading were you can work on it once a week or so. An updated wiki or a forum or a mailing list seems much more suitable for this.

Thank you for the answers and the clarification. I didn't know the difference between 512MB and 64MB Cybooks was only storage memory - or rather, I think I read somewhere false information that it also means more operating memory for the 512MB Cybook.

If I knew there was a developer seriously interested in the project, I would gladly contribute with a donation to help you guys get a Cybook to work with.

I would use paypal to donate money when I get my next paycheck, if there was someway that I could know that the money I was donating was going towards the cybook effort. If a cybook is actually aquired, will there be someone in the team who will actually start doing work on it, or will it just sitt gathering dust untill a new developer comes along?

Maybe you could start a chipin for the cybook just like you did with the sony 505.

If I knew there was a developer seriously interested in the project, I would gladly contribute with a donation to help you guys get a Cybook to work with.

Just go here (http://openinkpot.org/) and click on the Donate button. When you get sent to Paypal for the donation amount, enter in the comments section that you want your donation to go to the purchase of a Cybook. Any money donated without a particular comment directing what it should be used for will be used to buy a Sony PRS-505 for development.

Given that we may well be seeing a Txtrdr and a Papyrus coming to market soon, I expect we may want donations for those (and a Kindle 2 - although just getting a 1st-gen Kindle may be sufficient) as well.

Derek

Actually we already overwhelmed by the devices to play with, including two cybook-like ones - our kernel guys just can't handle it all. So the best donation would be bringing kernel guru and linux distribution developers to the project :)

We've collected enough funds to buy device to tinker with to the kernel developer who wants to join the project (providing he/she has commits in Linux kernel - just to verify the identity).

Makes me wish I was a programmer. Unfortunately, my meager 1 year education only involves tech support :(. Hoping to study programming at some point though.

Hey, you can help by spreading the word to the developers/sysadmins/hackers you know!

Don't personally know any developers, and I certainly don't know anyone who reads enough to spend time developing reading software.

I will look into translating the wiki to norwegian though. That should be ok. It's already been translated to danish, so the hard work is already done.