OK, I have been trapped into 2.5 and most users will. The first set of developing hacks do not work anymore.

Now, we know that the machine is designed around a dispatched and that a single resource/configuration file let one to install new readers. Again, OK, if this is the standard way, we can follow it. Give us an option to install a shell dispatcher, or even to install arbitrary applications.

In ten days, the iReX user community has shown knowledge of the machine. We have shown working examples of utilities currently lacking. Between them

-playing of MP3 audio
-rotation of the display
-WWW navigation

Other users had already setup compilation environments, and even executed the iLiad system inside the standard emulator "scratchbox". We were ready to do open source development in paralell to iRex efforts. There was a .djvu reading and some image manipulation things alreasy in the queue. And perhaps USB keyboards and some bluetooth thingies.

We could try to crack again 2.5, and then 2.6 and then... But it could be easier if simply an access to the instalation of "readers" were provided.

So, is iRex hearing?

They are, I have reason to believe. But do they care? I don't know.

Well, they will offer a free SDK. In the announcement (http://developer.irexnet.com/sdk) they wrote, that everyody can install software created with that SDK.

So I would say:

Don't worry! Wait for the SDk and everything will be fine. :)

In order to become a ‘private’ developer for the iLiad platform, below procedure needs to be followed in order to setup the iLiad development environment:

developers visit this web-site to register themselves as a developer;
after registration, the iDS will send a file to your iLiad that will install the development environment automatically;
by connecting the iLiad to your PC using the network connection you can logon to the developer environment; tools and an example of existing viewers can be downloaded from this web-site;
all functions including communication, file access, touch screen input and display access are made available for the developer.

When a viewer is developed, several possibilities exist:

The viewer can be installed by any iLiad user (even non-developers) on the iLiad internal memory, that can be accessed using the USB connection to the PC, allowing developers to distribute their viewer to all iLiad users. iRex may decide to formally support the viewer as a default viewer for a specific document type. If an iLiad user tries to open content that requires this viewer, but that is not yet available on its iLiad, through iDS the viewer can be made available automatically at the next connect cycle. A combination of the above.

In the meanwhile go searching for the flash loader, there must be one. But don't expect any less obscure initiation method then on the Clamshell Zaurus. There you have to remove the battery cover and press some keys. While I had thought about pressing some key, I would not have thought about removing the battery cover. Hmmmm...as we do not have a battery cover why not try to remove the pen and press some keys.... ;-)

I guess there are two possibilities

1 - the environment allows a static network connection and login to the iliad, and documentation how things work, and we'll be able to port whatever we like.

2 - we get some crippled access (think special user in chroot), have to register ourselves, develop over ssh and compile directly on the machine, and if something works, they'll take it and claim it's theirs.


$10 on "2".

The following extract from the same page does IMHO also make sense and should maybe a bit encouraged by us. I at least understand.

Furthermore, we also trust that the world wide development community understands and acknowledges the fact that iRex needs to strike the right balance in order to:

provide a platform that publishers fully trust and support so that commercial content can be delivered;

generate revenue to recover the initial investments made over the last years;

generate revenue in order to develop the next generation products;

and for most to: provide a product to the consumer that he/she enjoys using.

The following extract from the same page does IMHO also make sense and should maybe a bit encouraged by us. I at least understand.

Weeeeelllllllllll. The success of the Zaurii comes mostly from the good open source alternative OS'es you can install. The original OS is pretty boring. The game is: Sharp lets people do all kinds of things with their Zaurii -> People develop open source software for free -> People buy Zaurii -> Revenue for Sharp.

Trying to keep open source developers down / controlled is pretty stupid. iRex doesn't sell software, but devices. OS developers are not the competition. If they are good, they will make people buy Iliads. If they are bad, nobody will use their software and iRex' sales are as before.

OS developers cost you nothing (but a reflash utility) but generate consumers. They do it for fun, so iRex should better make them having fun, and not start this childish war against its user.

Just my $.02

Hmmm..the Zaurus was not that success it was intended to be. In Japan the new models are mostly used for translation.People need that, so it is successful. In Europe it has disappeared.That is very sad, as it is so powerful. But the "normal" people just do not honour that.

In anyway, I do not think that iRex will start a war on its users. Not now.

Trying to keep open source developers down / controlled is pretty stupid. iRex doesn't sell software, but devices. OS developers are not the competition. If they are good, they will make people buy Iliads. If they are bad, nobody will use their software and iRex' sales are as before.

I don't think that Irex is anti-open source development on the iLiad... Announcing a SDK available later in the year indicates they are pretty "pro" it...

I think, they like us hacking into the machine and telling tem how we did it, so they can counter those measures. That gives them a closed environment based on an open source OS, with enogh security for their contentproviders and on the other hand enough freedom for the developers, to have make applications they want.

So lets keep testing the machine :)

I completely disagree. You can have an open environment and encrypted documents. No problem. You can even make it pretty safe, much safer than by trying to lock people out.

I don't think they'll provide a useful SDK. I don't think they'll attract a lot of open source developers, just because they completely suck when it comes to software.

They improve battery life by a meager 22% and claim "Average battery life before recharge is greatly improved". That's not "it". Those guys who are right now developing for the iliad will not provide a stable and fast OS.

I fear the Iliad will not be a success because the software is crap. They are selling a product to be taken into a plane's cockpit, but sometimes the wireless won't shut down, and the usable time is 25% of what is advertised. This won't work. Never.

They need open source developers to fix the things they can't do themselves, but they are scaring them away.

I fear the Iliad will not be a success because the software is crap. They are selling a product to be taken into a plane's cockpit, but sometimes the wireless won't shut down, and the usable time is 25% of what is advertised. This won't work. Never.

Um... Ever wonder why we had state that we knew it wasn't a finished product...? Basing the illiad on what it has now is like assuming Vista or IE will suck because of the betas. Um... Hang-on... :blink: :D

Um... Ever wonder why we had state that we knew it wasn't a finished product...? Basing the illiad on what it has now is like assuming Vista or IE will suck because of the betas. Um... Hang-on... :blink: :D

No, they are selling it right now on MyAirplane.com (http://store.myairplane.com/cgi-bin/cp-app.cgi?pg=prod&ref=AREFB), and they claim it has 21 hours battery life. Aircraft magazines will test software 2.5. They have customers that didn't say they knew the software wasn't ready. They need stable software right now, and have lousy programmers.

Trying to get them to give you the SDK now is like trying to read over their shoulder, or... well, just imagine you're hacking into the iLiad yourself, and your mother walks in and starts "oh, why don't you... let me just type this... hey, what's this?"... Christ! You'd be pushing her out the room saying "this is important! let me finish!". They are trying to actually get it ready for a "real" launch, with everything working, if they opened up for developers now, it would also mean giving them support (reflashing all those bricked iLiads, lol) and spending time on something that they just can't handle at the moment. I'm sure they'll be glad to have you when they're ready for it. :D

there must be an easy way to reflash that thing.
even Siemens managed to make the SIMPad nearly unbrickable (bootloader menu over comport, you can erase full or parts of the OS flash or upload a new OS image over the serial line)

Or something like the Zauri have, a service menu, allowing the user to load a new OS image from a flash card.

the hard way would be if you could only reflash with JTAG, with the SIMPad you only had to use that option if you totally bricked it (=killed the bootloader).

They are selling a product to be taken into a plane's cockpit, but sometimes the wireless won't shut down, and the usable time is 25% of what is advertised. This won't work. Never.

It might be going into aircraft cockpits but it is NOT CERTIFIED, and is used only as a convenience, specifically just keeps from having to carry pounds of approach plates/documentation etc. It is used in general aviation aircraft (small private aircraft) only and not in air carrier operations - airliners (yet).

No, they are selling it right now on MyAirplane.com, and they claim it has 21 hours battery life. Aircraft magazines will test software 2.5. They have customers that didn't say they knew the software wasn't ready. They need stable software right now, and have lousy programmers.

The eFlyBook is from what we have seen the first "B2B" product that has been released. Who knows to what extent this device is really ready for prime time.

Actually the eFlyBook uses a different firmware version that is specific to the format that their content is published in. I was told this by someone at Myairplane.com. I could not get a lot of information from him regarding differences or the capability of the unit currently as he was at the world's largest general aviation airshow (Oshkosh) at the time he answered the phone and was quite busy. I would not think that there would be too many differences in firmware other than the ability to read a different file type.

This is all of course an assumption. ARINC's involvement in the project might have a much bigger impact on their specific firmware. ARINC is a large corporation and have set standards in the aviation industry including a number of avionics interface/bus protocols. We do not know what kind of SDK might have been made available to them, if at all. One could assume that they have a large technical talent pool that might be up to the task of implementing their own iLiad firmware. This again is an assumption. In the end only iRex knows.

I "signed" a disclaimer to get this unit and as such I guess I will have to either wait for iRex or all you talented hackers to get the functionality that I desire. Maybe we should all practice a little patience.

I think, they like us hacking into the machine and telling tem how we did it, so they can counter those measures. That gives them a closed environment based on an open source OS, with enogh security for their contentproviders and on the other hand enough freedom for the developers, to have make applications they want.

So lets keep testing the machine :)

Moreover, I think they have actually not countered our measures; just it happens they needed more controo on the pdf to store the pagenumber.

BUT they have also rewroten the configuration, wiping any new reader instaled in 2.4.

I have just used the excellent user hack to switch on networking and used Putty to access the device in the hope that I can delete a corrupt pre update file so that I can upgrade to 2.5. When trying to delete the file I get an input/output error. I can rename the file, and this probably will be OK, but I do not dare update yet as I will not be able to gain access to permanently delete the file if i do. Can one of you Linux gurus tell me if there is a way to delete this file?

Moreover, I think they have actually not countered our measures; just it happens they needed more controo on the pdf to store the pagenumber.

BUT they have also rewroten the configuration, wiping any new reader instaled in 2.4.

Hmm, i think all the loopholes have been closed due to our findings.
Why should storing the pagenumber render the starting of external programms useless? I think the just turned off all links in xpdf, as normal links dont work either anymore.

They removed dropbear (still dont know, why it was on there).

They put a password on the root user.

But all aplications still seem to run as root.

As for wiping configs. I would think that they replaced the complete /etc/ folder and exchanged a few binaries. All my configfiles have been removed aswell.

Since there is no direct access method, there must be some way to flash the device.

The only open port now is 6000 which must be the X11 port.

So now we can only get root access in four ways i can think of.

find an exploit for the X11 on port 6000.
find an exploit with minimo.
find an exploit with xpdf.
find flash mechanism.

so far i dont know any. Do you?

Hmhh it's an old version of the Gecko engine. Aren't there any leaks for it?

I think the just turned off all links in xpdf, as normal links dont work either anymore.


hmm... links inside a document (to some doc page) still work. About other links I don't know.

wiljo

So you guys think I belong to the meditation thread?

Possibly. I'm scared shitless of what's going on there. I get the impression that I spent a lot of money (I ebayed my Zaurus for this!) on the wrong device. I've spent enough time with programmers. My educated guess is that the firmware difference between the eFlyBook and our 2.5 is arinc.ipk. I just makes no sense to develop largely different firmwares on this system.

The picture in my head is that somebody looked an energy consumptions and figured the device could theoretically have about 15 hours battery if everything was turned off when not needed. And some sales guy / manager translated this to "work week times 3 hours", completely ignoring that "theoretically" doesn't mean "really". And now they struggled to increase battery time by addressing the worst energy consumer (cpu), proclaimed it'd by "8 hours", later reduce it to "greatly" and finally just get one additional hour. And next week they simply remove the 3xweek-announement from their website, just like they did with DRM.

And if I'm sitting here in some month with an Iliad with 5-8 hours battery and xpdf rendering my pages in 20 seconds, I truly spent an awful amount of money for something that's not nearly worth it.

And so far, all my pessimistic assumptions came true (or were too optimistic).

well you would have thought getting the power saving would be one of the first things you would implement.

hmm... links inside a document (to some doc page) still work. About other links I don't know.

wiljo

Really? I will try.

EDITED: I have tried. They work. Amusing.

Hmm, i think all the loopholes have been closed due to our findings.
Why should storing the pagenumber render the starting of external programms useless? I think the just turned off all links in xpdf, as normal links dont work either anymore.


In 2.4 links were turned off after the second page because at such moment you had already pressed some key and control was dependent someway of iRex software. Now in 2.5

AGAIN, and this is the second time, we have a contradictory report: wiljo tells that internal links (such as footnote jumping etc) do work. [EDITED: here my vote goes with wiljo. I have tested the pdf specification document, and it jumps]



As for wiping configs. I would think that they replaced the complete /etc/ folder and exchanged a few binaries. All my configfiles have been removed aswell.

Actually they have a directory (/mnt/configs or something so) exactly to prvent the removal of configurations; the file in /etc is theoretically obsolete, as the registry loads from the file in /var (which in turn is a link to /mnt/...). But the install of 2.5 still does not take care very well of the saved config, it seems, if everything disappears (well, username is kept).

The picture in my head is that somebody looked an energy consumptions and figured the device could theoretically have about 15 hours battery if everything was turned off when not needed. And some sales guy / manager translated this to "work week times 3 hours", completely ignoring that "theoretically" doesn't mean "really". And now they struggled to increase battery time by addressing the worst energy consumer (cpu), proclaimed it'd by "8 hours", later reduce it to "greatly" and finally just get one additional hour. And next week they simply remove the 3xweek-announement from their website, just like they did with DRM.

Welcome to the world of marketing. Personally, I see an increase in battery life by 22 % as good news. And if they can continue to make improvement then this would be even better.

And if I'm sitting here in some month with an Iliad with 5-8 hours battery and xpdf rendering my pages in 20 seconds, I truly spent an awful amount of money for something that's not nearly worth it.

Um... Well yes, thats what we were told before we bought it... The Illiad is a work in progress of a new type of technology. I see the Illiad as getting in on the bottom rung of something that could change how we view books and electronic documents.

Oh, and which would you prefer...? The Sony Reader released sometime whenever, or a pre-release Illiad now, and improving over time...? I'm guessing both products will be "finished" at the same time. Just we get to play with the Illiad now. :D

can people guess at what savings are still to be made?
1. variable cpu speed
2. suspend when not doing anything
3. turn off wlan when not being used
4. wacom off when pen in holder
5. optimizing apps to be more efficient

what has been done so far?

can people guess at what savings are still to be made?
1. variable cpu speed
2. suspend when not doing anything
3. turn off wlan when not being used
4. wacom off when pen in holder
5. optimizing apps to be more efficient

what has been done so far?

#4 is implemented in 2.5

#3 seems to work aswell. At lesat i dont see the wlan card anymore. And the dhcp polling has stopped (in /var/log/messages).
#1 seems to be at least partially implemented, as the battery drains alot less, when the iLiad is just lying around.

The picture in my head is that somebody looked an energy consumptions and figured the device could theoretically have about 15 hours battery if everything was turned off when not needed.

If the Zaurus C860 can do it with a TINY battery, the iLiad can do it too: Go to and from standby in no time. Run forever.

whats the size of the battery in a zaurus, and how long does it run?

whats the size of the battery in a zaurus, and how long does it run?

In the SL-5500, it's 950mAh and it lasts for 3 hours, or about 1.5 hours using wifi (socket CF low power wifi card) -- IIRC, as it has been a long time since I last used the SL-5500
in the SL-6000L, it's 1500mAh and it lasts for about 8h, or about 3.5 hours using wifi (integrated)

I use them with wifi, so those are the figures you should trust ;-).

I don't know about the C-series, but they should be similar to the SL-6000.

Err, I have the SL-5500 and I get a good deal more than 3 hours. 4 at least.

In the SL-5500, it's 950mAh and it lasts for 3 hours, or about 1.5 hours using wifi (socket CF low power wifi card) -- IIRC, as it has been a long time since I last used the SL-5500
btw... recharge fully the battery and store it off of the device.

The Zaurus C-860 battery's capacity is 1700 mAH. It's 5cm x 3cm x 1cm. Apparently someone managed to run it with screen off, wifi (CF-card) on and headphones plugged into it streaming music for 12 hours. I believe him, because when I am using it, I don't have to care about battery state during the day. But I have to care about the energy state when I am using the iLiad, because you can nearly see the battery drain when you are scribbling...

The Zaurus doesn't have a real power switch, it just suspends and resumes in no time. So actually you nearly never have to boot it. It's nice and I do not know why this shouldn't be possible with the iLiad as well. After all it does have more or less the same ingredients and lacks a thirsty mega bright vga color display...

well, the battery in the iLiad is only 1100 mAh.

I really hope, they get a much better battery life out if it.

Its really a mistake, not to have a replaceable battery.

... and lacks a thirsty mega bright vga color display...
Yep, but it has a mega-EM-bright radar screen.

Yep, but it has a mega-EM-bright radar screen.

????????

He means the Zaurus used an energy hungry colour LCD with abcklight and the iLiad uses an e-ink screen.

He means the Zaurus used an energy hungry colour LCD with abcklight and the iLiad uses an e-ink screen.

That's what I wrote. So I still do not understand it.

Yep, but it has a mega-EM-bright radar screen.

Yes, but it has a mega-electromagnetic(radiation)-bright radar screen. I think this is referring to the always-on wireless that the iliad has. :rolleyes5

Yep, but it has a mega-EM-bright radar screen.

Yes, but it has a mega-electromagnetic(radiation)-bright radar screen. I think this is referring to the always-on wireless that the iliad has. :rolleyes5

Nope. I refer to the wacom. How is that nobody is surprised that the Wacon pen does not need to rechage batteries, nor even touch the screen to work? When I got my NCR 3125 (x386DX pentablet) I was surprised because of that.

(Test the latter: in the drawing program, press the tip of the pen while it is near the screen)

How is that nobody is surprised that the Wacon pen does not need to rechage batteries, nor even touch the screen to work?

That sounds like a reasonably good reason for not allowing iLiads to be turned on in an aeroplane ... but as you say, would any owner realise it?

Or am I being paranoid?

That sounds like a reasonably good reason for not allowing iLiads to be turned on in an aeroplane ... but as you say, would any owner realise it?

Or am I being paranoid?

Probably. A lot of people have used pen notebooks for years now, and most of them use the wacom.