Hi a few days ago I started a poll on the-ebook.org (http://www.the-ebook.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=13834) if there is any interest in creating a wiki on the pocketbook free page (http://pocketbook-free.sourceforge.net/en/index.shtml)

I think it would be a great idea to have an multilanguage wiki on pocketbook-free.sourceforge.net. So that we can collect informations about inkview/ininternal create an documentation, and maybe even can introduce/present our applications on a central plattform, so that no app is going to be lost in the downs of a forum .(Now devs are using mobileread or the-ebook.org so it's very hard to get informations about what is already done etc )

What do you think ?



Because I want that wiki to be useful for English/German developers too I decided to ask the same Question here too.

So feel free to discuss! German discussion (http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?p=881583)

Thats sounds like a great idea.

I think it's a great idea, too.

There is only one thing I would like to change on PocketBook. Inexcusable lack of development information.

So far there are only tiny handful of third-party applications, user generated themes and other things for PocketBook. If you want to develop for PocketBook, or even to make only a small change to an already developed program (like FBReader) you have to:
- be a skilled developer in C
- know Linux
- know how to develop for Embeded Debian and cross compile the app for ARM processor.
There are only few programmers that fit the bill, but their number is even more restricted by fact that you have to be able to read documentation in Russian and the only forum on earth where you can discuss development at the moment is Russian speaking The-Ebook.org

[WARNING - long rant ahead :D]

<rant mode>
Even here on Mobileread, most of the activity goes on on German Speaking PocketBook forum and all the announcements come here - to the English speaking PocketBook forum - after a delay, when Ulli, or mtravellerh, or some other Good Samaritan takes a pity and drops us a crumb of information from time to time.
Just to give one small example: We - the non-German-speaking Mobilereaders are left in complete dark regarding the firmware update we were promised exactly FOUR WEEKS ago
... The new firmware will be available today or tomorrow, so things should be more stable from there. We apologize for the trouble you all are having.


Even if you are not a seasoned Embeded Linux hacker and you want to make a theme you have to use automatically (translate.google.com) translated documentation. Even the original Russian documentation that comes with the Theme Builder is VERY sketchy and comes with examples that cover only parts of the functionality.


I do not get it.
THE main reason why I took interest in PocketBook devices was that I saw the crowdsourcing the PocketBook company did on The-Ebook.org forum. I saw the company implementing things the users desired the most, I saw company that closely cooperated with their intended user base. I saw the company to declare a bounty - a 100% rebate on a PocketBook reader of your choice - for the best third-party program for the device.
PocketBook company made an extremely hacker/thinkerer/geek friendly device, only to sabotage their wonderful effort by a complete lack of documentation.

Come on, PocketBook! How difficult it is to install a screen capturing program on a machine, start it and make a 30 minutes show demonstrating use of SDK in creating a simple application?
How difficult it is to show us how to modify the default theme? How to change a position of quick menu icon, how to include series name in book description in Library view?
</rant mode>

@kacir the new FW for the PB302 actuall has some bugs that need to be fixed, if you want to beta test it , contact Fork
I absolutly agree with you on the topic of the missing docu so thats I want the wiki to be.
And maybe the Original developers will also paricipated and we can fix this problem soon ^^.

I hope if enough people shows interest the pb staff will open a wiki on pocketbook-free, if not I hope I will find a way to host it.

And because I don't speak a word russian hopefully the people from the-ebook.org will post in english

@kacir the new FW for the PB302 actuall has some bugs that need to be fixed,
I am talking about the new firmware for PocketBook 360. Recent firmware 15.1 brings some important functionality (like support of Win 1250) but isn't as stable as 14.2.
You see, we were spoiled by PocketBook and their absolutely rock stable versions of firmware. I did not need to reset my PocketBook 360 for months, despite furious testing, playing with features.

I have read somewhere on German forums (using translate.google.com) that Forkosigan is testing it, but that was a few weeks ago.

I would LOVE to be a betatester for the new firmware.
- I am a power user and I can deal with quite a few issues, especially when I know I can actually help with the development of my favorite system.
- I can supply meaningful descriptions of bugs, glitches and crashes
- Most of the time I use my Reader for reading ;-), but sometimes I play with features or configuration options that very few people use.

A wiki would help development, yes, but also it would help sell the product.
Somebody ought to point it out to the Pocketbook folks.
The PB software lets you do a *lot* but if you don't *know* about it, a feature won't do you any good.

First, you need to know the capability exists.
Second, you need access to it.
Third, you need to know how to use it.

Promotion, distribution, documentation.
All can be done via wiki a lot cheaper than running around the world from trade show to trade show. ;)

A wiki is a *necessary* first step but only a first step.

So far, PB has gotten their foot in the door through a quality product and word-of-mouth. To be a true player in the industry they have to step it up, especially in the west. Word-of-mouth alone won't do it. Not in the global consumer electronics business.

Competing platforms are moving into Pocketbook territory; Nook and Kindle are getting *official* app support. Sony won't be far behind. Android is going to start appearing on readers. Apple is rumored to be working on smaller, cheaper hardware. And Microsoft is getting serious about WinMO again.

By this time next year things are going to get tough for all the second-tier vendors. Count on it. They'll have to ramp volume up seriously and that will only happen in one of two ways; either through rock-bottom pricing (which isn't Pocketbook's game, so far) or high-quality/high visibility that justifies a premium. The quality is there but the visibility isn't; not outside the enthusiast niche.

Pocketbook has maybe a year to ramp up their western presence or be swept away. Product quality and word-of-mouth alone will not suffice.
The time to act is now.

I'm sorry. I was too optimistical about the FW update. Somehow the problem is largely more involve3d than I thought at first. Our devs are slaving away to really fix the cide. We know all of you are rather impatient, but we won't release any firmware unless it's at least as stable as 14.2.

So with the guys from the-ebook.org there are 36 vote for creating a wiki, zero people don't have an opinion and also zero people hates the idea, so what does the GFK or the guys with an uplink to the GFK say ?

btw kacir thanks for the karma

It might be a bit "unclean", but why don't you create a small wiki in Wikidot or similar services? It's quite easy to set-up and start to write documentation for it.

If I read this (http://sourceforge.net/apps/trac/sourceforge/wiki/Hosted%20Apps) correct, it should be pretty easy to add a MediaWiki to the sourceforge site. But we need a admin from the pocketbook-free project to do it...

If you don't get a pocketbook-free project admin to open one, i'm ready to open a Wikidot wiki. As we say in Spanish, a stone gives less...

If you don't get a pocketbook-free project admin to open one, i'm ready to open a Wikidot wiki. As we say in Spanish, a stone gives less...

I would say let's wait a few days and hopefully we will get an answer soon

I would say let's wait a few days and hopefully we will get an answer soon

Please give a few more days, I am quite busy here right now.

Please give a few more days, I am quite busy here right now.

Sounds like some good news. Thanks for the anwser :iloveyou:

So a few days has passed, the weekend is over.

What is the status ? Anything new ?

My offer is still on foot :)

t.t created the wiki on sf:
http://sourceforge.net/apps/mediawiki/pocketbook-free/index.php?title=Main_Page (http://sourceforge.net/apps/mediawiki/pocketbook-free/index.php?title=Main_Page)

According to his post here (http://www.the-ebook.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=13834&sid=64f758b12e24553ccb2622c4c9b9a763), klu4nik is now the main admin of the sf-project. so I guess he is the one to ask to get a member of the project. (I don't think it is possible to edit the wiki without an account there)

So I started a rough basic Main Page creation feel free to post comment or your own ideas (What's missing etc. pp.)

Link to thw Wiki -> Look in my signature