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GarthConboy · 09-13-2007, 01:30 AM

The eBookwise-1150 (hardware-wise originally the REB-1100 or the GEB-1150; firmware-wise upgraded from the GEB-1150) [aka the eBook Technologies, Inc. ETI-2] was originally designed and manufactured in 2000/2001 and subsequently re-manufactured in 2002/2003. Due to the age of the design substantive hardware modifications are unlikely -- though, especially given it's price point, it remains a surprisingly functional and "non stale" device. However, one could envision certain hardware enhancements that would be possible (e.g. enlarging internal memory [currently 8MB NAND Flash] and replacing the internal battery with a higher capacity one).

Firmware (the software running inside the device) in another issue. The firmware has been updated numerous times since it was introduced in late 2004 as the eBookwise-1150. The firmware version that the current units are built with is 4.2f17 (we should/will make this generally available for server installation shortly). The 4.2f17 changes (from 4.1f43) are described at the end of this message. Such features as bookshelf sorting control were incrementally added during the 4.1 versions. Additional bug fixes and enhancements (to firmware and content tools) are likely.

Now a few comments about EInk screens. We have been doing some public prototyping work (http://www.ebooktechnologies.com/toureinkproto.htm) and have other non-public projects under way.

There are clearly technical and religious tradeoffs between LCD and EInk. EInk can not be back-lit. EInk (with smart software) can only use power when "turning pages." There are possible ways to think about "front lighting" EInk (with the power-use downside). No current EInk devices (except Irex, as far as I know) use a touch-screen with EInk. However, both use of Wacom-style below-the-screen and resitive on-top touch-screens are possible. Of course, LCDs are bright, are likely back-lit, can be read in bed at night, and use a lot of power.

I think the moral to the screen story is that far from all possibilities have been productized to date -- so there will likely be interesting new approaches taken in the coming years.

Best,
Garth Conboy
President
eBook Technologies, Inc.
http://www.eBookTechnologies.com

Changes from 4.1 to 4.2f17 EBW-1150/ETI-2 firmware:

The firmware now supports manufacturing-installed configuration settings. This allows site- or enterprise-specific capabilities or functionality to be configured using standard released firmware.
A problem on the grayscale eBook that could cause spurious lines to be drawn when inking with the screen rotated has been resolved.
If a book has an anchor of the form '<a name="TOC" />' the "goto TOC" shortcut will now (again) correctly find the page and switch to it.
Cross platform content viewing has been enhanced to support alignment adjustment without endian adjustment in certain 16-bit to 32-bit situations.
Fixed a bug that occurred when setting a bookmark such that the bookmark's page number was being calculated unnecessarily. Which wasn't really noticeable on small books, but was very noticeable on books with lots of pages (like, 10,000 pages, for example).
A problem with handling the "cellpadding" attribute of the "table" element has been corrected; right-hand-side spacing is now inserted correctly.
The "margin-left" and "margin-right" CSS properties now correctly calculate margins as relative to their containing block.
When rebooting to start the dial-up modem or continue after firmware installation, the devices now correctly retain the state of the previously requested operation: auto-wakeup, manual-auto-connect, manual trip to bookstore or bookshelf.
Get the status-spinner down when opening a title that contains 100's of markups.
After a page is rendered, save any markups made to the previously viewed page.
A potential crash when highlighting has been fixed.

09-13-2007, 01:30 AM	#10
GarthConboy President, ETI Posts: 4 Karma: 27 Join Date: Sep 2007 Device: ETI-2	Some comments on the EBW-1150 and EInk The eBookwise-1150 (hardware-wise originally the REB-1100 or the GEB-1150; firmware-wise upgraded from the GEB-1150) [aka the eBook Technologies, Inc. ETI-2] was originally designed and manufactured in 2000/2001 and subsequently re-manufactured in 2002/2003. Due to the age of the design substantive hardware modifications are unlikely -- though, especially given it's price point, it remains a surprisingly functional and "non stale" device. However, one could envision certain hardware enhancements that would be possible (e.g. enlarging internal memory [currently 8MB NAND Flash] and replacing the internal battery with a higher capacity one). Firmware (the software running inside the device) in another issue. The firmware has been updated numerous times since it was introduced in late 2004 as the eBookwise-1150. The firmware version that the current units are built with is 4.2f17 (we should/will make this generally available for server installation shortly). The 4.2f17 changes (from 4.1f43) are described at the end of this message. Such features as bookshelf sorting control were incrementally added during the 4.1 versions. Additional bug fixes and enhancements (to firmware and content tools) are likely. Now a few comments about EInk screens. We have been doing some public prototyping work (http://www.ebooktechnologies.com/toureinkproto.htm) and have other non-public projects under way. There are clearly technical and religious tradeoffs between LCD and EInk. EInk can not be back-lit. EInk (with smart software) can only use power when "turning pages." There are possible ways to think about "front lighting" EInk (with the power-use downside). No current EInk devices (except Irex, as far as I know) use a touch-screen with EInk. However, both use of Wacom-style below-the-screen and resitive on-top touch-screens are possible. Of course, LCDs are bright, are likely back-lit, can be read in bed at night, and use a lot of power. I think the moral to the screen story is that far from all possibilities have been productized to date -- so there will likely be interesting new approaches taken in the coming years. Best, Garth Conboy President eBook Technologies, Inc. http://www.eBookTechnologies.com Changes from 4.1 to 4.2f17 EBW-1150/ETI-2 firmware: The firmware now supports manufacturing-installed configuration settings. This allows site- or enterprise-specific capabilities or functionality to be configured using standard released firmware. A problem on the grayscale eBook that could cause spurious lines to be drawn when inking with the screen rotated has been resolved. If a book has an anchor of the form '<a name="TOC" />' the "goto TOC" shortcut will now (again) correctly find the page and switch to it. Cross platform content viewing has been enhanced to support alignment adjustment without endian adjustment in certain 16-bit to 32-bit situations. Fixed a bug that occurred when setting a bookmark such that the bookmark's page number was being calculated unnecessarily. Which wasn't really noticeable on small books, but was very noticeable on books with lots of pages (like, 10,000 pages, for example). A problem with handling the "cellpadding" attribute of the "table" element has been corrected; right-hand-side spacing is now inserted correctly. The "margin-left" and "margin-right" CSS properties now correctly calculate margins as relative to their containing block. When rebooting to start the dial-up modem or continue after firmware installation, the devices now correctly retain the state of the previously requested operation: auto-wakeup, manual-auto-connect, manual trip to bookstore or bookshelf. Get the status-spinner down when opening a title that contains 100's of markups. After a page is rendered, save any markups made to the previously viewed page. A potential crash when highlighting has been fixed.