[toka]

@ixtab

Motivation: i work as a teacher in a private alternative school and one of our pupils could use this device. I imagine, that that kind of hacks would be usefull for a lot more people.
We are located in brandenburg, germany.


Custom interface / two modes: yes, that would be the best implementation.

If we switch to "wish you something" or brainstorming mode:
a clear simple logic of the user interface with visual feedback would be best.

The interface block would be a touch zone, which is activated by touching a configurable time. Some visual feedback (a growing bar or pie chart animation) gives imediate response how long to press and prevents inadvertent inputs.
The touch zones could be configurable in a text file.
As you suggest, there could be a "read mode", providing only "back" and "forward".
The best use for the home button in our case would be "go up", which could be me more gradient, say switching from "read book" -> "select chapter" -> "select book" -> "select genre" (cascading set of few options as design principle).
Visual feedback of needed pressing time for the home button would prevent false inputs.

navigation would basically be similar to a simple mp3 player, a cursor with
"left / back"
"right / forward"
"top/ zoom navigation out"
"down/ select / zoom in"

Exactly as you proposed in your images:
three touch zones for selecting content "left","select","right"
and the home button to "zoom out" in the navigation tree.

The navigation tree could be configured by a text file globaly to choose books.
Additional "inner book" navigation could be provided by other text files or inside the ebook.

Switching to /from "easy mode" could be done with some multiple press / morse code interface.


Is it possible to use the usb port as host ?
This would allow to connect a custom interaface by cable or bluetooth, which could be optimized for the persons special needs.