Coolreader

[rkomar]

Originally Posted by Roos

What i am missing is a key_home for the home button on the 90x
and the 2 + / - buttons under the volume ones (or above?) Pah, have no idea what they are for, never used them except for booting with firmware change

So, any ideas or suggestions to make the list complete?

I would guess that the Home button is handled internally by Inkview applications and never passed to the event handler, so they left it out of the definitions. As for the two +/- magnification buttons, I think they will probably be defined within the next SDK release. If you're in a rush, you could hack the grays or inkdemo program to write out the code for each keypress event, and then push each button and see what it says.

The +/- magnification buttons do currently work within at least some of the various default reader programs (maybe all of them, I can't remember).

Edit: Okay, I did it myself. Home -> 0x1a, Mag+ -> 0x07, Mag- -> 0x06. The Home keypress _is_ passed to the event handler, but the application quits and jumps to the home screen anyway, so it's not really useful within Inkview-based programs. Maybe it's different for Gtk-based programs; I don't know.

[reader42]

Originally Posted by Roos

What i am missing is a key_home for the home button on the 90x
and the 2 + / - buttons under the volume ones (or above?)

The key definitions are from the old SDK, so I would not be surprised, if some keys on the new models are missing. But there is any easy way to find out:
Open a book and press the buttons and close it.
The connect the reader to the PC and check the log-file.
Search for something like:

TRACE EVT_KEYRELEASE

If two lines down something like "Accelerator applied" occurs, it was a key which is already mapped to an action.
If something like "Accelerator not found" or something similar (I don't have a file to check right now) appears, you have found the new key.
All you have to do now, is define it in keydefs.ini with the number behind EVT_KEYRELEASE and map it in keymaps.ini

And of course post the result here

[MartinZ]

Hi there,

i tried Keys on my PB903 and have changed/completed the definitions of the (inofficial) SDK this way:
(bold for the keys really existing on PB903)
(italics for my own declarations)

KEY_BACK 0x1b
KEY_DELETE 0x08
KEY_OK 0x0a
KEY_UP 0x11
KEY_DOWN 0x12
KEY_LEFT 0x13
KEY_RIGHT 0x14
KEY_MINUS 0x15
KEY_PLUS 0x16
KEY_MENU 0x17
KEY_MUSIC 0x1e //(in fact that is the PB903's Power-Button however!)

KEY_POWER 0x01 //("0x01" does not exist on PB903, POWER-KEY is 0x1e)

KEY_PREV 0x18
KEY_NEXT 0x19
KEY_PREV2 0x1c //was named "KEY_PREV" in SDK but is wrong
KEY_NEXT2 0x1d //was named "KEY_NEXT" in SDK but is wrong

KEY_ZOOMPLUS 0x07
KEY_ZOOMMINUS 0x06
KEY_HOME 0x1a


YOu can easily check these codes with my little app
rename attachment "hello_mar.bin" to "hello_mar.app" and copy to Pbook

[askyn]

Sorry for the question, but I had never heard of Coolreader before this thread opened up.

What would be the advantages / differences about using coolreader vs the fbreader thats on the PB360?

faster?
better handling of formatting?

or ...?

thank you =)

[paola]

Originally Posted by MartinZ

Hi there,

i tried Keys on my PB903 and have changed/completed the definitions of the (inofficial) SDK this way:
(bold for the keys really existing on PB903)
(italics for my own declarations)

KEY_BACK 0x1b
KEY_DELETE 0x08
KEY_OK 0x0a
KEY_UP 0x11
KEY_DOWN 0x12
KEY_LEFT 0x13
KEY_RIGHT 0x14
KEY_MINUS 0x15
KEY_PLUS 0x16
KEY_MENU 0x17
KEY_MUSIC 0x1e //(in fact that is the PB903's Power-Button however!)

KEY_POWER 0x01 //("0x01" does not exist on PB903, POWER-KEY is 0x1e)

KEY_PREV 0x18
KEY_NEXT 0x19
KEY_PREV2 0x1c //was named "KEY_PREV" in SDK but is wrong
KEY_NEXT2 0x1d //was named "KEY_NEXT" in SDK but is wrong

KEY_ZOOMPLUS 0x07
KEY_ZOOMMINUS 0x06
KEY_HOME 0x1a


YOu can easily check these codes with my little app
rename attachment "hello_mar.bin" to "hello_mar.app" and copy to Pbook

please have mercy on somebody who does not really know what she is doing
I have modified the keydef.ini with your list above, and I have used Kacir's keymap.ini. However, something is wrong, as when I open coolreader I get question marks instead of button names. Any suggestions?
One thing I did with respect to your list above is that I added "=" everywhere, e.g. you wrote "KEY_BACK 0x1b", while I wrote "KEY_BACK=0x1b".
Many thanks!

EDIT: PLEASE IGNORE REQUEST, I've read the thread better, this seems to be expected at this stage.

[kacir]

Originally Posted by askyn

What would be the advantages / differences about using coolreader vs the fbreader thats on the PB360?

faster?
better handling of formatting?

it is ... different ;-)

Coolreader runs on other e-ink devices, it runs on PDAs, so many people grew fond of it. It is part of highly regarded OpenInkpot.

Some people say it handles epubs better. JimStar, the guy who was the first to port the Coolreader did it:
1. to piss off the PocketBook developers (with whom he had a quarrel on Russian speaking forum The-ebook.org)
2. to taunt us (PocketBook readers owners) with a nifty app he wouldn't share
3. because he says it handles tables in epub documents better. ;-)

I *personally* like the way FBReader displays epubs. It throws away most of the formatting, so I can override formatting with my preferred font, justification ... The thing is, I read mostly fiction. If I wanted to read programming manual that relies on formatting of the text to convey information, that has lots of illustrations and tables I would definitely load my book to CoolReader to see if it is better than official PocketBook app.

Some people do not like the way FBReader throws away the formatting, and they also dislike the way the default epub reader on PocketBook makes text left justified and with annoying pagenumbers (that clash with text) on the right margin. For those people CoolReader might be very interesting choice.

CoolReader has sophisticated css files for individual file formats it handles in its config directory. I thing that modification of those files would let you to fine-tune the formatting of the displayed text. For me, this is the most interesting feature at the moment.

Even those early betas are quite usable for reading texts.

[askyn]

sounds interesting,

my pb360 is currently being shipped back from a repair again, ill have to keep an eye on this thread to see what happens, and maybe check it out when i get my reader back.

Thank you

[skydive]

Totally agreed with kacir! fbreader is good!!! for my requirements! and I will not upgrade to 2.0.5 because the horror posting that I have seen!!

so for me fbreader is good!!

Originally Posted by kacir

it is ... different ;-)

Coolreader runs on other e-ink devices, it runs on PDAs, so many people grew fond of it. It is part of highly regarded OpenInkpot.

Some people say it handles epubs better. JimStar, the guy who was the first to port the Coolreader did it:
1. to piss off the PocketBook developers (with whom he had a quarrel on Russian speaking forum The-ebook.org)
2. to taunt us (PocketBook readers owners) with a nifty app he wouldn't share
3. because he says it handles tables in epub documents better. ;-)

I *personally* like the way FBReader displays epubs. It throws away most of the formatting, so I can override formatting with my preferred font, justification ... The thing is, I read mostly fiction. If I wanted to read programming manual that relies on formatting of the text to convey information, that has lots of illustrations and tables I would definitely load my book to CoolReader to see if it is better than official PocketBook app.

Some people do not like the way FBReader throws away the formatting, and they also dislike the way the default epub reader on PocketBook makes text left justified and with annoying pagenumbers (that clash with text) on the right margin. For those people CoolReader might be very interesting choice.

CoolReader has sophisticated css files for individual file formats it handles in its config directory. I thing that modification of those files would let you to fine-tune the formatting of the displayed text. For me, this is the most interesting feature at the moment.

Even those early betas are quite usable for reading texts.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by askyn

What would be the advantages / differences about using coolreader vs the fbreader thats on the PB360?

The differences are mostly a matter of personal preference and, on the PB360, of the maturity of the app.

FBReader is already a polished app, fully-integrated into the PB reading environment (uses the PB dictionary functions, note-taking, start-up page option, etc). It also has a built-in GUI front-end for its extensive customization options. Oh, and FBReader supports Mobi/PRC files, which Coolreader 3 doesn't.

Coolreader, being still in beta, lacks the PB360 integration and the cosmetics are likely a work in progress. It does offer two compelling features:

1- like the Adobe Reader, it respects epub embedded CSS formatting (like the AdobeReader app) while allowing basic end-user overides for baseline font, margins, line-spacing (which requires the hacked app on PB360). It also has a toggle that lets you choose to ignore the embedded CSS the way FBReader does.

2- it offers a dual-column landscape mode. It might seem like a novelty but on larger screen devices the feature is useful. On 6" readers the scan width is a tad narrow unless you use a small font size; on the PB IQ it starts to be reasonable and on 902/903 it should be really useful.

For those that don't mind getting their hands dirty, Coolreader offers full external overides, similar to FBReader, but by file type. It references a separate CSS file for each supported file type: epub, fb2, rtf, chm, txt, html.

I've used both Coolreader and FBreader on my old BeBook 1 and IQ and it is nice to see the PB360 get the newer Coolreader 3 version (at last! No superscript/subscript bug on rtf!) at about the same level of functionality as the Android version that runs on the Pocketbook IQ. Very nice job!

On the Pocketbook IQ Coolreader 3 and FBreader are roughly neck and neck with FBReader's mobi and OPDS support counterbalanced by Coolreader's embedded CSS support and dual-column landscape options.

Which to use is mostly a matter of preference and specific need; how much end-user control do you want/need?

The fun part is that the PB360 now has 5 ebook reader apps to choose from; two FBReaders, two Adobe readers, and Coolreader 3.

Unfortunately, there's *still* no LIT support.

[J.C.]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

Unfortunately, there's *still* no LIT support.

I suspect thats more of a matter of Microsoft 'not allowing it / porting the reader' or demanding licensing fees to allow it.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by J.C.

I suspect thats more of a matter of Microsoft 'not allowing it / porting the reader' or demanding licensing fees to allow it.

Uh, no.
There are at least two apps that read lits on other platforms; Golden Crater Software's Tiny Reader and Amazon's Stanza.
And Tiny Reader runs on Microsoft's old WinMo smartphones.
No "cease and desist" letters and no royalties required.
The Hanlin V3 and V5 ebook readers also feature LIT support with no flack from MS.

As is, LIT in internally very similar to epub as both are based on oeb; the only differences are in the compression algorithms and the DRM, which is why Calibre converts DRM-free LITs to epub faster than just about anything.

There is no magic involved; just little desire on the part of reader app developers.

[J.C.]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

There is no magic involved; just little desire on the part of reader app developers.

Great, in that case we should perhaps try and motivate those guys, I'm pretty sure the reader apps weren't written by the GiK just adapted to the pocketbook platform.
What could use more pressure on the GiK side is them finally releasing the SDK for the new models.

[Metal Mick]

HI all,

like askyn, I was wondering what Coolreader was all about, after thinking firstly of the device itself. (My ignorance - sorry!)

I haven't looked into this as yet, but I surely will - despite everything, I quite like my 302 and am happy to experiment a little.

Many thanks to all involved in this, I appreciate it.

Cheers,

[Sunlite]

Can anyone tell me what entry in the keymap.ini enables me to change to a chapter through the TOC?

I am able to go to the TOC and navigate in it (select an entry, change page inside the TOC), but when I use MCMD_OK to leaf the TOC, I end up at the page that was active before I went to the TOC.

Help would be very much appreciated.

[reader42]

Originally Posted by Sunlite

Can anyone tell me what entry in the keymap.ini enables me to change to a chapter through the TOC?

You have to change the [dialog] section.