VM Cruz reader?

[Gonbigger]

I use Calibre for my wifes Sony reader and love it. My Velocity Micro Cruz reader R101 should be getting here today, is anyone working on support for these readers?

[Manichean]

Yes, you are. There's a FAQ entry on how to get devices supported by Calibre.

[Scotti]

Hello, I too have a Velocity Cruz on the way and am hoping that the calibre library will be compatible. Does anyone have any easy, helpful hints or thoughts on this.

[Gonbigger]

Originally Posted by Manichean

Yes, you are. There's a FAQ entry on how to get devices supported by Calibre.

I will get right on it now that I have it in hand!

[Gonbigger]

Well it runs android so just using it to convert anything to e-pub and use FBReader and it should work just fine. I use the Fetch function for news on Calibre a lot so I am really glad this will work with mine as well.

Thanks for the help!

[Ahouroushi]

If anyone's interested, I've looked into the source code, and there's support for the Cruz, but it's only rudimentary, and it has a hardcoded folder path to dump the books into.
Seeing as i don't use that particular folder for my books, much less the 'garbage dump' (everything in one folder, no sub-folders) method of organizing them, I modified the source to add support for more possible book locations, and added an output profile for the Cruz.

Patch attached.

P.S. Kovid, if you're reading this and have any comments, or need a tester for this device, please PM me, I'd love to help any way I can.

P.P.S. If anyone is interested in a patch for an installed windows copy of Calibre, PM me.

[kovidgoyal]

Does the reading app on the cruz actually support sub folders? I am wondering why they are explicitly turned off in the driver.

And is a separate output profile really needed? The genric one should work fine for that screen size.

[Ahouroushi]

Kovid, the Cruz runs Android and therefore supports multiple different apps, the default app is Kobo which doesn't support externally introduced books(e.g. anything not from their store) at all, so most people use something else.
I personally use FBReader and it puts the books in 'Books', so that's where i default to, but some people use the Kindle app, and it defaults to another folder (I'll look into it and get back to you).
The output profile is because I sometimes use my Cruz for reading manga or comics, so i want to make the best use of screen real estate, while minimizing the file size, so having Calibre resize the images is the easiest way.
As for supporting subfolders, FBReader does and can even use them to help fill in missing metadata, the Kindle app doesn't, I don't think, but then i haven't tried it in awhile, so again, I'll look into it.

As for formats, FBReader supports:
['epub', 'pdb', 'txt', 'html', 'prc', 'mobi', 'fb2']
and the Kindle app supports:
['azw', 'azw1', 'azw4', 'mobi', 'prc']
(to the best of my knowledge)

And besides all of this, there are about 5-6 different models of 'Cruz', but I'm fairly certain that most of those using Calibre will be using the 'R101', (the 'Reader') as opposed to one of the T10x or T30x models(the 'Tablets').

Edit: The Kindle app is hardcoded to the 'kindle' folder and doesn't support subfolders, (except for it's 'covers' folder).

[kovidgoyal]

Sounds rather incoherent. I don't really see how a single driver can be written to support both those apps. Either the files have to go into Books or into Kindle, and the set of file formats is different as well. I think it would be easier to just disable the driver and use the connect to folder feature in calibre for this device.

[Ahouroushi]

That's what I'm actually using currently, as the modified driver doesn't seem to properly distinguish between 'Main Memory' and 'Card A' and consistently puts the books into the wrong folder on the wrong card.

As a counter-measure for having multiple apps, would it be possible to have certain devices (as I'm certain this isn't the only one with the potential for this problem) to have a dialog box pop up asking which app to use, then store the result, using said result to determine which of the 2(3,4, etc.) different drivers to use? Or even have, for instance, all Android based 'driver's pull in a separate 'class' or 'object' (not too clear on the proper terminology) that reads the 'which app' setting and returns the appropriate configuration, Thus saving code (as all of the Android device drivers would call the same bit of code) and opening up options for the user.

P.S. I'm still learning Python, but I'd be willing to help where i can.

[kovidgoyal]

You can do that by customizing the driver. It's implemented for android devices, go to Preferences->Plugins and try customizing the android driver. Is the cruz an actual open android device? i.e. can you install any reader app you want on it out of the box, without jailbreaking it? If so, the solution might be to change it to use the android driver.

[Ahouroushi]

It doesn't have the Market app, but for the most part, if it will run on 2.0.1 then yes it can be installed on the Cruz Reader, the Cruz Tablet(s) run:
T10x series = 2.0.1
T30x series = 2.2
T40x series = 2.3

Instead of the Android Market (as it can't make phone calls and has no gps it's not allowed to have that) it has the 'Cruz Market' an encapsulated web page from Velocity Micro, that has other readers available.

Also, strictly speaking, the Cruz readers are nearly rooted out of the box, the only thing needed to finish the job is to add the actual root (su) command executable, due to the manufacturers not having locked anything down.

[kovidgoyal]

Sounds like it might be worth switching to the Android driver

[Ahouroushi]

I've taken my 'hacking' a step further and put together plugins for each of the different Cruz devices, these only include the output profiles, so they won't help with path detection, but the custom driver can be used for that.

As these only contain output profiles, they're only of help if you're having trouble with image sizing (for comic books, manga, or, in rare cases cover images), or if your books consistently don't look right on your device.

To add the profile to Calibre, just download the file appropriate for your device, then, in Calibre, navigate
Preferences -> Plugins and click the 'Load plugin from file' button on the bottom right, then choose the downloaded file.