First Sony Reader Update Available!

[Amalthia]

At this point I'd love to be able to create collections on my SD memory card. i have 1 gig of space and at 218 books on my device I have to page through 20 pages to get to the author I want to read if I'm looking for Tad Williams.

I really can't afford to add too many more books or it'll become completely unmanagble.

[igorsk]

Originally Posted by scotty1024

What astonishes me with this update is that they didn't fix the broken PDF rendering. The fix for the moth eaten text is very simple and I don't understand why Sony didn't implement it.

My guess is that they get a ready-made library from Adobe and have little ways affecting how it works. Seeing as FskDocumentViewerAdobe was not changed in the update, I think we'll have to wait until Adobe decided to do something.

[Bob Russell]

Originally Posted by igorsk

My guess is that they get a ready-made library from Adobe and have little ways affecting how it works. Seeing as FskDocumentViewerAdobe was not changed in the update, I think we'll have to wait until Adobe decided to do something.

I think you're right on with this guess. I'm thinking way back to pre-release information, and I believe I did hear that it used Adobe software. I think you see Adobe logos in the documentation and splash screens also don't you? But hopefully, that doesn't mean that it can't be improved.

[NatCh]

Originally Posted by scotty1024

I'd agree with you Bob if the PRS500 was indeed a "first device", but it isn't.

The Sony Librie had many of the features most people have been drubbing the Reader for not supplying.

Weeeell, in a sense it is a first device ... kinda. I see what you're saying, and I actually agree with the point, but they'd probably say that it's their first device in the U.S. market, and I'd think part of their design changes likely have to do with how dismally the Librié failed in the Japanese market -- that's pure guessing, of course.

Originally Posted by scotty1024

What astonishes me with this update is that they didn't fix the broken PDF rendering. The fix for the moth eaten text is very simple and I don't understand why Sony didn't implement it.

Clearly, the reason for this is because they aren't working with you, as I for one, wish they would.

Originally Posted by orcinus

... it makes no sense to keep comparing it to a feature set of an average paper back either (especially not if you're doing that just to justify it's shortcomings).... Doesn't that sound logical?

Yup, it does sound logical, orcinus, but there's another way to look at it. Reading between the lines of what they've said about the matter on various occasions, I think they're very much trying to attract folks who haven't ever, in their entire lives, read anything on an e-reading device. From that perspective, it makes a lot of sense to point out how much like a book the Reader is. It also makes a fair amount of sense not to pile a bunch of features onto it that non-e-readers might see as useless bragware. A lot of folks are put off by that sort of 'extra' stuff, they see it as things that they'd have to spend extra time and effort 'messing with.'

I'm just pointing out another way to look at it is all.

[astra]

Originally Posted by HarryT

With respect, I disagree.

You cannot use a 6" screen to display an A4 document properly; that's not Sony's fault, but simple "common sense". PDFs created for the Sony's screen size - eg the Reader Manual - displayed in a perfectly acceptable manner.

Again, the fact the PDFs can't sensibly be "re-flowed" is not Sony's fault - it's inherent in the format.

PDF is a terrible format for eBooks. That's not what it was designed for, and not what it's good for.

Agree. It is not Sony's fault.

Sony's fault is that they claim that reader can read PDF files. They can read PDF files specifically formatted for Sony Reader only. The regular PDF files, that are A4 and are designed to be A4, cannot be displayed on 6" -this is the reason why Sony cannot say that the reader supports PDF format, because they know beforehand that the end user will not be able to read any of his PDF files. If they provided us with a free software package that could convert any format supported by the reader (including PDFs that it cannot read) into this special Sony PDF format, then sure they can advertise the gadged as a device that supports PDF files.
Yes, if you invite a bunch of lawyers here, they will prove that I am wrong. But from my personal point of view as a buyer, Sony's claim is a lie. As simple as that. As end user I am not supposed to be a pro and understand what can be displayed on 6" monitor. As end user I read specs and I see that it supports PDF. It doesn't unless it is specifically formatted for Sony.

Oh, well I start to repeat myself

[scotty1024]

Originally Posted by igorsk

My guess is that they get a ready-made library from Adobe and have little ways affecting how it works. Seeing as FskDocumentViewerAdobe was not changed in the update, I think we'll have to wait until Adobe decided to do something.

I would be totally and completely amazed if Adobe supplied code that does what the Reader does to the glyphs. My money is on Adobe having supplied the code to render PDF's into Mono8 and Sony doing a quicky conversion to display it on the Reader's screen.

[NatCh]

Okay, Wikipedia has failed me, and I'm not too proud to ask: what's "Mono8," scotty1024? (I'd be happy with a link or a quick nutshell, I don't mean to ask for an answer that will take a lot of time to give)

[igorsk]

8-bit grayscale, I assume.

[RWood]

Maybe this code clip will help

// Draw an image. This will read <h> lines of <w> pixels from
// <src>, starting with the top line. These pixels are assumed to
// be in the source mode, <srcMode>. The following combinations of
// source and target modes are supported:
//
// source target
// ------ ------
// Mono1 Mono1
// Mono8 Mono1 -- with dithering
// Mono8 Mono8

[NatCh]

Okay, you two have convinced me that it's most likely some sort of display format.

Adding that to what scotty1024 initially said on the matter, I'm guessing that this might be where the rumored work to improve PDF display on the Reader (for the rumored Update Next), might be aimed.

I sure hope that last sentence makes some sense to somebody besides me.

[scotty1024]

Originally Posted by NatCh

Okay, Wikipedia has failed me, and I'm not too proud to ask: what's "Mono8," scotty1024? (I'd be happy with a link or a quick nutshell, I don't mean to ask for an answer that will take a lot of time to give)

Mono means monochrome: just black and white of various intensities.
8 means 8 bits per pixel: 256 levels of intensity.

I used my cramfs.java to pull apart the firmware and had a look.

The PDF viewer carries an Adobe copyright: Copyright (c) 1985, 1987, 1989, 1990, 1997 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All rights reserved. And an Adobe version indicator or: AdobeVersionInfo__Hobbes_1_0x20

There are no references to /dev/fb0 from the PDF viewer but there are references to Fsk bitmap manipulation routines. There are no references to the font/text Fsk routines that i find in the RTF viewer. So I'm sticking to my guess that PDF viewer renders to Mono8 bitmaps that it hands off to Sony and Sony then dithers them down to display on the eink panel.

[NatCh]

Originally Posted by scotty1024

So I'm sticking to my guess that PDF viewer renders to Mono8 bitmaps that it hands off to Sony and Sony then dithers them down to display on the eink panel.

Now that I understand. Thanks for the clarification, scotty1024.

[Govinda]

I completely agree with astra lestat in all he says about pdf files.

[Alexander Turcic]

Originally Posted by scotty1024

What astonishes me with this update is that they didn't fix the broken PDF rendering. The fix for the moth eaten text is very simple and I don't understand why Sony didn't implement it.

Of course I cannot know for sure, but from the rumors I received, it's seem that they're aware of the issues with PDF and that they're actively working on improving it. Perhaps they didn't make it on time for this update. I think one of the main reasons to release this upgrade was to offer Windows Vista compatibility.

Heck, I have a HP printer, and there is still no Vista driver available for it!

[Alexander Turcic]

Originally Posted by scotty1024

I would be totally and completely amazed if Adobe supplied code that does what the Reader does to the glyphs. My money is on Adobe having supplied the code to render PDF's into Mono8 and Sony doing a quicky conversion to display it on the Reader's screen.

According to the phone conversation I had with Bill McCoy of Adobe, Adobe was actively involved in providing PDF support for the Reader. Well, at least he referred to the code used by the Sony Reader when commenting on the development of Adobe Digital Editions.