New Firmware for the Cybook Gen3 (1.1.708)

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by tompe

Can you disable hyphenation? The line starting with Kit looks dreadful and the old behaviour gives much better spacing for these kind of lines. The old behaviour wat to not right justify lines were the spacing become to much.

There doesn't seem to be a way of disabling it. White space issues always look bad at very large font sizes - I increased the size 3 "units" from the size I normally read at to take the photograph. I may be wrong, but I think that the old firmware would have displayed that line in the same way.

If you've not reflashed yet, you could check and see for yourself - the text is from the first few pages of Charles Dickens "The Old Curiosity Shop" that I've uploaded here.

[bwaldron]

Originally Posted by GeoffC

Was it proved that there was a fault?

There certainly was increased battery drain on my Cybook with 685.

[bwaldron]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Hyphenation really does work, too

Indeed it does, and it is a nice addition to the software.

[bwaldron]

Originally Posted by GeoffC

No one then came back to the posts with any fresh experiment to confirm whether the battery life was better under that earlier version.

Well since we were seeing the increased drain immediately after moving to 685 from 538, I think that it was basically confirmed by default. Certainly I found the better battery life I was used to when I did the downgrade.

[GeoffC]

Originally Posted by bwaldron

Well since we were seeing the increased drain immediately after moving to 685 from 538, I think that it was basically confirmed by default. Certainly I found the better battery life I was used to when I did the downgrade.

Okay...

[tompe]

Originally Posted by GeoffC

No one then came back to the posts with any fresh experiment to confirm whether the battery life was better under that earlier version.

But for old versions of the Cybook it is well know that the battery time is 4-5 days.

[Katiesue]

Hey all, I am a relatively new owner of a Cybook (3 weeks) and very new to this "techie" world. Can someone either tell me or point me to a good thread to help me learn more about how to load new firmware?

Also, what is meant by the term 'firmware'? The context of how it is used makes me think it means 'software', but I'm guessing that isn't quite right or ya'll would just say 'software'.

THX for the help.

[tompe]

Originally Posted by HarryT

There doesn't seem to be a way of disabling it. White space issues always look bad at very large font sizes - I increased the size 3 "units" from the size I normally read at to take the photograph. I may be wrong, but I think that the old firmware would have displayed that line in the same way.

If you've not reflashed yet, you could check and see for yourself - the text is from the first few pages of Charles Dickens "The Old Curiosity Shop" that I've uploaded here.

Much better with the old version. This is very annoying. I can choose between increased possibility for bad spacing or non-working dictionary for some words. Why remove a working and good behaviour instead of just making it an option.

[delphidb96]

Originally Posted by Katiesue

Hey all, I am a relatively new owner of a Cybook (3 weeks) and very new to this "techie" world. Can someone either tell me or point me to a good thread to help me learn more about how to load new firmware?

Also, what is meant by the term 'firmware'? The context of how it is used makes me think it means 'software', but I'm guessing that isn't quite right or ya'll would just say 'software'.

THX for the help.

Simple, really...

1. Get an empty-but-formatted SD card.
2. Unzip the update file you just downloaded.
3. Move the update_kernel file you just unzipped onto the empty-but-formatted SD card.
4. Insert (correctly, don't put it in backwards) the SD card into the turned-*OFF* Cybook.
(A side note here. On the front of your Cybook is a square button with a smaller button on the inside. The smaller button is the 'Enter' button.)
5. Turn *ON* the Cybook and, as soon as you see the rather dark first splash screen appear, mash and hold DOWN the Enter button.
6. When the screen disappears and another dark screen appears, you're in the firmware update process so you can RELEASE the Enter button.
7. Wait until the process is done. You'll know because you'll now be looking at the Library screen where all your ebooks are listed.
8. Remove this SD card and insert the one that holds all your ebooks.
9. You're done! Relax. Take a deep breath. Begin the enjoyment of reading!

Firmware is software, including the operating system, that is stored in ROM or FLASH memory. It doesn't disappear when the Cybook is turned off.

Derek

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Hyphenation really does work, too. It only seems to "kick in" if there would be too much white space on a line without it, so it's best seen by increasing the font size. See the attached picture - the word "expression" has been hyphenated as "expres-sion" in the 6th line up from the bottom.

But, the hyphenation still needs work. The word shambling could have been hyphanted as sham- and then bling on the next line.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by tompe

Much better with the old version. This is very annoying. I can choose between increased possibility for bad spacing or non-working dictionary for some words. Why remove a working and good behaviour instead of just making it an option.

If that is the same font and the same font size with the only difference being the new firmware vs. an older version, then I'd have to agree that the new firmware's display does not look as good. More spacing between words and less lines per page. Not a good "fix".

[ProfJulie]

I've installed this latest update, not because I noticed any serious changes in my battery life, but I was experiencing some strange things when I press the button to move to the next page. Sometimes the Cybook would loop back and forth between 2 pages - I hope this new firmware somehow fixes that problem.

I am looking forward to the next update. According to the Readme file, here's what we have to look forward to:

New directory view.
Improved Mobipocket, PDF, HTML & TXT support.
New user interface features.
User interface translations.

[RobertJSawyer]

Certainly, part of the answer would be to have the option of a ragged right margin (not right justified). And hyphenation on/off should be optional, too.

[Barcey]

Hi Robert, great to see another author online.

I've enjoyed your books and I hope that I can purchase "Rollback" as an ebook soon.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by RobertJSawyer

Certainly, part of the answer would be to have the option of a ragged right margin (not right justified). And hyphenation on/off should be optional, too.

You do have the option of left or full justification. It's on the "Layout" menu. The only situation in which it won't work is if the book has a specific justification "hard coded" into it, but that's something that no book should do unless it has a good reason for it.