PRS-500 An interesting aspect of BOOK_INDEX_COUNT in main.xml

Nogg · 09-14-2007, 05:13 PM

For anyone playing around with the xml files, here's something I noticed:

I was reading a book last night, and suddenly I noticed very heavy ghosting from previous pages. I thought "uh-oh, my Reader's dying". I tried flipping pages to see if it made any difference, and if anything, it got worse. Then I realized that flipping pages wasn't flashing the screen to black like usual. It just redrew the text (like maybe some of you expected to see when you first got your reader).

Now, obviously, I was doing crazy nutso things to my Reader, so I knew it must have been my fault. In fact what I had done was replaced the "x of y" page count display with a series of non-alphanumeric characters. What I noticed was: if that crazy non-alphanumeric string was in the display, it would have the aforementioned non-blanking behavior. If, however, I changed the page with DPC (I had left the display normal after doing thatl), then the blanking would occur properly.

Ultimately I realized that if that value did NOT change, then the Reader would NOT blank between pages. If it did change, then the blanking would occur as usual.

I have modified my own Reader to take advantage of this by only blanking every 5 pages, so that most of my page flips are faster than usual, but the extra ghosting is kept to a minimum.

Note: I'm not sure if other fields that reside in the bar have the same effect, but they might.

anathema · 09-14-2007, 07:57 PM

Interesting. Might increase battery power as well if the page flips are faster. The reader would not have to be in full run mode for as long and also less power expended flipping pages on the screen itself.

Nogg · 09-15-2007, 12:16 AM

I doubt you'd really notice it, unless you're reading almost constantly.

diabloNL · 09-15-2007, 04:04 AM

I have seen this effect many times. After I tried to change some code and rebooted it this effect told me I did something wrong. Interesting that it could also be a positive thing.

Nogg · 09-15-2007, 04:31 AM

Ha ha! Like I said, at first I was freaking out, but now that it's intentional, I love it!

vstefanyuk · 10-01-2007, 05:52 AM

Is it just about changing BOOK_INDEX_COUNT or changing any variable that is used for screen output? I mean is it possible to create another variable (like BOOK_INDEX_COUNT2) that will be use for displaying page number instead of BOOK_INDEX_COUNT, and use BOOK_INDEX_COUNT just for page blanking? Refreshing page number with 5 pages discrete is also not nice...

Nogg · 10-01-2007, 12:54 PM

I'm not sure. I was pretty surprised to see this kind of correlation, so I don't have much intuition about it. If I get a little extra time, I'll check it out.

09-14-2007, 05:13 PM	#1
Nogg Literate! Posts: 256 Karma: 2247 Join Date: Mar 2007 Device: PRS-500	An interesting aspect of BOOK_INDEX_COUNT in main.xml For anyone playing around with the xml files, here's something I noticed: I was reading a book last night, and suddenly I noticed very heavy ghosting from previous pages. I thought "uh-oh, my Reader's dying". I tried flipping pages to see if it made any difference, and if anything, it got worse. Then I realized that flipping pages wasn't flashing the screen to black like usual. It just redrew the text (like maybe some of you expected to see when you first got your reader). Now, obviously, I was doing crazy nutso things to my Reader, so I knew it must have been my fault. In fact what I had done was replaced the "x of y" page count display with a series of non-alphanumeric characters. What I noticed was: if that crazy non-alphanumeric string was in the display, it would have the aforementioned non-blanking behavior. If, however, I changed the page with DPC (I had left the display normal after doing thatl), then the blanking would occur properly. Ultimately I realized that if that value did NOT change, then the Reader would NOT blank between pages. If it did change, then the blanking would occur as usual. I have modified my own Reader to take advantage of this by only blanking every 5 pages, so that most of my page flips are faster than usual, but the extra ghosting is kept to a minimum. Note: I'm not sure if other fields that reside in the bar have the same effect, but they might.

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09-14-2007, 07:57 PM	#2
anathema Enthusiast Posts: 34 Karma: 10 Join Date: Sep 2007 Device: Kindle Keyboard 3G	Interesting. Might increase battery power as well if the page flips are faster. The reader would not have to be in full run mode for as long and also less power expended flipping pages on the screen itself.

09-15-2007, 12:16 AM	#3
Nogg Literate! Posts: 256 Karma: 2247 Join Date: Mar 2007 Device: PRS-500	I doubt you'd really notice it, unless you're reading almost constantly.

09-15-2007, 04:04 AM	#4
diabloNL Gadget Force® Posts: 705 Karma: 2733 Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: The Netherlands Device: Sony PRS-300 + Cybook with funny screen :P	I have seen this effect many times. After I tried to change some code and rebooted it this effect told me I did something wrong. Interesting that it could also be a positive thing.

09-15-2007, 04:31 AM	#5
Nogg Literate! Posts: 256 Karma: 2247 Join Date: Mar 2007 Device: PRS-500	Ha ha! Like I said, at first I was freaking out, but now that it's intentional, I love it!

10-01-2007, 05:52 AM	#6
vstefanyuk Connoisseur Posts: 54 Karma: 12 Join Date: Mar 2007	Is it just about changing BOOK_INDEX_COUNT or changing any variable that is used for screen output? I mean is it possible to create another variable (like BOOK_INDEX_COUNT2) that will be use for displaying page number instead of BOOK_INDEX_COUNT, and use BOOK_INDEX_COUNT just for page blanking? Refreshing page number with 5 pages discrete is also not nice...

10-01-2007, 12:54 PM	#7
Nogg Literate! Posts: 256 Karma: 2247 Join Date: Mar 2007 Device: PRS-500	I'm not sure. I was pretty surprised to see this kind of correlation, so I don't have much intuition about it. If I get a little extra time, I'll check it out.

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