903 How to extract a ZIP archive on Pocketbook 903

[pooh]

Dear friends,
this is my first post to the his forum. I received a PB 903 3 days ago. I bought this device due to its large e-ink display. My intentions was to read newspapesr like the FAZ.

The PB 903 is great regarding connectivity. So, my idea was to download the
FAZ as a PDF files to my PB903. However, the problem is that FAZ offers
the whole daily release as a ZIP archive named like 20110103FAZ2242.zip (It is okay that FAZ offers the newspaper as a compressed file to minimize the download time).

I downloaded that file with my PB 903 directly into the main memory of my device
and not onto the SD card).. The file was detected as a PDF.

I was suprised that that the right content of the ZIP archive was detected.
However, by clicking on the file I got the message that
the book could not be openend because it is damaged or protected.

I copied the ZIP archive to my Linux PC and extraced the archive via unzip and copied the
returned PDF file onto my PB 903. Now I was able to read the PDF file.

So. my question is if there is an unzip functionality somewhere hidden on the PB903 which is able to extract the ZIP archives ? I would like to perform the unzip
on the PB903 rather than using an extra PC.

Kind regards
Pooh

[review]

Originally Posted by pooh

Dear friends,
this is my first post to the his forum. I received a PB 903 3 days ago. I bought this device due to its large e-ink display. My intentions was to read newspapesr like the FAZ.

The PB 903 is great regarding connectivity. So, my idea was to download the
FAZ as a PDF files to my PB903. However, the problem is that FAZ offers
the whole daily release as a ZIP archive named like 20110103FAZ2242.zip (It is okay that FAZ offers the newspaper as a compressed file to minimize the download time).

I downloaded that file with my PB 903 directly into the main memory of my device
and not onto the SD card).. The file was detected as a PDF.

I was suprised that that the right content of the ZIP archive was detected.
However, by clicking on the file I got the message that
the book could not be openend because it is damaged or protected.

I copied the ZIP archive to my Linux PC and extraced the archive via unzip and copied the
returned PDF file onto my PB 903. Now I was able to read the PDF file.

So. my question is if there is an unzip functionality somewhere hidden on the PB903 which is able to extract the ZIP archives ? I would like to perform the unzip
on the PB903 rather than using an extra PC.

Kind regards
Pooh

Sure it is. Just give me a moment, I'll write and send you an app which will do this for you.

Edit:
attached app. This is a simple shell script. Since I guess the filename of your subscription might change and in order to be more generally usefull it looks for all zip files in the topmost level of the internal memory which is visible to the user (and the default location for downloads). Then it moves this file to a new folder which is simply called zip. There the zip file will be extracted.

How to install:
1) download and unzip this file on your computer.
2) transfer the file called unzip.app to your reader.
3) in the menu applications you will find the programm called unzip

[pooh]

Hello Karma,
thanks a lot for your help! I am waiting for your app.
Best regards
Pooh

[pooh]

Originally Posted by pooh

Hello Karma,
thanks a lot for your help! I am waiting for your app.
Best regards
Pooh

Oops, sorry!
I meant 'review'
-Pooh

[paola]

Originally Posted by review

Sure it is. Just give me a moment, I'll send you a app which will do this for you.

if you want to share this app with us all, we'll love you forever

[review]

Wrote and uploaded the small app. Let me know what you think.

[paola]

Originally Posted by review

Wrote and uploaded the small app. Let me know what you think.

supermanythanks! my pb903 should finally arrive tomorrow, I will let you know as soon as I can

p.s.
forgot to say: karma your way!

[pooh]

Originally Posted by review

Sure it is. Just give me a moment, I'll write and send you an app which will do this for you.

Edit:
attached app. This is a simple shell script. Since I guess the filename of your subscription might change and in order to be more generally usefull it looks for all zip files in the topmost level of the internal memory which is visible to the user (and the default location for downloads). Then it moves this file to a new folder which is simply called zip. There the zip file will be extracted.

How to install:
1) download and unzip this file on your computer.
2) transfer the file called unzip.app to your reader.
3) in the menu applications you will find the programm called unzip

Hello review,

I installed your shell script as described and tested it with a recent download of
FAZ newspaper.
It works as designed!

Meanwhile I installed the terminal emulation poterm for the PB 602/603 and 902/903 as well. Somebody posted it here in the forum.

The file system includes a /bin directory as part of the root filesystem.
Here I found the unzip binary.

I was not sure about the structure of the file system and I am very happy that the device behaves like Linux. Wonderful!

Best regards

[review]

Originally Posted by pooh

Hello review,

I installed your shell script as described and tested it with a recent download of
FAZ newspaper.
It works as designed!

Meanwhile I installed the terminal emulation poterm for the PB 602/603 and 902/903 as well. Somebody posted it here in the forum.

The file system includes a /bin directory as part of the root filesystem.
Here I found the unzip binary.

I was not sure about the structure of the file system and I am very happy that the device behaves like Linux. Wonderful!

Best regards

Thats right. The shell script I provided above is nothing more than a nice wrapper around the binary. Certainly the terminal emulator posted somewhere else is by far more powerful as it proved that this guy managed to adapt the SDK so that it works for the 903 series. The official SDK is not expected to arrive before March-May.

[paola]

Originally Posted by review

2) transfer the file called unzip.app to your reader.

quick qeustion: should it go into the root directory?

[SkyDream]

try the app/game directory

[paola]

Originally Posted by SkyDream

try the app/game directory

many thanks - so it seems to be working seamlessly: I simply transferred the file, but when I looked into the library there was a "zip" directory containing the files in the original compressed file - neat!

[review]

Originally Posted by paolamanzini

many thanks - so it seems to be working seamlessly: I simply transferred the file, but when I looked into the library there was a "zip" directory containing the files in the original compressed file - neat!

Glad to hear you liked it. If you are familiar with shell scripting please feel encouraged to look at the unzip.app in a text editor. You will find that it is pretty simple to make adjustments for your needs.

Before poterm was available for the 903 I tried into a way to probe the system a bit to see what is available. I wrote a one liner to give me somehow a telnet-like access to the device (through wifi). This is some major advantages over poterm, as you can type most certainly much quicker on your computer than on the device and you have all symbols directly available.

It is still in a very early stage as I was occupied with other works but if there is a general interest in it I might spend some more time over the weekend to enhance it and upload it so that some more people can enjoy it.

[paola]

Originally Posted by review

Glad to hear you liked it. If you are familiar with shell scripting please feel encouraged to look at the unzip.app in a text editor.

I am definitely computer-dumb, so wouldn't be able to do anythign - but very grateful to you, so as soon as I can there will be more karma your way!

[review]

Originally Posted by paolamanzini

I am definitely computer-dumb, so wouldn't be able to do anythign

Well, there is one thing what you can do: you can suggest ideas for simple apps. For example at the moment I'm working on an improved rss feed reader. Brainstorming ideas can be sometimes very helpful for innovations. As long as the official SDK is not published the complexity of the programs is certainly limited (like: I won't be able to write an app for pdf annotation etc ...) but still feel free just to suggest what ever comes to you mind.