updating 505 firmware w/ Mac & Calibre

maynard · 04-21-2009, 12:06 PM

Hello. I have a 505 and a Macintosh running Calibre. Is it possible to flash the firmware using Calibre? Or will I have to use the Windows based ereader tools that ship with the product? So, if I have to use Windows and the Sony tools, will I have to format the internal flash before connecting to the Windows based tools? I've read that the Sony stuff and Calibre do not work well together.

Thanks for any advice. -M

gwynevans · 04-21-2009, 03:47 PM

First, you don't normally need to reflash, there's just been the one official update from Sony, so it's not a frequent issue.

Most of the recent issues about reflashing have been where people have wanted to use that update to 'downgrade' from the European versions in order to be able to reflash with tweaked firmware, which itself requires an SD card, not a Windows PC...

Calibre doesn't have anything to do with reflashing, it's for transferring books.

Just to clarify, Calibre & Sony work together happily enough as long as you don't try & use both at the same time, as they both need to write to the same 'index' file on the reader. If you only use one per 'connected session', you'd have no problems.

maynard · 04-21-2009, 03:51 PM

OK - thank you very much for that explanation. So, I have the US model. Are there features I want that would require flashing to the new firmware?

gwynevans · 04-21-2009, 07:13 PM

With the official firmware, if it's less than 6 mths or so old, it'll have the 1.1 firmware (or later) which added ePub support. Onces you're happy about how it works, you might want to investigate PRSCustomizer, for the custom tweaks, but that's mostly cosmetic (although it does add a clock to the status bar, which I find useful).

04-21-2009, 12:06 PM	#1
maynard Connoisseur Posts: 78 Karma: 10 Join Date: Apr 2009 Device: iPhone, PRS-505, iLiad, Entourage Edge	updating 505 firmware w/ Mac & Calibre Hello. I have a 505 and a Macintosh running Calibre. Is it possible to flash the firmware using Calibre? Or will I have to use the Windows based ereader tools that ship with the product? So, if I have to use Windows and the Sony tools, will I have to format the internal flash before connecting to the Windows based tools? I've read that the Sony stuff and Calibre do not work well together. Thanks for any advice. -M

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04-21-2009, 03:47 PM	#2
gwynevans Wizzard Posts: 1,402 Karma: 2000000 Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: UK Device: iPad 2, iPhone 6s, Kindle Voyage & Kindle PaperWhite	First, you don't normally need to reflash, there's just been the one official update from Sony, so it's not a frequent issue. Most of the recent issues about reflashing have been where people have wanted to use that update to 'downgrade' from the European versions in order to be able to reflash with tweaked firmware, which itself requires an SD card, not a Windows PC... Calibre doesn't have anything to do with reflashing, it's for transferring books. Just to clarify, Calibre & Sony work together happily enough as long as you don't try & use both at the same time, as they both need to write to the same 'index' file on the reader. If you only use one per 'connected session', you'd have no problems.

04-21-2009, 03:51 PM	#3
maynard Connoisseur Posts: 78 Karma: 10 Join Date: Apr 2009 Device: iPhone, PRS-505, iLiad, Entourage Edge	OK - thank you very much for that explanation. So, I have the US model. Are there features I want that would require flashing to the new firmware?

04-21-2009, 07:13 PM	#4
gwynevans Wizzard Posts: 1,402 Karma: 2000000 Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: UK Device: iPad 2, iPhone 6s, Kindle Voyage & Kindle PaperWhite	With the official firmware, if it's less than 6 mths or so old, it'll have the 1.1 firmware (or later) which added ePub support. Onces you're happy about how it works, you might want to investigate PRSCustomizer, for the custom tweaks, but that's mostly cosmetic (although it does add a clock to the status bar, which I find useful).

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