Calibre Companion prerelease early availability program

chaley · 09-11-2013, 09:44 AM

The CC V3 beta program was so helpful that we have decided to run all future CC releases through an "early availability" testing program. People who sign up will receive CC releases directly from Google Play 5 to 7 days before they become generally available. There is no manual installation of APK files; instead you will be offered updates in the normal Google Play manner. When notified, you can update to the prerelease or stay with the current production release, waiting for the general availability announcement.

What we (CC's developers) hope to get is more confidence that a release does not have any serious gotchas. A perfect example was the HTML comment font size problem that raised its head almost instantly upon release. It was easy to fix, but thousands of CC users were inconvenienced by the rapid updates. If CC had been using this prerelease program, we could have released a fix within hours, starting the 5 to 7 day clock again.

What testers get is a better chance that CC works for you, and perhaps more importantly you get our ear. Even though there can be no guarantee that we will do what you ask, we do listen very carefully during test cycles.

There are three criteria to join this program:
- You must have purchased CC. The prerelease versions are fully licensed.
- You must have a MobileRead account so you can leave comments.
- You must supply the Google mail account you used to buy CC so you can receive the releases.

If you are willing to join, send me (chaley) a private message giving me your Google email account. I will add your email address to a special "Google Group" that lists the people signed up for the program. Once I have added you to the group I will send you a link that you must follow to start receiving the prereleases. Once you take the steps described when you follow the link, you will start receiving notification of early releases.

As far as I can tell, once you join you will get prereleases until you drop out, which you can do at any time by removing yourself from the special group. I haven't tried dropping out, so I don't know how hard or easy it is.

Notes:

Google has 3 levels of release: production, beta, and alpha. We are using the beta level for this program. The word "beta" will appear in some of Google's emails that you receive, for example in the initial opt-in email
We have the option of using the google group to discuss the prereleases. For the moment I have disabled that option, figuring that discussion here at MobileRead is better.
The "5 to 7 days" is totally arbitrary. We can choose to lengthen or shorten the time, based on how things are going. Also, we might choose to do several prereleases before we make a general release, meaning that general availability could be several weeks after the first prerelease.
I will start threads here on MobileRead when a prerelease is available.

billthrow · 10-01-2013, 02:12 PM

I wish to join your group. I do own Calibre Companion. I think I followed set up correctly but I can't use it on my Nook HD+ because it asked password to sync with my Callibre library. I have never known I had a password. What is the solution I can sync the Nook with USB cable.
Bill Bartlett
trabtw at gmail dot com

theducks · 10-01-2013, 02:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by billthrow

I wish to join your group. I do own Calibre Companion. I think I followed set up correctly but I can't use it on my Nook HD+ because it asked password to sync with my Callibre library. I have never known I had a password. What is the solution I can sync the Nook with USB cable.
Bill Bartlett

Have you configured Calibre's Sharing options:
CC can use the content server to Pull books. To do that, you configure the Content Server option

or it can work more like a USB 'device' connection.
For that you need to configure the Wireless device option

In both cases, you need to have started the service you wish to use

chaley · 10-01-2013, 03:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by billthrow

I wish to join your group. I do own Calibre Companion. I think I followed set up correctly but I can't use it on my Nook HD+ because it asked password to sync with my Callibre library. I have never known I had a password. What is the solution I can sync the Nook with USB cable.
Bill Bartlett

In addition to theduck's comments -- are you saying that you own CC but haven't made it work yet?

It isn't clear what you are doing when you are asked to provide a password. You define a password for wireless device connections when you start the driver using Connect/share -> Start wireless device connection. You define a password for content server connections in Preferences -> Sharing over the net.

billthrow · 10-05-2013, 05:31 PM

sorry for the ignorant question. But I when did the setup I thought I left all the password spaces blank. Turns out that, Calibre entered 9090 for me. program is great.
Bill

09-11-2013, 09:44 AM	#1
chaley Grand Sorcerer Posts: 11,741 Karma: 6997045 Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: Notts, England Device: Kobo Libra 2	Calibre Companion prerelease early availability program The CC V3 beta program was so helpful that we have decided to run all future CC releases through an "early availability" testing program. People who sign up will receive CC releases directly from Google Play 5 to 7 days before they become generally available. There is no manual installation of APK files; instead you will be offered updates in the normal Google Play manner. When notified, you can update to the prerelease or stay with the current production release, waiting for the general availability announcement. What we (CC's developers) hope to get is more confidence that a release does not have any serious gotchas. A perfect example was the HTML comment font size problem that raised its head almost instantly upon release. It was easy to fix, but thousands of CC users were inconvenienced by the rapid updates. If CC had been using this prerelease program, we could have released a fix within hours, starting the 5 to 7 day clock again. What testers get is a better chance that CC works for you, and perhaps more importantly you get our ear. Even though there can be no guarantee that we will do what you ask, we do listen very carefully during test cycles. There are three criteria to join this program: - You must have purchased CC. The prerelease versions are fully licensed. - You must have a MobileRead account so you can leave comments. - You must supply the Google mail account you used to buy CC so you can receive the releases. If you are willing to join, send me (chaley) a private message giving me your Google email account. I will add your email address to a special "Google Group" that lists the people signed up for the program. Once I have added you to the group I will send you a link that you must follow to start receiving the prereleases. Once you take the steps described when you follow the link, you will start receiving notification of early releases. As far as I can tell, once you join you will get prereleases until you drop out, which you can do at any time by removing yourself from the special group. I haven't tried dropping out, so I don't know how hard or easy it is. Notes: Google has 3 levels of release: production, beta, and alpha. We are using the beta level for this program. The word "beta" will appear in some of Google's emails that you receive, for example in the initial opt-in email We have the option of using the google group to discuss the prereleases. For the moment I have disabled that option, figuring that discussion here at MobileRead is better. The "5 to 7 days" is totally arbitrary. We can choose to lengthen or shorten the time, based on how things are going. Also, we might choose to do several prereleases before we make a general release, meaning that general availability could be several weeks after the first prerelease. I will start threads here on MobileRead when a prerelease is available. Last edited by chaley; 09-12-2013 at 07:21 AM. Reason: Added note about possibility of several prereleases before general release. Added qualification on Google mail account

10-01-2013, 02:12 PM	#2
billthrow Junior Member Posts: 6 Karma: 10 Join Date: Feb 2011 Device: Prs 600 prs300 Prst-1 Kobo Mini Nook HD+	What password I wish to join your group. I do own Calibre Companion. I think I followed set up correctly but I can't use it on my Nook HD+ because it asked password to sync with my Callibre library. I have never known I had a password. What is the solution I can sync the Nook with USB cable. Bill Bartlett trabtw at gmail dot com Last edited by chaley; 10-01-2013 at 03:27 PM. Reason: [MOD] slight obfuscation of email address

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10-05-2013, 05:31 PM	#5
billthrow Junior Member Posts: 6 Karma: 10 Join Date: Feb 2011 Device: Prs 600 prs300 Prst-1 Kobo Mini Nook HD+	sorry for the ignorant question. But I when did the setup I thought I left all the password spaces blank. Turns out that, Calibre entered 9090 for me. program is great. Bill

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