A few quick ?'s from Newbie for PRS-300

[RobinL]

For Mother's Day I got a shiny new PRS-300. Since then I have just been busy trying to figure it out and enjoy it. Now that I have had it a bit I have a few quick questions on it. I read some of the old reply's, but did not see the any answers to a few of these questions.

1. Can you "hack" the PRS-300 to put the time at the bottom?

2. Can you manipulate your folders to change the names on them to organize your library (I really don't care what date I bought the book, I would rather it be something different).

Sorry if these have been answered before, I may have missed them

Thanks!
Robin

[banjobama]

Not sure of number 1.

Number two, you can make collections, which are like playlists on an mp3 player, to organize your books and you can call them whatever you like. If you're using the Sony software, open it and plug the Reader in to your computer. Once it recognizes your Reader, click the little triangle next to "Reader" to drop down the menu. Then click the little "+" icon on the very bottom left corner of the screen. It will make a new folder for you to name and you can drag and drop books into it. When you unplug the Reader, that folder with the books inside will be on it.

You can organize the books on your computer the same way but to do it on your reader make sure you're under the "Reader" section on the left pane of the program.

[Worldwalker]

Incidentally, a lot of us Sony owners prefer Calibre to the Sony software. It's much easier to organize your books with it.

[roebeet]

There is a hack to get the clock on it, as well as add some extra functionality to the buttons and even allow you to change the fonts for EPUB's. It's a bit of a DIY because the instructions were originally in Russian, but look at RonF's #72 post here:

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...russify&page=5

I used these instructions myself, using the "Russification Sony Reader 300 (ver. boroda)" link it sends you to and the 1.05a firmware. It will change the firmware on the device, so be aware of the risks. I've been running this on my PRS-300 for over a week with no issues.

As for ebook organization, i use Calibre as well - excellent software and replaces the SONY software completely, at least for me.

[Elton Noway]

Originally Posted by RobinL

For Mother's Day I got a shiny new PRS-300. Since then I have just been busy trying to figure it out and enjoy it. Now that I have had it a bit I have a few quick questions on it. I read some of the old reply's, but did not see the any answers to a few of these questions.

1. Can you "hack" the PRS-300 to put the time at the bottom?

Absolutely!



And... not only to do you end up with the clock function but the feature that allows you to use the 7 & 8 key buttons to page backwards or forwards. I'm right handed so I find using the 8 button to page forward much easier for one handed reading than the 4Way button when laying in bed.

I installed the firmware update (hack) last weekend. It's pretty easy actually. The trickiest part was following all the different links as to which code to download and whose instructions to follow. The process is documented in several threads however I elected to follow the instructions layed out by RonF and Boroda due to all success stories. Even with the step by step instructions I still stumbled in a couple places (afraid I might screw up my reader) and had to ask some questions. Using RonFs instructions as an outline I added a few lines to cover the areas where I got confused. I sent these instructions to my niece... out of state... and she installed the update on her 300 without any problems.

1) > First... before you begin the install... make sure your battery is fully charged

2) > Second... confirm that your PRS-300 has the latest firmware 1.0.00.18160
(Confirm your firmware level by hitting the "Home" button... then go to Settings... then go to About. (i.e., Home, 7 key & 7 Key again)

Do not proceed with this update if you are not at this level of firmware. Instead go to the Sony site .. download and install the latest firmware release.
(Currently the latest is 1.0.00.18160)

3) > Once you are all charged up and have confirmed you are at firmware release 1.0.00.18160... go to this URL:

http://translate.google.com/translat...ate.google.com

4)> Go to the very first post in the above thread (Author Boroda)

5) > Under the bold heading INSTRUCTIONS FOR REFERENCE INSERTION 1.0.00.18160... click and download package identified as:



6) > Its a ZIP file. After downloading, unzip it to someplace on your computer so you can find it. The unzipped file is a folder call Sony Reader.

7) > Now... plug your PRS-300 eReader USB cable into the reader and your computer. If Sony Reader Library or Calibre sotware (or anything else auto launches), close them all.

8) > Open "My Computer" on your Windows desktop (or use Windows Explorer) and navigate to view the drives on your computer. You should see Two external drives for the Sony Reader. The primary drive / first drive will have a unique name depending on how your system identifies it. It might be called Reader... or Sony... (it's hard to say) On mine it was identified as s300. Anyway... the second drive will be called LAUNCHER. You DON'T do anything to the LAUNCHER Drive s part of this update.

9) > Go to the Root Directory of the primary drive and expand it. (A indication you are in correct drive you should see a folder called database) NOTE: At this point in these instructions you have done absolutely nothing to your reader. You can back out now and nothing has been changed. To Proceed, continue reading:

10) > Navigate to the file on you computer that you unzipped and locate the file "Sony Reader", and copy it into the Root Directory of the first drive.... not into the LAUNCHER Drive. (or drag and drop it on the first drive) making sure you don't drop in the database folder or any other the other folders.

11) Now... use the "Safely Remove Hardware" feature of windowsand unplug the USB cable from the reader.

12) > In about 5 or 10 seconds you will see the image on your reader like the one shown in the shown in "boroda's" instructions. i.e. the website link I pointed you to back in Step 3... Just follow his steps.

_____5 (Press 5 on the Sony reader to save the current firmware image.)
_____6 (Flash the image)

NOTE: After you get the message below,



... some people report their readers automatically reboot by themselves after a few minutes. I let my reader sit for a full 5 minutes and it didn't reboot so I just hit the 9 button (To reboot) and everything is fine.

When the unit reboots you will see the clock in the bottom right corner. Other than the clock you won't notice any other changes. All your menus will still be in English and all your current books and bookmarks will be as they were before the update.

13) > Last... you need to adjust the clock function. The time of day will be correct... but you will need to change the format. By default it will be 24-tick. Change it to 24 hour or am/pm (without the tick) In Tick mode the clock is running all the time and will update the time automatically regardless if your are refreshing, (turning pages). The downside is, in Tick mode the clock remains running in the background and doesn't let the reader CPU go into sleep mode, so it can drain your battery in a short period of time. For this reason "tick" mode is not recommended. In 24hour or am/pm mode (without the tick) the clock will only update as you refresh (turn a page) so if you stay on the same page for 5 minutes... the clock will not change.

14) . To change the clock you need to go to the "About" section on the Reader. Once in the About section, hitting the "0"button lets you adjust the clocks operation.

Have fun with your new reader...

[neilmarr]

Good to have your company, Robin. Best wishes. Neil

[RobinL]

Thanks for the quick responses! I'll get busy with it tonight. I love my new reader, I'm just ready to make it a little better for what I need. Thanks!

[The Old Man]

Thanks, Elton, for the instructions and link.
I assume in step 10 you mean drop the folder "Sony Reader"..., not file.

One question, if something goes wrong can I remove the hack by just deleting the new folder without bricking the 300?

[rudyt]

Originally Posted by The Old Man

Thanks, Elton, for the instructions and link.
I assume in step 10 you mean drop the folder "Sony Reader"..., not file.

Correct

One question, if something goes wrong can I remove the hack by just deleting the new folder without bricking the 300?

If things go "wrong", you should delete the Sony Reader folder and reflash to the stock firmware by Sony before trying again.

That said, things won't go wrong. Go ahead with the new flash - it will work and you'll never look back. It's almost impossible to permanently brick these things; you can revive the 300 if things go sour when flashing.

The first thing you'll want to do after admiring that shiny new clock is replace the epub fonts.

[The Old Man]

Originally Posted by rudyt

Correct

If things go "wrong", you should delete the Sony Reader folder and reflash to the stock firmware by Sony before trying again.

That said, things won't go wrong. Go ahead with the new flash - it will work and you'll never look back. You can't brick these things.

The first thing you'll want to do after admiring that shiny new clock is replace the epub fonts.

Thank you! Of course that brings up the next question: "...epub fonts"

I'll search the boards, I had a 505 a long time ago and I remember reading something about it.

[mrscoach]

Actually, you can brick a 300. I did while installing this. Fortunately I also had up the page to go to if this happened, and reinstalled the Sony software. I then tried again to Russify, and it worked.

I don't have a problem with the fonts, so I haven't tried that hack yet.

[rudyt]

Originally Posted by The Old Man

Of course that brings up the next question: "...epub fonts"

There's a great thread explaining how to replace epub fonts here (ignore the thread hijacking)

Since everyone has a different opinion of what looks good, you can use maxbookworm's CSS file as a starting point and tweak some parameters. As listed, the text is too small and too widely spaced for my tastes. I use font-size of 1.0em (instead of 0.9) and a line-spacing of 110% (instead of 130%). I also use Gentium for my header font (instead of the stock tt0003m_.ttf). Tweak away!

[rudyt]

Originally Posted by mrscoach

Actually, you can brick a 300. I did while installing this. Fortunately I also had up the page to go to if this happened, and reinstalled the Sony software. I then tried again to Russify, and it worked.

We're both right - it all depends on which definition of "brick" we're using. From Wikipedia:

In the strictest sense of the term, bricking must imply that software error has rendered the device completely unrecoverable without some hardware replacement. However, it is common to use the term for a problem which can be rectified but only by a complex and difficult procedure, often requiring additional software.

. I've gone back and clarified my original post.

[The Old Man]

Thank you all. Update for the clock went without a hitch. I really like the 8 button page flip. I am satisfied with the Sony font. I think I'll leave that one alone.