Some Noob questions

TimMason · 05-23-2010, 02:46 AM

Hello everyone

After reading your reactions to the Boox 60, I decided to purchase one - my first ereader. It arrived a couple of days ago, and I've been learning how to make it work, and getting the feel of it. I have a couple of issues with it, but I don't know whether they are general or specific to the Boox.

The first one is page turning. The way it is handled is very disturbing to my aging eyes : the screen inverses and I feel like I'm going cross-eyed. Is this general to all e-readers? Is there any way to induce a smoother ride?

The second arises when I try to read books downloaded from the university of Adelaide site at http://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/ . The books open in Stanza on my iMac, but if I try to read them on the Boox, all I get is a blank page. Other epub books open correctly.

The last issue is that I had envisaged using this when hiking. We'll be walking for a fortnight this summer, and I'd like to take a few books with me: an ereader seemed a good solution. Also I had intended to scan the relevant pages from the guide we're using, and put those on the machine too. But I'm now wondering whether the glass-screen will be sufficiently robust to carry in the side-pocket of a back-pack, consulting whenever necessary. Has anyone tried using one of these in such circumstances?

Thank you for your comments

Tim Mason

Stormchild · 05-23-2010, 03:54 AM

Hi Tim.
The first answer is no. That is pretty much the way e-ink refreshes.

I have downloaded an epub from that site and it opens just fine. Try redownloading or downloading some different ones. I would guess the problem is with the Epub.

You need a cover. There are a few available and this subforum has discussed them. The screens are quite fragile and I would not consider taking it hiking without a full cover to protect it.

Delta Tango · 05-23-2010, 04:19 AM

Hello and welcome to MR!

The page turning is pretty much the same on every e-ink display, but on Boox You can minimize it by going to Menu and turning off the Full Refresh mode.

TimMason · 05-23-2010, 04:48 AM

Thanks for the replies and the welcome. Concerning the cover, the Boox was delivered with a brown leather one. I guess I'll take it along and hope that protection will suffice.

For the epub from Adelaide, I've now tried several of the books from that site, and none of them are opening. I'll try deleting them and then loading them on again.

I'll have a look at the Refresh mode trick; in the long run, I do hope that the tech wizards find an answer to the problem. I don't think I'll be able to persuade my wife to use one of these devices so long as it does that.

Delta Tango · 05-23-2010, 05:43 AM

Try updating the firmware.
I have 1.3. and epubs work fine.

http://www.onyx-international.com/support

TimMason · 05-23-2010, 07:47 AM

Thanks for the advice and the link. In fact, the reader came with the latest firmware installed; it works fine with epubs from other sources, such as Gutenberg. It's just the ones I downloaded from the Adelaide site.

pietvo · 05-23-2010, 11:01 PM

How did you load the ebooks from Adelaide? I tried George Orwell's 1984 and downloaded it first on my computer and then copied it over to my Boox through the USB cable and it opened without problems.

neilmarr · 05-24-2010, 03:58 AM

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

TimMason · 05-24-2010, 06:05 AM

Hello Pietvo

Thanks for your message. I downloaded the books onto my iMac and then transferred through the USB connection. If you were able to read the books from the site, it's probably something I'm doing at this end. I'll try again when I have a bit of time. At the moment things are rather hectic.

neilmarr, thanks for the welcome. I'm glad to be here.

Delta Tango · 05-24-2010, 08:31 AM

Try unzipping (un-epubing) them and transferring entire folder.

pietvo · 05-24-2010, 09:04 AM

Hello Tim,
I did the same as you did, but from a MacBook instead of an iMac. It could be that some books do load properly and others don't. Can you mention a book that fails so that I can try it out?

TimMason · 05-24-2010, 10:30 AM

Hello Pietvo

Three books that don't transfer are :
Charles Dickens 'Dombey & Son',
Aristophanes, 'The Birds'
E.J.Banfield, 'The Confessions of a Beachcomber'

Delta Tango, the unzip and transfer trick worked : I can now read 'Dombey & Son' from the html on the Boox. (It actually looks nicer than the epubs that I've looked at so far, but that might just be chance).

And now I've just discovered that I've got one of the boox that don't work in sunshine. Not good for hiking!

Thanks for your replies

gastan · 05-24-2010, 08:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TimMason

Three books that don't transfer are :
Charles Dickens 'Dombey & Son',
Aristophanes, 'The Birds'
E.J.Banfield, 'The Confessions of a Beachcomber'

The Dickens and Banfield books are available on Project Gutenberg. You could download them from there and see if they open in your Boox. That way you would have a better idea about whether it is a file issue or a hardware/firmware issue.

pietvo · 05-26-2010, 03:05 PM

I downloaded the Dickens ebook, and the text doesn't show in my Boox, and neither in Adobe Digital Editions. I ran it through epubcheck and it gave tons of errors. It would open in Sigil and when I saved it without making a single change, the new file opened in both ADE and the Boox. It also gives significantly fewer errors in epubcheck.

I looked into the file, and it appears that all HTML files have a line like:

Quote:

which is incorrect in XHTML (it should contain a / before the closing >). Inserting these solves the problem.
So it seems some of the Adelaide epubs are sloppy. At least the Dickens book is available here on MR, and probably in a much nicer format.

TimMason · 05-27-2010, 03:27 AM

pietvo, thanks for going to all that trouble. I'll inform the people at Adelaide. Unfortunately, some of the books they have - in particular texts by 19thC Australian travelers and ethnologists, which is what I'm particularly interested in - don't seem to be available anywhere else, and while some of them work, others don't.

05-23-2010, 02:46 AM	#1
TimMason Big Ears Posts: 191 Karma: 2229 Join Date: May 2010 Location: Pontoise, France Device: Onyx Boox 60, iPad	Some Noob questions Hello everyone After reading your reactions to the Boox 60, I decided to purchase one - my first ereader. It arrived a couple of days ago, and I've been learning how to make it work, and getting the feel of it. I have a couple of issues with it, but I don't know whether they are general or specific to the Boox. The first one is page turning. The way it is handled is very disturbing to my aging eyes : the screen inverses and I feel like I'm going cross-eyed. Is this general to all e-readers? Is there any way to induce a smoother ride? The second arises when I try to read books downloaded from the university of Adelaide site at http://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/ . The books open in Stanza on my iMac, but if I try to read them on the Boox, all I get is a blank page. Other epub books open correctly. The last issue is that I had envisaged using this when hiking. We'll be walking for a fortnight this summer, and I'd like to take a few books with me: an ereader seemed a good solution. Also I had intended to scan the relevant pages from the guide we're using, and put those on the machine too. But I'm now wondering whether the glass-screen will be sufficiently robust to carry in the side-pocket of a back-pack, consulting whenever necessary. Has anyone tried using one of these in such circumstances? Thank you for your comments Tim Mason

05-24-2010, 10:30 AM	#12
TimMason Big Ears Posts: 191 Karma: 2229 Join Date: May 2010 Location: Pontoise, France Device: Onyx Boox 60, iPad	Hello Pietvo Three books that don't transfer are : Charles Dickens 'Dombey & Son', Aristophanes, 'The Birds' E.J.Banfield, 'The Confessions of a Beachcomber' Delta Tango, the unzip and transfer trick worked : I can now read 'Dombey & Son' from the html on the Boox. (It actually looks nicer than the epubs that I've looked at so far, but that might just be chance). And now I've just discovered that I've got one of the boox that don't work in sunshine. Not good for hiking! Thanks for your replies Last edited by TimMason; 05-24-2010 at 11:13 AM.

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05-23-2010, 03:54 AM	#2
Stormchild Evangelist Posts: 466 Karma: 878943 Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: Cornwall UK Device: BeBook 1. BeBook Mini. BeBook Neo and Club. BeBook Live. BeeBook Pure.	Hi Tim. The first answer is no. That is pretty much the way e-ink refreshes. I have downloaded an epub from that site and it opens just fine. Try redownloading or downloading some different ones. I would guess the problem is with the Epub. You need a cover. There are a few available and this subforum has discussed them. The screens are quite fragile and I would not consider taking it hiking without a full cover to protect it.

05-23-2010, 04:19 AM	#3
Delta Tango Groupie Posts: 161 Karma: 20000 Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: Zagreb, Croatia Device: Onyx Boox	Hello and welcome to MR! The page turning is pretty much the same on every e-ink display, but on Boox You can minimize it by going to Menu and turning off the Full Refresh mode.

05-23-2010, 04:48 AM	#4
TimMason Big Ears Posts: 191 Karma: 2229 Join Date: May 2010 Location: Pontoise, France Device: Onyx Boox 60, iPad	Thanks for the replies and the welcome. Concerning the cover, the Boox was delivered with a brown leather one. I guess I'll take it along and hope that protection will suffice. For the epub from Adelaide, I've now tried several of the books from that site, and none of them are opening. I'll try deleting them and then loading them on again. I'll have a look at the Refresh mode trick; in the long run, I do hope that the tech wizards find an answer to the problem. I don't think I'll be able to persuade my wife to use one of these devices so long as it does that.

05-23-2010, 05:43 AM	#5
Delta Tango Groupie Posts: 161 Karma: 20000 Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: Zagreb, Croatia Device: Onyx Boox	Try updating the firmware. I have 1.3. and epubs work fine. http://www.onyx-international.com/support

05-23-2010, 07:47 AM	#6
TimMason Big Ears Posts: 191 Karma: 2229 Join Date: May 2010 Location: Pontoise, France Device: Onyx Boox 60, iPad	Thanks for the advice and the link. In fact, the reader came with the latest firmware installed; it works fine with epubs from other sources, such as Gutenberg. It's just the ones I downloaded from the Adelaide site.

05-23-2010, 11:01 PM	#7
pietvo Reader Posts: 519 Karma: 24612 Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Utrecht, NL Device: Kobo Aura 2, iPhone, iPad	How did you load the ebooks from Adelaide? I tried George Orwell's 1984 and downloaded it first on my computer and then copied it over to my Boox through the USB cable and it opened without problems.

05-24-2010, 03:58 AM	#8
neilmarr neilmarr Posts: 7,216 Karma: 6000059 Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: Monaco-Menton, France Device: sony	Good to have your company, Tim. Best wishes. Neil

05-24-2010, 06:05 AM	#9
TimMason Big Ears Posts: 191 Karma: 2229 Join Date: May 2010 Location: Pontoise, France Device: Onyx Boox 60, iPad	Hello Pietvo Thanks for your message. I downloaded the books onto my iMac and then transferred through the USB connection. If you were able to read the books from the site, it's probably something I'm doing at this end. I'll try again when I have a bit of time. At the moment things are rather hectic. neilmarr, thanks for the welcome. I'm glad to be here.

05-24-2010, 08:31 AM	#10
Delta Tango Groupie Posts: 161 Karma: 20000 Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: Zagreb, Croatia Device: Onyx Boox	Try unzipping (un-epubing) them and transferring entire folder.

05-24-2010, 09:04 AM	#11
pietvo Reader Posts: 519 Karma: 24612 Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Utrecht, NL Device: Kobo Aura 2, iPhone, iPad	Hello Tim, I did the same as you did, but from a MacBook instead of an iMac. It could be that some books do load properly and others don't. Can you mention a book that fails so that I can try it out?

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05-27-2010, 03:27 AM	#15
TimMason Big Ears Posts: 191 Karma: 2229 Join Date: May 2010 Location: Pontoise, France Device: Onyx Boox 60, iPad	pietvo, thanks for going to all that trouble. I'll inform the people at Adelaide. Unfortunately, some of the books they have - in particular texts by 19thC Australian travelers and ethnologists, which is what I'm particularly interested in - don't seem to be available anywhere else, and while some of them work, others don't.