Another New Toy For Me - A White Pandigital - Page 2

Xanthe · 12-03-2010, 07:22 PM

Thanks, lotrfan. That's the kind of information I need.

I'm not very proficient with cmd prompts but I have muddled my way through there at times in the past when absolutely necessary. My spirit is willing, but my skills are weak, and there seems to be an assumption of a certain skill level in those instructions. Tends to happen in any situation I suppose, where the people providing the instruction are so far removed from the newbie level that they don't realize that terms and concepts that they don't even pay attention to anymore just zoom over a newbie's head.

I found the same thing to be true on my job, whenever I unconsciously used too much jargon in explaining things to people who had never had contact with my agency before. I had to stop and rethink my explanation, and present it in more understandable terms.

lotrfan · 12-03-2010, 09:55 PM

Ok. There are several pre built fw hacks that are based on the different original firmwares that the company has posted. I think you have to first install the original fw before installing the corresponding hacked one but i am not sure. You can find them at the wiki at slatedroid. To install a fw be it hacked or not you just copy the fw to an sd card. Hold the power switch on the on position and at the same time hold the "up" volume button. Hold them both for about 5 sec then release. The Novel will install the new fw with corresponding hacks if any. They also have a pretty good list of apps. To get Market running is a little bit more involved. User data on the Novel will be erased.

wheatfree · 12-05-2010, 02:07 PM

I installed the Cruz UI modified firmware from slatedroid within 12 hours of getting mine. I've had it for 2 months now, and it works perfectly. I use mine for pretty much everything. I watch video on it; although, I really don't recommend it for the video. I stream music from pandora and slacker. I check email and blogs. I surf the internet. I play games on it. And yeah, I read on it, obviously.

I have only ever had to hit the reset button once. The preconfigured firmwares on slatedroid are wonderful. No fuss. No muss. Flash and go.

Xanthe · 12-05-2010, 11:58 PM

Well, everything is still on schedule and it should arrive tomorrow. It's going to be extremely hard not to unbox it before Christmas.

Latinandgreek · 12-06-2010, 06:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Xanthe

Well, everything is still on schedule and it should arrive tomorrow. It's going to be extremely hard not to unbox it before Christmas.

Well, today is the feast of St. Nick, traditionally many Europeans give gifts today...

Xanthe · 12-06-2010, 10:15 AM

Hmm....I forgot about Svyatyi Mykolay....haven't gotten a present from him in years....hmm....

Xanthe · 12-06-2010, 10:48 PM

Well, the PDN arrived. I took it out of the shipping container but haven't unboxed it. An added bonus - it came with a $10 mail-in rebate, which brings the price (before tax and shipping) down to $139. Not too bad.

Xanthe · 12-10-2010, 02:46 AM

I lasted 3 days before I opened it.

I am so weak...

wheatfree · 12-10-2010, 09:57 AM

You're a better man than I am, Gunga Din!

I wouldn't have lasted that long.

soondai · 12-10-2010, 11:30 AM

mine has been up in the closet since the day after black Friday.

how's it going Xanthe?
which firmware are you going (or starting) with.

really curious to see how it handles PDFs withe the latest PD update

lotrfan · 12-10-2010, 01:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by soondai

mine has been up in the closet since the day after black Friday.

how's it going Xanthe?
which firmware are you going (or starting) with.

really curious to see how it handles PDFs withe the latest PD update

I installed the new FW and like it a lot. The PD reader app doesn’t allow for zooming into the PDF. You would have to hack it and install the adobe reader app or other to better read a PDF.

soondai · 12-10-2010, 05:32 PM

If I can read the PDFs in landscape and scroll down the page I should be okay (I hope it can do that). If not, it'll give me an excuse to hack it. I probably want vudroid anyway for some djvu files.

The PDFs I have are scanned books that should read fine in landscape (and maybe even in portrait if I use briss on them)

Xanthe · 12-12-2010, 02:58 AM

First impressions of the PDN:

1. It is much heavier than my ALP or Sony.

2. Battery time is nowhere near that of an e-ink or reflective LCD device.

3. The device, out of the box, is easy to operate.

4. The touch screen is more responsive than I thought it would be. But the screen quickly becomes covered with fingerprint smudges [EDIT: merely unsightly, doesn't seem to affect performance].

5. It doesn't come with a stylus, but it does come with a stand for hand's free reading.

6. I've got a 50+ character key for my wireless. I kept getting "wrong key" errors when trying to enter it. I finally set up a guest account on my wireless router with a smaller guest key and was able to connect with that.

7. Connecting to my B&N account was no problem, nor was updating my Library from it.

8. Updating the firmware was not difficult. I just followed the instructions on the PDN website.

9. One of the first things I did was to replace the internal 1GB micro SD card with a 16GB micro SDHC card. That was easy to do. The PDN website has step-by-step instructions with pictures. Prior to doing that, though, I went into the PDN with Explorer and copied everything on the SD card to my hard drive, in a folder clearly marked that it was the original data.

10. I have to say, one of the problems I'm having is the different terminology used in regard to Android products. To me, FW is firewall not firmware. "Repos" is repossession not repository in my mind. "Flashing" isn't exactly installing, according to what I've been told. I'm not quite sure of the difference between "hacking", "rooting" and "modding". This tends to make information/instructions on the Android forums a bit hard to understand.

11. The screen is not as sharp as my laptop's screen. The text in the reader function should be darker/bolder for my eyes. I haven't found a way of adjusting that to my satisfaction yet.

12. I decided to use the nchnter_experience modification because it seemed to play nicer than the roebeet one according to the threads I was reading. The downside is that it doesn't give you access to Android Marketplace, which seems to be the easiest and safest source of Android applications. I had no problem installing it. I used the 9/23 version but before I installed...er...flashed it to my system, I reverted the PDN operating system to the 9/23 version to avoid problems.

13. I'm still trying to figure everything out. I miss the darn "x" in the upper corner of the window - I have directional difficulties at times (forward? back? close?). [EDIT: this refers to it as a hacked Android tablet, not the basic PDN mode.]

14. Opera has a Beta version out for Android, which I managed to find and figure out which one I should use - AND managed to download it to my PC. I was able to install it without problem; nice to have a familiar browser. There's a lot of Android apps out there but a lot of the websites only provide access to them via your mobile phone, which doesn't quite work in this instance.

15. I haven't loaded any PDF's on it yet so I can't comment on how they look. A YouTube video played without problem - it wasn't that sharp-looking but I don't know if it was the 'tube or my screen. Haven't loaded any music on it (it has two speakers on the bottom edge of the device).

I already know that I don't like to read for extended periods of time on an LCD screen, so that wasn't my primary reason for getting this device. I'm mainly looking for it to fill the category of a poor-man's iPad. The mods/hacks have turned it into an full-fledged Android device which is easier for me to browse on than an cell phone, which is what I wanted, so so far, I am happy.

Note: The white PDN runs Android 2.0. The black PDN supposedly runs Android 1.5.

soondai · 12-12-2010, 11:23 AM

Xanthe:

when you say there are step by step instructions in changing out the internal memory card on the PDN site are you talking about slatedroid (I see nothing on Pandigital's actual site)

thanks for the write-up. can't wait til I get to play with mine.

edit:
nevermind, I found it:

http://www.pandigital.net/?PageID=335#MicroSD_Removal

londonfire · 12-12-2010, 11:42 AM

Hi, everybody. I'm the new guy here. Seems like this is a good spot to ask a few PDN qeestions. I have one I picked up 2 days ago and haven't opened yet because I'm doing some research. My biggest question is the 'black vs. white'. I've read both ways as to which one is better. Do they both have the same processor? I know mine is 2 gig and all the whites I've seen are 1 gig. I know that's not a big deal because I'll use an SDHC card anyway but does that flash memory have an effect on speed? I bought mine primarily to try as a web device. I know, I've read a lot of reviews and it's never going to chase the iPad off the market. I want it mostly for traveling to check airline and hotel sites for reservations and e-mail. I have a Touch right now and really like it but the screen is a bit small for my wife to handle so that's why I jumped on this. Thanks for any input you have....Ed.

12-12-2010, 02:58 AM	#28
Xanthe Plan B Is Now In Force Posts: 1,894 Karma: 8086979 Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: Surebleak Device: Aluratek,Sony 350/T1,Pandigital,eBM 911,Nook HD/HD+,Fire HDX 7/8.9,PW2	First impressions of the PDN: 1. It is much heavier than my ALP or Sony. 2. Battery time is nowhere near that of an e-ink or reflective LCD device. 3. The device, out of the box, is easy to operate. 4. The touch screen is more responsive than I thought it would be. But the screen quickly becomes covered with fingerprint smudges [EDIT: merely unsightly, doesn't seem to affect performance]. 5. It doesn't come with a stylus, but it does come with a stand for hand's free reading. 6. I've got a 50+ character key for my wireless. I kept getting "wrong key" errors when trying to enter it. I finally set up a guest account on my wireless router with a smaller guest key and was able to connect with that. 7. Connecting to my B&N account was no problem, nor was updating my Library from it. 8. Updating the firmware was not difficult. I just followed the instructions on the PDN website. 9. One of the first things I did was to replace the internal 1GB micro SD card with a 16GB micro SDHC card. That was easy to do. The PDN website has step-by-step instructions with pictures. Prior to doing that, though, I went into the PDN with Explorer and copied everything on the SD card to my hard drive, in a folder clearly marked that it was the original data. 10. I have to say, one of the problems I'm having is the different terminology used in regard to Android products. To me, FW is firewall not firmware. "Repos" is repossession not repository in my mind. "Flashing" isn't exactly installing, according to what I've been told. I'm not quite sure of the difference between "hacking", "rooting" and "modding". This tends to make information/instructions on the Android forums a bit hard to understand. 11. The screen is not as sharp as my laptop's screen. The text in the reader function should be darker/bolder for my eyes. I haven't found a way of adjusting that to my satisfaction yet. 12. I decided to use the nchnter_experience modification because it seemed to play nicer than the roebeet one according to the threads I was reading. The downside is that it doesn't give you access to Android Marketplace, which seems to be the easiest and safest source of Android applications. I had no problem installing it. I used the 9/23 version but before I installed...er...flashed it to my system, I reverted the PDN operating system to the 9/23 version to avoid problems. 13. I'm still trying to figure everything out. I miss the darn "x" in the upper corner of the window - I have directional difficulties at times (forward? back? close?). [EDIT: this refers to it as a hacked Android tablet, not the basic PDN mode.] 14. Opera has a Beta version out for Android, which I managed to find and figure out which one I should use - AND managed to download it to my PC. I was able to install it without problem; nice to have a familiar browser. There's a lot of Android apps out there but a lot of the websites only provide access to them via your mobile phone, which doesn't quite work in this instance. 15. I haven't loaded any PDF's on it yet so I can't comment on how they look. A YouTube video played without problem - it wasn't that sharp-looking but I don't know if it was the 'tube or my screen. Haven't loaded any music on it (it has two speakers on the bottom edge of the device). I already know that I don't like to read for extended periods of time on an LCD screen, so that wasn't my primary reason for getting this device. I'm mainly looking for it to fill the category of a poor-man's iPad. The mods/hacks have turned it into an full-fledged Android device which is easier for me to browse on than an cell phone, which is what I wanted, so so far, I am happy. Note: The white PDN runs Android 2.0. The black PDN supposedly runs Android 1.5. Last edited by Xanthe; 12-12-2010 at 06:09 PM.

12-12-2010, 11:23 AM	#29
soondai Guru Posts: 672 Karma: 1109784 Join Date: Aug 2010 Device: Paperwhite	Xanthe: when you say there are step by step instructions in changing out the internal memory card on the PDN site are you talking about slatedroid (I see nothing on Pandigital's actual site) thanks for the write-up. can't wait til I get to play with mine. edit: nevermind, I found it: http://www.pandigital.net/?PageID=335#MicroSD_Removal Last edited by soondai; 12-12-2010 at 12:03 PM.

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12-03-2010, 07:22 PM	#16
Xanthe Plan B Is Now In Force Posts: 1,894 Karma: 8086979 Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: Surebleak Device: Aluratek,Sony 350/T1,Pandigital,eBM 911,Nook HD/HD+,Fire HDX 7/8.9,PW2	Thanks, lotrfan. That's the kind of information I need. I'm not very proficient with cmd prompts but I have muddled my way through there at times in the past when absolutely necessary. My spirit is willing, but my skills are weak, and there seems to be an assumption of a certain skill level in those instructions. Tends to happen in any situation I suppose, where the people providing the instruction are so far removed from the newbie level that they don't realize that terms and concepts that they don't even pay attention to anymore just zoom over a newbie's head. I found the same thing to be true on my job, whenever I unconsciously used too much jargon in explaining things to people who had never had contact with my agency before. I had to stop and rethink my explanation, and present it in more understandable terms.

12-03-2010, 09:55 PM	#17
lotrfan Connoisseur Posts: 52 Karma: 688 Join Date: May 2010 Device: none	Ok. There are several pre built fw hacks that are based on the different original firmwares that the company has posted. I think you have to first install the original fw before installing the corresponding hacked one but i am not sure. You can find them at the wiki at slatedroid. To install a fw be it hacked or not you just copy the fw to an sd card. Hold the power switch on the on position and at the same time hold the "up" volume button. Hold them both for about 5 sec then release. The Novel will install the new fw with corresponding hacks if any. They also have a pretty good list of apps. To get Market running is a little bit more involved. User data on the Novel will be erased.

12-05-2010, 02:07 PM	#18
wheatfree Member Posts: 24 Karma: 158 Join Date: Dec 2010 Device: Pandigital Novel	I installed the Cruz UI modified firmware from slatedroid within 12 hours of getting mine. I've had it for 2 months now, and it works perfectly. I use mine for pretty much everything. I watch video on it; although, I really don't recommend it for the video. I stream music from pandora and slacker. I check email and blogs. I surf the internet. I play games on it. And yeah, I read on it, obviously. I have only ever had to hit the reset button once. The preconfigured firmwares on slatedroid are wonderful. No fuss. No muss. Flash and go.

12-05-2010, 11:58 PM	#19
Xanthe Plan B Is Now In Force Posts: 1,894 Karma: 8086979 Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: Surebleak Device: Aluratek,Sony 350/T1,Pandigital,eBM 911,Nook HD/HD+,Fire HDX 7/8.9,PW2	Well, everything is still on schedule and it should arrive tomorrow. It's going to be extremely hard not to unbox it before Christmas.

12-06-2010, 10:15 AM	#21
Xanthe Plan B Is Now In Force Posts: 1,894 Karma: 8086979 Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: Surebleak Device: Aluratek,Sony 350/T1,Pandigital,eBM 911,Nook HD/HD+,Fire HDX 7/8.9,PW2	Hmm....I forgot about Svyatyi Mykolay....haven't gotten a present from him in years....hmm....

12-06-2010, 10:48 PM	#22
Xanthe Plan B Is Now In Force Posts: 1,894 Karma: 8086979 Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: Surebleak Device: Aluratek,Sony 350/T1,Pandigital,eBM 911,Nook HD/HD+,Fire HDX 7/8.9,PW2	Well, the PDN arrived. I took it out of the shipping container but haven't unboxed it. An added bonus - it came with a $10 mail-in rebate, which brings the price (before tax and shipping) down to $139. Not too bad.

12-10-2010, 02:46 AM	#23
Xanthe Plan B Is Now In Force Posts: 1,894 Karma: 8086979 Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: Surebleak Device: Aluratek,Sony 350/T1,Pandigital,eBM 911,Nook HD/HD+,Fire HDX 7/8.9,PW2	I lasted 3 days before I opened it. I am so weak...

12-10-2010, 09:57 AM	#24
wheatfree Member Posts: 24 Karma: 158 Join Date: Dec 2010 Device: Pandigital Novel	You're a better man than I am, Gunga Din! I wouldn't have lasted that long.

12-10-2010, 11:30 AM	#25
soondai Guru Posts: 672 Karma: 1109784 Join Date: Aug 2010 Device: Paperwhite	mine has been up in the closet since the day after black Friday. how's it going Xanthe? which firmware are you going (or starting) with. really curious to see how it handles PDFs withe the latest PD update

12-10-2010, 05:32 PM	#27
soondai Guru Posts: 672 Karma: 1109784 Join Date: Aug 2010 Device: Paperwhite	If I can read the PDFs in landscape and scroll down the page I should be okay (I hope it can do that). If not, it'll give me an excuse to hack it. I probably want vudroid anyway for some djvu files. The PDFs I have are scanned books that should read fine in landscape (and maybe even in portrait if I use briss on them)

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12-12-2010, 11:42 AM	#30
londonfire Junior Member Posts: 2 Karma: 10 Join Date: Dec 2010 Device: pandigital novel ereader	Hi, everybody. I'm the new guy here. Seems like this is a good spot to ask a few PDN qeestions. I have one I picked up 2 days ago and haven't opened yet because I'm doing some research. My biggest question is the 'black vs. white'. I've read both ways as to which one is better. Do they both have the same processor? I know mine is 2 gig and all the whites I've seen are 1 gig. I know that's not a big deal because I'll use an SDHC card anyway but does that flash memory have an effect on speed? I bought mine primarily to try as a web device. I know, I've read a lot of reviews and it's never going to chase the iPad off the market. I want it mostly for traveling to check airline and hotel sites for reservations and e-mail. I have a Touch right now and really like it but the screen is a bit small for my wife to handle so that's why I jumped on this. Thanks for any input you have....Ed.