Onyx Boox M96

[fraylocus]

Originally Posted by seaniko7

Yeah, working on that. Also, I'm wondering whether to leave Obuntu as is and resurrect OpenInkpot for Onyx (*92/*62/*96/this 13.3 inch thing) instead.

Very good idea.

My Android does not convince me, because consume many resources, including battery.
Besides a lot of unnecessary "telephone" garbage.
You have to clean all that. This amounts to almost make it new, to be more effective with readers.

What happens is that manufacturers are interested in Android because they leave the job in the hands of developers and support saves.
Input, with Android we can forget the long duration of the battery we had with Linux.

I definitely rooting for your suggestion OpenInkpot.


A greeting and thanks for your work. -

[lepau]

I`m glad I bought my M92 before it disappeared, so that I don't have to deal with an Android device.

Great that there are people like seaniko7. Looking forward to his ports.

[szlevi]

Dear Zeng,

Could you tell me when we, users will be able to download those working Android versions on our i62/ M92 devices.
Thank you!
Greetings!
Levente

Originally Posted by zeng

@fraylocus we will continue support M92 and i62. We have workable android version for M92 and i62 . The end users have to program the device by using PC tools. For linux version, we will fix bugs, but may not add new feature. We will also release all of linux source code to help developer to continue development work for M92 and i62. Most likely, we will also release source code of android for M92 and i62.

[mvo]

I have read through the posts, but have been unable to discern whether the new 8 inch and 13.3 inch readers will be front-lit. Front lighting on at least the 8=inch model would be great

[tomaschavez00]

Will we be able to switch to android os if we want?

[tomaschavez00]

Zeng,

Will you show a m92 running android and running current os ? (video?)
I would like to compare this ... and maybe an opinion on this topic... pros and cons of one os and the other...

... basically, to make an informed desition about changing my os or not (if it will be possible of course)

[RohanOrhanHaron]

Originally Posted by zeng

The difference between M95 and M96 are
* different screen. M95 uses 50Hz refresh rate pearl screen, while M96 will use 85Hz refresh rate carta screen. But we don't have idea when the carta will be available, that's the reason we introduce M95.

So will the M96 have a better resolution as well?
And will it retain the digitizer?

[Dolansky]

Originally Posted by Booxtor

На подарок вряд ли потянет. Судя по тех. характеристикам ожидаемая розничная цена от 1000$ — строго для профессиональных пользователей.. Выльется ли прототип в реальное устройство тоже сложно предсказать.
Сегодня общался с партнерами из Оникса. Есть вероятность что Оникс все таки откажется от 13.3 экрана из-за несусветной дороговизны в пользу гораздо более дешевого 11.1″ HD (2400×1600) экрана с подсветкой. 2014 год обещает стать интересным для большеформатных ридеров.

Google Translated:

...
Today talked with partners from Onyx . There is a probability that the Onyx still refuses to 13.3 screen because unholy expensive in favor of much cheaper 11.1 "HD ( 2400 × 1600 ) screen with backlight. 2014 promises to be interesting for large- readers.

reference: 'PocketBook CAD Reader: планшет c EPD дисплеем E-Ink Fina™ размером 13,3 дюйма' at ebook.org

reference:Booxtor's comment

[lepau]

there will be a 13.3" reader from Pocketbook:
http://www.eink.com/press_releases/e...ad_120213.html

[ManDay]

I'd like to comment on the Android vs. Linux subject:

I don't care whether the device runs either of the OS, as long as it does its job well.

Since I'm obviously not using Android on my laptop and desktop workstations, I'd rather run Linux on my ereader, too - just so I don't have to become acquainted with yet another OS.

On the other hand - contrary to what happens on my computers - I don't really see a reason to become acquainted with my ereader's OS beyond being able to use it.

I'm not planning to hack it, and for the unlikely case that I wish to write my own application, it really doesn't make a difference (that I need to learn a new toolkit and wouldn't use "C" aside) - on a higher level the underlying OS is irrelevant to the developer.

However - despite my indifference to the subject - I can't relate to the reasons that zeng gives.

The main advantage of Android is that its Shell/UI is tailored towards touch devices and well integrates gestures. Linux X.org's input stack is designed for keyboard and mouse input, but can easily be made respond to gestures. No problem there.

What strikes me most, though, is that Android offers no real advantages with regard to the e-ink device. Quite the contrary!

zeng, I don't reckon that I can change your mind on the subject, but I'd like you to know that you're letting a great opportunity got to waste. For your company as the open source movement alike (and latter is what bothers me most)!

With http://wayland.freedesktop.org/ Wayland you're served a modern, clean approach to a display server on a silver plate. If your or just any company spent the man-hours that your company currently spends on hacking solutions into the Linux kernel or userspace on developing a proper (GPL'ed) E-ink solution on the kernel side which makes it into mainline, you would practically lead development of Eink on linux and every Linux application would readily be available to any Eink user.

I'm not so euphoric as far as Android is concerned. Mostly, because I don't see where Android is going at all. To me, Android is still not much more than Linux' little, incompatible brother and I'd rather if companies which do not have immediate advantages of it stick to using Linux.

Ultimately, Onyx will ask, what's in for them. I'd argue there is as much in that deal as there is in using Android. Similarly, there is as much in developing closed source as GPL'ing it and benefiting from the contributions from the community.

The Open Source community is well connected, and we keep damn well track of which companies do work towards Open Source and which don't. The return for Onyx should be self-evident.

[zeng]

For me, Android is a step forward. Couple of years ago, when we started first version BOOX software, we had to develop almost everything from scratch, IPC, CMS(Content Manager System), GUI library(Based on Qt, but tuned for eInk), eBook Readers, Network management, application level power management. Of course, we were able to tune these apps to run pretty well on low-end hardware. Android, is much more complex(the source tarball is around 2.4GB) and consumes more computation resource(Virtual Machine Byte Code vs. Native Code). But with Android, we don't need to start everything from scratch and we may just focus on applications and internet service. On the other hand, end users are also able to install lot of excellent apps.

There're some concern before we migrate to Android. Android is slower than Linux and Qt GUI. It's right, but we have more powerful hardware that we had before. Power management of Android is bad or not suitable for eReader. Not really, it depends on how you customize and optimize the Android system. The network management of Android is nicer than the one of Linux solution. It's more easy to develop apps for android too, there are lot of development resource for android. So there is no reason we stick to Linux.

[tomaschavez00]

Originally Posted by zeng

For me, Android is a step forward. Couple of years ago, when we started first version BOOX software, we had to develop almost everything from scratch, IPC, CMS(Content Manager System), GUI library(Based on Qt, but tuned for eInk), eBook Readers, Network management, application level power management. Of course, we were able to tune these apps to run pretty well on low-end hardware. Android, is much more complex(the source tarball is around 2.4GB) and consumes more computation resource(Virtual Machine Byte Code vs. Native Code). But with Android, we don't need to start everything from scratch and we may just focus on applications and internet service. On the other hand, end users are also able to install lot of excellent apps.

There're some concern before we migrate to Android. Android is slower than Linux and Qt GUI. It's right, but we have more powerful hardware that we had before. Power management of Android is bad or not suitable for eReader. Not really, it depends on how you customize and optimize the Android system. The network management of Android is nicer than the one of Linux solution. It's more easy to develop apps for android too, there are lot of development resource for android. So there is no reason we stick to Linux.

But what about the m92 users... how (if the hardware doesn't change in that case) will the benefit from android? Because it will be slower and battery consuming

[ManDay]

It sounds like you did not take that choice lightly, then, but thoroughly considered it, after all. Yet, I'm surprised that things like power-management had to be rewritten by you guys.

I'm generally trying to resist the temptation to blame hardware designers for everything, but (whatever, here we go: h/w designers are the most natural culprit in any case) it sounds much like the vanilla kernel's power management did not work because the components of the BOOX did not abide to those specifications which are implemented by the kernel.

Why else did the vanilla kernel with all its schedulers, powersave options etc. not suffice? On the most basic level, I hope that the only thing which remained to be done is write a framebuffer module for the e-ink interface. Without any further modifications, you could then directly use GTK+ and all its applications or just write very light applications with DirectFB. Toolkits like GTK+ would even transparently handle redrawing operations such that only the region which needs update is updated (for everything else, an according optimization of the FB should be trivial).

After all, the only reason for which you'd have had such enormous problems I can think of is that most of the h/w components were not supported by the linux kernel but only in the android tree. I certainly understand, though, that ONYX can't but choose from a limited range of components for the ereader market. Shame on those hardware designers

[szlevi]

Dear Zeng,

Please answer my quoted question!

Thank you!

Originally Posted by szlevi

Dear Zeng,

Could you tell me when we, users will be able to download those working Android versions on our i62/ M92 devices.
Thank you!
Greetings!
Levente

[The Chef]

I'm in the same position as the original poster, my M92 screen cracked (no idea how, just left it in my bag for a long time) and doesn't work anymore

I was looking to get another M92 (it was the best large screen PDF reader when I last checked), but these new Android 4.0 devices (T68 with HD 1440x1080 screen and M96 large screen) have me really excited!!!
Especially as a user (I'm not a developer at all; at least not yet), I'll have easy access to a lot more functionality (with android reader UI apps) and connectivity (web browsers, news/magazines etc.). But yeah the hardware will need to be souped up to support Android's performance demands properly (compared to the very light Linux we have now).

My past experience with Android 2.x (on a smartphone) is meh, so it's mainly 4.x I'm looking forward to.
Kobo Aura HD also has a 1440x1080 screen and I was also considering to buy that, but the PDF support looks REALLY limited compared to the Onyx Boox features in M92, let alone Android possibilities.
The mainstream (Kindle/Kobo/Nook) seem very far behind Onyx for PDF support.

Anyway I'm eagerly waiting any sort of availability/stock announcement for T68 or M96