Got my Cybook - initial thoughts

[tompe]

Originally Posted by ErwinOtten

I also have the old Webster dictionary from this site (and am thinking to remove it because it seldom finds a word ), but I've got the new cybook maybe there is a difference ??? I tried three different words and all three were under 5 seconds, one even with 5 references.

I have just put my Cybook away to send it back to Bookeen since one of the display chips seems to be broken. If I get a newer Cybook back I will measure it again...

Maybe the newer version had more RAM? I had assumed that there was no speedup with the newer version since nobody had mentioned it...

[Pulp]

I am using the lagest Pons Dictionary with 15,6MB and the lookups do never take more than 7 seconds - can feel long sometimes, but it is usualy ok.

[pdurrant]

With 1770 Mobipocket books installed, startup takes 2 minutes 34 seconds for me. That's why I don't have the auto shutdown turned on.

I have only one dictionary - the Chambers 10th edition, about 25MB.

If it's a word with a choice in the dictionary, it takes about six seconds for the choice menu to appear. If it only has a single entry, it takes about eight seconds for the dictionary page to appear.

I have one of the original CyBook Gen3s, with 64MB internal memory, not 512MB.

Originally Posted by bwaldron

Yeah, it's nowhere near 20 seconds for me either (only one dictionary installed).

Booting up, on the other hand, takes me more than 20 seconds with the number of books I have on my SD card.

[ErwinOtten]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

With 1770 Mobipocket books installed, startup takes 2 minutes 34 seconds for me. That's why I don't have the auto shutdown turned on.

I have only one dictionary - the Chambers 10th edition, about 25MB.

If it's a word with a choice in the dictionary, it takes about six seconds for the choice menu to appear. If it only has a single entry, it takes about eight seconds for the dictionary page to appear.

I have one of the original CyBook Gen3s, with 64MB internal memory, not 512MB.

Now I'm really puzzled

How is it possible there is so much difference (6 seconds vs almost 20 seconds) between the lookup times of two 'old' machines.
The only explanation I can come up with is the I/O time of reading from and writing to the SD-card. If Tommy's dictionary is on his SD-card and Paul's is on the main-memory I guess we have an answer, but otherwise ?????????

[pdurrant]

My dictionary is kept in the CyBook's main memory, along with just a couple of other books. All my other books are on my SD Card, in sub-folders of the eBooks folder.

I have found that the CyBook won't recognise a dictionary if it's kept in a folder inside the eBooks folder.

Perhaps the CyBook scans all 'loose' books for dictionaries every time there a dictionary lookup, and Tompe has a lot of books in his eBooks folders that aren't in sub-folders.

Originally Posted by ErwinOtten

Now I'm really puzzled

How is it possible there is so much difference (6 seconds vs almost 20 seconds) between the lookup times of two 'old' machines.
The only explanation I can come up with is the I/O time of reading from and writing to the SD-card. If Tommy's dictionary is on his SD-card and Paul's is on the main-memory I guess we have an answer, but otherwise ?????????

[ErwinOtten]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

My dictionary is kept in the CyBook's main memory, along with just a couple of other books. All my other books are on my SD Card, in sub-folders of the eBooks folder.

I have found that the CyBook won't recognise a dictionary if it's kept in a folder inside the eBooks folder.

Perhaps the CyBook scans all 'loose' books for dictionaries every time there a dictionary lookup, and Tompe has a lot of books in his eBooks folders that aren't in sub-folders.

GOOD THINKING Watson

I've put all my books in folders too (all in the main-memory) except for the dictionaries which won't work when put in a folder (like you said).
And since you can't see from the outside of a file if the book is a dictionary or not (file-extensions are the same) I guess what the Cybook does is open every file in the ebook-root-directory to see if it's a dictionary or not.

So it seems important to store your books in some kind of subfolder, even if you don't use it to order your books. That way your dictionary support will improve.

It would be useful if Bookeen would supply us with these kind of tips and tricks

[Pulp]

Originally Posted by ErwinOtten

It would be useful if Bookeen would supply us with these kind of tips and tricks

Or a "dicionaries"-folder

[pdurrant]

Or even a "Dictionaries" folder

Originally Posted by Pulp

Or a "dicionaries"-folder

[tompe]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Perhaps the CyBook scans all 'loose' books for dictionaries every time there a dictionary lookup, and Tompe has a lot of books in his eBooks folders that aren't in sub-folders.

Yes, I have nearly all my books in the top directory on the SD card.

It would have been good if some manual had warned about this...

[Pulp]

Please let us know if moving the books to a subfolder increased lookup-speed!
(Otherwise we wont know for sure )

[Vesper]

Originally Posted by Pulp

Please let us know if moving the books to a subfolder increased lookup-speed!
(Otherwise we wont know for sure )

I just did it and yes, lookup speed is visibly improved. It wasn't bad earlier but I had only 70-80 books in the root. Every day you learn something new...

DrS

[tompe]

Originally Posted by Vesper

I just did it and yes, lookup speed is visibly improved. It wasn't bad earlier but I had only 70-80 books in the root. Every day you learn something new...

DrS

I had maybe 200-300 in the root...

So a nice discovery just because the time was given in seconds so we could notice that there was some strange effect.

[c_lansdown@hotma]

Hi, my name is Chris and I am new to forums (I have only been uswing the internet for 20 years or so!). I hope I am not saying something stupid and that I am saying it in the right place.

I have largely got around the Cybook's sad lack of categories (My old Sony was much better in this respect) by entering the Properties dialogue for each book on Mobipocket and adding a two-letter code to the file-name. Hence the superb "Ancient Mysteries" becomes "re Ancient Mysteries", short for Reference and science-fiction books gain "sf" and a space. This allows all books to be found in categories - a GREAT IMPROVEMENT - pardon me for shouting about it but it has revolutionised my use of this brilliant device.

Finally; I also use my Palm TX as a reader, primarily for reference works. I wish someone would produce a larger Palm type device with a LCD backlit screen. It would make reading in bed so much more civalized.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by c_lansdown@hotma

Hi, my name is Chris and I am new to forums (I have only been uswing the internet for 20 years or so!). I hope I am not saying something stupid and that I am saying it in the right place.

Hi Chris - welcome to MobileRead.

I have largely got around the Cybook's sad lack of categories (My old Sony was much better in this respect) by entering the Properties dialogue for each book on Mobipocket and adding a two-letter code to the file-name. Hence the superb "Ancient Mysteries" becomes "re Ancient Mysteries", short for Reference and science-fiction books gain "sf" and a space. This allows all books to be found in categories - a GREAT IMPROVEMENT - pardon me for shouting about it but it has revolutionised my use of this brilliant device.

I'm not entirely sure that I understand what you mean. The CyBook's library displays a book's title, not its filename. You can "edit" the displayed title of a book in the Windows MobiPocket Reader, but those edits are stored locally in the ".mbp" file associated with the book, and are not transferred to the CyBook. To clarify - you are talking about MobiPocket books, aren't you?

There is an excellent tool called "mobi2mobi", written by one of our members, tompe, which will allow you to genuinely edit the title of a MobiPocket book.

Finally; I also use my Palm TX as a reader, primarily for reference works. I wish someone would produce a larger Palm type device with a LCD backlit screen. It would make reading in bed so much more civalized.

Most of us here, I think you'll find, regard eInk screen as being far more "civilized" than LCD . There are large-screen LCD devices available, such as the EBW1150.

You've certainly come to the right place if you have any questions about your CyBook, anyway. Hope you enjoy using it!

[c_lansdown@hotma]

Hi Harry,
Thanks for your welcome and reply. I did manage to change the screen names by the method mentioned and they stayed changed - right