DR800 Public BETA of the DR800S and SG 2.0 software available

[Dellaster]

Originally Posted by Shaggy

I believe iRex recommended in another thread on here that deleting the global.db will indeed force a re-indexing.

Thanks, Shaggy. Come to think of it, by erasing the SD card and adding back the original folders all I was doing, in effect, was deleting that global.db (and the System folder, which I was concerned about because of the crashed plugin). Although the old metadata.db files were still in the folders I replaced, it still re-indexed everything.

[CoolDragon]

A related question: does "format the SD card" in the "setting" page re-create these folders like "book, news, personal documents" etc?

[Madam Broshkina]

The biggest thing for me with this upgrade is the new Go To Page function. Plus I like that the little page numbers no longer show up.

[Madam Broshkina]

Is there a reason why the "notes" function only works with PDF books?

[Shaggy]

Originally Posted by Madam Broshkina

Is there a reason why the "notes" function only works with PDF books?

Technically, "notes" is a stand alone application. What you're talking about is what iRex calls "scribbles". I know what you meant though.

The main reason is that scribbles are currently only supported on document types with fixed layouts. When you're writing on the screen, it's not saving them to the original document (which may not even be possible in the case of DRM, or if a format only supports text and not images). Rather, it's storing the writings separately and then tracks what page they're on and where to place them on the screen when it's re-showing them. It basically remembers where your scribbles were, and then overlays them when displaying the document.

If you "scribble" on a document type (such as ePub) that has a variable page layout (IE, changing the font or margins will cause the entire document to change... words/lines move around, number of pages increases/decreases, etc) then it becomes extremely difficult to track how to put your scribbles back together when displaying the document. For example, if a word appears on line 5 of a document and you underline it. Then if you change the font size that word is now on line 15, the underline isn't going to be in the right place anymore. Getting the underline to "follow" the original position in the document when it is dynamically changing isn't simple (and probably isn't even possible with some document types).

They've talked about addressing this to a limited extent for variable layout documents in the future, but I don't know if they have a specific idea in mind yet. I think some of the other manufacturers do things like let you write on the screen, but the writing disappears if you do anything that causes the document to reflow. Some of the others don't allow you to write "free hand" at all, but rather you attach a bookmark or footnote to a page and then you write on that.

[Madam Broshkina]

Originally Posted by Shaggy

Technically, "notes" is a stand alone application. What you're talking about is what iRex calls "scribbles". I know what you meant though.

The main reason is that scribbles are currently only supported on document types with fixed layouts. When you're writing on the screen, it's not saving them to the original document (which may not even be possible in the case of DRM, or if a format only supports text and not images). Rather, it's storing the writings separately and then tracks what page they're on and where to place them on the screen when it's re-showing them. It basically remembers where your scribbles were, and then overlays them when displaying the document.

If you "scribble" on a document type (such as ePub) that has a variable page layout (IE, changing the font or margins will cause the entire document to change... words/lines move around, number of pages increases/decreases, etc) then it becomes extremely difficult to track how to put your scribbles back together when displaying the document. For example, if a word appears on line 5 of a document and you underline it. Then if you change the font size that word is now on line 15, the underline isn't going to be in the right place anymore. Getting the underline to "follow" the original position in the document when it is dynamically changing isn't simple (and probably isn't even possible with some document types).

They've talked about addressing this to a limited extent for variable layout documents in the future, but I don't know if they have a specific idea in mind yet. I think some of the other manufacturers do things like let you write on the screen, but the writing disappears if you do anything that causes the document to reflow. Some of the others don't allow you to write "free hand" at all, but rather you attach a bookmark or footnote to a page and then you write on that.

Thanks for the info. Makes sense now after your explanation.

[Mickey330]

Originally Posted by Shaggy

I believe iRex recommended in another thread on here that deleting the global.db will indeed force a re-indexing.

Thanks for that reminder, Shaggy. I read that tip in another thread ... just didn't remember it.

So, all my books are indexed (250+) and it only took about 15-20 minutes for the DR800 to index. Now, I see all my thumbnails.

The good news is that it must remember that it indexed books, because I just added one book and the indexing only took about 20 seconds. Yay!

Again, thanks for the tip on the global.db delete.

Marilyn

[Mr. X]

So far so good. One thing I noticed is that after flipping the screen by issuing an xrandr call scribbles show up wrong with the quick updates, but once a refresh happens they are in the right spot. e.g. if I draw an X in the top left of the screen in notepad it shows up immediately at the bottom right. If I then bring up the menu a redraw happens and the X shows up where I actually drew it. I know flipping the screen is unsupported, just reporting it anyway.

[dmikov]

Originally Posted by Shaggy

Technically, "notes" is a stand alone application. What you're talking about is what iRex calls "scribbles". I know what you meant though.

The main reason is that scribbles are currently only supported on document types with fixed layouts. When you're writing on the screen, it's not saving them to the original document (which may not even be possible in the case of DRM, or if a format only supports text and not images). Rather, it's storing the writings separately and then tracks what page they're on and where to place them on the screen when it's re-showing them. It basically remembers where your scribbles were, and then overlays them when displaying the document.

If you "scribble" on a document type (such as ePub) that has a variable page layout (IE, changing the font or margins will cause the entire document to change... words/lines move around, number of pages increases/decreases, etc) then it becomes extremely difficult to track how to put your scribbles back together when displaying the document. For example, if a word appears on line 5 of a document and you underline it. Then if you change the font size that word is now on line 15, the underline isn't going to be in the right place anymore. Getting the underline to "follow" the original position in the document when it is dynamically changing isn't simple (and probably isn't even possible with some document types).

They've talked about addressing this to a limited extent for variable layout documents in the future, but I don't know if they have a specific idea in mind yet. I think some of the other manufacturers do things like let you write on the screen, but the writing disappears if you do anything that causes the document to reflow. Some of the others don't allow you to write "free hand" at all, but rather you attach a bookmark or footnote to a page and then you write on that.

What's wrong with attaching them to the position of rendered character. Like REB did with rb files and would imagine imp files as well? Like char 1067-1083 underline or note.

[Matthijs]

Originally Posted by dmikov

What's wrong with attaching them to the position of rendered character. Like REB did with rb files and would imagine imp files as well? Like char 1067-1083 underline or note.

I would be possible to work with a highlighter for underlining/highlighting paragraphs and then optionally attaching a 'Sticky Note' to it (either with typed or handwritten text).

We're looking at such improvements for the future.

Shaggy's explanation is spot-on. It is not that easy to 'guess' what the user means. Detecting that a scribbled line is meant as an underline of some text and then converting that to a highlight is non-trivial. Converting circled words to a highlight is even harder.

[Matthijs]

Originally Posted by CoolDragon

A related question: does "format the SD card" in the "setting" page re-create these folders like "book, news, personal documents" etc?

No, it doesn't (although it probably should).
The 'Notes' folder is however auto-created when you create your first Note.

[Matthijs]

Originally Posted by Mickey330

Actually, it kind of is. I added a new book to the Irex after installing the beta update (which I am w-a-y liking, BTW!). That new book DOES show the cover thumbnail and stuff - and I've never opened it. I assume, then, that it does the indexing on all newly added books.

Exactly, it will only generate thumbnails for files that have not been added to the global.db yet. Your existing documents were already in there.

The easiest way (without loosing any of your positions, bookmarks, etc) is by deleting the 'global.db' file in the root of the card. This will force a full indexing including thumbnails and metadata.

[Matthijs]

Originally Posted by CoolDragon

It will be more convenient to have the "fit width" zoom level be default when switching to landscape mode.

We're looking at fixing that.

I wonder if there is an .ini hack to enable tabs on the dr800 firmware.

I'm afraid not. But once we release the sources, you can recompile popupmenu to get it.

[Matthijs]

Originally Posted by ahhahh

One thing I have noticed, and has not been mentioned, is that epub margin numbers seem to be gone!!!! For me, that's great, I just hated them.

Indeed, the ability to disable this is a new feature in the RMSDK 9.1.

[Matthijs]

Originally Posted by vakya

Pardon for my english.
When i try to open an epub made by calibre with jpg cover. The DR800 say me:
An unexpected error has occurrerd; your documents must be closed.

Could you post the EPUB so we can debug it?