Firmware suggestions?

kressg23 · 03-10-2009, 03:52 PM

Hi All,

Now that I have my EZ Reader, and am having some minor issues with it - which appear to be pretty normal, I'm looking at firmware. There are a lot who recommend OpenInkPot, so I've downloaded it to my PC, but I need to purchase a smaller SD card... mine are all either way too big or too small... so I'm still researching.

Some have suggested just upgrading Jinke/Bebook/Ibook, etc firmware, but I'm curious - is there a difference? Are these upgrades global throughout all of these devices that are cloned?

My biggest problem with the firmware that has come on the EZ Reader is that it reboots randomly when trying to advance the page. This is something I can live with if I must, but it would be cool to fix it up so that it didn't do it. Can any of you provide some personal experience with your EZ Readers?

If you flashed the firmware to OI, what format do you prefer? FB2? If so, how do you convert to that? My books are LIT, and I've been using Calibre to convert them to Mobi or epub... I like Mobi but I can no longer put bookmarks on my pages.

slayda · 03-10-2009, 04:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kressg23

Hi All,

Now that I have my EZ Reader, and am having some minor issues with it - which appear to be pretty normal, I'm looking at firmware. There are a lot who recommend OpenInkPot, so I've downloaded it to my PC, but I need to purchase a smaller SD card... mine are all either way too big or too small... so I'm still researching.

Some have suggested just upgrading Jinke/Bebook/Ibook, etc firmware, but I'm curious - is there a difference? Are these upgrades global throughout all of these devices that are cloned?

My biggest problem with the firmware that has come on the EZ Reader is that it reboots randomly when trying to advance the page. This is something I can live with if I must, but it would be cool to fix it up so that it didn't do it. Can any of you provide some personal experience with your EZ Readers?

If you flashed the firmware to OI, what format do you prefer? FB2? If so, how do you convert to that? My books are LIT, and I've been using Calibre to convert them to Mobi or epub... I like Mobi but I can no longer put bookmarks on my pages.

Yes I have some experience and I love OpenInkPot. Check out our wiki page on it here. There are links to the OI site there. With OI you actually have two readers, FB Reader & Cool Reader (both are linked to explanations from our WIKI on OI). I tend to use the default FB Reader that can read unDRMed Mobi, Epub as well as RTF. Like you, most of my books are Mobi with no DRM. BTW OI only reads files without DRM which can be a disadvantage. PM me if you have other OI questions.

Any of the firmwares can be updated to any of the Hanlin V3 family of readers (EZ Reader, BeBook, Ibook, etc.) and they are all slightly different. One problem at this time is getting back to the EZ Reader's firmware since there have been no updates yet. Check the Hanlin/Jinke site. With any of the Hanlin V3 firmwares, you can also use the Jinke SW called LogoMaker available at their site. With it you can create your own opening and closing images.

Bottom line for me is that the EZ Reader with the OI firmware is my favorite reader. (I have a Sony PRS-500, Bookeen Cybook Gen3, EZ Reader, and now a Kindle 1 - my second most favorite reader.)

DaleDe · 03-10-2009, 05:59 PM

You can upgrade eZ Reader to any of the Hanlin clones firmware so far. I downloaded the Hanlin release from January 20 first thing and upgraded my ez Reader. It works noticeably better.

kressg23 · 03-10-2009, 08:19 PM

I took the plunge and flashed OpenInkPot to my device. I just opened my first book, a Mobi format, and all of the apostrophes or quotation marks are a jarbled mess. The power button no longer puts the device in locked key mode and when I click the menu to power off, there is a page full of text with "Requesting system poweroff" as the last line. Crap, I hope I haven't totally screwed things up. The text has been on the screen for going on 3 minutes now.... someone help!

DaleDe · 03-10-2009, 08:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kressg23

I took the plunge and flashed OpenInkPot to my device. I just opened my first book, a Mobi format, and all of the apostrophes or quotation marks are a jarbled mess. The power button no longer puts the device in locked key mode and when I click the menu to power off, there is a page full of text with "Requesting system poweroff" as the last line. Crap, I hope I haven't totally screwed things up. The text has been on the screen for going on 3 minutes now.... someone help!

Push the reset button on the back of the device. It is safer to flash the Hanlin version.

Dale

kressg23 · 03-10-2009, 11:06 PM

I flashed the newest Hanlin version. What file format do you use most, Dale?

DaleDe · 03-11-2009, 01:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kressg23

I flashed the newest Hanlin version. What file format do you use most, Dale?

I use lots of them, mostly pdf, mobi, and pdb (PalmDoc) but I have books in other formats just to test them out.

Dale

cvkemp · 03-11-2009, 09:55 AM

I got my EZ reader Friday from Fry's and updated the firmware Saturday with the latest BeBook firmware and it is working great. I was having problems before the update with the lit ebooks.

AlfonsVH · 03-11-2009, 11:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kressg23

I took the plunge and flashed OpenInkPot to my device. I just opened my first book, a Mobi format, and all of the apostrophes or quotation marks are a jarbled mess. The power button no longer puts the device in locked key mode and when I click the menu to power off, there is a page full of text with "Requesting system poweroff" as the last line. Crap, I hope I haven't totally screwed things up. The text has been on the screen for going on 3 minutes now.... someone help!

Did you perhaps try opening a DRMed mobipocket-file? Those files do get displayed, but get displayed as a garbled mess of characters.

Also, it's normal for OpenInkpot to display "Requesting system poweroff" when the device has been shut down. I think they just did not implement any code to clear the screen after the device has been shut down, so the text stays on the screen, even when it's off.

kressg23 · 03-11-2009, 11:54 AM

I don't have any DRM'd books. So not sure what happened. For the moment, I have it back to the 01/20/09 update from Hanlin. I have converted all my LIT books to MOBI just because I like the way they appear on the screen better. But the bookmark doesn't work anymore (pushing 1-5) like it did on the LIT files. When I push 6, a new Bookmark screen comes up, but it's empty.

Thanks for the info about OI. I'll keep that in mind.

DaleDe · 03-11-2009, 12:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kressg23

I don't have any DRM'd books. So not sure what happened. For the moment, I have it back to the 01/20/09 update from Hanlin. I have converted all my LIT books to MOBI just because I like the way they appear on the screen better. But the bookmark doesn't work anymore (pushing 1-5) like it did on the LIT files. When I push 6, a new Bookmark screen comes up, but it's empty.

Thanks for the info about OI. I'll keep that in mind.

Mobi bookmarks are a bit convoluted. Press button 6. This will display current bookmarks. To set one bring up the menu (OK) while the list is displayed. You can add or delete one.

Dale

DaleDe · 03-11-2009, 12:15 PM

The best way to start using OI is to use the run option download to an SD card. You can then reboot into OI without having to change the firmware. This will give you confidence and experience to see if this is the way you want to go.

Dale

JoeD · 03-12-2009, 07:50 PM

If you do run it from SD and find it freezes or reboots a lot, don't assume the flashed version of the firmware will be the same. For some reason the "live" version isn't as stable. It's a good way of checking out the features of OI, but you really need to flash it to properly evaluate. It's simple to change back to the jinke/bebook/any other firmware after testing too.

slayda · 03-12-2009, 07:58 PM

I don't even bother to turn my EZ Reader (with OI) off because with OI it seems to use no power when no page is turned. Also the battery seems to last longer with OI for me. I think the process of turning off anf back on uses some power so since I read a lot I do better with leaving it on.

iterati · 03-12-2009, 10:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by slayda

I don't even bother to turn my EZ Reader (with OI) off because with OI it seems to use no power when no page is turned. Also the battery seems to last longer with OI for me. I think the process of turning off anf back on uses some power so since I read a lot I do better with leaving it on.

I am not certain but I think OI actually uses more power than the original firmware, perhaps because the longer boot time, though. I noticed too that leaving it always on it actually consumes less power than off/on once or twice a day. Last December to January I left mine on for more than a month, without read any, and the battery was still good to go. That was with the ogiginal (lbook) firmware.

03-10-2009, 03:52 PM	#1
kressg23 Enthusiast Posts: 35 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: USA Device: EZ Reader, iPhone	Firmware suggestions? Hi All, Now that I have my EZ Reader, and am having some minor issues with it - which appear to be pretty normal, I'm looking at firmware. There are a lot who recommend OpenInkPot, so I've downloaded it to my PC, but I need to purchase a smaller SD card... mine are all either way too big or too small... so I'm still researching. Some have suggested just upgrading Jinke/Bebook/Ibook, etc firmware, but I'm curious - is there a difference? Are these upgrades global throughout all of these devices that are cloned? My biggest problem with the firmware that has come on the EZ Reader is that it reboots randomly when trying to advance the page. This is something I can live with if I must, but it would be cool to fix it up so that it didn't do it. Can any of you provide some personal experience with your EZ Readers? If you flashed the firmware to OI, what format do you prefer? FB2? If so, how do you convert to that? My books are LIT, and I've been using Calibre to convert them to Mobi or epub... I like Mobi but I can no longer put bookmarks on my pages.

03-11-2009, 11:54 AM	#10
kressg23 Enthusiast Posts: 35 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: USA Device: EZ Reader, iPhone	I don't have any DRM'd books. So not sure what happened. For the moment, I have it back to the 01/20/09 update from Hanlin. I have converted all my LIT books to MOBI just because I like the way they appear on the screen better. But the bookmark doesn't work anymore (pushing 1-5) like it did on the LIT files. When I push 6, a new Bookmark screen comes up, but it's empty. Thanks for the info about OI. I'll keep that in mind. Last edited by kressg23; 03-11-2009 at 11:57 AM.

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03-10-2009, 05:59 PM	#3
DaleDe Grand Sorcerer Posts: 11,470 Karma: 13095790 Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Grass Valley, CA Device: EB 1150, EZ Reader, Literati, iPad 2 & Air 2, iPhone 7	You can upgrade eZ Reader to any of the Hanlin clones firmware so far. I downloaded the Hanlin release from January 20 first thing and upgraded my ez Reader. It works noticeably better.

03-10-2009, 08:19 PM	#4
kressg23 Enthusiast Posts: 35 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: USA Device: EZ Reader, iPhone	I took the plunge and flashed OpenInkPot to my device. I just opened my first book, a Mobi format, and all of the apostrophes or quotation marks are a jarbled mess. The power button no longer puts the device in locked key mode and when I click the menu to power off, there is a page full of text with "Requesting system poweroff" as the last line. Crap, I hope I haven't totally screwed things up. The text has been on the screen for going on 3 minutes now.... someone help!

03-10-2009, 11:06 PM	#6
kressg23 Enthusiast Posts: 35 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: USA Device: EZ Reader, iPhone	I flashed the newest Hanlin version. What file format do you use most, Dale?

03-11-2009, 09:55 AM	#8
cvkemp Loving life Posts: 1,412 Karma: 7991496 Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Hot Springs Village, Arkansas Device: PaperWhite 5,iPhone 13, IPad, MacBook Air	I got my EZ reader Friday from Fry's and updated the firmware Saturday with the latest BeBook firmware and it is working great. I was having problems before the update with the lit ebooks.

03-11-2009, 12:15 PM	#12
DaleDe Grand Sorcerer Posts: 11,470 Karma: 13095790 Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Grass Valley, CA Device: EB 1150, EZ Reader, Literati, iPad 2 & Air 2, iPhone 7	The best way to start using OI is to use the run option download to an SD card. You can then reboot into OI without having to change the firmware. This will give you confidence and experience to see if this is the way you want to go. Dale

03-12-2009, 07:50 PM	#13
JoeD Guru Posts: 895 Karma: 4383958 Join Date: Nov 2007 Device: na	If you do run it from SD and find it freezes or reboots a lot, don't assume the flashed version of the firmware will be the same. For some reason the "live" version isn't as stable. It's a good way of checking out the features of OI, but you really need to flash it to properly evaluate. It's simple to change back to the jinke/bebook/any other firmware after testing too.

03-12-2009, 07:58 PM	#14
slayda Retired & reading more! Posts: 2,764 Karma: 1884247 Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: North Alabama, USA Device: Kindle 1, iPad Air 2, iPhone 6S+, Kobo Aura One	I don't even bother to turn my EZ Reader (with OI) off because with OI it seems to use no power when no page is turned. Also the battery seems to last longer with OI for me. I think the process of turning off anf back on uses some power so since I read a lot I do better with leaving it on.

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