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Old 03-25-2011, 11:36 PM   #1
Rizla
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Questions to Prs+ users

I am tempted to install Prs+ on my 650. I'm technically capable so I'm not looking for in depth installation instructions. Rather, I have some questions about safety and functionality.

1. Is it safe? By that, I mean can it brick the reader? I see that prs+ now has it's own installer, so I need not install a separate flasher.

2. Is it simple to uninstall prs+ and get back to vanilla Sony firmware? I read somewhere that not having upgraded to the latest Sony firmware I can simply install the latest vanilla firmware to remove prs+. Indeed, I believe prs+ doesn't work with the latest firmware.

2. Does it improve font functionality? I use custom fonts by adding them to the reader and incl. css code via Calibre. Will prs+ make this easier and / or add functionality?

3. Key shortcuts. Navigating the Sony interface is sometimes rather long. At times I want a back button. Does prs+ do this? Does it work well?

4. Book history. Does it show a list of recently read books? I guess so.

I'd also be interested to hear about your general experiences with prs+ and if you think it was worth installing. I know it's still an alpha so it might be best to wait for the beta, though it sounds pretty simple and safe already, hence the temptation to install...
Thanks!
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Old 03-26-2011, 05:10 AM   #2
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Rizla View Post
1. Is it safe? By that, I mean can it brick the reader? I see that prs+ now has it's own installer, so I need not install a separate flasher.
It is save. It was done hundred-, if not thousandfold. Only chance to brick the reader is to power it down while flashing.

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2. Is it simple to uninstall prs+ and get back to vanilla Sony firmware? I read somewhere that not having upgraded to the latest Sony firmware I can simply install the latest vanilla firmware to remove prs+. Indeed, I believe prs+ doesn't work with the latest firmware.
It works perfectly with the latest firmware, but can't be installed with setup*.exe.
PRS+ needs some slightly modified startup-scripts, which are obviousely not in the latest vanilla firmware.
Workaround: russify and use *.zip installer, starter-files
And yes, putting on the Sony-firmware removes PRS+

Quote:
2. Does it improve font functionality? I use custom fonts by adding them to the reader and incl. css code via Calibre. Will prs+ make this easier and / or add functionality?
No need to embeed the CSS with calibre, you can have a set of CSS-files on your reader and switch between them via PRS+UI.
One thing to notice: New CSS is only applied during opening of a book. So you have to choose another epub and change back to the first one to see the changes.

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3. Key shortcuts. Navigating the Sony interface is sometimes rather long. At times I want a back button. Does prs+ do this? Does it work well?
A advanced keybindings system is included. Allowing to bind (nearly any) action to a key, holding-a-key).
Previous and Next are not supported at this time.

Quote:
4. Book history. Does it show a list of recently read books? I guess so.
Yep

Quote:
I'd also be interested to hear about your general experiences with prs+ and if you think it was worth installing. I know it's still an alpha so it might be best to wait for the beta, though it sounds pretty simple and safe already, hence the temptation to install...
Thanks!
Main functionality is the browse-folder addon, and I'm using it since Version 1.x. Beside this you get the CSS-hack, advanced keybindings and, if you want them or not, some games and a calculator.
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Old 03-26-2011, 08:01 AM   #3
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Rizia,

I'll echo Mark -- Safe and easily uninstalled w/ a reflash.

I will mention that moving from book CSS to reader CSS takes some tinkering, but not a lot. Also, you may still have to adjust a book from time to time, but most books rely on the defaults, which you could now change.

As for stepping back in menus, the new keybindings are great. while there's no true "back" there is an "up". Not only that, the keybindings are "context sensitive" -- you can define different behaviors in the book or the menus.

In my reader the "home" button is defined as "Goto Home" in the book, and "Previous Menu (Back/Up)" in the menus. I can navigate deep into the menus and a single press takes me up a step, not back to start. Click it in a book, and I go home, not the book select menu.

I'm running 2.0.10 Alpha, and haven't fell into any holes yet. For what I use, it's better than I'd expect for an Alpha. I'm sure you've seen the "known bugs". None affect my use but YMMV.
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Old 03-26-2011, 10:57 PM   #4
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Thanks to you both for replying. Sounds good to me. I'll probably do it.

The key-binding features alone are extremely attractive. Judging from the documentation, it is possible to bind the volume up and down keys on the bottom of the reader. Those keys are pretty accessible and so will be a definite plus.

I'll check the known bugs, but I didn't see any show-stoppers.

One further thing I would like to ask: Have you noticed any shortening of battery life? I appreciate some games might cause this, but have you observed it in normal operation.

Last edited by Rizla; 03-26-2011 at 11:00 PM.
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Old 03-26-2011, 11:31 PM   #5
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No difference in normal use though I suspect (as you suggest) that heavy gaming might chew battery up a bit faster but then so would reading faster with the resulting increase in page turns...


Quote:
Originally Posted by Rizla View Post
Thanks to you both for replying. Sounds good to me. I'll probably do it.

The key-binding features alone are extremely attractive. Judging from the documentation, it is possible to bind the volume up and down keys on the bottom of the reader. Those keys are pretty accessible and so will be a definite plus.

I'll check the known bugs, but I didn't see any show-stoppers.

One further thing I would like to ask: Have you noticed any shortening of battery life? I appreciate some games might cause this, but have you observed it in normal operation.
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Old 03-27-2011, 02:28 AM   #6
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Originally Posted by CraftyDan View Post
I'm running 2.0.10 Alpha, and haven't fell into any holes yet. For what I use, it's better than I'd expect for an Alpha. I'm sure you've seen the "known bugs". None affect my use but YMMV.
Are you running it on the 2.0.10 alpha on the 350 or the 600 or both?
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Old 03-27-2011, 08:40 AM   #7
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Are you running it on the 2.0.10 alpha on the 350 or the 600 or both?
PRS+ 2.0.10A the 350. Boroda's 1.03f on my 600.

My wife is using my 600 now (I still manage it). I'm waiting for a reason she'd want something beyond what the russified CFWs provide. W̶h̶e̶n̶/̶I̶f̶ ̶K̶a̶r̶t̶u̶ ̶i̶m̶p̶l̶e̶m̶e̶n̶t̶s̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶w̶a̶l̶l̶p̶a̶p̶e̶r̶ ̶f̶u̶n̶c̶t̶i̶o̶n̶a̶l̶i̶t̶y̶ ̶o̶n̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶6̶0̶0̶'̶s̶ ̶P̶R̶S̶+̶,̶ ̶I̶'̶l̶l̶ ̶p̶r̶o̶b̶a̶b̶l̶y̶ ̶p̶u̶l̶l̶ ̶t̶h̶a̶t̶ ̶t̶r̶i̶g̶g̶e̶r̶.̶

Wow! Just rechecked the project. I'll soon be entering negotiations for when the 600 gets migrated.

Last edited by CraftyDan; 03-27-2011 at 09:08 AM. Reason: New information
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Old 04-06-2011, 11:10 PM   #8
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A quick follow up. I installed Prs+ on a 650. Extremely fast and easy. Double-click and it's done.

In terms of usefulness, I use the book history to swap between books. A very useful addition. Also I have custom bound the volume keys to go to book history and to navigate backwards through option menus.

There is a bunch of other stuff I expect to use (book folders) but for now just the above have made it worthwhile for me. I will be keeping prs+ and look forward to updates.

Thanks to the author Kartu!
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Old 04-07-2011, 11:37 AM   #9
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That is genius to use the volume keys for something else. I will never use my reader for audio so those keys are useless to me right now. Very creative!

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Old 04-08-2011, 02:05 PM   #10
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Does anyone know how to access the 'Time Display' feature on the PRS350? The guide says you just press the 'options' button but when I do that the options menu pops up.
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Old 04-08-2011, 09:17 PM   #11
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The guide says you just press the 'options' button but when I do that the options menu pops up.
...and the time shows up in the status bar.
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Old 04-10-2011, 06:11 PM   #12
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Not directly answering the questions here, but I installed the PRS+ 2 alpha on my 650 and couldn't be happier. Does a whole lot of simple and useful things which greatly increase the usability of the device. My faves:

- Being able to switch between user css files to get optimum font size (if you're like me you find S too small and M too big, well this fixes it)
- Clock display at all times
- Folder browsing

It doesn't replace your firmware so much as add to it, and in the event that you don't like it, you're a reflash away form going back to the original firmware.
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Old 04-10-2011, 10:17 PM   #13
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- Being able to switch between user css files to get optimum font size (if you're like me you find S too small and M too big, well this fixes it)
This isn't something I've looked into yet. Could you expand what's possible?
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Old 04-11-2011, 01:27 AM   #14
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Hi

When you upgrade the firmware and install the css file to change the font. Can I confirm do you need to copy all the folder like test-starup into the root directory? Do you need to copy the startup.ssh to root directory?

Thanks for any help
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Old 04-11-2011, 05:46 AM   #15
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This isn't something I've looked into yet. Could you expand what's possible?
Basically the PRS+ firmware lets you select custom css files which allow you to specify display settings which should override those of the css embedded in the epub itself.

Here's what I do

1 - On the actual "READER" disk when connected by USB I create the directory

/database/system/PRSPlus/epub

2 - Into this directory I place my custom css files

3 - My css files are very very simple, since all I want to do is change the font size, not the font itself.

I create a number of files which will scale the font by a different amount

eg 90.css

p {font-size: 0.9em}

80.css
p {font-size: 0.8em}

etc

4 - I then go to the settings->PRS+ settings->book viewer settings -> User ePub Style (CSS file) and select the appropriate css file.

This works well for me because I process all my books with calibre which wraps all paragraphs in <p> tags.

That's all it takes. The next time you open a book it will scale the font to the desired size. If you already had a book open you'll need to load it again.

Hope this helps.
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