DR800SG Navigation Hack

[Kolenka]

I'm bored, sue me.

I've been playing with the CTB sources because there were a couple things that tugged at me as really needing fixing. Here's the changes over the official CTB build that comes with the 800SG:

• "Continue Reading" is moved to the front of the list. "SD Card" is moved to be right after "Personal Documents".
• Folder Support. You can toggle between the default flat list, and a folder view in Books, News, Images, and Personal Documents. The setting is saved for each section by itself, so the setting you pick for Books doesn't change the setting for News, for example.

Known Issues:

• New strings aren't localized.
• Downloads folder in Books and News isn't filtered. This would require a change to libermetadb that I'm not very interested in making prior to the next DR800 firmware release.
• This has not been tried on 2.0 successfully. Just don't even attempt it, please.

Be careful when following the instructions. If you follow them correctly, it should just work. I've not been able to do solid testing to avoid every possible problem though. If something does go wrong with the install, it will take reinstalling the firmware to correct (pulling the SD card, copying the latest firmware to the SD card, and letting the 800 install it).

Instructions:

1. Download the zip and unzip it.
2. Copy the CTBPlus folder to "Personal Documents".
3. Open up Personal Documents on the device, select "Upgrade CTB". Pick the version for the DR800 you have.
4. The device will wait a bit and reboot. If it doesn't reboot, then you placed it in the wrong folder.

If you want to return to the original CTB, just run "Restore CTB" instead. Don't delete anything in the 'backup' folder in CTBPlus, as it will be needed to restore the original CTB. I'd recommend restoring the CTB if you decide to perform any firmware upgrade.

Now that I've sufficiently scared everyone into not using it, enjoy.

Release Notes:

r4

• Has some fixes for behavior of the downloads (again). The button should choose when to display itself a bit better now, and performance when navigating should no longer be impacted (no double refreshes when loading some directories).

r3

• Quick emergency patch to the Downloads support. It didn't work nearly like I'd hoped, and was buggy. Moved to a different method instead. In Books and Downloads, you will now get a second icon near the search icon which can be tapped to go to the Downloads folder.

r2

• If there are files in the Downloads folder, the folder will appear under Books and News.
• Fixes a couple bugs related the Show/Hide Folders menu item.
• Includes an installer for the DR800S as well.
• Patch against 3.0 sources made available.
• Installer can be anywhere under "Personal Documents"
• Breaking Change Uninstall the original build BEFORE installing this one, if you have installed it. I've moved the backup folder to be more robust (so you can't just delete the backup folder on accident), but it won't detect the old folder during upgrades.

[Mackx]

Hi Kolenka,

Great the first patch for the DR800 (although I do not own a DR800 :-). I have a few questions/tips:
- I looked at the zip-file and saw that the backup folder was already filled, was that intentionally?
- Is the __MACOSX-folder needed?
- I see a big size difference between the orginal ctb and the patched version. Running arm-poky-...-strip on the ctb-image will reduce its size (as you probably know) and then it should be close to the original size.

Marcel.

[Kolenka]

No, the backup folder was not filled intentionally... I kinda rushed posting the zip, and introduced a few bugs to the DR800SG in the process (looks like there are a couple minor differences between the source CTB and the shipping CTB on the SG that I didn't take into account). The __MACOSX bits was just junk that OS X throws into zips when it encounters files with extended attributes (OS X uses them for ACLs and resource forks, sadly).

I'll repost a zip once I have the key bugs fixed (Settings/Recent was broken, and so is ebookmall).

And... it's reposted.

[Kolenka]

Originally Posted by Mackx

- I see a big size difference between the orginal ctb and the patched version. Running arm-poky-...-strip on the ctb-image will reduce its size (as you probably know) and then it should be close to the original size.

And just as a side comment, I didn't know this. :P

I've been away from Linux development for years, I forgot just how badly the Windows and OS X development environments spoil you sometimes.

[Kolenka]

I am working on a second release that fixes some of the known issues. I've already got a fix for the weird behavior when toggling the folder view, and should have a DR800S build for r2 as well.

[Mickey330]

Hi, Kolenka:

I just want to say thanks for this hack. It works great and I like having my "Continue Reading" icon listed first on the home page (and the SD Card icon - from the folder hack - closer to the front also).

It was an easy install that solved a problem I didn't know I had ... that the "Continue Reading" icon was on the second page if I had the home page in list format.

Thanks again.

Marilyn

P.S. If I can figure out how to do it, I'm going to give you karma. If it doesn't work ... just know I mean to!

[Kolenka]

Well, I tend to drop out to the home screen before putting the device to sleep, and so when I wake it up, usually the first thing I do is continue reading what I was already reading. When I turned on the SD Card tweak in order to actually view my organized books, I noticed it shoved it onto the second page. Drove me nuts, so I fixed it.

The folder view feature is more so that I don't even have to have the SD Card tweak turned on. With the build I've got on my device now, I've turned it back off because I don't need it anymore, and it gets me to what I want a bit faster.

[Kolenka]

New version up, fixes most of the core issues, and will install onto the DR800S as well (just make sure to select the right option).

Uninstall the previous version first before installing the new one. I've made some breaking changes to how it handles the backup, and it should be more robust now... but the original CTB needs to be restored before this new installer will work correctly (and actually back up the original).

[Kolenka]

Hrm... had to do a quick patch to r3. The downloads support was just way too buggy. It changes up how access to the Downloads folder works to something a little more robust.

[Kolenka]

r4 is now out with more fixes to downloads support. Really only needed if you are on an 800SG.

[jiuzhege]

I can't find sd folder if I add =sdcard in ini
also I can't enter the sdcard(finally show up at home screen) if I use this for my 800sg for the 2.0 FW...

How can I enter sdcard....thx

[jiuzhege]

oooooops I cannot even enter any icon...........

[Kolenka]

Because this modifies the content browser app that is built into the firmware, it is NOT recommended to try this on new firmware revisions until I put together a new package for it.

I'm not sure what is going on, but I can't say I'm surprised in the least that 2.0 broke this hack.

You should still be able to restore the original firmware by putting the firmware on the SD card and performing a reset.

[badbob001]

Originally Posted by jiuzhege

I can't find sd folder if I add =sdcard in ini
also I can't enter the sdcard(finally show up at home screen) if I use this for my 800sg for the 2.0 FW...

I believe the 2.0 Beta firmware has built-in support for the SDCARD view so the .ini hack may not be needed. I believe you have to enable it in settings > advanced. You may want to uninstall the hack first.

[TGS]

Originally Posted by jiuzhege

oooooops I cannot even enter any icon...........

Have you re-booted?