Wow, a tiny band of believers

geneven1 · 05-28-2011, 12:31 PM

What scares me about the collapse of the Entourage site is how few of us survivors/refugees there seem. to be. To me,this site is the obvious rallying point, but I see few signs of qualified developers or true hackers who will help us keep going. Maybe liferafts of allies are still headed this way -- I hope so.

My huge problem is the fact that my SD card is not being used at all, or very little. This means that I am permanently worried about running out of space for new programs, which I tend to try out constantly.

I never tried anything but Ermine, which seems adequate in general to me. I have had my PE for about a week. I don't see many signs that help is on the way.

My other main device, the Nokia N900, doesn't feel abandoned at all; strangely, it began to flourish the moment Nokia left it behind. The comparative silence here is eerie and ghostly and sounds too much like a graveyard to me.

emusan · 05-28-2011, 12:43 PM

I understand what your saying fully, I too am a VERY happy owner of an n900(there truly is no better device on the planet and Maemo 5 has no equal). However, the n900 was marketed as a device for hackers, it was open source from the start, and many more thousand units were sold. The edge on the other hand was never released as a "hacker device", and as such no sdk or sources were released. Without an sdk or sources from the developer it is VERY hard to get anything custom done.

There are a few(I know of at least one, I think) qualified developers/hackers that own the device, but again, hands are kind of tied without access to the sources. I myself am nowhere near qualified, knowing next to nothing about android, but I am determined to get the device doing what I(and I'm sure others) want it to do. If you've been reading up on these forums, you'll know I ran into a bit of a snag with the backup method, but that doesn't mean I'm done by a long shot. Everyone has to start somewhere, I'm just starting with the eDGe, so far I've gotten as far as I have with just general knowledge, now I'm learning about the ins and outs of android in order to try and push the device further.

I do wish we had some more active developers on the device, but if any own it, they haven't really come forward yet.

yugami · 05-28-2011, 01:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by geneven1

My huge problem is the fact that my SD card is not being used at all, or very little. This means that I am permanently worried about running out of space for new programs, which I tend to try out constantly.

Plug in your Edge, goto Settings and select Device Storage (9 from the top). The top item says "Data Storage Device" and under it it says Internal Memory (or something like that).

Select it and choose SD Card. It will then warn you this is going to take a while and make sure you have enough juice (which is why we plugged it in). hit OK and let it go to town.

It moves everything from internal memory onto your SD Card. so now your library and all the app specific stuff is on your SD card.

After its done if you goto the library and choose storage you won't even see an option for Internal Storage like you used to.

I've had no issues since I've done this and can now download Audible books with impunity.

Franky · 05-28-2011, 01:30 PM

cool tric... tnx yugami

geneven1 · 05-28-2011, 02:20 PM

yugami:

I've already tried to do all that in Settings, many times. My SD card shows over 30 gigs of space available, but almost 0 for applications. The SD card is greyed out toward the top of the Settings.

I just reformatted the SD card on my N900 a few minutes ago, but it didn't change anything. I would have used the PE but I don't see where to format on the PE.

I'm thinking that the way I have the card partitioned is causing a problem.

yugami · 05-28-2011, 02:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by geneven1

yugami:

I've already tried to do all that in Settings, many times. My SD card shows over 30 gigs of space available, but almost 0 for applications. The SD card is greyed out toward the top of the Settings.

I just reformatted the SD card on my N900 a few minutes ago, but it didn't change anything. I would have used the PE but I don't see where to format on the PE.

I'm thinking that the way I have the card partitioned is causing a problem.

App storage is a special place on android for the applications but not their data. Sounds like you have a lot of apps installed. This is something that plagued all early droids

Since move to SD fails for everything I've tried I don't think there is a easy fix for that yet with this as it stands.

kennyminot · 05-29-2011, 01:14 PM

I solved the problem with the sdcard by essentially switching it with the internal storage. The process is pretty easy, and it has relatively little chance of messing up your machine. You can find my instructions on how to do this from Kelsynn's thread:

http://forum.xda-developers.com/show....php?t=1091658

Of course, this solution isn't perfect, largely because it similarly renders the internal memory as somewhat useless. However, I'd much rather have my expandable sd card for storing games, movies, music, and pdf files. In addition, I've found the internal memory is somewhat useful for storing backup application files and other such data.

Also, I use Titanium Backup to move applications to the sdcard, which is an extremely useful feature. You just need to go the "batch" section in the menu.

The best we can hope for with the Pocket Edge is a final version of Ermine. Don't expect a development community to suddenly sprout up around the device. A number of factors make this almost impossible: (1) little support from the company (they wouldn't even point me to where I could download the update.zip file for Ermine), (2) a relatively unusual processor (which is used mostly for e-reader and household appliances. From what I can tell, the only other major device that uses it is the Chumby, and I've only seen vague references to its use in other Android tablets), (3) the fact that it is essentially a "last generation" product that lacks many standard features, such as an accelerometer and multitouch capabilities. This device is appealing primarily to business professionals and academics because of its e-ink reader and its resistive touchscreen. However, it's certainly not a sexy tablet. It's not something like the G-tablet or the Nook Color, which were products with enormous potential that were limited by UI design choices. What do we actually want developers to do? Make it so we can browse the web on our e-ink screen? Make it a little faster so we can play games (what would be the point without multitouch capabilities)? My only real request would be the ability to annotate on pdf files in landscape mode and watch Netflix. Otherwise, it works pretty much as I expected. Like most of you, I'll be upgrading to a new tablet in a year when the most recent crop drops in price.

If I actually made any real money, I'd own the HTC Flyer, which seems to be the tablet that most closely caters to the need of academics. But I'll be damned if I'm going to drop $600 for something that will be $300-400 in six months.

glow · 05-29-2011, 02:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kennyminot

Also, I use Titanium Backup to move applications to the sdcard, which is an extremely useful feature. You just need to go the "batch" section in the menu.

I assume that is just a backup, and not a runtime feature?

geneven1 · 05-29-2011, 06:46 PM

I would like to be able to copy from e-ink and paste to the journal,for gosh sake. Is that too much to ask? Or is that possible and I missed something?

It would be cool to be able to edit e-ink docs and thus eliminate the irritating typos the publishers left in.

emusan · 05-29-2011, 07:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by geneven1

I would like to be able to copy from e-ink and paste to the journal,for gosh sake. Is that too much to ask? Or is that possible and I missed something?

It would be cool to be able to edit e-ink docs and thus eliminate the irritating typos the publishers left in.

Someone made a post recently about copying from the e-ink to the LCD, but I don't think you can paste to a journal. You could always download another journal app to run on the LCD side, though I don't know of any personally.

And editing electronic document can get a little hard due to stupid drm restrictions, and that some are just images of the sources. There are programs on the PC to do it, but no way I know of to do it on the device itself. Also, given the refresh rate of the e-ink I think it would be more annoying than having to use a PC.

yugami · 05-29-2011, 07:14 PM

select text, hit menu, choose edit and copy

Of course DRM protected text tends to prevent you from copying text so its a bit limited.

edit: i see now no pasting text to journal

madamepsi · 05-29-2011, 11:13 PM

I feel your pain. Will my Edge life w my TRS80, beta video and Sony 3g phone? Not to mention the CED disc player, 8track player and Sony Game Gear handheld. If technology is on the brink of extinction, I just bought it!

Filark · 05-29-2011, 11:51 PM

Lol Madamepsi!

I'd like to add ReplayTV to your list, and laser discs.

Last_of_the_PEs · 05-30-2011, 01:38 AM

Hey now! I still have over 600 LaserDiscs and a couple of players.

But I remember failings like Sony's Elcaset tape unit, EISA computer bus, "Super disc", and at one time, Sony even had a 3" diskette drive, which lost to 3 1/2".

The reason developers won't flock to Entourage devices, besides all the reasons presented already, is that other platforms are much easier to hack. There are tablets out there that have "roms" (firmware) aplenty.

Let's try to get the most from our devices, but not obsess over them. I'm confident that, WAY before the battery in my eDGe fails, there will be better, faster, lighter tablets out there that will make the next transition worthwhile. Then my eDGe will become a (wall-tethered) night stand browser, alarm clock or photo frame!

larka · 06-02-2011, 12:40 PM

Look into other forums here there are still people using other readers, which were out of the market for a long while...
Essentially since no official support exists anymore, we are free to hack it and adjust it to personal needs as we please. I really like it as it is, it is almost perfect and as such it replaced Kindle, Livescribe pen, and ASUS netbook (almost), which I am giving away to my family members. Now I still carry Smartphone and use powerful laptop for work (after staring at LCD screen for 8+ hours everyday, I don't want to read a book for pleasure from another LCD device, thank you). So for reading, writing, notes, email, web, youtube consumtion Edge is perfect and PE is compact enough to carry with me all the time...
What updates needed is ability to use back up library (with marks, journals, calendar scribbles) on other device, like if your edge breaks and you have a spare (or get one on ebay, etc.) you don't lose all your work. Or even move it back to PC and have all your marks preserved in PDFs. I used to send marked book from EE to PE and back through Entourage server - but now it is collapsed. Any alternatives?
There is some work being done on this? I remember seeing some dissecting of Library structure somewhere.
Also hadwriting recognitions from eInk -there is project on this http://edgesync.codeplex.com/documentation by LutzS
I am planning to set up a WiKi about Edge on my website, let me know if you think it is worthwhile...

05-28-2011, 12:31 PM	#1
geneven1 Enthusiast Posts: 42 Karma: 10 Join Date: May 2011 Device: P. Edge, Kindle, N800-810-900	Wow, a tiny band of believers What scares me about the collapse of the Entourage site is how few of us survivors/refugees there seem. to be. To me,this site is the obvious rallying point, but I see few signs of qualified developers or true hackers who will help us keep going. Maybe liferafts of allies are still headed this way -- I hope so. My huge problem is the fact that my SD card is not being used at all, or very little. This means that I am permanently worried about running out of space for new programs, which I tend to try out constantly. I never tried anything but Ermine, which seems adequate in general to me. I have had my PE for about a week. I don't see many signs that help is on the way. My other main device, the Nokia N900, doesn't feel abandoned at all; strangely, it began to flourish the moment Nokia left it behind. The comparative silence here is eerie and ghostly and sounds too much like a graveyard to me.

05-29-2011, 01:14 PM	#7
kennyminot Groupie Posts: 183 Karma: 90022 Join Date: May 2011 Location: Louisville, KY Device: HTC EVO View 4G, HTC Wildfire S, Asus T91MT	SD Card woes I solved the problem with the sdcard by essentially switching it with the internal storage. The process is pretty easy, and it has relatively little chance of messing up your machine. You can find my instructions on how to do this from Kelsynn's thread: http://forum.xda-developers.com/show....php?t=1091658 Of course, this solution isn't perfect, largely because it similarly renders the internal memory as somewhat useless. However, I'd much rather have my expandable sd card for storing games, movies, music, and pdf files. In addition, I've found the internal memory is somewhat useful for storing backup application files and other such data. Also, I use Titanium Backup to move applications to the sdcard, which is an extremely useful feature. You just need to go the "batch" section in the menu. The best we can hope for with the Pocket Edge is a final version of Ermine. Don't expect a development community to suddenly sprout up around the device. A number of factors make this almost impossible: (1) little support from the company (they wouldn't even point me to where I could download the update.zip file for Ermine), (2) a relatively unusual processor (which is used mostly for e-reader and household appliances. From what I can tell, the only other major device that uses it is the Chumby, and I've only seen vague references to its use in other Android tablets), (3) the fact that it is essentially a "last generation" product that lacks many standard features, such as an accelerometer and multitouch capabilities. This device is appealing primarily to business professionals and academics because of its e-ink reader and its resistive touchscreen. However, it's certainly not a sexy tablet. It's not something like the G-tablet or the Nook Color, which were products with enormous potential that were limited by UI design choices. What do we actually want developers to do? Make it so we can browse the web on our e-ink screen? Make it a little faster so we can play games (what would be the point without multitouch capabilities)? My only real request would be the ability to annotate on pdf files in landscape mode and watch Netflix. Otherwise, it works pretty much as I expected. Like most of you, I'll be upgrading to a new tablet in a year when the most recent crop drops in price. If I actually made any real money, I'd own the HTC Flyer, which seems to be the tablet that most closely caters to the need of academics. But I'll be damned if I'm going to drop $600 for something that will be $300-400 in six months. Last edited by kennyminot; 05-29-2011 at 01:17 PM.

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05-28-2011, 12:43 PM	#2
emusan lol Posts: 472 Karma: 1031 Join Date: May 2011 Device: eDGe	I understand what your saying fully, I too am a VERY happy owner of an n900(there truly is no better device on the planet and Maemo 5 has no equal). However, the n900 was marketed as a device for hackers, it was open source from the start, and many more thousand units were sold. The edge on the other hand was never released as a "hacker device", and as such no sdk or sources were released. Without an sdk or sources from the developer it is VERY hard to get anything custom done. There are a few(I know of at least one, I think) qualified developers/hackers that own the device, but again, hands are kind of tied without access to the sources. I myself am nowhere near qualified, knowing next to nothing about android, but I am determined to get the device doing what I(and I'm sure others) want it to do. If you've been reading up on these forums, you'll know I ran into a bit of a snag with the backup method, but that doesn't mean I'm done by a long shot. Everyone has to start somewhere, I'm just starting with the eDGe, so far I've gotten as far as I have with just general knowledge, now I'm learning about the ins and outs of android in order to try and push the device further. I do wish we had some more active developers on the device, but if any own it, they haven't really come forward yet.

05-28-2011, 01:30 PM	#4
Franky Nameless Being	cool tric... tnx yugami

05-28-2011, 02:20 PM	#5
geneven1 Enthusiast Posts: 42 Karma: 10 Join Date: May 2011 Device: P. Edge, Kindle, N800-810-900	yugami: I've already tried to do all that in Settings, many times. My SD card shows over 30 gigs of space available, but almost 0 for applications. The SD card is greyed out toward the top of the Settings. I just reformatted the SD card on my N900 a few minutes ago, but it didn't change anything. I would have used the PE but I don't see where to format on the PE. I'm thinking that the way I have the card partitioned is causing a problem.

05-29-2011, 06:46 PM	#9
geneven1 Enthusiast Posts: 42 Karma: 10 Join Date: May 2011 Device: P. Edge, Kindle, N800-810-900	I would like to be able to copy from e-ink and paste to the journal,for gosh sake. Is that too much to ask? Or is that possible and I missed something? It would be cool to be able to edit e-ink docs and thus eliminate the irritating typos the publishers left in.

05-29-2011, 07:14 PM	#11
yugami Connoisseur Posts: 76 Karma: 18 Join Date: May 2011 Device: PRS+950	select text, hit menu, choose edit and copy Of course DRM protected text tends to prevent you from copying text so its a bit limited. edit: i see now no pasting text to journal

05-29-2011, 11:13 PM	#12
madamepsi Junior Member Posts: 6 Karma: 10 Join Date: May 2011 Device: Pocket Edge	I feel your pain. Will my Edge life w my TRS80, beta video and Sony 3g phone? Not to mention the CED disc player, 8track player and Sony Game Gear handheld. If technology is on the brink of extinction, I just bought it!

05-29-2011, 11:51 PM	#13
Filark Armed with a smile :) Posts: 1,421 Karma: 2463560 Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: California, USA Device: enTourage eDGe & Pocket eDGe, Samsung Galaxy Note II	Lol Madamepsi! I'd like to add ReplayTV to your list, and laser discs.

05-30-2011, 01:38 AM	#14
Last_of_the_PEs Groupie Posts: 192 Karma: 34 Join Date: May 2011 Device: Entourage PE	Hey now! I still have over 600 LaserDiscs and a couple of players. But I remember failings like Sony's Elcaset tape unit, EISA computer bus, "Super disc", and at one time, Sony even had a 3" diskette drive, which lost to 3 1/2". The reason developers won't flock to Entourage devices, besides all the reasons presented already, is that other platforms are much easier to hack. There are tablets out there that have "roms" (firmware) aplenty. Let's try to get the most from our devices, but not obsess over them. I'm confident that, WAY before the battery in my eDGe fails, there will be better, faster, lighter tablets out there that will make the next transition worthwhile. Then my eDGe will become a (wall-tethered) night stand browser, alarm clock or photo frame!

06-02-2011, 12:40 PM	#15
larka Member Posts: 17 Karma: 46 Join Date: May 2011 Location: Houston, TX Device: Entourage Pocket Edge	Look into other forums here there are still people using other readers, which were out of the market for a long while... Essentially since no official support exists anymore, we are free to hack it and adjust it to personal needs as we please. I really like it as it is, it is almost perfect and as such it replaced Kindle, Livescribe pen, and ASUS netbook (almost), which I am giving away to my family members. Now I still carry Smartphone and use powerful laptop for work (after staring at LCD screen for 8+ hours everyday, I don't want to read a book for pleasure from another LCD device, thank you). So for reading, writing, notes, email, web, youtube consumtion Edge is perfect and PE is compact enough to carry with me all the time... What updates needed is ability to use back up library (with marks, journals, calendar scribbles) on other device, like if your edge breaks and you have a spare (or get one on ebay, etc.) you don't lose all your work. Or even move it back to PC and have all your marks preserved in PDFs. I used to send marked book from EE to PE and back through Entourage server - but now it is collapsed. Any alternatives? There is some work being done on this? I remember seeing some dissecting of Library structure somewhere. Also hadwriting recognitions from eInk -there is project on this http://edgesync.codeplex.com/documentation by LutzS I am planning to set up a WiKi about Edge on my website, let me know if you think it is worthwhile...

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