OpenInk Question

[Aukel]

Howdy howdy howdy,

So I am now happy with my Hanlin V3.
I am converting books to fb2 format using Fiction Book Designer.
All is right with the world of Aukel's Reading.

But curiosity leads me to look at OpenInk and brings to me a question or two:

1. Of the people using the Hanlin V3 are many using OI or do people just use the Jinke OS?

2. If I install OI and it ain't my cup of tea, can I using the Jinke Firmware load process to flash the Jinke OS back on to it?

[lunohod]

Originally Posted by Aukel

Howdy howdy howdy,
2. If I install OI and it ain't my cup of tea, can I using the Jinke Firmware load process to flash the Jinke OS back on to it?

Yes.

[dottedmag]

Originally Posted by Aukel

1. Of the people using the Hanlin V3 are many using OI or do people just use the Jinke OS?

Users came to our IRC channel from time to time, and there are several hundreds of downloads on the site (don't know exact numbers - I forgot to set up statistics properly

Originally Posted by Aukel

2. If I install OI and it ain't my cup of tea, can I using the Jinke Firmware load process to flash the Jinke OS back on to it?

Yes.

[Slite]

Originally Posted by Aukel

2. If I install OI and it ain't my cup of tea, can I using the Jinke Firmware load process to flash the Jinke OS back on to it?

You don't even have to install OI to try it, just run it "live" from your SD card and if you dont like it, you haven't done anything to your V3 at all

[javimm]

I'd recommend to install it instead of using the live version. The live versions hangs quite a lot of times, while the firmware doesn't.

I use OI and love it!!

[Slite]

Originally Posted by javimm

I'd recommend to install it instead of using the live version. The live versions hangs quite a lot of times, while the firmware doesn't.

I use OI and love it!!

Oh I agree, but for testing purposes the live-version of OI is great, just so you can get a feel for it without having to mess around with firmware installations and stuff like that.

[Trono]

Originally Posted by javimm

I'd recommend to install it instead of using the live version. The live versions hangs quite a lot of times, while the firmware doesn't.

I use OI and love it!!

I'd like to get started with OI as well, but it still lacks the ability to read DRM'd Mobi/PRC as I understand it. Is this correct?

[Slite]

Originally Posted by Trono

I'd like to get started with OI as well, but it still lacks the ability to read DRM'd Mobi/PRC as I understand it. Is this correct?

Correct, but that is no problem really, just MobiDeDRM the books and you are set to go.

[wallcraft]

Originally Posted by Trono

I'd like to get started with OI as well, but it still lacks the ability to read DRM'd Mobi/PRC as I understand it.

It will always lack the capability to read DRMed MOBI out of the box, because it is highly unlikely (perhaps impossible) for an open source project to get a licence for DRM. If OpenInkPot becomes a popular platform, then Adobe might port Digital Editions and FictionWise might port its eReader Reader to the platform. I suppose even MobiPocket might port its Java MobiPocket Reader. These would be separate downloads, of apps added on top of OpenInkPot, just as is done today for getting reader software on your smartphone. However, I would suggest not holding your breath for this to happen.

The current model for FBReader enabled devices (e.g. Nokia Internet Tablets, Linux Netbooks, iRex iLiad and DR1000S, and OpenInkPot) is to only put DRM-free formats on the device (iRex also supplies the Java MobiPocket Reader, so you have a choice on its devices). The authors of FBReader are very sensitive to propriety claims on formats, and so, for example, FBReader does not support LIT because the details of the format have never been disclosed by MicroSoft. This isn't necessarily an obstacle to buying DRMed content, or LIT ebooks, if you are comfortable with stripping DRM and format shifting for personal use.

[dottedmag]

Originally Posted by Trono

I'd like to get started with OI as well, but it still lacks the ability to read DRM'd Mobi/PRC as I understand it. Is this correct?

Digital Restrictions Management will never be accepted to the project (see the Social Contract on our site), as useless and braindamaged. As wallcraft noted, someone may implement support for DRM and provide OI-compatible packages, but this won't be part of OpenInkpot.

[tompe]

Originally Posted by wallcraft

It will always lack the capability to read DRMed MOBI out of the box, because it is highly unlikely (perhaps impossible) for an open source project to get a licence for DRM.

Why do you need a license if you clean rook reverse engineer the algorithm and you then buy books using your PID?

The authors of FBReader are very sensitive to propriety claims on formats, and so, for example, FBReader does not support LIT because the details of the format have never been disclosed by MicroSoft. This isn't necessarily an obstacle to buying DRMed content, or LIT ebooks, if you are comfortable with stripping DRM and format shifting for personal use.

So that is the reason why they do not support meta information in MobiPocket books. Maybe that should be pointed out clearly to user of FBReader so the consequences of secret formats are more visible.

[wallcraft]

Originally Posted by tompe

So that is the reason why they do not support meta information in MobiPocket books.

MOBI is one of the formats that FBReader automatically imports into its library, and it only does this with formats that it can read the metadata from. You should get author and title and also all "<dc:Subject>" entries become "tags" in FBReader's library view. It does not autodetect the encoding used or the language though.