aluratek displays Chinese really well

[quebeckerin]

Hello,
I've just made what to me is an interesting discovery. I had e-mailed Aluratek to ask whether the Libre could display Chinese characters. Their answer was no. Later, on this forum, I saw people talking about 'flashing' their Libres to jetbook firmware to make the Chinese characters available. That was too complicated for me, because I am not computer savvy. Later, I saw someone explain how you could see Chinese characters, if you used PDF files. I tried that, but when I opened these files, the characters were tiny. If I hit 'zoom' the characters disappeared off the edge of the page and I could only view them by using the arrow keys, which made the page jump sideways, in a very jerky, annoying way. I had also read that you could fix that by re-setting the margins so they were really narrow, but I wasn't sure how to do that with PDF files. Then, by chance, I happened to hit on a solution that works for me. I had just downloaded OpenOffice and saved a Chinese file, by clicking on 'export as PDF'. When I looked at that particular file on my Libre, it was working just like an ePub file, with proper flow and zoom functions. I could set the characters any size I wanted and they didn't disappear off the edge of the page. I was thrilled, because now my Libre was a perfectly good Chinese e-reader and I didn't have to go searching for a Hanvon, which I really can't afford. Anyway, hope my little discovery helps other people.

[Ken Maltby]

What format was the file input into OpenOffice? I have never had much luck with my
attempts to import .pdf files into OpenOffice.org. They end up messed up somehow.

You can use the OpenOffice "user" selection for page size and set it for 3"x4" to make
the proper size for the Libre or JB/JBL.

Luck;
Ken

[quebeckerin]

Hello, Ken,
When I first used OpenOffice to copy a file, I was just pasting Chinese stories I had got off the Internet using Mozilla Firefox--i.e. select text with mouse, click copy, open OpenOffice 3.2 to the "text document" page and paste. Then click "export to PDF". When asked, I chose 'lossless compression' from the menu. Later, just to check, I tried copying a Chinese file from Word 2003 into OpenOffice and saved it as a PDF file and that also worked well. I opened the document on my e-reader and it was fine. Since I only downloaded OpenOffice yesterday, I'm assuming I have the very latest version. Just to make clear, I was never importing PDF files into Open Office, I was exporting them. That's what my lucky, totally by chance, discovery was--that OpenOffice converts my Chinese files from Firefox or Word into a version of PDF that does not require you to change the margins or the page size. The Open Office version of PDF, for some strange reason, works just like an ePub file, with zoom function, reflow, etc. That's what I'm so pleased about. Actually, it will help me with English files as well--earlier I was trying to download some articles from technical journals in PDF format, and I had the same problem--either a page with tiny letters or words disappearing off the side of the page. Later, I'll test it out to see whether I can improve the look of those files, too. Maybe someone in this group knows more about PDF files and can clear up the mystery of why some PDF files work really well and some have problems. There must be more than one type.

[xiaowei]

Wow! It really works! At first, the PDF exported by Open Office shows all Chinese characters as blank squares, even on my PC. Then I selected all text, set font to a Chinese font such as Song then exported to PDF again. It worked like a charm! Thanks for sharing!