Astak vs Lbook - Difference chart needed

[Dr. Drib]

I would really like to see a comparison chart between Astak's current firmware and LBook's current firmware.

I'm a little confused about what is lost between one and the other; or correspondingly, what may be considered the better implementation of one format [epub, txt, doc, lit, RTF, et al] between the two.

Right now, I'm using Astak's firmware version v2.02astak.100304

Also, how old is my firmware version? I believe this was the version that was rushed to market before it was properly tested, but it works OK for me - except, of course, for LIT.

I'm loathe to abandon this as it's (so far) the only version that will read my 335 Shadow novels. Nothing on my computer, and not even my jetBook could read these files - which was very unusual.


Don

[olis]

Is it legal to run LBook's firmware on a different machine?

[ekaser]

Originally Posted by Dr. Drib

I would really like to see a comparison chart between Astak's current firmware and LBook's current firmware.

I'm not into it enough to make a comparision chart, but I'm rapidly becoming a fan of Coolreader 3! I've started adding ".fb2" to the end of all of my epub files (I still like the epub file format), as I much prefer the "screen count" on the tiny 'toolbar' in Coolreader to the "page count" that ADE uses, as I'm reading 'screens', not mythical pages, and I don't read the same book on multiple devices, so ADE's mythical page numbering scheme has no advantage for me. I also like the ability to change the formatting of epubs that I buy via Coolreader's external CSS file (where ADE doesn't support ANY of that and you have to edit each individual epub file and rebuild it to fix any formatting problems).

Right now, I'm using Astak's firmware version v2.02astak.100304

I'm currently playing around with the 2010-04-19 lbook firmware. Before that, I believe I was still using the Astak 2009-12-11 (Dec 11) firmware. It was working well, and none of the changes after that were significant enough to encourage me to update.

Also, how old is my firmware version? I believe this was the version that was rushed to market before it was properly tested, but it works OK for me - except, of course, for LIT.

I believe you're right. I'd recommend the 2010-04-02 Astak firmware, if you want to stay with Astak's releases.

I'm loathe to abandon this as it's (so far) the only version that will read my 335 Shadow novels. Nothing on my computer, and not even my jetBook could read these files - which was very unusual.

I'm not sure what format you have the files in. The ones I have are ZIP'd .TXT files. I haven't tried loading any ZIP'd files on and opening them, but here's a picture of what "The Living Shadow" looks like on the 4-19 lbook firmware (ie, in Coolreader 3).



And the .TXT file is formatted like this, except that there aren't the blank lines after the first line of each paragraph... I can't figure out how to get this dang message editor to format the stuff so that it looks exactly like the original text file. Basically, the chapter, title, and first line of each paragraph is indented 5 spaces, everything else is left-justified, with hard end-of-line sequences at the end of each text line, even in the middle of paragraphs. There are no blank lines between paragraphs, only after chapter and title. Coolreader apparently detects the start of paragraph from the leading spaces, and auto-wraps the rest of the paragraph to fit the display. Note that it also seems to detect the chapter and title as 'headings' and automatically centers them.

CHAPTER I

OUT OF THE MIST

The fog was thick at the center of the bridge where the man stood leaning

against the rail. Although the streets of New York were scarcely a hundred yards
away, he might have been in a little world of his own. For the only light in the
midst of that cloud of black night fog came from an arc light on the bridge.

A taxicab, carrying a late passenger home, shot through the mist.

The man stepped away from the rail and crouched beside a post. He saw a

flash of the red tail light on the cab; a moment later it was lost in the fog.

[Xochipilli2012]

Originally Posted by olis

Is it legal to run LBook's firmware on a different machine?

I'm not a lawyer, but I can't imagine there would be any legal issues. The BeBook Mini, Papyre 5.1, Hanlin V5, LBook V5, and Astak EZReader Pocket Pro are all the same machine. I read somewhere that one of them has a larger button or something, but under the hood, aside from firmware and branding on the exterior, they are all the same. (I'm open to be corrected here--but this is my current understanding.)

The firmware for all these brands is freely available online. If I want to turn my PocketPro into a Papyre, I can go to their site and get the firmware (I have!). Same thing about BeBook, Jinke, etc.

I don't see what laws could be conceivably involved. Even if there were, how would they be enforced? The only potential impact I can imagine would be a particular brand's technical support being reluctant to assist someone having problems with an off-brand firmware. But that's not a legal issue.

Are you thinking of getting a V5 (of some brand or other)? It appears you might not have one. If this is so, may I respectfully inquire why this is of interest to you?

Cheers!

[ThomasMcKean]

Originally Posted by ekaser

I'm not into it enough to make a comparision chart, but I'm rapidly becoming a fan of Coolreader 3! I've started adding ".fb2" to the end of all of my epub files (I still like the epub file format), as I much prefer the "screen count" on the tiny 'toolbar' in Coolreader to the "page count" that ADE uses, as I'm reading 'screens', not mythical pages, and I don't read the same book on multiple devices, so ADE's mythical page numbering scheme has no advantage for me. I also like the ability to change the formatting of epubs that I buy via Coolreader's external CSS file (where ADE doesn't support ANY of that and you have to edit each individual epub file and rebuild it to fix any formatting problems).



I'm currently playing around with the 2010-04-19 lbook firmware. Before that, I believe I was still using the Astak 2009-12-11 (Dec 11) firmware. It was working well, and none of the changes after that were significant enough to encourage me to update.



I believe you're right. I'd recommend the 2010-04-02 Astak firmware, if you want to stay with Astak's releases.



I'm not sure what format you have the files in. The ones I have are ZIP'd .TXT files. I haven't tried loading any ZIP'd files on and opening them, but here's a picture of what "The Living Shadow" looks like on the 4-19 lbook firmware (ie, in Coolreader 3).



And the .TXT file is formatted like this, except that there aren't the blank lines after the first line of each paragraph... I can't figure out how to get this dang message editor to format the stuff so that it looks exactly like the original text file. Basically, the chapter, title, and first line of each paragraph is indented 5 spaces, everything else is left-justified, with hard end-of-line sequences at the end of each text line, even in the middle of paragraphs. There are no blank lines between paragraphs, only after chapter and title. Coolreader apparently detects the start of paragraph from the leading spaces, and auto-wraps the rest of the paragraph to fit the display. Note that it also seems to detect the chapter and title as 'headings' and automatically centers them.

That's easy. I know cuz I did it. Yew edit the txt.css file to add the space between the paragraph.

[olis]

Originally Posted by Xochipilli2012

Are you thinking of getting a V5 (of some brand or other)? It appears you might not have one. If this is so, may I respectfully inquire why this is of interest to you?

Cheers!

Yes, I'm planning to buy a bebook mini and I'm interested to know if I could legally install an alternative firmware on it.
Mine was a genuine question, not a rhetorical one.

[ekaser]

Originally Posted by ThomasMcKean

That's easy. I know cuz I did it. Yew edit the txt.css file to add the space between the paragraph.

I must not have been clear. The space between the paragraphs wasn't something I wanted, it was an issue I was having trying to figure out how to get the actual text to show in message to MobileRead so that it looked the same as it does in the actual text file.

[Dave_S]

Originally Posted by ekaser

I must not have been clear. The space between the paragraphs wasn't something I wanted, it was an issue I was having trying to figure out how to get the actual text to show in message to MobileRead so that it looked the same as it does in the actual text file.

I may be wrong, but I think that if you wrap code tags around your text instead of quote tags the format of your typed input will remain unaltered.

[ekaser]

Originally Posted by Dave_S

I may be wrong, but I think that if you wrap code tags around your text instead of quote tags the format of your typed input will remain unaltered.

Thanks, Dave_S! Yes, that does it. So, the ORIGINAL text file looked like this:

     CHAPTER I

     OUT OF THE MIST

     The fog was thick at the center of the bridge where the man stood leaning
against the rail. Although the streets of New York were scarcely a hundred yards
away, he might have been in a little world of his own. For the only light in the
midst of that cloud of black night fog came from an arc light on the bridge.
     A taxicab, carrying a late passenger home, shot through the mist.
     The man stepped away from the rail and crouched beside a post. He saw a
flash of the red tail light on the cab; a moment later it was lost in the fog.

Which resulted in this display in CR3: