Freda - ebook reader program for Windows Mobile - Page 9

Jack Tingle · 12-18-2009, 10:44 AM

A very good program.

I've found one minor quirk. In Kij Johnson's "The Cat Who Walked a Thousand Miles" <http://www.tor.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=story&id=37684> the section "The Fire" (page 27/281) has an inset picture.

The older versions of Freda5 rendered it as a separate image, and ignored the wrapping. The current version (1.0/324) still renders a separate image, but seems to try and set the margins for the wrapping, and it doesn't reset them until some format change comes along. This results in tall, skinny paragraphs on my Dell X51.

This certainly doesn't come under the heading of an urgent fix, but it is a flaw. Other than that, the program seems to work pretty much as advertised. Nice work.

Good Luck,
Jack Tingle

Jim Chapman · 12-18-2009, 05:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bald Eagle

Sadly the Epub is not working, could you please have a look whether that is a problem with Freda, Calibre or, um..., well... the source?

I've looked at it - I can confirm that it's a problem with Freda - Freda is not good at handling multiple style-sheets simultaneously. I will be fixing this, but (what with the festive season and all) it might take me a few days.

Thanks for using the program.

Jim

Bald Eagle · 12-19-2009, 02:37 PM

Ah, here I thought Calibre turning my style mishmash into 'real' style sheets lets me get away with it - no such luck apparently...

Well Christmas will be over soon and you can fully concentrate on Freda again.

Keep up the good work!

Have a nice Christmas
Eagle

jimnutt · 12-19-2009, 09:25 PM

Alas, as much as I like Freda, I've moved to Android. After replacing 3 Touch Pros in a month, they were ready to replace the phone with something else and I talked them into a Droid (don't try this at home, it wasn't easy!). I have to say I'm very impressed with Android, but I do miss Freda's speed and straightforward interface.

Faenad · 12-20-2009, 12:25 PM

Just replaced my HTC P3300 with a HTC HD2, and as was not satisfied with µbook on it (Swipe page turn is subpar in µbook which was a deal breaker for me), I tried a bunch of ebook reader on it.

I liked Freda the best and was very impressed with the work you have done in a few months. Thanks!!

Faenad · 12-20-2009, 12:30 PM

Btw, is there a way to add an image as a background? I usually prefer to read with a "old scroll" background instead of a solid color, I found it easier on the eye.

As an example, Here is how was setup my previous reader :

Jim Chapman · 12-20-2009, 04:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Faenad

Btw, is there a way to add an image as a background?

At the moment, there is no way to do this - I allow a solid background only. It is on the list of features for future development - so do watch out for the next version of Freda (though I don't promise any new release in the near future - I will be quite busy over the Christmas holiday period).

Thanks for using Freda,

Jim

Faenad · 12-20-2009, 06:30 PM

Thanks! I will be watching your website and this thread then. Happy holidays!

Jim Chapman · 12-24-2009, 05:29 AM

Hi All,

I have just started looking at integrating a dictionary into Freda - and need information about what dictionary programs people are using. I've opened another thread for that, because I think it's a wider discussion than 'just about Freda' - so please answer on that thread if you have any suggestions.

I would, by the way, be glad to hear of volunteers to help with testing the dictionary integration - so if you're already using SlovoEd (or another dictionary program) and you'd be willing to help test out the Freda integration features, please PM me.

Thanks,

Jim

Marseille · 01-02-2010, 10:53 PM

You had me at "full screen mode".

I've been hassling fictionwise to make eReader do that for a while now. It's especially nice for widescreen reading.

I just started using it a few minutes ago, so I don't have a ton of feedback, but I did want to throw a thank you your way. Thanks!

I second a desire for tiled background images. I'd also like to see the ability to sort books into categories, rather than having a single long list. I have a lot of ebooks.

DarkJoker · 01-05-2010, 02:30 PM

Hi all,

after using mobipocket for years on palm, I realized that it is not the first choice when reading ebooks win mobile.

So I tried several readers on my HTC HD2, and freda seems to be very promising. After reading this forum for some days I found starrigger (one of my favorite writers) offering some ebooks for free and I tried to read them with freda. I got the files "Eternitiy's End - Jeffey A. Carver.epub" and "Sunborn - Jeffrey A. Carver.epub" from his site, but freda is not able to open them on my HD2 device.
What a suprise when I renamed Sunborn to "xxx.epub" and freda could open it.

When I studied the log file, I found that the dot after the A in Jeffrey A. Carver may be the problem. But at least the file manager seems to have no problems with two dot in a file name.

Is this a known problem? Is there something wrong with my HD2? Did I miss a setting?

best regards
DarkJoker

Jim Chapman · 01-05-2010, 03:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DarkJoker

When I studied the log file, I found that the dot after the A in Jeffrey A. Carver may be the problem. But at least the file manager seems to have no problems with two dot in a file name.

Is this a known problem? Is there something wrong with my HD2? Did I miss a setting?

It is a known problem - and partly the fault of the Windows Mobile operating system, which is a bit inconsistent in how it deals with file names containing two dots.

It's actually fixed in my current development build, which should see the light of day in the form of release 1.1 in a couple of weeks.

Thanks for using Freda,

Jim

Jim Chapman · 01-05-2010, 03:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by David Marseilles

I'd also like to see the ability to sort books into categories, rather than having a single long list. I have a lot of ebooks.

The 'library' list is just a list of all the files existing in some folder structure. About the only way to group the books into categories is to put them into different folders (then you can sort by folder name in the library view, in order to see the categories separately).

I'm of two minds as to whether I should build more sophisticated library-management into Freda, since it would mean implementing a database, plus a range of fiddly functions to spot files being added and removed, to keep the database in synch with the folder structure. And all this work would just give me something which is already done by other programs (Calibre on the desktop, WattPad on the handheld). I certainly won't be including it in release 1.1; after that, I guess I'll see whether it's something that lots of users are clamouring for ...

Thanks for using Freda,

Jim

hakan42 · 01-05-2010, 03:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jim Chapman

It's actually fixed in my current development build, which should see the light of day in the form of release 1.1 in a couple of weeks.

Is there any chance that you might look into AppToDate support for 1.1? Please? Pretty Please?

Regards,
Hakan

starrigger · 01-05-2010, 04:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DarkJoker

Hi all,

So I tried several readers on my HTC HD2, and freda seems to be very promising. After reading this forum for some days I found starrigger (one of my favorite writers) offering some ebooks for free and I tried to read them with freda. I got the files "Eternitiy's End - Jeffey A. Carver.epub" and "Sunborn - Jeffrey A. Carver.epub" from his site, but freda is not able to open them on my HD2 device.
What a suprise when I renamed Sunborn to "xxx.epub" and freda could open it.

best regards
DarkJoker

Hi, Joker! Thanks for reading my books.

I've been using Freda for about a month now. I never thought to check and see how my own books looked in it. I guess I should.

One feature I'd love to see in the library would be an ability to sort by author. But whether that's worth the complications you described, Jim, I don't know.

Maybe what I'd like more (if it's possible) is a faster parsing of the page count. Anytime I do something like resize the font or change from full screen to window mode, there's this gray screen and a wait. I think, if a wait is necessary, I'd rather see the last screen of text with an indicator to say that it's repaginating.

Oh--and something annoying that just happened to me last night, while reading sleepily in the dark--was that I hit something (no idea) what, and found myself at the end of the book. I tried to Go Back to where I'd been, and the Back button was greyed out. I took me a lot of paging around to find my place again. I'm sorry I can't give more information on just what went wrong, but it did seem as though it should be possible to go back to the previous location.

Thanks, Jim, for all the work. I hope you had a nice rest over the holidays.

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12-18-2009, 10:44 AM	#121
Jack Tingle Punctuation Fetishist Posts: 557 Karma: 1070000 Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: The Bluest Commonwealth In East America Device: Kindle PW, Nexus 7 (2013), Galaxy S5 phone, Galaxy Tab 4 8.0	A very good program. I've found one minor quirk. In Kij Johnson's "The Cat Who Walked a Thousand Miles" <http://www.tor.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=story&id=37684> the section "The Fire" (page 27/281) has an inset picture. The older versions of Freda5 rendered it as a separate image, and ignored the wrapping. The current version (1.0/324) still renders a separate image, but seems to try and set the margins for the wrapping, and it doesn't reset them until some format change comes along. This results in tall, skinny paragraphs on my Dell X51. This certainly doesn't come under the heading of an urgent fix, but it is a flaw. Other than that, the program seems to work pretty much as advertised. Nice work. Good Luck, Jack Tingle

12-19-2009, 02:37 PM	#123
Bald Eagle Connoisseur Posts: 93 Karma: 1228255 Join Date: May 2009 Device: Aura H2O, Aura One, Libra Colour	Ah, here I thought Calibre turning my style mishmash into 'real' style sheets lets me get away with it - no such luck apparently... Well Christmas will be over soon and you can fully concentrate on Freda again. Keep up the good work! Have a nice Christmas Eagle

12-19-2009, 09:25 PM	#124
jimnutt Member Posts: 13 Karma: 10 Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Central New York State Device: Motorola Droid / Kindle	Alas, as much as I like Freda, I've moved to Android. After replacing 3 Touch Pros in a month, they were ready to replace the phone with something else and I talked them into a Droid (don't try this at home, it wasn't easy!). I have to say I'm very impressed with Android, but I do miss Freda's speed and straightforward interface.

12-20-2009, 12:25 PM	#125
Faenad Ad astra per aspera Posts: 347 Karma: 724 Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Mexico Device: PRS-505, PRS-300 & HTC HD2	Just replaced my HTC P3300 with a HTC HD2, and as was not satisfied with µbook on it (Swipe page turn is subpar in µbook which was a deal breaker for me), I tried a bunch of ebook reader on it. I liked Freda the best and was very impressed with the work you have done in a few months. Thanks!!

12-20-2009, 12:30 PM	#126
Faenad Ad astra per aspera Posts: 347 Karma: 724 Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Mexico Device: PRS-505, PRS-300 & HTC HD2	Btw, is there a way to add an image as a background? I usually prefer to read with a "old scroll" background instead of a solid color, I found it easier on the eye. As an example, Here is how was setup my previous reader :

12-20-2009, 06:30 PM	#128
Faenad Ad astra per aspera Posts: 347 Karma: 724 Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Mexico Device: PRS-505, PRS-300 & HTC HD2	Thanks! I will be watching your website and this thread then. Happy holidays!

12-24-2009, 05:29 AM	#129
Jim Chapman Addict Posts: 310 Karma: 2025434 Join Date: Oct 2009 Device: Lumia 950 Phone	Hi All, I have just started looking at integrating a dictionary into Freda - and need information about what dictionary programs people are using. I've opened another thread for that, because I think it's a wider discussion than 'just about Freda' - so please answer on that thread if you have any suggestions. I would, by the way, be glad to hear of volunteers to help with testing the dictionary integration - so if you're already using SlovoEd (or another dictionary program) and you'd be willing to help test out the Freda integration features, please PM me. Thanks, Jim

01-02-2010, 10:53 PM	#130
Marseille Guru Posts: 687 Karma: 5700000 Join Date: Dec 2009 Device: kindle	You had me at "full screen mode". I've been hassling fictionwise to make eReader do that for a while now. It's especially nice for widescreen reading. I just started using it a few minutes ago, so I don't have a ton of feedback, but I did want to throw a thank you your way. Thanks! I second a desire for tiled background images. I'd also like to see the ability to sort books into categories, rather than having a single long list. I have a lot of ebooks.

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