Onyx Boox Max2 Issues

[mdp]

Originally Posted by jimbohen

Yeah, color is a trade off since that's what causes eye strain I suppose. The bottom line is your giving up a lot to gain just a little.

What? Eye strain comes from bad illumination. On "traditional" displays, the light /fights/ that of the environment, while on EPD displays the light /uses/ that of the environment - which is excellent. That's what you gain, and I cannot call it "a little". And the technology is emerging, i.e. it's not at its maturity, i.e. we are still in the middle of the path to improvement.
If you feel you are giving up a lot, then that's probably not the right technology for you. If your idea is "fairly good note taking device, too bad it's EPD", then you are looking at the wrong product.

Originally Posted by jimbohen

It's unfortunate it lacks so many note taking features when that's what it's designed for.

? It is not designed for note taking. It can do note taking. It does so many other things. Note taking is a highlight among all the things it does.
What it does out of the box is only partially relevant; it may get you started but if you need more, expand it, like every computer is supposed to be. And it has to be noted that many users seem already quite satisfied with the out-of-the-box functions.

[mdp]

Originally Posted by Jayjee

I use an app called "Rotation Control" that has the option to be started automatically at power up.
I have activated this option, but on power up, the app does not start.
I need to go in to applications, start it manually and then it stays in the accessible in the notification bar all the time (until reboot, of course).
A very small nuisance, since it is only a three taps per power up (and it could also be the app not registering the autostart correctly - I am no expert in android).

As per past posts (cannot search right now): Onyx disabled the autostarts because of power efficiency reasons.

[mdp]

Originally Posted by rogerpiano

OK !! I managed to set up the bluetooth tethering!

1) Install BlueDUN
2) Install BlueVPN
3) In BlueDUN set the automatic activation when bluetooth is active
4) In BlueVPN (this step I missed) you have to set the access point according to the connection of your smartphone

Done! The Max2 browse with bluetooth tethering!

Internet browsing via bluetooth seems to me as fast as that via Wi-Fi. The only problem, in the integrated browser, is that at each loading the pop-up appears "Do you want to turn on the Wi-Fi?" which is really boring, but I think it's a problem that can be overcome.

Now I have to test the battery life with bluetooth tethering.

That's great. Coincidence: I wrote to Booxtor today about something relevant.

Have you tried file transfer? We have to search for practical file exchange solutions since the lack of micro-SD.

BTW: you have a PM (14 Jan, about PDF conversion).
Did you find other misbehaving PDF files, apart from that excerpt from "Il Barbiere"?

[Jayjee]

Originally Posted by mdp

As per past posts (cannot search right now): Onyx disabled the autostarts because of power efficiency reasons.

That cannot be entirely true.
My mail app (K9 mail), and my sync app (foldersync) start at power up.

/Jan

[mdp]

Originally Posted by Jayjee

That cannot be entirely true.
My mail app (K9 mail), and my sync app (foldersync) start at power up.

But is it possible that you are making reference to /Applications/ (with an user interface), not /Services/?
I understood that it is the behaviour of Android 6 to reStart the applications that were open at last shutdown - but those applications are Paused, they are there in the list but they should not use CPU hence consume battery.
A service is somehow constantly on, and it is a sensitive area for battery drain.

EDIT: found it.
It was actually a full thread "No startup apps on 1.8.2 firmware".
I just skimmed it, but I did not remember correctly: it was said to be a matter of startup times, not of battery drain. (On the contrary: Colibris was using them to limit battery drain!)
And anyway, policies may have changed with Android 6.
I remembered that something similar was valid for the Max2, but I cannot remember?
For reference, what Colibris79 could not autostart were
«Greenify, No-frills, Barshortcuts»

[Jayjee]

I have not the Android knowledge to tell the difference...
But like I said, this is a very small issue for me - if this isn't possible, then I will just make a routine of starting that app after power up...

[sogaiu]

Originally Posted by mdp

But did you try?

No, I hadn't.

But I did just now with a couple of USB ethernet dongles. I didn't get either of them working, but I thought I briefly saw flashing LEDs on one of them (only one time with the plugable model).

The steps I followed were roughly:

1. Plug device in
2. Launch Settings
3. Select "More" under "Wireless & networks"
4. Select "Ethernet"
5. Select "Ethernet" so that text underneath reads "Ethernet is enabled"
6. Plug cable into adapter

I didn't notice a working wired interface when I checked using ifconfig via termux.

For reference, the devices were:

https://plugable.com/products/usb2-otge100/
https://www.thinkpenguin.com/gnu-lin...etwork-adapter

Both of these devices have worked on some (not always the same) other Android devices.

[sogaiu]

Originally Posted by Jayjee

I use an app called "Rotation Control" that has the option to be started automatically at power up.

Thanks for the elaboration. Much appreciated

[mdp]

Originally Posted by sogaiu

I didn't notice a working wired interface when I checked using ifconfig via termux.

Sorry for the trivial advice, but: have you tried setting a static address?

Unfortunately, though I would have joined in the tests, I do not have an adapter.

[Randy11]

Originally Posted by mdp

Librera...
(EPUB, PDF ... DJVU, MOBI, FB2...)

EDIT: quite some effort was spent (and it is still spent up to these very days, and counting) to make it run well on the humble specs and hefty burdens of the MaxCarta, on the MAX2 it does its job to the fullest.

EDIT2: in the picture, in the toolbars, which I kept visible, see that icon at the bottom, at the end, representing two pages side by side numbered "2|3". The landscape view is also part of the settings.

Librera seems a promising software

But, by curiosity, nothing is possible with the native Max2's software than something is possible with the Max Carta for the E-PUB ?

[Randy11]

Originally Posted by mdp

It should connect to the Ethernet - I do not see why it should not, since the setting is there in the original Android settings (which, for lack of an icon, I call through `adb shell am start com.android.settings`.
Wireless and Network > Ethernet

See pic.

The problem is, that for now I could not connect it through USB networking - which is certainly a problem. But it should be fixed in forthcoming firmwares.

A USB-Ethernet converter can be used with the Max2 ?

[alcedo]

Librera has no manual crop, hasn't it?

[sogaiu]

Originally Posted by mdp

Sorry for the trivial advice, but: have you tried setting a static address?

I hadn't, but I just did.

I did not observe a difference in results. After selecting 'Ethernet ip mode' as 'static' and filling in the fields for the dialog box, I clicked 'connect' only to see the dialog box go away and the status of 'Ethernet' updated as 'Ethernet is disabled'.

[Jayjee]

Originally Posted by Jayjee

After some weeks of use of the device, here a short resumé of my wishes / issues:
(in the beginning, my complete subjective rating from 0 (irrelevant for me) to 10 (really important to me))

• (8) temporarily disabling capacity screen / finger touch, preferably with a toggle like for the screen mode in the notification bar
  - in other apps, e.g. the sheetmusic app, otherwise finger touch counts as drawing
• (9) shortcut to screen refresh (long press of menu button, tapping the clock) should work also in A2 mode
  - it is where ghosting is most relevant - or am I missing something?
• (8) long press on back button could trigger turn to home screen
  - that would be a simple and easy shortcut
• (2) the rotation app that is supposed to start with powerup is not starting and needs to be started manually
• (7) google play: both the InAppPurchases and the Contacts do not work
  - a pity, e.g. when you want to write emails
• (2) Browser - when I set "most visited pages" as the default new tab location,
  I get "Connection problem net::ERR_ACCESS_DENIED"
• (9) Neoreader - display dual page display in landscape rotation
  - that is the only reason I am not using the stock app for my sheet music - I love the easiness of annotating in the app, but I need to be able to have two pages on display at the same time
• (7) Neoreader: when annotating, you can't write in the top area of the pdf because it is covered by a menu bar (undo, save, redo etc)
  - either make possible to slide the bar up or to the side, or make the pdf fit the screen below the bar
  - I need that area to annotate scores very frequently and can't access it
• (5) Neoreader: annotation drawn with Pen is also visible on the next page, when I turn to it.
  Opening and closing the pdf resolves that issue, then the annotation only appears on the correct page
  This is NOT a ghosting issue, for the first it is equally clear on both pages, and a screen refresh does not resolve it.
• (6) Notes app: I would like to have the notification bar visible in the app to have easy access to its features
  - e.g. recent apps,
• (8) Notes app sometimes hangs for between several seconds up to almost half a minute
  - I have not been able to establish what triggers that - the screen gets completely unresponsive, and after the timeout, everything works again (including the penstrokes that where done during "time out")
• (5) Notes app: possibility for batch renaming and moving notes
  - right now, you have to do it one by one
• (3) reflection
  - sometimes it is irritating, though tilting the device almost always helps.
• (5) I would love USB OTG - both for USB mass storage and USB keyboards
• (2) Power button location
  - the rotation app is good enough a workaround for me
• (6) Lock screen - with password or pattern
  

These things set aside, I am really happy about the reader. It works better for me as a musician than I had hoped for, and the possibilities as a "tablet" with other apps are far better than expected.
The scribbling is working fantastic. Screen a little bit grayish, but you get used to it.

Added the last point - the absence of a lock screen.
/Jan

[alcedo]

Originally Posted by Jayjee

Added the last point - the absence of a lock screen.
/Jan

It's not absent.
You have to summon the full settings as stated on this thread several times,
adb shell am start com.android.settings
The cool thing is, it will survive reboot if it is in the multitask window.
Obviously there is some sort of session management built in.

In full settings you go
Security -> Screen lock

and you can choose between Pattern, Pin and Password.

I'm glad it's disabled by default.