FBReader port to (Lbook|Hanlin) V3

[lunohod]

I'm porting FBReader to the lbook v3. You can try it by flashing the modified firmware. Here are the instructions:

* flash this fw: V3_20080129_LIB1503_2.zip
(this is the modification of the recent original lbook fw)
* create a directory in the internal flash named 'lib'
* copy this file into lib directory: libfb2.so

After that, fb2 and fb2.zip files will be opened with the fbreader plugin. Other formats supported by fbreader can also be viewed, but you need to zip them first and rename the resulting archive to *.fb2.zip.

You can also change some settings in the .FBReader/ui.xml file in the internal flash, here is my sample config: ui.xml


There is a possibility to hot-swap the fb2 plugin with just swapping the libfb2.so file in the lib directory. Here are the plugin from the original lbook fw: libfb2.so and the new beta version of the same plugin: libfb2.so

[Gudy]

Interesting, but I don't really see the advantage, if you don't mind me saying so. The crengine-based FB2 reader already is quite excellent IMO, and has several very nice features that seem to be missing from FBReader.

That said, if an FBReader port to the V3 could be made part of the firmware in such a way that reading un-DRMd Mobipocket became a possibility, THAT would be quite useful.

[lunohod]

Originally Posted by Gudy

Interesting, but I don't really see the advantage, if you don't mind me saying so. The crengine-based FB2 reader already is quite excellent IMO, and has several very nice features that seem to be missing from FBReader.

That said, if an FBReader port to the V3 could be made part of the firmware in such a way that reading un-DRMd Mobipocket became a possibility, THAT would be quite useful.

FBReader supports non-DRM'ed mobipocket files among other formats. Please, take a look at http://http://www.fbreader.org/about.php .
There are also other interesting features which are not present in Coolreader yet.

[Gudy]

Originally Posted by lunohod

FBReader supports non-DRM'ed mobipocket files among other formats.

I know. I just happen to strongly prefer Coolreader for my fb2 files, and with the current hack of replacing the fb2lib.so, the price for the ability of reading Mobipocket files is being unable to open fb2 files in Coolreader. I'm not willing to do that.

Mind, I would very much like to see FBReader on the V3 for its ability to read Mobipocket, but as far as I am concerned this requires extending the bookshelf app to support this format.

[lunohod]

Originally Posted by Gudy

I know. I just happen to strongly prefer Coolreader for my fb2 files, and with the current hack of replacing the fb2lib.so, the price for the ability of reading Mobipocket files is being unable to open fb2 files in Coolreader. I'm not willing to do that.

Mind, I would very much like to see FBReader on the V3 for its ability to read Mobipocket, but as far as I am concerned this requires extending the bookshelf app to support this format.

I'm already using FBReader as my primary fb2 reader on my v3 and I do not see much difference to the Coolreader.

[Gudy]

Originally Posted by lunohod

I'm already using FBReader as my primary fb2 reader on my v3 and I do not see much difference to the Coolreader.

Configuring your own custom fonts is one thing Coolreader on the V3 can do, while FBReader doesn't seem to be able to load custom fonts. I very much prefer using the "Free Sans" and "Free Serif" fonts to the system default fonts.

Also, I zipped up HarryT's "Sherlock Holmes Omnibus.prc" and renamed the zip file to "Sherlock Holmes Omnibus.fb2.zip", but I can't open the file: after processing the file for a while I get thrown back to the bookshelf.

[lunohod]

Originally Posted by Gudy

Configuring your own custom fonts is one thing Coolreader on the V3 can do, while FBReader doesn't seem to be able to load custom fonts. I very much prefer using the "Free Sans" and "Free Serif" fonts to the system default fonts.

Also, I zipped up HarryT's "Sherlock Holmes Omnibus.prc" and renamed the zip file to "Sherlock Holmes Omnibus.fb2.zip", but I can't open the file: after processing the file for a while I get thrown back to the bookshelf.

Custom fonts are supported. You can put the fonts into the fbreader/fonts/ directory(sd-card) and change the settings in the .FBReader/ui.xml file located in the internal flash.

I had no problems with "Sherlock Holmes Omnibus.fb2.zip" file...

[lunohod]

btw, fbreader plugin will also find the fonts in the crengine/fonts directory

[wallcraft]

It is good to see FBReader on another device.

Since it is open source software, there should be no obstacles to lBook adding this to the standard configuration. It could then be optional (or not available) for FB2 and RTF, while adding support for many other formats (MOBI, EPUB, OEB, Plucker, ...).

[Gudy]

Originally Posted by lunohod

btw, fbreader plugin will also find the fonts in the crengine/fonts directory

Nope, sorry, it doesn't. Not for me anyway. I used the following setup: /crengine/fonts directory on the SD card, /.FBReader/ui.xml on the internal flash drive, /lib/libfb2.so on the internal flash drive. I even copied the "Free" fonts to both the .FBReader directory and the lib directory on the internal flash drive.

Result: FBReader uses the default sans serif font for displaying the text body of fb2 books, not the configured "Free Serif" font. The same happens when I replace the FBReader libfb2.so with the crengine-based libfb2.so, i.e. it ignores the /crengine/fb2.css on the SD card. Switching back to the original 2008-01-29 firmware (and doing nothing else) gets the user-configured fonts back.

[lunohod]

Originally Posted by Gudy

Nope, sorry, it doesn't. Not for me anyway. I used the following setup: /crengine/fonts directory on the SD card, /.FBReader/ui.xml on the internal flash drive, /lib/libfb2.so on the internal flash drive. I even copied the "Free" fonts to both the .FBReader directory and the lib directory on the internal flash drive.

Result: FBReader uses the default sans serif font for displaying the text body of fb2 books, not the configured "Free Serif" font. The same happens when I replace the FBReader libfb2.so with the crengine-based libfb2.so, i.e. it ignores the /crengine/fb2.css on the SD card. Switching back to the original 2008-01-29 firmware (and doing nothing else) gets the user-configured fonts back.

I have these lines in my ui.xml and it works with Free fonts in both crengine/fonts and fbreader/fonts:

<option name="Base:fontFamily" value="FreeSans"/>
<option name="Section Title:fontFamily" value="FreeSerif"/>

[Gudy]

Originally Posted by lunohod

I have these lines in my ui.xml and it works with Free fonts in both crengine/fonts and fbreader/fonts:

<option name="Base:fontFamily" value="FreeSans"/>
<option name="Section Title:fontFamily" value="FreeSerif"/>

No Spaces? Interesting. The font name is actually displayed under Windows as "Free Sans", not "FreeSans", and the name with spaces is what I use without problems in the fb2.css. I'll try it without the spaces for FBReader this evening.

Also, for the Mobipocket support: Do I need to also rename the .prc file to .fb2 before zipping, or is it enough to zip the .prc and rename the .zip file to .fb2.zip?

[lunohod]

Originally Posted by Gudy

No Spaces? Interesting. The font name is actually displayed under Windows as "Free Sans", not "FreeSans", and the name with spaces is what I use without problems in the fb2.css. I'll try it without the spaces for FBReader this evening.

Also, for the Mobipocket support: Do I need to also rename the .prc file to .fb2 before zipping, or is it enough to zip the .prc and rename the .zip file to .fb2.zip?

It is enough to zip the .prc and rename the resulting .zip to .fb2.zip.

The font name "FreeSans" is definitely without spaces under linux.

[mvoosten]

Originally Posted by lunohod

It is enough to zip the .prc and rename the resulting .zip to .fb2.zip.

The font name "FreeSans" is definitely without spaces under linux.

Would it be possible to associate the .prc files directly to the FBreader app in the firmware? This way we would have *finally* the long awaited mobipocket support. BTW.. just out of interest.. How did you implement the FBReader and the moddified firmware in the first place?

[lunohod]

Originally Posted by mvoosten

Would it be possible to associate the .prc files directly to the FBreader app in the firmware? This way we would have *finally* the long awaited mobipocket support. BTW.. just out of interest.. How did you implement the FBReader and the moddified firmware in the first place?

We've already asked the chinese to change the bookshelf to provide the possibility of adding the new plugins. Right now we stuck with .fb2.zip workaround because the supported file formats and the appropriate plugins are hardcoded in the proprietary bookshelf & viewer.

The FBReader plugin is implemented the same way as Coolreader, as a plugin for the proprietary viewer application. It will be loaded when you try to open .fb2 or .fb2.zip file.
I've just added the fbreader files into /usr/share directory and exchanged the /usr/lib/libfb2.so with a link to /home/lib/libfb2.so, so it is possible to hotswap the fb2 plugin without flashing the new firmware.