Does one have to get a big expensive eReader to read PDFs decently?

[kwnewton]

Does anyone know if the Skiff will support native PDFs? It looks like a really nice size screen.

http://www.pocket-lint.com/news/3048...-ebook-reader?

[Jack Tingle]

Does one have to get a big expensive eReader to read PDFs decently?

Eyup. Pretty much.

Regards,
Jack Tingle

[jfontana]

OK, thanks again Frabjous. It looks like sopdf is what I might need. Now there's a problem. I downloaded it to try it out myself with other documents but I happen to be also a Linux user. I thought this would run under wine but for some reason Wine doesn't let me install it. Do you run sopdf under Wine?

JM

[frabjous]

Wine is not necessary. There's a linux port of sopdf (by Emit) on page 2 of the sopdf thread. If you can't find it, let me know.

[jfontana]

OK, got it. Thanks!

JM

[joblack]

The best option is an Irex Reader 1000S but it's more expensive than the Sony. No way around - perhaps a Kindle DX will also work.

The Zooming of PDF files aren't that satisfying.

[jfontana]

Originally Posted by joblack

The best option is an Irex Reader 1000S but it's more expensive than the Sony. No way around - perhaps a Kindle DX will also work.

The Zooming of PDF files aren't that satisfying.

I'm sort of coming to this conclusion. I'm going to wait and see what happens after this eventful CES. As more companies come up with big screen e-readers the only reasonable development is that prices for big screens have to come down and come down considerably. What I know is that I'm not paying more than 400€ for an e-reader. If that means I have to zoom my pdfs and have a less than satisfactory experience, so be it. I'm hoping that Sony will come up with a big screen e-reader and that the price will be more reasonable than the price of Irex readers. Irex makes really good products but they are not being smart with their pricing. They will have to lower their prices or disappear.

After this very useful discussion what I have decided is that I will wait a couple of months to see if prices come down. If they don't, I'll buy a Sony 505 or similar product and zoom my pdfs with sopdf or whatever. Companies making big screen ereaders will have to wait a few more years (or whatever it takes for my ereader to get broken) to get my money.

JM

[frabjous]

You may be interested in the GUI for sopdf that Nathan Campos has made, and I've just recompiled for linux:
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?p=733549

[jfontana]

Hi Frabjous,

I was indeed interested since I've been testing sopdf and I love it. I've been following the developments at CES and when I saw that all the new big screen readers are going to be very expensive and are not going to be available for a few months, I decided I cannot wait and I will most likely go for a less expensive product even if the screen is smaller. Then sopdf becomes essential.

Anyway, I was going to try the GUI since that would make things a bit more comfortable with sopdf but I ran into problems. On the command line sopdf works perfectly but when I tried to execute the binary file you compiled for Linux (% ./soPDF_Frontend) I get the following error message: "bash: ./soPDF_Frontend: cannot execute binary file
".

JM

[frabjous]

I would post about it in the other thread. Nathan would know a lot more about the problem than me. You might need to compile your own... not sure.

[jfontana]

OK, Thanks Frabjous. I think I know what's going on. I did '%file soPDF_Frontend' and I saw that it had been compiled for a 64 bit processor. I still have a 32 bit processor. I'll recompile the source.

[frabjous]

Yeah, I should have mentioned that in the other thread. I will do so.